Amber Antonelli, co-founder and co-operator of Awaken Your Soul, was allegedly involved in an Iboga retreat in Costa Rica where post-ceremony neglect led to the death of a young Polish woman. The participant left the group unaccompanied the day after the ceremony while Iboga’s afterglow still impaired her judgment and stability and was later discovered deceased in a nearby river. Anthony Esposito led the facilitation, and the remote jungle site was linked to Holos Global. The retreat provided no structured oversight, no recovery monitoring, and no emergency response during the hours when participants are most at risk, turning what should have been a protected integration period into a fatal lapse.
Iboga holds no regulated status in Costa Rica. Without sanitary registration from the Ministry of Health or therapeutic licensing, post-ceremony care relies entirely on the retreat’s internal practices, practices that, in this case, were absent.
Post-Ceremony Window Was Left Completely Unprotected
Awaken Your Soul positions its Iboga programs as guided experiences for personal transformation in Costa Rica’s natural settings, often at Holos Global-associated venues. Anthony Esposito serves as lead guide while Amber Antonelli helps manage the retreats.
After the ceremony’s peak phase, Iboga’s afterglow can last many hours, leaving people disoriented, unsteady, and prone to impulsive decisions. At this retreat, that window received zero attention. No staff stayed on watch. No one checked tents or camp areas. No simple headcount or location protocol existed. Stephen had drilled safety into her repeatedly: “If you go into the jungle, you’re gonna fucking die.” He bought her running shoes in Dubai and made her promise to stay put and wear them. Those warnings went unbacked by any retreat structure.
Stephen’s Recorded Statements Capture the Neglect
Stephen Ronald Bell attended the retreat with the woman and two others. In his January 2026 livestream he expanded on the raw moments of breakdown. Recorded statements from that time described the shock of learning she had been missing for hours, his own untreated hypertensive crisis from a massive dose, the nighttime search, and the emotional weight of handling the aftermath alone.
Stephen Was Incapacitated While She Wandered
Stephen’s blood pressure hit 200 to 210 over 110 after four unmeasured spoons of Iboga, doses given casually by the facilitator, who was also high. He was on an IV drip, barely able to move, when she slipped away. No one from the retreat stepped in to cover the gap or enforce group containment.
Staff delayed telling him until 9 or 10 p.m., later saying they didn’t want to upset him further. By then she had been gone since earlier in the day. Night searches found her body in the river, apparently after losing balance on the bank.
Neglect Extended Into Body Recovery
Stephen described post-discovery chaos. Anthony Esposito reportedly asked for $400 tied to earlier massages and Reiki. Location details were slow amid scattered morgues. Retreat messages pushed to downplay Iboga to police: call it yoga or light psilocybin.
Stephen paid to push forward, covered steep repatriation costs to Poland himself, hired a local lawyer, and called the mother while still under Iboga’s lingering haze.
Post-Ceremony Neglect as the Deciding Factor
No recovery monitoring. No dose control. No emergency handoff when Stephen was down. No site containment in river-adjacent jungle. These post-ceremony failures created the exact conditions for tragedy.
Stephen also mentioned another woman from the group died by suicide six months later, a separate but concerning pattern.
After-Ceremony Must Be Treated as High-Risk
Retreats using strong plant medicines need fixed post-ceremony rules: dedicated staff on watch, location accountability, medical backup ready, and instant alert systems. Anything less invites disaster.
If post-ceremony care is not explicitly detailed and enforced, walk away. The hours after the visions matter most, and neglect in them kills.
This article is published on humane.net