CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Sunday, October 29, marked exactly one year since Shanquella Robinson died while on vacation in Mexico with six of her friends. She was 25 years old at the time.
Though Mexican authorities have confirmed their belief that Robinson died as a result of a physical attack, no arrests have been made.
Robinson’s friends initially told authorities the young girl died of alcohol poisoning, but an autopsy later conducted by Mexican officials revealed Robinson likely died as a result of a spinal injury.
Shortly after her death, a video surfaced online showing a naked Robinson being physically attacked by one of her fellow tripmates. Another person in the room even told Robinson to fight back, to which she replied, “No.”
Once Robinson’s body was returned to the US, American investigators conducted their own autopsy. Their findings contradicted those of Mexican authorities.
While U.S. officials admitted they found swelling in Robinson’s head, they said they found no evidence of spinal injury and ruled her cause of death “undetermined.”
In April, federal prosecutors announced they did not have enough evidence to pursue criminal charges.
The family’s attorney, Sue-Ann Robinson, previously spoke to Queen City News about why Shanquella’s family felt federal prosecutors did not do enough to get justice.
“You can’t have an investigation where you’re announcing to the family and the public that you’re declining charges, but you haven’t translated all the documents. That just doesn’t make any sense. That’s why the family is extremely concerned with how the investigation was handled from the beginning,” said the attorney.
Still, the family has hope. Even though there will be no federal charges in the United States, Mexican authorities issued an arrest warrant for an unnamed female shortly after Robinson’s death. Prosecutors in Baja California Sur expressed their desire to work with US state officials to extradite the suspect back to Mexico.
Most recently, the Robinson family made a trip to DC to ask the Biden administration to prioritize the extradition.
To this day, officials have not released any information about when or if an extradition will happen.
