CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mexican authorities are investigating after a North Carolina woman died under mysterious circumstances while on a trip to Cabo with friends.
Shanquella Robinson was found unconscious in the living room of a room at the Fundadores Beach Club Oct. 29. Robinson’s friends told her parents that she died of alcohol poisoning, according to WSOC-TV, but her parents don’t believe the story is true.
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On Wednesday, WSOC-TV obtained Robinson’s death certificate. It lists the cause of death as “severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation,” and says she died within 15 minutes of injury. Alcohol poisoning is never mentioned.
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In the box asking whether the death was accidental or violent, the medical examiner wrote “yes.”
On Wednesday, a video surfaced showing a woman attacking Shanquella Robinson. The victim’s mother, Sallamondra Robinson, identified the people in the video as the friends her daughter accompanied on the trip to Cabo. While the original source of the video is unclear, Sallamondra Robinson believes it was taken during the Cabo trip. In the video, a person can be heard asking if Shanquella Robinson “could at least fight back.”
WSOC-TV spoke to Robinson’s parents, who said they are not giving up until they have answers.
“I just want some truth because this doesn’t add up right,” said her father, Bernard Robinson.
“She was a good child and had a great heart,” said Sallamondra Robinson, Shanquella’s mother. “And she did not deserve to be treated like that.”
On Thursday, the agency presiding over the case in Mexico confirmed to ABC News they have begun a femicide investigation into Robinson’s death.
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At this time, none of her friends who she went on the trip with are facing charges. Her mom says she has been in contact with the FBI, and a spokesperson for the FBI told Bruno the agency’s Charlotte Division has been in contact with the family.
The statement from the attorney general’s office Wednesday is below:
“The State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) of Baja California Sur carries out the field and cabinet proceedings to clarify the events in which a female person of foreign origin lost her life, on October 29th, in a beach club in San José del Cabo. It is reported that Saturday, October 29th, at approximately 6:15 pm, it received a call from a Public Security member who reported that, in a house room of the Fundadores Beach Club area, in San José del Cabo, there was a woman without life.
“State Criminal Investigation Agents went to the scene, where the first investigations were carried out under the corresponding protocols. Experts from the Directorate of Forensic Services, carried out the processing of the place, looking for clues that will be attached to the investigation folder. The PGJE maintains the lines of investigations to collect more evidence to achieve the accurate clarification of the events, without ruling out any hypothesis.”
The attorney general’s office sent ABC News a statement Thursday, adding they’ve also started an investigation for femicide. An expert told WSOC-TV that in Mexico, homicide investigations typically begin as femicides. Then they might turn into homicide investigations once it has been ruled out that gender was not a motive.
The attorney general’s office sent the following statement to ABC News:
“We inform you that the result of the autopsy determined as the cause of death: Severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation. An investigation was initiated for femicide. Yesterday’s statement and this latest information are what the Baja California Sur Attorney General’s Office can share for now. The investigation continues its course and to the extent that the legal framework allows it, the results will be informed.”
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