Cause of death for former Yankees star’s teenage son officially named

Carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death of the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, authorities in Costa Rica confirmed Wednesday night.

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Randall Zuniga, director of the Judicial Investigation Agency, said they tested the 14-year-old Miller Gardner for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood.

When carboxyhemoglobin saturation exceeds 50%, it is considered lethal. In Gardner’s case, the test showed a saturation of 64%.

“It’s important to note that adjacent to this room is a dedicated machine room, where it’s believed there may be some type of contamination toward these rooms,” Zuniga said.

The head of the Costa Rican judicial police added that, during the autopsy, a “layer” was detected on the young man’s organs, which forms when there is a high presence of the poisonous gas.

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Miller Gardner died on March 21 while staying with his family at a hotel on the Manuel Antonio beach in Costa Rica’s Central Pacific.

Asphyxiation was initially thought to have caused his death. After an autopsy was performed by the Forensic Pathology Section, that theory was ruled out.

Another line of investigation was into whether the family had suffered food poisoning. Family members had reported feeling ill after dining at a nearby restaurant on the night of March 20 and received treatment from the hotel doctor.

Earlier on Wednesday, after Costa Rican authorities initially said that carbon monoxide most likely had played a role in the death of the teenager, the resort where the Gardner family was staying fired back at any claim the room was contaminated with deadly carbon monoxide.

“The levels in the hotel room were non-existent and non-lethal. There was an error in this initial reporting,” the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort told the New York Post.

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The statement refutes an announcement made by Costa Rican authorities on Monday that there were “high levels of carbon monoxide contamination” in the room where the 14-year-old was found dead.

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While Zuniga had said that the FBI is “closely coordinated” with the investigation, Arenas Del Mar also told the Post that no one from the American agency was on-site as of Tuesday afternoon.

According to the outlet, the resort didn’t deny that investigators found carbon monoxide, but claimed the high levels only were detected in a “mechanical room that guests do not occupy.”

The resort added that the room has been closed “out of an abundance of caution” as they “await for conclusive results to confirm the cause of this unfortunate death.”

It had been believed that a full autopsy could take two or three months to be completed, due to a backlog in the Central American country.

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“Nonetheless, the initial investigative findings indicate that the incident was due to this contamination, with levels as high as 600 parts per million detected — when the appropriate level in this case should be zero,” he said.

According to the Post, the resort has slashed its prices as the investigation rolls along, with reservations that had cost $1,900 per night down to $1,429 while the cheapest rooms are down to $849, as listed on the Arenas Del Mar website.

Brett Gardner, 41, was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 and spent his entire major league career with the organization, making the AL all-star team in 2015. The speedy outfielder batted .256 with 139 homers, 578 RBIs, 274 steals and 73 triples in 14 seasons from 2008-2021.

–With files from Dan Bilicki

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