Couple Seemed 'Exhausted' on Family Video Chat from the Dominican Republic. The Next Day, They Were Found Dead by Son (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• The bodies of Alain Noël, 56, and Christine Sauvé, 55, of Québec, were found by their son at the couple’s vacation home in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 26
• Her brother tells PEOPLE that the couple hadn't been feeling well before their deaths and seemed "exhausted" when they last spoke the following day
• “It's a big loss," he says

A married couple from Canada were found dead while vacationing in the Dominican Republic last month. As family members await answers about what happened, they're speaking out about the couple's final moments.

Christine Sauvé, 55, and Alain Noël, 56, both of Québec, were found dead by their son in their vacation home located in the El Indio Village residential complex in Villa Riva on Friday, Dec. 26, her brother, Gilles Sauvé Jr., confirms to PEOPLE.

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Autopsies have already been performed and Gilles says the family's been told they can expect initial results later this week, but that a final report could take up to 4 months.

Without any definitive answers just yet, there's been lots of speculation in the local press, including questions about whether the couple were murdered or died by suicide. But, Gilles believes "that is not true."

Christine and Alain were married for over 30 years and raised two kids — Jonathan, 30, and Sabrina, 28 — Gilles says, describing the couple as good people with lots of friends.

"Alain was a big man but a really big teddy bear. And Christine was amazing," her brother says. "She liked to do a lot of things for the family.”

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Christine and Alain arrived in the Dominican Republic — where they got a house they planned to live in after retiring — along with their son Jonathan on Dec. 14 for the start of a month-long vacation.

While overseas, Gilles says that Christine began experiencing dizziness and had a fall, which prompted her to go to a hospital on Dec. 25, where she had her blood work done. When she went home later that day, she was not given any prescription for her symptoms, but was told to come back the following day for some scans.

Gilles says that Alain had also experienced a little dizziness, but was so caught up in worry about his wife's health that he didn't end up mentioning it to doctors.

After coming back from the hospital, the couple FaceTimed their family back in Canada. Gilles says they both appeared to be a "little bit exhausted," but didn't report feeling dizzy at the time.

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During the conversation, Christine mentioned having no clue what caused the dizziness. She wondered if it might have anything to do with her ongoing health issues — they both had high blood pressure and diabetes — although she couldn't say for sure.

"It was not clear," Gilles says. "There was nothing really clear about it."

Additionally, they both mentioned having a bit of a "stomach problem," but didn't think they'd eaten any food that upset them.

Mostly, they were "very tired and exhausted," but otherwise fine during the call, according to Gilles.

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"Alain showed me his house outside because he did some new little garden things and put lights on and," he says, adding that his sister was also "looking and talking" well.

The next morning, when Jonathan woke up around 9:30 a.m., he noticed his parents hadn’t gotten up yet, which was odd because Alain, who worked in the family construction business, was usually an early riser.

Gilles says Jonathan brushed it off at the time, thinking they'd slept in because they'd been so tired the night before. However, when they still hadn't woken up an hour later, he went into their room and found them unresponsive in bed.

The first thing that Jonathan did, says Gilles, was call his sister Sabrina and tell her that their parents were not breathing. Sabrina then told her brother to call the resort manager-owner, who proceeded to contact local authorities.

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“Everybody came and they did what they had to do and they searched the house,” Gilles says.

Gilles and Sabrina arrived in the Dominican Republic about a day and a half later to be with Jonathan and help communicate with Dominican authorities, which have been difficult due to the language barrier.

Canadian officials reached out to the family four days later to give them the phone number of the funeral home, which they'd already reached out to.

Global Affairs Canada previously confirmed their deaths to Global News, saying they were in contact with local authorities "to gather more information" amid the ongoing investigation, but were not able to release any further information due to privacy considerations.

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Neither the Dominican National Police, the National Institute of Forensic Sciences, the Attorney General’s Office in the Dominican Republic nor Global Affairs Canada responded to PEOPLE's request for additional comment.

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More than a week after the tragedy, Gilles says the family is doing okay, but the deaths of their loved ones have been hard to process.

“It's a big loss," he says, noting that losing them both at the same time has made everything harder, especially for their kids.

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As for how he wants Alain and Christine to be remembered, her brother says it's for their legacy of kindness.

Sharing an example, Gilles says that when his wife died a year and a half ago from leukemia, his sister stepped up to help take care of his daughter, who also works in the family business. Now, in the wake of his sister's death, he says he'll do whatever he can to be there for her kids.

Gilles adds, "I have two kids, but now I have four kids because I will take care of theirs.”

Read the original article on People

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