A Greenfield, Wisconsin couple appeared on Megyn Kelly TODAY Monday to discuss their harrowing experience and injuries sustained because of tainted alcohol in Mexico.
Heidi and Corey Sorrem were celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary at a Mexican resort in September 2016 when they had a drink and a shot at the pool, went back to their hotel room and passed out.
Corey woke up to find his wife outside with head injuries where she may have fallen off the balcony.
A local hospital demanded $4,000 up front before they would treat her and put stitches in. The couple paid the money and headed home a couple of days later.
Heidi soon learned that what the Mexican doctors said was mild brain trauma, turned out to be a fractured skull and bruising on her brain.
"From what we had and for how I was feeling, there was no chance it was normal," Corey said of the reaction they had to the small amount of alcohol.
The couple later read an investigation in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about tainted alcohol and the mysterious death of 20-year-old Abbey O'Connor, a Pewaukee woman who was staying at a resort only 4 miles away from the same resort where they stayed. The investigation found more than 100 travelers who said they also blacked out from small amounts of alcohol at Mexican resorts.
Mexican officials said investigations conducted by state and federal authorities found no problems.
In July, the U.S. State Department warned about tainted alcohol, but Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson believes more should be done.
"People have come out of the woodwork that experienced similar symptoms, so you realize this just isn't an isolated incident or an isolated tragedy, this is a pattern, and a very disturbing pattern," Johnson said.
The Sorrems don't believe that Heidi actually fell off the balcony and are searching for answers.
"It makes me angry that you go there for a good time and other people had other intentions," Corey said.
Raquel Rutledge, the reporter who broke the story, also appeared on TODAY, and said that tainted alcohol takes many forms, and could be contaminated with industrial alcohol, tequila-flavored powder or other substances.
It's not clear if the aim of the alleged scheme is to get the money at the Mexican hospital.
