Australian teen and British woman who drank tainted alcohol in Laos have died, bringing toll to 5

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — An Australian teenager and a British woman have died after drinking tainted alcohol in Laos in what Australia’s prime minister on Thursday said was every parent’s nightmare.

An American and two Danish tourists also died, officials said, following reports that several people had been sickened in a Laotian town popular with backpackers.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament that 19-year-old Bianca Jones had died after being evacuated from Vang Vieng, Laos for treatment in a Thai hospital. Her friend, also 19, remains hospitalized in neighboring Thailand.

“This is every parent’s very worst fear and a nightmare that no one should have to endure,” Albanese said. "We also take this moment to say that we’re thinking of Bianca’s friend Holly Bowles who is fighting for her life."

Later Thursday, the British government confirmed that a U.K. national also died of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos. The Foreign Office said “we are supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Laos, and we are in contact with the local authorities.”

She was identified by British media outlets as 28-year-old Simone White, a lawyer with the firm Squire Patton Boggs.

The victims are believed to have consumed drinks tainted with methanol, which is sometimes added to mixed-drinks at disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, but can cause severe poisoning or death.

Telephone numbers listed for Laos’ Health Ministry did not work and police refused to comment on the incident.

Australia said “several foreign nationals” had also been victims of methanol poisoning. The U.S. State Department confirmed that an American had also died in Vang Vieng, and Denmark's Foreign Ministry said two of its citizens had also died in “the incident in Laos,” but neither would comment directly on a link to the methanol poisoning that killed Jones.

Shaun Bowles told reporters outside Bangkok Hospital on Wednesday that his daughter remained in critical condition and on life support.

“We just like to thank everyone from back home for all of the support and love that we’re receiving,” he said. “But we’d also like the people to appreciate right now, we just need privacy so we can spend as much time as we can with Holly.”

In a statement to the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper, Jones' family asked for privacy in their grief.

“She was surrounded by love, and we are comforted by the knowledge that her incredible spirit touched so many lives during her time with us,” the family wrote.

“We want to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support, love, and prayers we’ve received from across Australia.”

The U.S. State Department said local authorities were investigating the case and were responsible for providing any details, and that the U.S. was providing consular assistance.

“We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,” the State Department said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press.

Landlocked Laos is one of Southeast Asia's poorest nations and a popular tourist destination. Vang Vieng is particularly popular among backpackers seeking partying and adventure sports.

Details on the alcohol poisoning began trickling out about a week after the two Australian women fell ill on Nov. 13 following a night out drinking with a group in the remote town.

Thai authorities confirmed that Jones had died by “brain swelling due to high levels of methanol found in her system.”

“Drink spiking and methanol poisoning are far too common in many parts of the world,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said after receiving news of Jones' death.

"At this time I would say to parents, to young people, please have a conversation about risks, please inform yourselves, please let’s work together to ensure this tragedy doesn’t happen again.”

New Zealand's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that one of its citizens was also unwell in Laos and could be a victim of methanol poisoning.

“We have updated our travel advisory for Laos to note that there have been several cases of suspected methanol poisoning after consuming alcoholic drinks,” New Zealand's Foreign Ministry said.

“Travelers are advised to be cautious about consuming alcoholic beverages, particularly cocktails and drinks made with spirits that may have been adulterated with harmful substances.”

Australia also updated its travel advice, cautioning that several foreign nationals had been victims of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos this month. The U.S. did not immediately issue an updated travel advisory.

On Tuesday, Duong Duc Toan, manager of the Nana Backpacker Hostel where the two Australian women stayed in Vang Vieng, told the AP that staff were told by other guests that the two women were unwell after they failed to check out as planned on Nov. 13, and they arranged transport to a hospital for them.

The women were then taken to Thailand for emergency medical treatment and their parents flew in to be with them.

“All Australians offer them our deepest sympathy in this time of heartbreak,” Albanese said.

“Bianca’s trip should have been a joyous time and a source of fond memories in years to come,” he said. “It is beyond sad that this was not to be.”

Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press reporters Jutarat Skulpichetrat in Bangkok; Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia; Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

This photo shows the exterior of Bangkok Hospital, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

This photo shows the exterior of Bangkok Hospital, in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A woman cleans the floor at Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

A woman carries a baby as she walks by the Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Foreign tourists relax at a swimming pool at Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Foreign tourists relax at a swimming pool at Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

A woman swipes the floor as foreign tourists check out of Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

A foreign tourist buys coffee at Nana Backpack hostel bar in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpack hostel sits in the bar of the hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpack hostel displays a bottle of vodka, in the bar of the hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

A notice displayed at the bar of Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

A man plays pool at Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Foreign tourists walk in a street near bars in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Tourists eat food at Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Foreign tourists drink beer at a bar near a river in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpack hostel displays a bottle of vodka, in the bar of the hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Tourists talk to a bar owner in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Foreign tourists have a drink at a night club at Nana Backpack hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A white former Kansas City police officer who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man was released from prison Friday after Missouri’s governor commuted his sentence to parole.

The decision by Republican Gov. Mike Parson to free Eric DeValkenaere came after months of public debate about the case, which had fueled both racial justice protests and impassioned pleas for mercy from DeValkenaere's supporters who asserted he had been unjustly convicted.

DeValkenaere was serving a six-year prison sentence. He was convicted in 2021 of killing 26-year-old Cameron Lamb as he backed into his garage. Lamb’s name was invoked frequently during racial injustice protests in Kansas City in 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Lamb’s family even met with then-President Donald Trump that year.

Parson did not pardon DeValkenaere but rather shortened his sentence to parole, subject to normal restrictions against possessing firearms, traveling out of state without permission and other items. He granted a similar commutation of parole to Patty Prewitt, another high-profile prisoner who had spent 40 years behind bars for her husband’s killing.

The Department of Corrections confirmed both were freed Friday afternoon, before Parson publicly announced his decisions. DeValkenaere had been held in an out-of-state prison for his own safety, said Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann.

Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, which supports DeValkenaere, said they “will continue to fight to completely clear” his name. Johnson said in a statement that DeValkenaere had an outstanding record of service, adding: "While we strongly maintain that Eric is completely innocent, even those who do not must recognize that the ends of justice are not served by his incarceration.”

The clemency announcements came just weeks before Parson is to end his term, capping a historic string of such actions. Parson, a former rural sheriff, has pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 800 people while clearing a backlog of more than 3,500 clemency requests he inherited upon taking office in June 2018. That's the most granted clemency cases of any Missouri governor since the 1940s. Most granted clemency had been convicted of lower-level crimes involving drugs or theft. But Parson also denied more than 3,000 clemency petitions.

Gwendolyn Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, said the DeValkenaere clemency decision will tarnish Parson's legacy and “will fuel deeper divisions and ignite justified outrage."

Grant called Parson's decision “nothing short of a flagrant endorsement of systemic racism and a betrayal of justice. By freeing a convicted officer who unlawfully killed Cameron Lamb, a young Black man, the governor has made it crystal clear that Black lives do not matter in the state of Missouri under his leadership.”

At trial, DeValkenaere testified that he fired his weapon on Dec. 3, 2019, after Lamb pointed a gun at another detective, Troy Schwalm, and that he believed his actions saved his partner’s life.

Prosecutors, however, argued that police shouldn’t have been on the property and staged the shooting scene to support their claims that Lamb was armed.

“DeValkenaere was convicted for killing an unarmed man. Period," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a social media post Friday. “He was shown incredible mercy by the Governor. No such mercy was shown to the victims. Today we will focus our time caring for Cameron’s family rather than commenting further.”

Messages left with attorneys for the Lamb family were not immediately returned Friday.

Evidence presented during the trial, which was held without a jury at DeValkenaere’s request, showed that DeValkenaere kicked over a barricade to get into Lamb's backyard.

The trial judge, Dale Youngs, said the officers had no warrant for Lamb’s arrest and had no search warrant or consent to be on the property. He called it a tragic case with troubling facts and said DeValkenaere and the officer with him escalated a situation that had been calmed. He didn’t address allegations that evidence had been planted.

DeValkenaere left the police force after his conviction but remained free on bond until he lost his appeal in October 2023. The Missouri Supreme Court subsequently declined to hear an appeal.

DeValkenaere’s wife, Sarah DeValkenaere, took to social media earlier this week — as she had done often — urging followers to request a pardon.

“I miss him so much,” she said in a message on X in November. “So sad that an officer who dedicated his life to serving our city is now in prison for doing his job.”

Parson did not not offer an explanation for his clemency decisions while announcing them Friday. But he had previously acknowledged the pressure in an interview in August on KCMO Talk Radio.

“There’s not a week that goes by that somebody’s not reaching out to me about that issue, and we’re going to see what happens here before long. I’ll leave it at that. But you know, I don’t like where he’s at. I’ll just say that,” Parson said.

Prewitt, now 75, had filed multiple clemency requests over the years. She was serving a life sentence after being convicted of fatally shooting her husband, Bill Prewitt, in 1984 as he slept in their home in the rural east-central Missouri town of Holden.

Prewitt, a mother of five, said a stranger broke into the house. She declined a plea deal that would have given her the chance for parole after five to seven years. Prosecutors said Prewitt cheated on her husband and her ex-lovers testified at trial in 1985 that she had talked about killing Bill Prewitt.

But Patty Prewitt’s backers argued that her relationship with her husband was improving and that the evidence of her infidelity would not be allowed in court today. In addition, Georgetown University law students examining the case found prosecutors failed to tell defense attorneys that two days after Prewitt’s husband was killed, a neighbor told investigators she had seen a man parked at the end of a nearby dirt road in heavy rain on the night of the murder.

Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas. Associated Press writer Steve Karnowski contributed from Minneapolis.

FILE - Former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere listens to witness statements during his sentencing hearing, March 4, 2022, in Kansas City, Mo. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star via AP, File)