Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Dad demands answers about daughter's Cancun death

Episode Date: July 25, 2017

Bill Conner wants to know why daughter Abbey drowned in a shallow pool at a Cancun resort. Local police did not question witnesses before declaring it an accident, the father says. Conner and reporter Raquel Rutledge talk to Nancy Grace in this episode about the investigation. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an a fun family vacation. Abby Connor and her brother both found unconscious in a hotel swimming pool. Somebody needs to be held responsible for this. Abby and Austin had been swimming at the pool, just chest-high water. It doesn't make any sense. We're lucky we didn't lose both of our kids. Austin with a concussion and golf ball-sized lump on his head. Abby with a broken collarbone, brain dead. She died in a hospital days later. Mexican officials have ruled this an accidental drowning,

but that's not enough for the family. Mexican police, they say, refuse to investigate further. She was healthy, but for some reason, she drowns in a pool, waist deep. You know, all year, I look forward to the summer vacation when I can spend time with my nine-year-old twins and just be with them instead of being on a schedule where I'm racing to get them to school, then I'm racing to work, then I'm racing to pick them up. And it's, you know, it's a lot to get them everywhere, Get me everywhere. And I look forward to that moment when we can just be together. That is what a family had planned.

But their little girl, Abby, never made it home. She never made it home. She was found face down in a swimming pool. And I want answers. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

With me right now is Abby's dad, Bill Connor. Also with me an incredible, incredible reporter, Raquel Rutledge from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has taken a hard, hard look at this and similar cases. To both of you, thank you for being with me. First of all, I trying to trying to find out or get some some type of cooperation from anybody and uh we're rounded back and the hotel

the owners of the hotel aren't cooperating um you would think if a tragedy, something like this on their property, the first thing they would do is ask us how they can help. The funny thing is, I was watching GMA, and through the information they provided on the screen, I actually finally received a condolence from ArborStar, the owner. It's six months later, and I don't think Abby's mother has received any condolences, as well as myself. They've never reached out to us. Wait a minute. You saw that on the screen on GMA where they offer their condolences? Yes.

That's the first time. What is their name? What is their name? is their name arbor star iber star arbor star but what who is that the owner of the resort yes ma'am well what was the resort name uh pariso del mar pariso del mar cancun wow i've been to Cancun diving many times and I never really saw the beautiful beaches too much. I was mostly underwater the whole time diving, but the resorts there are five star. I had no idea. To Raquel Rutledge. Raquel, what have you learned from your investigative reporting? That's a big question. There's a lot that we've, little pieces that we're trying to kind of

try to make sense of. I mean, there are, we know that Abby and her big brother Austin were at the bar, the swim up bar with her mom and stepdad. And they had just arrived. They hadn't been there very long, a couple of hours. And Ginny and John McGowan were there and they said they were, you know, they were going to head back to their room. They each had separate hotel rooms. John and Ginny were up right directly above Austin and Abby. And they said, you know, we'll meet you back in the lobby at seven o'clock and we'll go for dinner. And was at 5 35 45 it wasn't long and they went back into the lobby uh at seven o'clock to wait for them for dinner and and and austin and abby um did not show up and they waited for a little while and they thought you know maybe there's some oh my stars raquel the way you're

saying that i mean how many times have i walked out the door and said to David and the twins, I'll be back in an hour. I'll see you in an hour. It might be an hour and a half. And that's what they did. That's what the mom and the stepdad did. We'll see you at dinner in an hour and a half, okay? And the two were, to my understanding,

there at the poolside bar. You could order food there. And someone invited them to have a drink. And that is what changed everything, Raquel. Yeah, I mean, they, you know, Austin remembers, the last thing he remembers is their group of people being around doing shots and saying, hey, let's everyone do a shot. And so they did a shot collectively. And that's the last thing he remembers is the group of people being around doing shots and saying hey let's everyone do a shot and so they did a shot collectively and that's the last thing he remembers back to bill connor this is abby's dad who is watching gma and sees reporting on

abby's death his little girl's death and it is the first time arbor Star, according to Mr. Conner, has said, I'm sorry, condolences, we wish we could help you. Nothing. That's never been communicated to him or to his knowledge to Abby's mom. But they used GMA to say that. Okay, that is neither here nor there. Bill, when did you learn that Abby had a severe blow to the head and was found unconscious face down in the pool? I guess everybody just standing around looking at her, I guess. What did you learn? Well, Abby actually, Austin had a head injury, but Abby actually ended up either falling into the pool or just blacking out. And basically, I thought she was unconscious or had a blow to her head as well. No, that's been the story from day one, but the accurate piece is that the only thing

Abby had was a hairline fracture in her collarbone, and they said that was due to the CPR. Well, as Raquel and I know, you don't do CPR on somebody's collarbone. No, I mean, just when you said that, I'm like, that's not right, because I have dealt with, I mean, I literally can't count the number of right because I have dealt with I mean I literally can't count the number of people that I have dealt with that had CPR and they none of them and I prosecuted for 10 years where there's 150 new felonies twice a week never had a fractured collarbone from CPR never right so I don't believe now, I don't believe that. I'll just tell you that right now.

She did not get a fractured collarbone from CPR. I don't care what they're saying. Right. And also, Nancy, if you can believe this, the police department finally put out a police report five months later. And the only people they interviewed were the people, the security guards that pulled my kids out of the water and provided some assistance. They never interviewed any of the staff, bartenders, people that were on shift that day,

none of the guests or anything else. And those guests are gone now. You're never going to be able to recreate who was. You might be able to get a guest list, but you won't know who was at the bar unless you go back through the credit card charges at that time on that day at that particular drink stand. That could be done. It'll be very time intensive, but it can be done.

But let me understand something. So your boy had a blow to the head. The daughter, Abby, had a fractured collarbone. I knew she had some injury. Thank you for refreshing my recollection. And they were both face down in the pool, as I recall. Correct. What's the likelihood of that, Raquel Rutledge? Raquel, joining me from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I mean, let's just hold on a moment. The likelihood that both of them have what I consider a severe bodily injury,

a fractured collarbone and a blow to the head, and they're both face down at the same time in the same pool having just been given a drink or had drinks with a group of unknown people there at the bar well i mean what's the likelihood of that being just a coinkydink a coincidence yeah i mean that is that is the question when the way the police report reads is that she was face down floating and that he was unconscious, but the minute that they got to pull him, he was security folks. There was not a lifeguard on duty at the pool. There was a lifeguard that was reportedly down at the beach. But this woman went and alerted the folks in the area, the hotel staff, and said, hey, that looks like there's some people having trouble getting out of the pool. That's all it says., doesn't have any details about that. But so then they report

arriving there and finding her down and him down and then pulling her first and then pulling him. He was still sort of in the process of unconscious flailing. And that is the question that when people say, we've heard a lot from the resort and everybody else who's heard this story, it's very easy to dismiss initially to say, oh, kids are drinking, they're drunk, they're drunk, they're drunk. But what always gets me is two people and this has happened. So what I've found subsequently to this is that there are a number of couples. I mean, I've gotten dozens now of reports from people. Many of them are couples of different sizes, different petite women with her husband who is, you know, 6'3 and 220, and they black out at the exact same time. And they come to, you know, hours later

around the same time. So it is not, that's what really doesn't make a lot of sense when people say, oh, they're dehydrated and the heat got them. And, you know, it's easy to drink too much and they just don't recognize how much they're drinking. That part sticks with me as not making a lot of sense when you have couples, when you have this happening in pairs. Raquel, what are your findings? What are you learning about these resorts in Mexico? Well, I mean, that's one of the themes I'm looking for as I hear from dozens of people. I'm looking for commonalities and things that I, you know, the things that are common that I do repeatedly here is that the hotel staff doesn't seem to make a deal out of, doesn't

seem to respond, and not just at Ibarra Star, but the other, I've, you know, heard from, you know, people that have been at Secrets and Grand Oasis and different hotel chains in the region of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, which is just south of there, which is where Abby and Austin were. I've heard from them, and they say that they don't seem, they just, the common thread is that they say, oh, these people are just drunk. Leave them alone. They're fine.

They're drunk, or they're drunk, but they need to go to the hospital. And there's a push to get people to the hospital. And as we know, what I learned is that the hospital has a contract with Ibarostar in this particular case. Their clinic is inside Ibarostar, and it is the same hospital that they were also taken to. So the doctor works for the resort and the hospital. So it's sort of their, you know, that relationship is something we're exploring. A symbiotic relationship, and you don't want that in connection to a potential homicide. I just say that when you've got both of them, the boy and the girl, in the water, drowning, after having these drinks at the pool. The parents hadn't been gone, you know, 40 minutes, if that. That is not a coincidence. That is simply not a

coincidence. I want to thank both of you for being with us. Bill Connor, this is Abby's dad, along with Raquel Rutledge from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who is investigating this. And I can't tell you, Mr. Connor, how much we've been thinking about you and your family. I also want to thank our

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One more time, to try it for free, go to ZipRecruiter.com slash Nancy Grace. ZipRecruiter.com. Thank you. I want to go straight back right now to Bill Connor and Raquel Rutledge. Bill, when did you first learn what had happened to Abby? I got a phone call from my son. He was in the hospital and my phone rang and he obviously was pretty emotional. And I believe it was like on a Saturday or Sunday morning. And Austin told me what happened. Obviously, I was a little beside myself a little bit. What did he say?

What were his words? I know you can remember. He said, Dad, I got to tell you something that's going to be pretty hard to hear. And he just said that, told me about him and Abby and being at the bar. And last thing he remembers, and he woke up in the hospital and, and then he just told me that Abby's on life support. So when they pulled her out of the pool, obviously Abby was dead. She was already gone, but Austin was lucky enough that they pulled him out in time and he fully recovered obviously, but But Abby was on life support.

And obviously, we were hoping that putting her in a coma might bring her back. But once I got down to Fort Lauderdale, where they med flighted her into, obviously, I knew the situation at that point that she wasn't coming back. So that was a tough week, but I'll tell you, with our bike ride and the organ donation awareness, I'll tell you, Nancy, that's for some odd reason. Knowing she helped four other people live, somehow that took the sting out of it, that her life wasn't senseless the way that she left, but she was able to help somebody else in need. And I know that might sound odd, but it was something in which we, Abby was helping somebody live or live a better life. That's been, that's what I've been taking the positive out of this and moving forward with it. Bill, when you say she helped four people, what do you mean? What are you talking about? Well, on my bike trip from Madison, Wisconsin to Fort Lauderdale, and that's a bicycle,

not a motorcycle, I actually met Abby's heart recipient out north of Baton Rouge on Father's Day. That in itself was something that was, two fathers were able to celebrate Father's Day. Lamont Jack Jr. is my daughter's heart recipient, and his new name now is Abby Jack. And I was able to hear Abby's heartbeat inside of Jack. And so Jack's father and family were there, and they were able to celebrate Father's Day because Abby Jack is alive. And I was there to spend time with my daughter

because that's her heart beating inside of Abby Jack. And so I was able to spend some time with Abby as well, but she donated her heart, her kidneys, pancreas, and her liver. They didn't have any matches for her other organs, but her lungs, they didn't get all the water out of her lungs, or we would have been able to use them as well. She was a donor when she got her driver's license when she was 16. So her and I and Austin are organ donors and she made that decision on her own. And that's typical because she's always been the one that want to help people in need. Bill Connor, Abby's dad, bicycled. What would that be?

How far is that? It ended up being around 2,500, 2,600 miles. I'm just imagining that moment, you, a grieving father, hears your little girl's heart beating in someone else's chest. I mean, what went through your mind? Well, it was a bittersweet moment. I mean, obviously, I'd rather have my daughter. But at the same time, you know, that means that Abby Jack wouldn't be here.

And that means somebody else would be suffering. So it was an out-of-body experience. I have watched a video of you in your bike uniform. Believe it or not, I actually raced bicycles at one time. It seems like another life ago. And you were listening to the heartbeat with a stethoscope. You're holding a stethoscope up to Abby Jack's chest and listening. Do you remember that

moment when you heard that heartbeat? Oh yeah. And that was, for me, she's alive. To Raquel Rutledge from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing, Raquel, investigating this.

What do you really believe happened from what you know now? You know, it's just too hard to say at this point. There's just so much more to learn and to find out, and I'm not slowing down. I'm trying to figure out what actually did happen and what is happening, what's continuing to happen to other people that are traveling there. So, like I said, I'm not slowing down. I'm still trying to find out.

I don't know. Raquel, before we forget or we don't get it out, can you explain that report that you published about the adulterated alcohol? And again, it's not your report, but it's a report that you were able to find? Sure. I mean, one of the things I have learned in doing this research is that the amount of alcohol, the consumption of alcohol in Mexico, 43% of it is produced illegally, so it's not regulated. And the Mexican government acknowledges that. This is a report from the tax administration in Mexico. So that is an avenue to look at is what sort of alcohol is being served.

So that's just one more area that needs exploring. What is your word of warning, Raquel? I know you're headed straight out to work. What is your word of warning to travelers? I wish somebody had told me this before I went to Cancun. I was just, you know, fat, dumb and happy going. I had no idea what was going on around me. Yeah, well, it's funny you say that because I feel, I mean, if I say this, this is, you know, if you say, well, be careful and watch what you do. I mean, one of the women that I interviewed that was, um, that she and her husband, um, had a couple of drinks and blacked out, um, and were out for a number of hours and she was assaulted and he broke up, he woke up with a broken hand. Um, you know, she said, we did, we traveled to Mexico regularly.

We take precautions. We're careful. We don't wear jewelry. We did, we traveled to Mexico regularly. We take precautions. We're careful. We don't wear jewelry. We pay attention to what we're doing. We go to this resort because this is what we thought was the safest place, the safest way to enjoy Mexico. And so, I mean, when you say word of advice for travelers, I mean, I feel like I would sound just, that wouldn't make any sense for me to say be careful, because in some cases I don't I don't know if you're going to be, you know, at a place that you expect to be safe. And I don't know if there is a way I don't know how you could prevent something that we would not drink. You wouldn't go to an all inclusive that offered drinks. I mean, you can't realistically watch everything that you're drinking.

I mean, it's just I don't think it's possible. I mean, even if you had a beer, if you had a beer that you're drinking. I mean, it's just, I don't think it's possible. I mean, even if you had a beer, if you had a beer that hadn't been... Wait a minute. What about taking, watching when they make the drink? I mean, I guess they could pour diluted or poisoned into a recognized container,

another bottle. Yeah, and if they're getting, if they are getting adulterated alcohol it may look to be you wouldn't be able to recognize it necessarily i don't think there's any way that i could sit there and tell you even if i'm looking at directly at it yeah good point raquel rutledge follow her at milwaukee journal sentinel thank you raquel thank you so much and we'll continue reading thank you nancy bill if you don't mind bill can i ask you a couple more questions sure could you explain to me

i guess it's just all so difficult for me to take in see i i don't see it as as innocently as they had a drink with a group that they met at the pool and then suddenly two completely healthy young people your daughter and son are found and they were both face down in the pool yes your son was flailing and he managed to live one has a blow to the head your son one has a fracture collarbone and nothing unusual happened see i that to me that is not a coincidence that is foul play i mean if one of them had ended up in the pool i could say well you know they could have hit their head when they fit, if they fell into the pool, or if there's a diving board that could have happened. But two of them with injuries like a fractured collarbone and a blow to the head. I mean, that's just statistically, practically impossible. And add to the fact that your son has no recollection from the time he was

had taken the offered the drink till he woke up in the hospital well that's i mean that's not normal that seems to be the process though so from the adulterated alcohol and uh whatever mixture they're putting in to the bottles. That's the norm. That's the way this happens. And nobody has a recollection of where, what, and who. And if you can believe this, Nancy, you've got a five-star resort. They're one of the world's largest resort owners, and they have no security footage. That's the statement they made to GMA. They have no security footage of their pools or their property is what they're telling us.

You know, Bill Connor is with me, Abby's dad. Abby and her brother were found face down in a swimming pool at a five-star resort. And now we are learning that the owner says there's no security footage. Are you kidding me? I mean, you can get that with your cable company at home, and you can look at it on your cell phone. And a five-star resort says they don't have security footage of the pool? Really? And a bar? It's hard for me to believe that. And I don't think it's a coincidence that two gorgeous young people with their family, with their mom and stepdad, they're at the pool.

The mom and stepdad say, okay, I'll see you in an hour and a half in the lobby for dinner, okay? They're like, fine. And they're perfectly fine then. An hour and a half later, they're both face down in the pool with a fractured collarbone, a blow to the head, and the daughter, Abby, is drowned. It's not a coincidence. So explain to me, Bill, about what investigation is being performed now. Well, the police aren't helping. 24 hours after the incident, my son Austin and their stepdad John went to the police department, and the police told them there's no reason to file a report. It was an accident.

They hadn't talked to anybody at the hotel. They hadn't done any investigation or anything. And so we knew what we were up against. And obviously, since then, the amount of people that we've talked to, um, it's a tough hole. It's not, it's a, you know, and I want to make sure that I'm not, I'm not saying it's everybody in Mexico. I don't think, I don't think the Americans are the only ones that they target. I think this has been, this has been happening for a long time. This is just something when this incident happens and the travelers that go back to where they live outside

of Mexico, the difficulty with the judicial system, the difficulty with getting any cooperation just leads people to give up. And I'm not going to let this go. And it's just a part of Abby and I with the work we did for organ donation awareness. This is our second cause. We need to shed some light on this because it's been going on for too long and everybody goes home. It stays local. This is something that this isn't just this hotel. It's happening everywhere. And this kind of stuff happens in the United States. But the judicial system behind it in the United States, at least you get some justification.

But down in Mexico, you need to know people. You can't trust or go through the normal judicial system. It doesn't work. You know, when I first learned about that, Bill, I mean, I tried cases and put bad guys away for 10 years and then covered cases for longer than that. But when I spoke to the parents of Natalie Holloway, I heard what they went through to try and deal with the police in Aruba

to try to help find their daughter. I was just knocked out. I mean, I had been dealing mostly with cases within the U.S., but when you're trying to deal with a whole different police, law enforcement system, and judiciary, oh, I mean, it's like you set foot down at the airport, and you look out, and you're like, now what do I do? Have you been down there? No, I won't go down there it's a father being on the grounds where my daughter died wouldn't be a good thing for me you know that's interesting that you say that bill because people have asked me a million times have you gone back to the scene where your fiance was

murdered and i just looked at him like no and I haven't read the trial transcript and I didn't read the appeal because that would throw me into a depression, a fit. I can't even tell you if I had to relive all that. I just I can't be that person for my twins. I won't be able to put one foot in front of the other. People don't get it when you say, no no i haven't gone back to the pool where she died of course you haven't well the hospital um my bike ride ended at the hospital in fort lauderdale that took care of my daughter and so god bless bless them. What hospital was that? Broward Medical Center. I'm very familiar with it. It's an awesome place. Yeah. We, uh, I even went up to the ICU

and visited where they had her, where they had Abigail. And I spent a week with her prior to obviously saying our goodbyes. And I was able to meet the doctors and give them, you know, just, it was good to see him again. And obviously, uh, it's a part of healing and, and at the same time, uh, it was a catch 22 because, you know, that ride finished. And then now this is in my crosshairs. This is something in which, you know, this isn't just about Abby. This isn't just about us.

This is about the other people as well that have lost people in the same manner and have gotten no justice. And so we are carrying the torch, not only for us, but also for all the other people that have gotten no answers and obviously just went home and just threw their hands up and gave up. We're here to to shine a bright light on this, and it needs some attention, and it needs to stop. You know, both of them also, I've read, were very strong swimmers. Is that true? Oh, yeah.

They grew up in a lake. They know how to swim. And if you think about it, my son's 6'2", 6'3". My daughter's 5'8", 5'9". And they're in a waist deep, not even a chest deep pool. And they drowned. It wasn't even chest deep? No.

They're in a poolside bar. Oh, my stars. I was just at a place with the twins where the pool, nowhere in the pool was over five feet. Nowhere in the pool was over five feet. I don't know what the minimum was, but I mean, they're in a poolside bar. Their report said that my kids were three times the legal limit in Wisconsin. And of course, being there less than two hours, there's no way either one of them could ingest that much alcohol. There's no way. And so the only thing that makes sense is the alcohol, there had to be something in that, and it's either white lightning or methanol.

It's what they say that they do. And so they pour out half the bottle, they pour in their concoction, and then obviously they serve it. And when Raquel was talking about people that had one or two drinks or three drinks, and then all of a sudden you either become violently ill or you black out, that's exactly what happened. Now, when they got to the adulterated alcohol along their less than two-hour stay, I don't know. But both of my kids, like you were saying, for both of them to be face down in a pool, there's something absolutely wrong. Especially a pool that they could stand up in.

The whole thing. There was no deep end. And let's say, let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Let's give the hotel the benefit of the doubt. Okay, they were. Well, guess what? You're responsible for your patrons and you over-served my kids. I just don't believe that they could get to that point in that amount of time.

The mom left them, was only away, probably was not even away from them 30, 40 minutes before this happened. She was only, she was supposed to meet them in an hour, an hour and a half max. So all this has happened in less than an hour? I don't see it. I just don't see it i just don't see it so when you're saying you're not getting anywhere with law enforcement in cancun what do you mean by that well it's not the law enforcement it's the hotel the hotel okay all right yeah that excuse my language but i don't i don't give a crap about the police anymore. They're local. They're better off to do what they're supposed to do.

I mean, but the hotel in itself, they wouldn't let the lawyer on their property. They didn't reach out to help. They didn't come out. I mean, the normal thing would be is, I'm sorry for the, you know, we want to help. Man, they sure reached out to GMA, though, you know, to try to reach a couple of million Americans who were watching GMA every morning. Take a listen to ABC's Good Morning America.

It was at the Iberostar Paraiso Resort in Playa del Carmen where Abby Conner was found floating in a pool and her brother got a concussion. He doesn't remember what happened, and there were reportedly no cameras. But this morning, their family questioning if tainted alcohol at the resort could have contributed to the tragedy. And now other American families are coming forward. I thought I was dying. Jamie and Rick Valerie stayed at another resort in 2015. The couple telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel they both blacked out after a few drinks from the resort's beach ball. I thought I was dying because I couldn't get out

of whatever state of mind I was in. You just you couldn't wake up. I remember thinking how are my six kids gonna find out you know and what's gonna happen to them. They say the hotel ignored their complaints. They thought they were drugged. My hand's broken, and she's just like, oh, no, no, no, that doesn't happen here. We've never had anything like that go on. Responding to Abby Conner's death, the IberoStar's parent company telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, we only purchase sealed bottles that satisfy all standards required by the designated regulatory authorities. We are deeply saddened by this incident and reiterate our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family. I believe the resorts are trying to hide the fact that the dangers exist.

Maureen Webster created the website Mexico Vacation Awareness about the potential risks when traveling to these resorts after her 22-year-old son Nolan's unconscious body was pulled from a waist-deep resort pool and he later died. She says a nurse tried to help her son, but the hotel doctor pulled him away, saying he was just drunk, which Webster denies. All the cases that I've received on my website, the resorts are quick to blame the guests. I promised I'm not stopping until something changes. Webster says she started the website around the same time TripAdvisor, a travel site used by nearly 400 million visitors each month, refused to publish her reviews, saying it did not meet requirements. TripAdvisor telling

ABC News, our guidelines state that every review must be based on a first-hand experience and relevant to other travelers. It's important that anyone who suspects foul play or illegal activity contact the local authorities. But the Valeries this morning say no review will convince them to return to Mexico. There is physical and emotional consequences that will never be able to leave us. And we should tell you, the State Department's latest travel notice on travel to Mexico makes no mention of concern for vacationers at all-inclusive resorts. Meanwhile, the family of Abby Connor told us overnight many people have reached out to them with their own stories that their greatest hope is that together they will finally get answers and help keep this

from happening again. We should hope so. Okay, Gio, thanks very much. So your theory is, from what I'm understanding, that it's bootleg booze. Well. That the hotel, you think, may have poisoned her with cheap homemade alcohol that they substitute at the bars, I guess is a money-saving measure, but why? Well, they make more money. And like Raquel said, that seems to be,

you know, the, the open door here and that's what she's gonna, she's gonna keep digging. And, and it's just a part of, again, um, it's, it's, it's the only trail that, that right now that we're, we're following. And it's a part of, that's the part that it seems that it seems to be obvious because Raquel, as well as myself, are receiving messages from people all over the world. And, you know, in their experiences, there's so many people out here that are embarrassed to come forward because the same thing happened to them. I mean, it's just, it seems to be the norm. ArborStar put a statement out that they buy their liquor from the normal distributors and they have sealed bottles. So, all right, that's normal. So what's going on is it has to be on the premises.

And the other thing is, which bothers me, I've got 20 bucks that says the corporate office in Spain had no idea about Abigail May Connor drowning in their pool until five months later, until Raquel showed up on their doorstep. I think you may be right about that. They don't even know what's going on in their facilities. You know, I think that's very, very incriminating is that your son, Austin,

who had the forehead injury and the severe concussion, the last thing he remembers, he doesn't remember getting into the pool. He doesn't remember falling into the pool. The last thing he remembers before waking up in an ambulance is being invited to have one shot of Jägermeister mixed with Red Bull by a group of guys at the bar. One drink. He was invited to have the drink. That's the last thing he remembers. That's not right. He does not remember having the drink.

He does not remember walking to the pool. Nothing. The next thing he remembers, he's in the ambulance. So where do we go from here? Well, what we do is we keep shining the light on this. So thank God we've got Raquel. 43% of alcohol consumed in Mexico is produced illegally. I think Raquel mentioned that. 43% from the Mexico Tax Administration service. That's nearly half the alcohol in Mexico.

Isn't that crazy? It's illegal. Isn't that crazy? Yes. And then, you know, teens scrubbed in sunshine or people on family vacations go down and allegedly get this

moonshine and your daughter ends up dead. Tell me what keeps you going when you wake up in the morning, when you put your feet on the floor. Tell me, Bill Connor, what keeps you going? Well, Abby and I are going to, and her mother and our family are going to find out what happened. And that's going to obviously shine a light on what has happened to other people besides us. There's a lot of people that have been lucky enough to walk away from this, but there's too many of us or too many of people of the people that have died. And we need to keep cracking the door.

We need to keep pushing back because I can tell you the way she died, she didn't get a choice to do it. And so what we need to do is to focus in finding this answer and exposing the people that need to be exposed and have them judicially taken care of. So, Bill, what is your message to our listeners today on Sirius XM?

Well, my message is, you know what? Again, we're not saying everybody in Mexico does this. All I'm saying is what happened to my daughter, what seems to be the crack in the door, and when Mexico puts out a report that there's resorts and bars with 43% of them with adulterated alcohol, no matter where you go, you never go there alone. Whatever you do, you do not go there alone. You need to take care of each other. You need to watch out for what's going on and you need to be careful. Bill, since Abby's drowning, do you believe you have felt her presence at all with you? Nancy, on my bike ride, my hair's standing up right now.

I know Abby's with me. The signs on my bike ride with animals, it's something I can't explain, but she was with me. I didn't worry about one thing on my ride. I knew she was taking care of me. I knew I was going to get here. She was going to make sure that I got here because we have more work to do. And so our cause is to save other lives, not only through organ donation, but also through this incident in Mexico.

We're going to find out who and what. It's going to be exposed. We're going to get to the bottom of it. I believe Abby's, I know Abby's got her back and we're going to save other lives. That's what we're here for. Bill Connor, just God bless you is all I can say. God bless you and Abby. And we're behind you 200%. Anything we can do to help you and your cause, please call on us. Bill, thank you. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friends. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.