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Hotel Housekeeper Hospitalized After Encountering Mystery Substance

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Detectives still determining if it was explosives, drugs, or just talcum powder.

A housekeeper at the Park Hyatt New York was hospitalized Tuesday after encountering a powdery white substance in one of the hotel’s rooms.

Initial tests on the residue came back positive for traces of an explosive substance, prompting an evacuation of the hotel’s 11th floor. However, all subsequent tests came back negative.

NYPD officials are still piecing together the story. But is believed that a family, who checked out of the hotel around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, may have dropped one of their five keys.

A suspect — identified through surveillance video — swiped into the 11th-floor room around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night and left around 10:30 a.m. the next morning.

The suspect, John Taddei of Queens — described as “homeless” and with 16 previous “low level” arrests — is now in custody.

The housekeeper encountered the substance, which was near the bathroom sink, when she came to clean the room on Tuesday.

Around 1:20 p.m., she became dizzy and nauseous, and was hospitalized. She is expected to make a full recovery.

According to WABC, Taddei told detectives the substance was talcum powder that he used after showering.

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