It’s become a mystery in Mexico as a North Carolina family tries to find answers to how a 25-year-old wound up dead.
Conflicting reports have them wondering what really happened at a villa in Cabo.
It was supposed to be a fun long weekend for Shanquella Robinson and her group of friends who went to Cabo to celebrate one of their birthdays.
“She told me they had a chef. They were getting ready to eat. They were eating tacos or a salad or something, and I said, ‘OK. I love you. Have a good night, and I will talk to you tomorrow.’ I never talked to my child again. She never made it back home,” her mom, Salamondra Robinson, told local news WJZY.
Salamondra says she was dead within 24 hours of her daughter’s arrival.
Figuring out how or why has only added to the family’s nightmare.
It started with a frantic call from Robinson’s friends.
“They said she wasn’t feeling well. She had alcohol poisoning,” she said. “They couldn’t get a pulse,” she continued. “Each one of the people that was there with her was telling different stories.”
When the family made calls to the FBI and Mexican authorities, they learned of another potential cause of death.
“When the autopsy came back, they said it didn’t have anything to do with the alcohol,” Salamondra said. “[They] said that she had a broken neck and her spine in the back was cracked. She had been beaten.”
Salamondra says the entire group returned from Mexico, leaving her daughter’s body there. Nearly two weeks and $6,000 later, her body is back home, but answers have been hard to come by.
“I know that’s not going to bring my child back, but I want something done about it,” she said.
The U.S. State Department in Mexico refute the claim Robinson was murdered, saying the police’s initial indication is that there was no clear evidence of foul play.
Here in Charlotte, her family refuses to believe their daughter’s death was an accident, and they vow to find the truth about what happened that night in Cabo.
“She had a heart of gold. She loved everybody, and pretty much everybody loved her,” Salamondra said.
An official with the State Department said they are helping the family obtain reports from authorities in Mexico.
They recommend the family hire a private investigator and attorney if they question the circumstances surrounding Shanquella’s death.
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