Family suggest terrifying reason why Oklahoma student was 'spiked with fentanyl' in Cancun
Relatives of the Oklahoma college girls who say they were drugged at a Mexican resort have revealed what they believe motivated the attack.
Students Zara Hull and Kaylie Pitze were left in wheelchairs after drinking water at a poolside bar August 2 - and doctors think they were spiked with synthetic fentanyl.
The duo had been on their dream vacation in Cancun with their boyfriends when the horror unfolded.
Stephanie Snider, the mother of Hull's boyfriend Jake, said she believes they were spiked by people who wanted to harvest their organs or subject them to trafficking.
'We believe they were planning to take her away to be trafficked or perhaps even to take her organs (which is what we were later told is a common thing that is done),' Snider wrote in an emotional Facebook post.
A terrifying photograph shows the moment two Oklahoma college students were potentially drugged at a swim-up bar in Cancun
Zara Hull and Kaylie Pitze became dangerously sick on their dream vacation to Cancun
Zara Hull's boyfriend, Jake Snider, rushed her to the hospital and remained by her side as staff reportedly demanded thousands of dollars
'They most likely would have done something to my son as well, possibly even death.'
'This is really hitting home tonight as I sit here and think about just one week ago today our worst nightmare started,' Snider said on Friday.
'This time last Friday night we were in constant contact with my son on the phone while his girlfriend was in the so-called ICU in a Mexico hospital…so sedated that she couldn’t open her eyes or speak.'
Snider said her son was not allowed to stay with Hull, 20, and they had to fork out $200 for him to stay in another hospital room that night.
'He was afraid to sleep or close his eyes for fear of someone coming in and doing something to him,' Snider said.
'He couldn’t get in downstairs again to see Zara until the next morning. We sat in two different countries-praying all night for safety and health.'
Hull initially could not breathe on her own and was put on a ventilator
Hull says she now worries that she will never get better
When Snider's son was eventually allowed to see Hull the next morning, she was on a ventilator and the ICU 'officials' were attempting to take her to a separate room for an MRI.
He protested the move on the basis that he thought they intended to subject her to human trafficking or harvest her organs.
Hull previously recalled the horrific experience during an interview with CBS News.
'We both got water and within two minutes, Jake had turned around and we both hit the bar, heads down at the same time,' she said.
Hull said she experienced convulsions before passing out and becoming 'basically paralyzed.'
Snider rushed her to the hospital and remained by her side as staff reportedly demanded thousands of dollars for treatment.
'They had increased the money they wanted. The baseline was $10,000 for them to even look at me,' Hull said.
'They were holding me captive. We're college students; we don't have the money they're asking for.'
Meanwhile, she suffered from seizures throughout the night, and the doctors intubated her.
The two Oklahoma college students were on a trip with their boyfriends
'The hospital was NOT treating her, they were pumping her full of so many drugs to keep her sedated,' Jake's mother previously wrote on Facebook.
'They intubated her and told Jake it was "sedation for the MRI," she continued. 'There was no reason to sedate her, let alone intubate her.'
'We knew we needed to get her back and to the US.'
But hospital staff demanded even more money to release her, and the air ambulance to bring Hull back to the United States cost $26,000.
A day after ingesting the suspicious beverage, the group secured a private plane to fly them to Dallas, where Hull remains in the hospital as doctors continue to work to determine what may have happened to her.
She initially could not breathe on her own and was put on a ventilator.
Doctors say they have not found anything wrong with Hull, even though she has experienced at least 18 convulsions.
They say it is possible that the she was drugged.
'We think it was possibly synthetic fentanyl,' Hull told KFOR.
She will require physical therapy to learn how to walk again.
Kaylie did not end up in the hospital, but had a tough 24 hours after she was possibly drugged.
Her boyfriend, Jake, had to pay $200 to stay in a room at the hospital overnight
Hull's family friends said the hospital in Mexico kept her sedated
Hospitals back in the United States refused to admit Hull because the Mexican hospital refused to send over the paperwork
'It's been three days now and she still doesn't feel back to herself,' Stephanie Snider said.
'Neither of the girls have any memory of what happened after they took that last drink, which happened to have been a glass of WATER.'
The college students have declined to reveal the names of their hotel or hospital, fearing for their safety.
The families have started several GoFundMe pages to ask for help covering the students' medical costs.
Since returning to the U.S., Hull has made some progress, her family said.
On Sunday, she was able to start breathing on her own and was taken off a ventilator, a family friend wrote in the online fundraiser for her medical expenses.
'She is awake and able to communicate with family and her health care team,' the update said.
Then on Monday night, her family friend said she was able to get out of bed, and with help she was able to walk to the bathroom.
Hull has since been moved out of the intensive care unit and is now in a neurology unit out of precaution.
Pitze had a tough 24 hours after she was possibly drugged in Cancun
Still, she says she is struggling - even as her friends came to visit her in the hospital.
'It's so scary because there's times I am like, 'Am I going to make it out of this?' she said.
