A mother is demanding answers after the mysterious death of her daughter while she was vacationing in Mexico.
Twenty-five-year-old Shanquella Robinson, of Charlotte, North Carolina, had travelled to Puerto Los Cabos in late October. A day after arriving at the paradisiac destiny, the Winston-Salem State University student was killed, according to Mexican authorities.
Shanquella’s mother, Sallamondra Robinson, told The Independent on Thursday that her daughter left the US on October 28 with a group of six people, who she believed were her friends. On October 29, the Robinsons were first informed by those individuals that Shanquella was sick with “alcohol poisoning.”
Ms Robinson said that she later spoke with a woman, who told her Shanquella had died. Ms Robinson continued communication with that woman, she claims, until she received an autopsy report that revealed Shanquella had suffered a broken neck and a severe spinal cord injury before dying.
“I couldn’t confront them really, because they were gone,” Ms Robinson told The Independent on Thursday. “I did talk to police. I didn’t talk to the other ones [again] because I didn’t see them anymore. They came [to our home] before the autopsy came. “
Mexican authorities said in a statement that they are now investigating Shanquella’s death as a feminicide, a term used by local police to describe the homicide of a woman on account of her gender.
The travelling party was allowed to return to the US after Shanquella’s death. Last month, a video circulating online appeared to show Shanquella being beaten by one of the women in the group at the luxury rental property where they were staying.
Five days after Shanquella’s funeral on 19 November, prosecutors said that her death was the result of a “direct attack” and not an accident.
A local doctor was with Shanquella for three hours before she was pronounced dead, according to The Charlotte Observer. She was initially found to be “dehydrated” but stable.
A police report said that the medical professional who responded to the scene advised that Shanquella should be transferred to a hospital, but the people present in the room insisted that she received treatment there.
Mexican police have since issued an arrest warrant for one of the women on the trip.
When contacted by The Independent, the FBI said there is an ongoing investigation but did not confirm whether any arrests or extraditions have been made at this time.
“I'm just trying to wait for somebody to be arrested. The FBI is not telling anything,” Ms Robinson told The Independent.
She said that she did not believe her daughter had any issues with the people she travelled with but “they may have fallen out when they” arrived in Mexico.
Shanquella’s father, Bernard Robinson, told The Washington Post that he called the property’s management to locate his daughter’s body on 30 October.
He said that a worker at the rental was the first person who came forward with information about the real circumstances surrounding Shanquella’s death.
“She is an angel. She’s the one who first told us the truth,” Mr Robinson told the Post. “She said: ‘Mr Robinson, your daughter didn’t die of alcohol poisoning. She died of a broken neck.’”
Ms Robinson said her daughter was an entrepreneur and had two businesses — Exquisite Babies and Exquisite Boutique —, where she braided children’s hair and sold clothes.
“She was a good person, loved people, loved life,” Ms Robinson said. “You know, she had harder goals. She didn't mess with nobody.”
The family has created a GoFundMe page for legal fees and other critical expenses as they continue to demand answers about what happened to Shanquella.
