Photo: Getty Images
The family of Shanquella Robinson, a 25-year-old North Carolina woman found dead at a resort in Mexico over 100 days ago, is urging President Joe Biden and the State Department to intervene in the case as no arrests have been made.
On Friday (March 3), Shanquella's family, lawyers Ben Crump and Sue-Ann Robinson, and supporters gathered in Washington D.C. for a news conference calling for "high-level diplomatic intervention" in the 25-year-old's death case, per ABC News.
“It has been 126 days since she died,” Crump said at Friday's news conference. “That’s 18 weeks. Video footage of her being beaten literally to death was released on November 16, 2022. 108 days ago, 15 weeks, and three days. And still, with all this visual evidence, nobody has been arrested.”
"I plan on talking to the highest levels of our government to say Shanquella Robinson is not irrelevant and you all need to give her the same dignity and respect as any citizen in the United States with merit," he added.
Robinson was found dead in October while on a group vacation to a resort in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico. The group initially claimed that Robinson died of alcohol poisoning, but an autopsy report determined the 25-year-old suffered trauma to her neck and spine.
Following her death, viral video showed Robinson being beaten by another woman in a hotel room while at least two other people in the room watched and recorded the attack.
Crump, on Friday, described the footage as “just as bad or worse” than the video of Tyre Nichols being brutally beaten by Memphis police.
According to Mexican authorities, an investigation into Shanquella's death is ongoing, and an arrest warrant was issued in November for a suspect described as "a friend of hers who is the direct aggressor."
A Statement Department spokesperson declined to comment on an investigation into Shanquella's death because of "privacy and law enforcement considerations," ABC News reports.
"The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas," the statement said. "The Department of State supports a thorough investigation into the circumstances of this incident and is closely monitoring local authorities’ investigation."
"It is now up to the United States Government to make the determination as to whether or not they will prosecute the crime here in the US. Or whether they'll extradite this individual back to the Mexican government for prosecution," Channa Lloyd, legal analyst and ABC News contributor, said of the case.
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