A heartbroken relatives of a female who died together with her partner after ingesting contaminated homemade beverage say they are desperate for accountability.
Greta Otteson, 33, and Arno Quinton, 36, were located without life on Boxing Day in the coastal city, Vietnam, as a consequence of toxic alcohol consumption.
Just moments earlier, she had contacted her mother and father, her relatives, to say she had "the worst ill feeling ever" and was going to lie down, but she never woke up.
A bartender who reportedly prepared the drink was arrested in February and is being detained without charge. The family explain they have had no further updates from the authorities.
"It's about accountability," said Paul, noting: "We are unable to heal."
The harmful substance is a type of alcohol commonly present in household chemicals, energy sources and coolants.
It is like ethanol, which is used for alcoholic drinks, but it is cheaper and far deadlier to individuals due to the way it is handled by the human system.
At the parents' home in their village, Carmarthenshire, a pair of square bags rest next to the steps – the first has a pink bunny resting on top, the second, a childhood memento.
They keep Greta and Arno's ashes.
"The urns stay in the lounge with the family," shared the father, a retired project manager. "I want to give them a final resting place, but we feel we are unable to do that until we get a proper conclusion."
The woman had been living in the coastal town with Arno, her foreign boyfriend of nearly two years, where the couple managed a accommodation leasing spaces to visitors.
Their daughter was an only child, referred to by her dad as "marvellous", a "independent soul" and a "dedicated individual" who educated herself in the UK, Europe and Los Angeles.
In the autumn month, Paul, in his seventies and Susan, seventy, had travelled to Vietnam, getting to know Greta's partner for the very first moment, and the pair shared their engagement shortly afterwards.
"It was heartwarming – the family were so content," said Paul, who pictured the man as "calm but highly intelligent" and someone he "would have loved to have as a son in law."
During their visit, the parents ate a several times at a local restaurant, a famous establishment, where they appreciated the food and were given complimentary servings of house-made specialty drink at the end.
A few weeks later, when the couple had returned from the country and were attempting to think of a holiday present for their daughter and her partner, they recalled the venue and its products of limoncello and opted to arrange delivery for a number of them for transport to their loved one's house.
It was a action that would have the heartbreaking consequences.
Just hours of trying the beverage, the woman wrote to her family on the holiday to say she had a awful headache and was noticing dizziness but brushed off advice from them, and a friend who had stopped by, to seek professional assistance.
The couple were pronounced dead in individual spaces of the home on Boxing Day. Hours later, her family were on a plane to the country.
The father recalled the intense public speculation that followed as well as the challenge to handle the formalities of coping with a loss in a different country.
Later not long before autopsies showed the couple had succumbed from lethal toxic ingestion.
In February, investigators detained a bartender who was employed in a restaurant in the city for "violating rules on consumable products" by "employing used strong industrial spirit, combined with tap water, lemon peel and granulated sugar to produce multiple containers of the beverage."
As per Vietnamese regulations, the violation could result in a maximum sentence of multiple years.
Many of people are harmed by the substance each year in the region, according to medical organizations.
Their deaths came mere days after six people were killed of methanol poisoning in Southeast Asia, a nation which shares a boundary with Vietnam.
The family were told investigations are slow in the country, with the chance of a individual being held for a extended period before being charged or released.
Her parents expressed the wait for information was becoming intolerable.
"I just want justice," said Paul. "The family can't move on. My wife asks daily when we rise, 'any news? Is there developments?' I have to say 'nothing, no news at this time'."
"This situation is about answers," he noted. "A resolution for me and Susan would be identifying the parties involved and charging them."
The couple mentioned they also felt "extremely angered" the establishment where they had purchased the product was operating as usual and had not formally expressed regret.
"The management just continued as if no tragedy has occurred," said the father.
For the family, the sorrow is still very intense.
Paul
