The death of Shanquella Robinson in Cabo, Mexico, is now being investigated as a femicide, according to the Baja California Sur Attorney General’s Office.
Femicide, a form of gender-based violence, is the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man and on account of her gender.
Shanquella, a 25-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native, traveled to San Jose del Cabo with six “friends” on October 28 for a birthday celebration.
They stayed at a rental villa in Fundadores, an exclusive gated community with vacation homes and a private beach club
The day after Shanquella’s arrival…she was dead.
Her travel companions contacted her mother, Salamondra Robinson, and said that Shanquella had died of alcohol poisoning.
However, the Mexican Secretariat of Health’s autopsy report and Shanquella Robinson’s death certificate lists her cause of death as “severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation,” meaning the instability in the uppermost vertebrae.
There is no mention of alcohol in the autopsy report.
The document also states the approximate time between injury and death was 15 minutes and indicates Shanquella’s death was “accidental or violent.”
The autopsy report states Shanquella was found unconscious in the living room of a residence on Padre Kino Avenue on the afternoon of October 29.
Video has now surfaced online which allegedly shows a woman brutally beating Shanquella, who is nude, in the villa.
A man, who is filming, is heard saying to Shanquella, “Can you at least fight back.”
She responds, “No,” as she is taking punches and kicks to the head and is being thrown to the floor.
The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City has confirmed that they “are aware of Shanquella Robinson’s death and are providing consular services to her family.”
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation‘s field office in Charlotte, North Carolina, told ABC News on Thursday that the agency has been in contact with Robinson’s family.
I will keep you posted on any developments in this case.
Please keep the family of Shanquella Robinson in your thoughts and prayers.
Source: ABC News
