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Son of woman who died at Dominican Republic resort says FBI ignored pleas

The son of the Staten Island woman who suddenly died in the Dominican Republic told The Post it’s been “radio silence” from the FBI in his months-long quest for answers in her mysterious death.

Will Cox, 25, said federal officials have ignored his desperate pleas for help investigating his mother, Leyla Cox’s, death in June at the Excellence Resort in Punta Cana.

“The FBI is here to protect us and it hasn’t offered to help me or give me any resources at all,” Will told The Post on Monday.

He said that he repeatedly contacted the FBI after his mother died of an apparent heart attack on a vacation for her 53rd birthday celebration.

The traveling MRI technician was among a series of seemingly healthy American tourists who suddenly passed away while visiting the Caribbean destination, prompting calls from the families for a probe into the disturbing trend.

“I haven’t received any information from the FBI,” he told The Post. “They haven’t contacted me whatsoever.”

Dominican authorities had told the man they were unable to conduct a toxicology test because the machines were broken — and he was desperate to have one administered stateside. He said he called the FBI at least four times, only to get stonewalled by officials.

“I said, ‘Well, is this case being investigated at all?'” Cox said. “And they said, ‘Sorry Mr. Cox we cant tell you.'”

As his mother’s only son, Cox claimed he placed hundreds of calls and spent upward of $20,000 in order to arrange to have her body returned to the US, as well as a toxicology test performed in her case.

With the help of his mother’s medical contacts, he was at one point in touch with the New York City chief medical examiner’s office to get her samples tested, he said.

“[The medical examiner] called me and said that the FBI reached out to me, I can’t help you,” he said. “They’re taking over this investigation.”

Will Cox attempted to reach out again to federal law enforcement, only to hit the same wall.

He hired a lawyer who helped him send his mother’s samples to a facility in Texas. But he’s still awaiting the results of the tests.

“I don’t know if she was poisoned,” Cox said. “I don’t know if it was natural causes. I don’t know if it was pesticides. I don’t know if a crime was committed.”

He became frustrated again when the State Department revealed that tainted booze had been ruled out in three other victims’ cases in the Dominican Republic within weeks of his mother’s death.

The entrance to the Excellence Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
The entrance to the Excellence Resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.Getty Images

Officials said the FBI determined natural causes were to blame in the late May deaths of Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, as well as Cynthia Day, 49, and fiance, Nathaniel Holmes, 63.

Schaup-Werner collapsed and died in her Bahía Principe Bouganville room from a heart attack, while Day and Holmes were found dead at the same resort five days later both from pulmonary edema and respiratory failure.

“Methanol poisoning from tainted alcohol was ruled out by the FBI in these cases during the toxicology screening, and it was not the finding in any other cases of U.S. citizen deaths investigated by Dominican authorities,” a State Department official told The Post. “We believe that the deaths of these U.S. citizens in the Dominican Republic, while tragic, are isolated cases.”

But Will Cox said he was “shocked” by the findings of the department, which he says never to his knowledge either had his mother’s toxicology samples or investigated her case.

“In the case of Leyla Cox, the FBI hasn’t helped me whatsoever and if anything they’ve put more roadblocks in my way,” he said. “It’s been radio silence for them.”

A spokesperson for the Day and Holmes families said they also haven’t heard from federal officials about the recent findings.

“The families have not been provided with any information from the FBI or the Dominion Republic authorities regarding the deaths,” attorney Steven Bullock said. “The only information that has been received by the families is what is being reported in the media. Our investigation is continuing, and we will not have any further comment until we receive the results of our investigation.”

The State Department declined to comment on whether there were any active investigations of US tourist deaths in the Dominican Republic, directing the inquiry to the FBI. The agency didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.