What happened to Shanquella Robinson? A mysterious death, a sickening viral video and an autopsy that doesn’t add up

Shanquella Robinson traveled to the resort city of San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, with six college associates for a week-long keep in a luxurious condominium on October 28. Inside 24 hours of their arrival, the 25-year-old was lifeless. Ms Robinson’s associates delivered her suitcases to her heartbroken mother and father Bernard and Salamondra in Charlotte, North Carolina, and claimed she had died of alcohol poisoning after a day of heavy ingesting.

The chums’ story was discredited when an post-mortem launched on November 10 revealed Ms Robinson had suffered a “extreme spinal cord injury” and damaged neck quarter-hour earlier than her dying (the dying certificates was obtained by The Impartial.)

Then, on November 15, horrifying footage emerged on-line of a unadorned Shanquella being brutally overwhelmed in a resort lodge room.

Within the roughly 20-second lengthy clip, a feminine aggressor approaches Shanquella and knocks her to the bottom, earlier than delivering a flurry of brutal punches and kicks. A inclined Shanquella slumps, defenseless, to the ground in response. Though her attacker is absolutely clothed, she is inexplicably bare. A person seemingly filming the assault taunts Shanquella whereas doing nothing to intervene. “No less than struggle again, one thing,” he will be heard saying.

Shanquella’s father Bernard Robinson verified it was his daughter within the footage in an interview with TMZ and mentioned he believes that the assault was premeditated by the folks she thought have been her associates. “My daughter’s not a fighter man, she’s not a fighter, under no circumstances,” he mentioned.

The disturbing clip of the assault went viral on social media, and within the face of obvious inaction from authorities, the hashtag #justiceforquella quickly started trending on Fb, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. Since then, main discrepancies have emerged between the Mexican authorities’ official account of what transpired earlier than Shanquella’s dying and what others claimed occurred that evening.

A police report supplied to The Impartial by Gerardo Zuñiga, an investigative reporter for MetropliMx, revealed emergency responders handled Shanquella in her condominium for almost 4 hours earlier than she died. In that report, police declare that the alarm was first raised at 2.23pm on October 29, simply someday after Ms Robinson and her associates arrived on the luxurious resort. A physician arrived an hour later to search out Shanquella verbally unresponsive. Not lengthy afterwards, she suffered a seizure.

The police report states that associates refused the physician’s suggestions that Shanquella be transferred to hospital, insisting she stay on the resort. It was solely when dying appeared imminent that an ambulance was known as. Ms Robinson went into cardiac arrest, after which a health care provider reportedly administered 14 rounds of CPR, and gave her 5 doses of adrenaline and 6 discharges of a defibrillator. These efforts have been in useless, and he or she was finally pronounced lifeless at 5.57pm.

This four-hour-long saga appears in direct opposition to the dying certificates which describes Ms Robinson dying simply quarter-hour after struggling a damaged neck. Certainly, it’s unclear if the physician who handled Shanquella was conscious that she was affected by a catastrophic spinal injury or whether or not her associates’ insistence that she had alcohol poisoning affected the therapy she was given.

The FBI’s Charlotte Discipline Workplace has opened an investigation into Shanquella’s dying, whereas the physician who handled her and the 2 law enforcement officials are additionally reportedly below investigation by Mexican authorities, in line with MetropoliMx. Moreover, the Baja California state legal professional common’s workplace is investigating Shanquella’s dying as a doable “femicide”, a type of gender-based violence.

On 23 November, prosecutors in Mexico issued an arrest warrant for one of many travelling group. The suspect has not been formally named.

“Truly it wasn’t a quarrel, however as an alternative a direct aggression,” Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, a prosecutor for the state of Baja California Sur, instructed MetropoliMx.

“We’re finishing up all of the pertinent procedures such because the Interpol alert and the request for extradition to america of America. It’s about two Individuals, the sufferer and the perpetrator.”

Shanquella’s grieving household haven’t responded to requests for remark from The Impartial. However in a number of interviews, they are saying they’re determined for solutions from the so-called associates who travelled to Mexico along with her, who on-line activists have dubbed “the Cabo 6”.

‘The place y’all at?’

San Jose del Cabo, a port city on the southern tip of Baja California, is a vacationer hotspot that draws round three million worldwide guests a yr. Identified for its white sand seashores, turquoise water and energetic nightlife, Cabo is a favorite of younger American travellers searching for journey.

Shanquella, a graduate of Winston-Salem State College who ran a magnificence and hair-braiding enterprise known as Beautiful Children in her hometown of Charlotte, checked into the $2,500-a-night Villa Linda 32 on the Puerto Los Cabos resort in Fundadores on October 28 with the touring celebration. The celebration included 4 girls and 6 males.

In a video clip thought to have been shot the day of their arrival and shared by the Neighbourhood Discuss Instagram account, Shanquella seems in good spirits as she jokes that her associates are taking too lengthy to prepare. “It don’t take that lengthy to get bare. The place y’all at?” she says whereas strolling across the villa, asking which swimsuits the others are going to put on.

In keeping with the police report, Dr Karolina Beatriz Ornelas Gutiérrez, a medic from the close by American Medical Middle, arrived on the Villa Linda 32 resort at 3.15pm on 29 October. Medical callouts are comparatively frequent for US vacationers in Mexico.

Within the police doc, which is in Spanish, Dr Gutierrez says she was instructed that Shanquella had consumed a number of alcohol and required an IV drip. The medic states that Shanquella seemed to be intoxicated and was not capable of talk verbally. She beneficial that the affected person be transferred to a hospital instantly, however mentioned that the buddies have been adamant she stay on the resort.

At 4.20pm, the police doc states that Shanquella began having seizures. The physician famous that Shanquella was struggling to breathe and her pulse had lowered.

At the moment Wenter Donovan, one of many feminine associates within the travelling celebration, known as 911, the report states. A quantity for Ms Donovan listed on the doc has been disconnected.

Round half an hour later at 4.49pm, the physician started administering CPR after detecting that Shanquella not had a pulse. All in all, Shanquella was given 14 rounds of CPR, 5 doses of adrenaline and 6 shocks with a defibrillator. She was pronounced lifeless at 5.57pm, with the reason for dying listed as “cardiopulmonary arrest”.

In an announcement to ABC Information, the state legal professional common’s workplace of Baja California Sur mentioned investigators have been accumulating “extra proof to realize the correct clarification of the occasions, with out ruling out any speculation”. They didn’t reply to requests for remark from The Impartial.

In keeping with native investigative journalist Geraldo Zunega, authorities in Cabo are investigating the actions of the physician and two officers from the native police power as a part of their inquiry.

‘I by no means believed them anyway’

In an interview with CBS Information, Shanquella’s mom Sallamondra Robinson mentioned that her six associates had come to see her and given conflicting accounts of the lead-up to her dying. They claimed her daughter had died of alcohol poisoning, and that her physique had been discovered by a maid.

“Nobody instructed the identical story, so I by no means believed them anyway,” she instructed CBS Information. Ms Robinson mentioned her daughter’s physique confirmed apparent indicators of trauma and bruising after it was repatriated on November 12.

One member of the group had been Shanquella’s closest good friend for 5 years, in line with Ms Robinson. This good friend had even traveled with the Robinsons on household holidays, she added. That good friend hasn’t been seen because the post-mortem outcomes emerged.

After viewing the footage of the sickening assault on her daughter, Shanquella’s mom instructed CBS Information she was perplexed why not one of the so-called associates had intervened: “She was not preventing no one again. She didn’t actually have a likelihood.”

Ms Robinson has since claimed on Instagram that the buddies stole $10,000 from her daughter.

The household initially struggled to persuade authorities that Shanquella’s dying merited additional investigation. On a GoFundme web page set as much as assist the household’s authorized prices, Shanquella’s sister Quilla Lengthy says the US State Division instructed them there was “no clear proof of foul play”.

“This assertion is unacceptable, and we’re past devastated,” Ms Lengthy writes. “We proceed to struggle for the reality.”

Practically $370,000 had been donated to the fund by Wednesday, together with a $65,000 contribution from NBA participant Kyrie Irving.

In an interview with NBC Information, Salamondra Robinson credited Black social media customers with bringing consideration to the case after mainstream information shops and authorities had proven little curiosity early on. “I recognize those working so laborious to get justice finished. We’re not finished but, however we’re going to get there,” she instructed NBC Information.

A whole lot of on-line sleuths have now pored over the digital footprints of “the Cabo 6”, trying to find clues as to what led to the assault on Shanquella in Mexico. Some have deleted their social media accounts in response, and will not be responding to voice messages or emails.The Impartial’ was unable to succeed in any of the six who travelled to Mexico.

The FBI has since confirmed in an announcement to The Impartial that they’re investigating the dying, however are refusing to launch any additional particulars.

‘I’m not going to let this go’

On Saturday, a whole bunch of mourners attended Shanquella’s funeral service on the Macedonia Baptist Church in Charlotte. The overriding feeling, in line with a WBTV reporter in attendance, was that there’s a must “proceed to push for justice”.

Amongst these on the service was nationwide civil rights activist Tamika Mallory, an organiser of the 2017 Ladies’s March. “We got here to make sure there’s sufficient folks placing stress on your entire system to do what is important to get justice for this lady,” Ms Mallory instructed WBTV.

Strain can be being positioned on officers in Mexico to reply why Shanquella’s associates have been allowed to go away the nation after the sudden dying of their touring companion.

Ms Robinson’s dying got here 4 days after the dying of one other US citizen, 73-year-old Rodney Davis, who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered close to Loreto, a couple of a whole bunch kilometres north of San Jose del Cabo. 4 suspects have been arrested in that case, prosecutors have mentioned.

In an interview on Tuesday, Bernard Robinson instructed the New York Occasions he was “hurting to his core” and wouldn’t relaxation till justice had been served.

“She’s gone, so proper now her dad goes to face and be her voice to the utmost and the fullest,” he mentioned. “I’m not going to let this go.”