Mexican Prosecutors Want American Woman Extradited On Charges In Tourist Death

Mexican prosecutors filed charges on Thursday against a woman from the United States suspected of killing American tourist, Shanquella Robinson, 25, who was seen beaten in a viral video. Prosecutors from Baja California Sur did not name the suspect publicly but had approached Mexican federal prosecutors and diplomats to help extradite the woman so she may face Mexican justice.

According to Associated Press, Robinson was allegedly killed at a resort development in San Jose del Cabo. The video of the incident raised suspicions that she may have died at the hands of those accompanying her. Antonio López Rodríguez, a local prosecutor, said the case was being treated as a potential homicide, with an arrest warrant being issued for the suspect in the video. However, the group that traveled with Robinson had already left Mexico by the time she was found dead inside a rented villa. State prosecutor Daniel de la Rosa Anaya said the suspect was an American but did not reveal her identity.

Local news outlets in Charlotte, North Carolina, reported the people who traveled with Robinson gave different versions of how she had died. The victim’s father, Bernard Robinson, was told by his daughter’s friends that she had died of alcohol poisoning, but wasn’t convinced this was the truth as Shanquella’s body was brought back to the U.S., covered in bruises.

The victim’s father said he had “cried like a baby” when he had opened the box carrying his deceased daughter. He said her body was riddled with injuries, such as a knot on her forehead, a cut on her lips, and a swollen eye. He added that at that moment he knew his daughter had not died of alcohol poisoning.

The video was said to have been taped at the luxury villa in San Jose del Cabo. it showed a woman, one of the victim’s companions beating another woman, who was identified as Robinson. In the video, a man with an American accent can be heard saying, “Can you at least fight back?” The man did not appear to intervene in the beating. The tape was posted numerous times on social media sites.