Surely Miller, a 42-year-old Pennsvylania yoga teacher, was found dead in the Dominican Republic on June 12, 2019, the 11tAmerican to die in the country in the last 12 months. (Surely Miller/Facebook)
A yoga teacher became the ninth American to die in the Dominican Republic in the last year after fishermen found her body on June 12, a day after she vanished at the beach.
Surely Miller, a 42-year-old Pennsvylania resident, was found two nautical miles from the beach where she was swimming, reported La Nacion Dominicana. A fisherman spotted the body and took it to shore.
Authorities said they were going to conduct an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.
Miller vanished on Tuesday afternoon in a strong wave, her friend said. She was seen raising her hands but the witness was unable to save her.
According to the website, Miller was the daughter of Dominican parents and the mother of three children.
Tribe Yoga, where Miller taught, confirmed her death on Wednesday, telling Facebook followers a class would be held in her honor, "dedicated to her beautiful spirit," on Thursday evening.
According to Miller's website, she also gave private lessons at her studio in Slatington. It said she was a trained yoga teacher whose classes "are filled with technique and alignment cues."
Miller's education in the practice included studies in New York, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.
She was the second Lehigh Valley woman to die in the Caribbean country this year.
Miranda Schaup-Werner, a 41-year-old psychotherapist who also lived in the area of Pennsylvania, died on May 25 after suddenly collapsing in her room.
She was with her husband, Daniel Werner, in their room at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville.
“At one point, she was sitting there happily smiling and taking pictures and the next moment she was in acute pain and called out for Dan and she collapsed,” Jay McDonald, a spokesperson for Schaup-Werner’s family, told WPXI.
Werner, a doctor, tried performing CPR but his wife's heart stopped and she was soon declared dead.
Miranda Schaup-Werner with her husband, Daniel Werner, in a file photo. She passed away on May 25, 2019, in the Dominican Republic. Authorities later said the cause of death was a heart attack. Miranda Werner/Facebook
Miranda Schaup-Werner in a file photo. Miranda Werner/Twitter
“On the same day Mrs. Schaup-Werner arrived to the hotel, she was found unresponsive in her hotel room,” Bahia Principe said in a statement, citing the Dominican National Institute of Forensic Sciences and the National Police Investigations Unit. “Mrs. Schaup-Werner’s cause of death was determined to be a heart attack, aligning with official statements provided by Mr. Werner, who confirmed she had a history of heart conditions.”
McDonald said the family would be conducting "an independent medical review" once the body was transported to the United States.
The death was sudden and shocking, McDonald, Werner’s brother-in-law, told Fox News.
“It was very quick,” he said. “Daniel and all of us are in a state of disbelief, we are shocked. She was perfectly content, everything seemed fine.”
He said that paramedics who rushed into the room injected the woman with epinephrine, a treatment for allergies, before declaring her dead.
Authorities “did a very cursory [look] into determining the cause of death,” he added.
