The US Department of Justice announced Wednesday that US officials in North Carolina will not prosecute a person suspected of killing a Charlotte-area woman who was vacationing in Mexico last year.
Federal prosecutors say they have provided the results of their investigation to the family of Shankila Robinson, who was seen being beaten in a viral video last fall at a resort in San Jose del Cabo.
The video, which spread on social media, raised suspicions that Robinson was killed by her traveling companions.
Attorneys for the US Department of Justice said in a news release Wednesday that the available evidence and autopsy findings do not support a federal trial.
The statement said investigators were unable to establish “beyond reasonable doubt” that a federal crime was committed.
Shanquilla Robinson, 25, was killed during a trip to Mexico with friends in late October 2022.
An autopsy was performed in North Carolina by the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Baja California Sur state prosecutors filed charges late last year against the American woman – whom they haven’t named – suspected of killing Robinson on Oct. 29.
They issued an arrest warrant for the suspect, who had already left Mexico with other traveling companions after Robinson was found dead in a rented villa.
Mexican federal prosecutors are trying to extradite her to face charges in Mexico.
The results of the US autopsy, which has not been publicly released, revealed discrepancies with an earlier autopsy conducted in Mexico, which described the cause of death as acute spinal stenosis, Sue Ann Robinson, the family’s attorney, said at a news conference Wednesday in Charlotte. Cord or neck injury.
She criticized federal officials for the speed with which they conducted their investigation, saying that people on social media should not have to “create the movement behind the case.”
Citizens of the United States can’t go to Mexico, commit a crime that we all saw on video and then come back to America and say, “We’re on the base.” They were safe. ‘We will not be charged with a crime,’ she said.
This cannot be the message the US authorities want to send.
Federal officials say they will review and vet any new information available.
Last month, attorneys for the Robinson family called on US President Joe Biden to extradite the alleged killer, who has now been named by the family, to Mexico.
Mexican authorities currently have a warrant for the arrest of Dijana Jackson, 26, in connection with Robinson’s death in October 2022.
Salamondra Robinson (right) and another member of the Robinson family are still distraught and searching for answers about the young woman’s death.
Shankila was caught on video laughing with her traveling companions the day before her sudden death
In a letter addressed to Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, attorneys for the Robinson family asked for immediate diplomatic intervention in the cross-border case.
Jackson has been identified as the woman seen on video brutally attacking Robinson inside the villa that a group of friends in Cabo rented for one of their birthdays.
Although the family and the letter identified Jackson as the prime suspect in their daughter’s death, the identity of the suspect has yet to be announced by the police.
The letter stated that the autopsy report prepared by Doctor Rene Adalberto Galván Osegura in Mexico on October 30, 2022 indicated that Shanquilla’s body had a head injury 3 and concluded that the cause of Shanquilla’s death was a neck fracture.
said attorneys Benjamin Klump and Sue Ann Robinson, who are not related to the victim.
The letter explained that Jackson and two other people on the trip took Robinson’s luggage to her home in Charlotte, North Carolina and offered their condolences to Robinson’s mother, telling her that her child had died of alcohol poisoning.
Robinson’s attack was filmed in Mexico while she was nude in a bedroom.
The 25-year-old tries to walk away from her attacker and replies “No” – before the woman slams her to the floor next to the bed.
The woman then punched and kneeled her on the head before yelling at Robinson, “Get up, I’m sick of the s***.”
A representative for Villa Linda 32, the property where the group was staying, told WJZY that the concierge called a doctor who tried to revive Robinson.
She was pronounced dead at 3pm local time, about 15 minutes after she was struck.
After the video became public in November, a femicide investigation was launched in Mexico.
Attorneys for the Robinson family are now calling on the Biden administration to step in and help with the matter.
The 18-page letter the Biden administration received said Jackson was the primary point of contact for the group’s seven traveling companions.
According to the letter, Robinson “didn’t seem to fit in” and appeared “out of place” the day before she received a call to her mother saying she had suffered alcohol poisoning in the room.
The letter also includes, according to Fox News a report, A hotel employee witness identified Jackson as the assailant in the video.
The witness added that Jackson “manipulated” me with the information I provided at the crime scene in order to “leave the country as quickly as possible.”
Robinson’s mother was initially told that her daughter had died of alcohol poisoning
Video posted online shows Robinson being severely beaten by someone later identified as Dijana Jackson.
Ben Crump and attorney Sue Ann Robinson of Frontline Law held a press conference to demand diplomatic intervention to prioritize justice in Robinson’s death. Robinson was killed in October while vacationing in Mexico
Attorney Sue Ann Robinson during lobbying. According to Mexican prosecutors, one of Robinson’s friends was the direct aggressor of her death. At first, Robinson’s friends claimed her death was caused by alcohol poisoning, but an autopsy revealed it was a “severe spinal cord injury and atlas dislocation.”
Robinson’s death was announced after two groups of medical professionals responded to the scene over the course of several hours.
A staff member said Jackson hugged him “indifferently” when he offered his condolences and later claimed he heard “laughing” from the room after he walked out to give space to the group.
The next day, the group left the hotel and Jackson did not respond to a text from an employee asking about her whereabouts until October 31, when she informed the employee that the group had gone home, according to the witness statement.
Read the letter “If a US citizen commits murder in Mexico and returns to the United States, as you know, he or she could face criminal charges in the United States under federal or state law, depending on the circumstances of the crime.”
Federal charges are brought in cases where the crime relates to interstate commerce or federal law enforcement agencies.
She continued, “We know of a transnational case where evidence may have been moved and people involved with each other via cell phone could have federal charges against those responsible for Shankila’s death.”
The letter went on to say that the family encountered “numerous hurdles” trying to obtain the information, including during a subsequent trip to Mexico in which Sue Ann Robinson said the US consulate suggested that relatives contact the Robinsons directly. He was traveling for answers.
“Certainly this is an unacceptable response to his involvement with an American family in connection with the murder of their daughter,” said Sue Ann Robinson.
Fox reported that the State Department has said it “has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens abroad but does not comment on private communications by US citizens as a general matter of privacy.”
The Department does not provide confirmation or comment on investigations due to privacy and law enforcement considerations. Also, as a longstanding practice, the Department also does not comment on extradition matters.
