DailyExpertNews
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Mexican prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for the boyfriend of a North Carolina woman who was found dead while vacationing in Cabo San Lucas last month, calling the death the result of “a direct assault” on Thursday.
Shanquella Robinson, 25, was traveling with college friends from Winston-Salem State University when she was found dead in a vacation rental, her father, Bernard Robinson, said.
Robinson arrived in Mexico with six friends on Oct. 28, according to a Thursday statement from Mexican prosecutors working on extradition proceedings with their country’s attorney general and foreign ministry.
Evidence shows the death was the result of “a direct attack, not an accident,” and involved one of the victim’s girlfriends, prosecutors said.
Mexican officials did not name the suspect, but confirmed she is a US citizen believed to be in the United States. No one has been charged in the case and authorities have not released the names of Robinson’s friends.
DailyExpertNews has contacted the US State Department, the FBI and the US Department of Justice for comment.
The extradition process for the suspect was underway, Mexico’s Baja California Sur Attorney General Daniel de la Rosa told local media on Wednesday.
“An arrest warrant has already been issued for the crime of femicide against the victim and against an allegedly responsible person for these acts, a friend of hers,” de la Rosa said on Wednesday.
The death was not the result of an “argument” but of “a direct aggression that this person made,” de la Rosa said.
“We are already carrying out all relevant procedures, both the Interpol file and the extradition request,” he said.
Robinson last spoke to her mother, Salamondra, on the phone on the morning of Oct. 28, her father told DailyExpertNews last week. The next day, Shanquella Robinson was found dead in her vacation home, US and Mexican authorities said.
The cause of death was “severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation,” which is instability or excessive movement in the upper cervical vertebrae, according to a copy of her death certificate obtained by DailyExpertNews affiliate WBTV. She was found unconscious in the living room of the rental home on October 29, the document says.
The death certificate classified Robinson’s death as “accidental or violent”, noting that the estimated time between injury and death was 15 minutes.
Video posted online appears to show a physical altercation in a room between Robinson and another person. It is not clear when the video was taken or whether it depicts the moment she sustained the fatal injury.
It is Robinson who is thrown to the ground and hit on the head in the video, Bernard Robinson confirmed to DailyExpertNews.
It’s not clear what sparked the argument or how many people were in the room at the time. It is also unclear whether anyone attempted to intervene.
The FBI Charlotte Field Office has opened an investigation into the death of Shanquella Robinson, it confirmed Friday.
Her family was waiting for more information from her friends and Mexican authorities, her father said a week ago.
“You took my only jewel from me,” he told DailyExpertNews by phone. You punched a big hole in my heart. All I can do is fight for her; I can’t let her die in vain.”