An arrest warrant has been issued in connection with the death of a North Carolina woman who died while on vacation in Mexico with friends, according to a report.
Late on Thursday, the prosecutor’s office released a statement confirming that it was “one of the friends” who delivered a fatal blow.
Shanquella Robinson, 25, traveled to Cabo with six others on Oct. 28 and was dead the following day. Her loved ones are demanding answers after her friends, her death certificate, and a local police report have all given conflicting explanations as to how Robinson died.
Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, a local prosecutor for the state of Baja California Sur, told ABC News Wednesday that an arrest warrant for femicide had been issued, but did not name the suspect. “We are carrying out all the pertinent procedures such as the Interpol alert and the request for extradition to the United States of America,” he said. “It’s about two Americans, the victim and the culprit.”
The death, de la Rosa said, was not due to a “quarrel” but “a direct aggression that this person made.”
Outrage about Robinson’s death has been steadily mounting as new developments have incrementally emerged.
Initially, Robinson’s parents say they were told by their daughter’s friends that she had died from alcohol poisoning. But an autopsy report from the Mexican Secretariat of Health ruled that Robinson’s cause of death had been “severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation,” the latter issue referring to the dislocation of a bone which supports the skull.
The report also suggested that the time between Robinson’s injury and her death was 15 minutes.
Last week, a video began circulating online which showed Robinson being violently attacked by another woman. Out of shot, someone can be heard saying: “Quella, can you at least fight back? At least something?” Robinson’s father, Bernard, confirmed to The Daily Beast that it was Shanquella being beaten to the floor in the clip.
Subsequent coverage of a local police report also added to the mystery by including details which differed to those in the autopsy. The law enforcement document said Robinson’s friends called for medical help at around 2:13 p.m on the day she died. A general practitioner from the American Medical Center was dispatched and found Robinson alive. She was said to be dehydrated and gave a poor verbal response to medical personnel. Her friends reportedly said Robinson had drank a lot of alcohol but insisted that she shouldn’t be taken to hospital.
Only when Robinson started seizing at 4:20 p.m. did one of her friends call emergency services. Within a half-hour, the general practitioner stopped being able to feel her pulse and began CPR until paramedics arrived. The medics battled to save Robinson but she ultimately went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at 5:57 p.m., according to the report.
The FBI opened its own investigation into Robinson’s death earlier this month in addition to the Mexican authorities’ femicide probe.
When informed about the arrest warrant, Robinson’s mother, Sallamondra, on Wednesday said: “I feel so good, that’s a good feeling. That’s what we have been waiting for, for someone to finally be held accountable and arrested. I just can’t wait for justice to be served.”
