Many questions remain after Charlotte woman dies at Mexican resort

CHARLOTTE — A Charlotte family is pleading for answers after their daughter, Shanquella Robinson, died in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, late last month.

“It’s like a nightmare. I can’t even sleep. I am just frustrated. My heart is just aching as a father. A praying man,” said Bernard Robinson, Shanquella Robinson’s father. “I just want some truth because this doesn’t add up right.”

He said Shanquella Robinson went to Cabo with six friends on Oct. 28. They stayed at Villa Linda 32, a rental offered by CaboVillas.com. On Oct. 29, Shanquella Robinson died. According to Bernard Robinson, her friends returned to Charlotte and informed him and his wife that their daughter died from alcohol poisoning.

However, the death certificate obtained by Channel 9 lists Shanquella Robinson’s cause of death as severe spinal cord injury and Atlas subluxation complex. Alcohol is not mentioned on the death certificate. The document lists the approximate time between injury and death as 15 minutes. In a box asking whether the death was accidental or violent, the signee responded, “yes.” The death certificate noted Shanquella Robinson was found unconscious in the living room.

On Wednesday, a video surfaced showing a woman attacking Shanquella Robinson. The victim’s mother, Sallamondra Robinson, identified the people in the video as the friends her daughter accompanied on the trip to Cabo. While the original source of the video is unclear, Sallamondra Robinson believes it was taken during the Cabo trip. In the video, a person can be heard asking if Shanquella Robinson “could at least fight back.”

The investigation

A state attorney general’s office in Mexico released some details from its investigation Wednesday night.

A “public security member” contacted the state attorney general’s office about a woman’s death in a room in the Fundadores Beach Club area, which was reported at about 6:15 p.m. on Oct. 29.

Agents went to the scene to investigate, according to the state attorney general’s office in Mexico.

Authorities said they are collecting more evidence during an ongoing investigation.

They did not release any other information.

“It was never a fight. She didn’t fight,” Sallamondra Robinson said. “They attacked her.”

Channel 9 called phone numbers associated with all of Shanquella Robinson’s traveling companions. Channel 9 is not identifying the individuals at this time because they have not been charged with a crime.

Four of the numbers listed to Shanquella Robinson’s friends are disconnected. Two numbers went to voicemail. A text message to those two numbers was not returned.

Channel 9 also attempted to contact two of Shanquella Robinson’s friends by going to their Charlotte homes. No one answered. A neighbor confirmed to Channel 9 that a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer was in front of the homes Wednesday morning.

The Records Division of CMPD provided WSOC-TV with a police report number associated with the call to the friend’s address but said the report will not be available for 24 hours.

A spokesperson for CMPD said it is not involved in the investigation because the death occurred in Mexico. When asked why a police officer was in front of the friend’s home this morning, the spokesperson responded that they would not provide information without a police report number.

When presented with the police report number, the spokesperson responded that the report has been written yet.

While answers in this case have been hard to come by, Bernard Robinson is not deterred.

A family wants answers

“By the grace of God, I think I am going to get to the bottom of this. God ain’t gonna fail. It’s going to come out,” he said. “I’m not giving up. I am very confident that I am going to have peace of mind.”

Sallamondra Robinson said her daughter was a hard-working business owner.

She remembers the last moments she saw her daughter happy with plans to go to Cabo.

“I looked at some of her posts that she had put up,” the mother said. “She was really having a nice time and I don’t know where it went wrong from there.”

Sallamondra Robinson said she last spoke with her daughter on the phone on Oct. 28.

The next day, she got a frantic call from her daughter’s friends.

“They said she wasn’t feeling well,” Sallamondra Robinson said. “That it was alcohol poisoning.”

Sallamondra Robinson has more questions and wants justice for her daughter.

“She was a good child and had a great heart, and she did not deserve to be treated like that,” she said.

Sallamondra Robinson said she has been talking with the FBI, CMPD and investigators in Mexico.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department confirmed a U.S. citizen died in Mexico during the time of Shanquella Robinson’s trip but declined to provide more information, citing respect for the family and privacy.

No one has been charged with any crimes relating to the incident.

Shanquella Robinson’s funeral will be on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The wake will be from 11 a.m. until noon followed by the funeral at Macedonia Baptist Church, 1300 Hatteras Ave. in Charlotte. It is open to the public.

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