Costa Rican authorities completed their investigation into the death of U.S. tourist Lauren Levis, who died in a hotel in August 2024 while using iboga, a potent naturally occurring drug that can cause heart attacks. After almost eight months of investigations, on March 13, the Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) of Nicoya sent a report on the case to the local Prosecutor’s Office.
Lauren Levis arrived in Costa Rica on Friday, August 2, 2024, as confirmed by the records. She checked into Soul Centro Iboga Retreat on Saturday, August 3. The soulcentro.com website confirmed the scheduled start of a retreat that day. On the second day, she participated in a first-night “ceremony,” which, according to the establishment’s session schedules, began around 8:00 p.m. According to the family, the event continued throughout the night.
Lauren participated in this ritual, which was confirmed by the facility’s managers to the Levis family. The ceremony traditionally begins with the ingestion of iboga root, which typically causes vomiting and discomfort. It is presumed that a substance called “total alkaloid” was also used, which is reportedly a processed and more concentrated version of iboga root. Allegedly, this substance is more tolerable for digestion.
Witnesses told the American’s family that she began sweating profusely and had an intense physical reaction. Lauren personally requested to be put on an IV because she felt extremely dehydrated. At approximately 6:00 a.m. the next day, after the ceremony concluded, they attempted to intervene. However, at that time, her veins collapsed, and they were unable to administer the IV in her arm due to very low blood pressure. Unable to initiate fluid replacement, Lauren was reportedly escorted to the shower in her room. It was there that she apparently suffered a heart attack, sometime between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.
“My sister passed away there, on the shower floor of this particular facility. What happened next was truly discouraging and distant. We received essentially a quick message, an email saying please call us, but then they did not answer their phone all day,” her brother said. She had paid about $4,000 for a “treatment,” unaware that this ibogaine is illegal in the country. The hotel was advertised on travel websites such as Tripadvisor and Retreat Guru as a retreat center dedicated to rehabilitation using ibogaine, a substance extracted from a shrub that contains naturally occurring psychoactive compounds.
