Shanquella Brenada Robinson (January 9, 1997 – October 29, 2022) was an American businesswoman, founder of a women's fashion clothing line, hairstylist and social media personality from North Carolina, United States, who was murdered while on vacation in Mexico.
[1] She died on October 29, 2022, shortly after travelling with a friend and a group of loose acquaintances to the Mexican resort town of Cabo San Lucas.
In addition, substantial collaborative efforts of citizen journalism and amateur news bloggers played an important role in bringing attention to Robinson's death, to the point of Mexican authorities facing enhanced scrutiny, particularly because the municipal Police Department initially treated the death as a case of conventional tourist alcohol intoxication.
The circumstances leading to her death, as well as the medical treatment, police report, and forensic inquiries into the cause, have led to an ongoing high-profile, transnational criminal investigation within the United States and Mexico.
[6] On October 29, a day after the group's arrival, at around 2:13 p.m., a doctor from the American Medical Centre, Cabo San Lucas was requested because a resident at the resort was feeling unwell.
[7][8] Dr. Karolina Beatriz Ornelas-Gutiérrez from the American Medical Centre arrived within an hour and found "a female in stable condition, but dehydrated, disorientated, verbally unresponsive, unable to communicate, and appearing to be intoxicated.
[7] Ambulant paramedics called to the scene around 4:49 pm tried to resuscitate Robinson, administering fourteen CPR rounds of cardiac-vascular compressions and intrathoracic pressure to her chest, in an attempt to (re-)establish venous blood-oxygen saturation and blood flow, as well as injecting five doses of adrenaline and six electrical discharges from a defibrillator.
"[15][16]As Salamondra Robinson, Shanquella's mother, disclosed during an ABC News Good Morning America interview, her family became suspicious of the claims of her daughter's travel companions after each one of them returned with different, inconsistent stories.
[18] She recalled how further doubts began to surface, when the autopsy report emerged, showing the cause of death a broken neck, instead of alcohol poisoning.
[20] During an interview with Queen City News, Ms Robinson also said her daughter's body showed obvious signs of trauma, a knot on her head, a bruised face, swollen eye and a busted lip[21][22] after it was repatriated on November 12, ahead of Shanquella Robinson's November 19 funeral service which was held at the Macedonia Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[23] For more than two weeks the family attempted convincing authorities in the United States and in Mexico, that their daughter's death was suspicious, deserving further investigation.
"[11] Gerardo Zuñiga, a Mexican journalist for regional news from Baja California Sur, began covering the murder of Shanquella Robinson[24] after having published an article which looked into the death of an American, 73-year-old retiree Rodney Davis, who was kidnapped while hiking and camping on the out-and-back trail of Loreto-Juncalito, Baja California Sur, murdered, found dead, and identified through DNA by the local police.
[27] Beginning with a video of the incident being uploaded to Twitter, a wave of viral cellphone footage began surfacing on several social media outlets, of a naked African-American woman being viciously beaten by one of her female acquaintances in a bedroom of their vacation rental.
[30] Voices in the media have also called into question why suspects or witnesses in a femicide or homicide investigation were freely allowed to return to the United States without any arrests or interrogation.
"[31] In a statement released to the press, they disclosed: "The State Attorney General's Office (PGJE) of Baja California Sur carries out the field and cabinet proceedings to clarify the facts in which a female person of foreign origin lost her life, on October 29, in a beach club in San José del Cabo.
The PGJE maintains the lines of investigation to collect more evidence to achieve the accurate clarification of the facts, without ruling out any hypothesis.
"[37] Local news reported that an arrest warrant had been issued for one of Robinson's travel companions, but to date no one has been officially charged.