The Mexican prosecutor handling the headline-snatching Shanquella Robinson case says the investigation is still ongoing.
Baja California Sur Attorney General Daniel de la Rosa Anaya said he is waiting on the United States government to not only extradite one of the women they suspect was responsible for her death but allow them to interview the others who were on the destination birthday trip.
On Friday, Jan. 13, during a press conference, de la Rosa Anaya commented on the status of the investigation into the death of the North Carolina woman, who authorities ruled died by femicide – the murder of a woman because of her gender, WSOC-TV 9 reports.
According to an autopsy, Robinson’s death was caused by severe spinal cord injury and a dislocated neck. However, her travel companions had told her parents she died of alcohol poisoning.
Though his remarks were brief, taking up only two minutes of the conference, they were clear.
“There is no impunity in this case. Everything is under investigation,” the Mexican prosecutor said.
Robinson and six people went to Cabo San Lucas for a birthday celebration in October. Shortly after arriving, according to a video recorded in the villa and circulated online, the 25-year-old was involved in a violent altercation. She died on Saturday, Oct. 29. Mexican authorities believe the fight has something to do with her death and are working with the FBI to bring justice to the door of the young woman’s family.
De la Rosa Anaya said Robinson died from a “direct aggressor,” and his office introduced the term “femicide” early on in the investigation process, even though he has not released the suspect’s name.
In November, his office announced an arrest warrant for the unnamed person, saying, “This case is fully clarified. We even have a court order. There is an arrest warrant issued for the crime of femicide to the detriment of the victim and against an alleged perpetrator, a friend of hers who is the direct aggressor.”
“We are carrying out all the pertinent procedures such as the Interpol alert and the request for extradition to the United States of America,” Anaya concluded.
After the Mexican authorities released the warrant for the suspect’s arrest, the mother said she felt “so good” that some progress is being made.
“That’s what we have been waiting for, for someone to finally be held accountable and arrested. I just can’t wait for justice to be served,” Salamondra Robinson said.
However, it is taking longer than she and her family expected.
Now, the Mexican prosecutor is asking for the U.S. government to approve interviews with those who were traveling with Shanquella and who might have seen something. In addition to fact-gathering about the suspect, they are looking to see if any of them were accomplices in the death.
“It is important to obtain the court order with regard to whoever is responsible for this, but also if there were any accomplices,” he said of the tedious nature of the international negotiation around the witnesses.
While he waits, de La Rosa Anaya has instituted immigration alerts in his country to notify authorities if the suspect tries to cross its borders.
There is other red tape in the case authorities must bypass because the death involved Americans on foreign soil, according to Yolanda Trotman, a North Carolina criminal defense attorney and former judge.
“People need to understand that this is not going to be a quick process. The extradition process takes some time,” Trotman told WSOC-TV 9. “There’s going to have to be a level of patience, I think, with people that want justice quickly, and justice may not look like we’re used to.”
