Shanquella Robinson: Mexican prosecutor says investigation to identify and extradite suspects continues
The family of the slain 25-year-old continue to call for justice two and a half months after her death
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A Mexican prosecutor investigating the violent death of Shanquella Robinson says efforts to identify and extradite suspects are continuing.
Robinson, 25, died after being violently beaten in a hotel room in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California, in late October.
Her travel companions initially told her mother she had died of alcohol poisoning, before a sickening video emerged of a naked Robinson being bashed and kicked by another woman.
On 24 November, Baja California Sur Attorney General Daniel de la Rosa Anaya issued a warrant for the arrest of one of Robinson’s “friends”, and said her death was the result of “direct aggression”.
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In his first public comment for several weeks, Mr de la Rosa Anaya said there would be “no impunity in this case” during a Friday press conference, according to a translation by WSOC.
He said they were working with authorities in the US to extradite a suspect named in the arrest warrant, who has not been officially named. They had also requested permission to interview potential accomplices in Robinson’s death.
“It is important to obtain the court order with regard to whoever is responsible for this, but also if there were any accomplices,” Mr de la Rosa Anaya added, according to WSOC.
Mexican authorities have issued an alert if the suspect leaves the US, the prosecutor said.
The FBI has also confirmed it was investigating the death, but have refused to release further details about the probe. Legal experts told WSOC the case could be bogged down in red tape, due to laws governing the extradition of US citizens.
Robinson, from North Carolina, travelled to the resort town of San Jose del Cabo in late October with six friends from university. She died the next day, with her companions telling parents Bernard and Sallamondra that she had fallen ill from alcohol poisoning.
A death certificate later showed Robinson’s cause of death was due to a broken neck and severe spinal cord injury, and made no mention of alcohol poisoning.
According to a police incident report obtained by The Independent, a doctor was with Robinson for three hours before she died. Her friends apparently told the medic they didn’t want Robinson to be taken to a hospital even though she was gravely ill.
In mid-November, video emerged online of Robinson being brutally beaten in a hotel room.
Announcing the arrest warrant, Mr de la Rosa Anaya said Interpol had been alerted.
Robinson’s family have continued to call for justice in the two and a half months since she died. Her mother Sallamondra told The Independent in December that the family were hoping for an arrest soon.