Watch: Miller Gardner Case: Authorities Update Teen’s Cause of Death After Preliminary Ruling
Brett Gardner and his family may have to wait months for answers in their son Miller Gardner’s death.
Days after the former Yankees outfielder and his wife Jessica Gardner announced the sudden passing of their 14-year-old during a vacation to Costa Rica, officials have confirmed the teen’s autopsy results may not be available for months because of a high number of murders in the area.
“We’re having a hike in homicides as these drug gangs battle for territory,” Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (JIA) spokesperson Juan Pablo Alvarado Garcia told DailyMail.com, “and every one of them needs an autopsy.”
He added, “I can confirm that an autopsy has been carried out on Miller, but the full analysis and results, as in every one of them, will take at least two to three months due to these constant killings causing a backlog of cases. That’s the reality.”
Though the results will be delayed, the official explained that, since “all the samples necessary” had been taken for Miller’s autopsy, his body “can be repatriated to the United States,” however, Brett—who also shares son Hunter Gardner, 16, with Jessica—and his family have been held up as the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica processes their request to bring Miller home.
However, amid the investigation into the teen’s death, officials have shared insight into the final hours before his body was discovered on March 21.
These details include that the Gardner family visited a restaurant outside of the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort, where they were staying, and that they were subsequently treated by hotel medical staff after experiencing severe stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea upon their return to the resort, Alvarado Garcia confirmed to DailyMail.com. The spokesperson also noted that food samples were taken from the restaurant where the family had eaten.
After Costa Rican officials revealed March 24 that Miller’s preliminary cause of death was asphyxiation after ingesting a toxic substance, the agency has since reversed course and are continuing their investigation.
“It was preliminarily ruled out that the cause of death was due to asphyxia,” Alvarado Garcia told NBC News in a March 25 statement, “due to the fact that at the time of the inspection of the body, no anomaly was observed at macro level in the respiratory tract.”
He continued, “Was it a medicine they gave him that triggered something? Or was it an underlying condition he had that was triggered by what he ate or the medicine they gave him? We won’t know until we know all of the results from the tests.”
As Brett and Jessica shared the news of their son’s passing in a heartbreaking March 23 statement, they also paid tribute to his life.
“Miller was a beloved son and brother and we cannot yet comprehend our life without his infectious smile,” they said in the note shared to the New York Yankees’ social media accounts. “He loved football, baseball, golf, hunting, fishing, his family and his friends. He lived life to the fullest every single day.”
Read on for more details in the case of Miller Gardner’s death.
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Despite Brett Gardner spending his entire MLB career as a member of the New York Yankees, the outfielder and his wife Jessica Clendenin Gardner—who tied the knot in 2007—kept their sons Hunter and Miller largely out of the public eye in South Carolina.
Still, they occasionally stepped out in support of their dad’s career, attending the CCandy Children’s Clothing Line Launch at MLB Fan Cave in New York in 2013.
In a statement announcing his tragic death, Miller’s family described the 14-year-old as having an “infectious smile” and someone who “lived life to the fullest every single day.”
He was similarly remembered by the New York Yankees in a March 2025 statement, who emphasized Miller’s “outgoing and feisty personality.”
Like his dad, Miller was athletic, though in addition to baseball, he also took up football, golf, fishing and hunting. In a TikTok post he shared earlier this year, he emphasized his love for football by sharing photos of himself on the field, adding, “Miss it.”
In a March 2025 statement by the team confirming Miller’s death, the organization—for whom Brett played from 2008 to 2021—remembered the teen for the “spark in his eyes” as well as a “warm and loving nature.”
The team continued in their statement, “It wasn’t just Brett who literally grew up in this organization for more than 17 years—so did his wife, Jessica, and their two boys.”
In a statement shared by Brett’s former team, the outfielder and his family shared that after Miller and others had fallen ill while on vacation, the 14-year-old passed “peacefully in his sleep the morning of Friday, March 21.”
“Miller was a beloved son and brother,” they wrote, “and we cannot yet comprehend our life without his infectious smile.”
And amid their grief, the Gardner family expressed how they are still trying to determine what happened. As they added in their statement, “We have so many questions and so few answers at this point.”
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The day after Brett and Jessica revealed that Miller had died, the U.S. Embassy of Costa Rica told Inside Edition that the family was vacationing in the Central American country for spring break at the time of his death.
The Embassy also confirmed that it was in discussions with the Gardner family about transporting Miller’s body back to the U.S.
One day after Brett and Jessica announced the sudden passing of Miller, Costa Rican officials said the teenager likely died from suffocation after possibly ingesting a toxic substance.
“Preliminarily, apparently the manner of death would be by asphyxia after a possible intoxication after apparently ingesting some food,” an Organismo de Investigación Judicial spokesperson told NBC News in a statement translated from Spanish. “At the moment it is a death under investigation and is awaiting the results of the autopsy, as well as the analysis of the Toxicology Section, to determine the exact cause of death.”
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However, authorities soon ruled out suffocation as his cause of death, because they did not find any obstruction in his airways.
They shared instead that Miller—as well as his parents and sibling—had fallen ill on March 20 after returning to their hotel from a restaurant, agency spokesperson Juan Pablo Alvarado Garcia told NBC News March 25. Hotel medical staffers treated all four family members before Miller’s body was found in his room the next morning.
The investigation is ongoing and pending medical test results.
Two days after the Gardner family announced Miller’s death, the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort where the family was vacationing in Costa Rica shared their condolences.
“We are deeply saddened by this loss, and our hearts go out to the family during this incredibly difficult time,” a representative for the hotel said in a March 25 statement to People. “The factors that led to this tragic incident are unknown, and we are fully cooperating with authorities as they investigate.”
The resort added, “We remain committed to supporting our guests and staff, prioritizing their well-being and safety, while respecting the privacy of those affected.”
The hotel also denied responsibility for the Gardner family getting sick at a nearby restaurant hours before Miller’s death.
“The family did not eat at any of Arenas Del Mar’s restaurants for lunch or dinner the previous day,” the resort’s rep continued. “Additionally, on March 14th, we had an inspection by the Health Ministry in which the hotel passed with a 98.5 out of 100.”
The day after the resort where the Gardner family was staying spoke out, Juan Pablo Alvarado Garcia, a spokesperson for Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (JIA), confirmed that Miller’s autopsy results will be delayed by months due to high crime in the area.
“We’re having a hike in homicides as these drug gangs battle for territory,” he told DailyMail.com, “and every one of them needs an autopsy.”
He added, “I can confirm that an autopsy has been carried out on Miller, but the full analysis and results, as in every one of them, will take at least two to three months due to these constant killings causing a backlog of cases. That’s the reality.”
Alvarado Garcia did confirm, though, that there was no indication Miller’s death was a result of recreational drugs or alcohol.
Though the results will be delayed, the official explained that, since “all the samples necessary” had been taken for Miller’s autopsy, his body “can be repatriated to the United States,” however, the Gardner family has been held up by the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica’s processing of their request.
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