‘I feel drugged’: Kandace Florence's harrowing last message to boyfriend before death at Mexico Airbnb
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO: The boyfriend of one of the three Americans who lost their lives while vacationing in Mexico has revealed the harrowing texts he received hours before their deaths. Kandace Florence’s boyfriend Victor Day spoke with PEOPLE and disclosed that the 28-year-old had told him that she “felt drugged’ after partying with co-travelers Jordan Marshall, 28, and Courtez Hall, 33.
He told the publication, “Everything was good. She just said that they were out, they were drinking, everything was fine.” Day also stated that he had seen Florence’s Instagram Stories that showed her having fun at what seemed like a rooftop bar with the other two victims. The posts suggested that they were drinking wine.
ALSO READ
Autopsy reveals shocking reason behind deaths of 3 US citizens who were found dead at Mexico Airbnb
Josh Wilson: West Virginia man found shot dead on vacation after giving ride to stranger
However, around two hours after the “fine” text, Day received another message from her, which read, “I'm just not okay. I wanna go home.” The man said, “And I write her, ‘You're not enjoying it. What's wrong though?’ She says, ‘I feel drugged.’ And I say, ‘Where's Jordan? Are you home or out?’”
Day also shared that when he asked Florence if she took any drugs while partying or if someone gave her something without her knowledge, she replied in the negative. But the way she was feeling, she claimed, “I feel like I took Molly.” The boyfriend said, “Her last text to me was, 'I wasn't complacent’,” which she reportedly sent at 4.47 in the morning of October 30.
Day went on to explain, “Three minutes later, she FaceTimes me. And that's when I clearly see she's vomiting. She's been crying. I mean her whole face was wet, crying or vomiting or maybe she splashed water on her face.” He noted that in between the phone call, he slept for “five, 10 minutes” and when he got up, “The phone screen is pitch black as if she put the phone down or the phone fell. But the camera side is facing the ground. So I don't see anything. But I could hear something going on in the background and I put the phone to my ear, and it sounds like her vomiting or dry heaving, or both.”
Recalling the moments that followed, Day told PEOPLE that he thought “everything's going to be okay. She'll go to sleep. She'll wake up the next morning and she'll tell me all about what could have happened.” He added, “And so that to me is what eats me up. Because knowing that I could have helped a little bit more, knowing that at that moment I probably could have called the police. I could have done something but instead I went to sleep.”
After getting up the next day, Day sent a message to Florence, asking, “How are you feeling? Is everything okay?” But “about 30, 45 minutes pass, I don't get anything. And I started to think, I was like, Well, it seemed like she did have a night. She's probably just oversleeping,” he said.
But even after an hour had passed, Florence did not answer, making Day restless. He stated, “And then that's when it clicked. Something is terribly wrong. I need someone to check on the apartment. And we go back and forth for a little bit and eventually she tells me, okay, she's sending her security into the apartment.”
A few minutes later, Day claimed that he got a message from the Airbnb host, who told him “they found all three of them in the apartment unresponsive without vital signs.” Later, the host texted him, saying, “They were all pronounced deceased.” The boyfriend commented, “I refused to believe that they were dead. It seemed so surreal, it didn't feel real."
“And so I began to ask her, I'm like, 'Did the police do anything? Did y'all, did they try in Mexico to save their lives?' And she assured me. She was like, 'Oh, of course. Of course, they tried. And unfortunately it's just, it's too late. They've all passed.” Day added that after Florence, it is “tough” for him “but I know Kandace is looking down and trying to give me strength.”