CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The investigation into a Charlotte woman's death in Mexico is ongoing, and prosecutors say they are aiming to extradite a suspect to the country.
During a media conference held by the Baja California Sur Attorney General's Office, Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, the state's attorney general, was asked to comment on the investigation surrounding Shanquella Robinson's death in October 2022 in the state.
de la Rosa Anaya said they are investigating this as femicide and that they are focused on locating an unnamed suspect. The attorney general says they have worked with Interpol to put out a red notice, which is an advisory to law enforcement across the globe to be on the lookout for a suspect.
“There is no impunity in this case," said de la Rosa Anaya. "Right now, it is important to obtain, above all, the judicial order of the presumed person responsible for these unfortunate events."
de la Rosa Anaya says they will work to extradite the suspect to Mexico once they are located.
Robinson died in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico during a trip with a group of six friends on Oct. 29, 2022. Her family said the friends claimed it was because of alcohol poisoning.
Mexican authorities have made it clear that this was not an accident but a direct attack on Robinson.
Despite various accounts of what happened to Robinson, a death certificate found she died 15 minutes after suffering a broken neck and severe spinal cord injury.
Mexican authorities said in November 2022 they had an arrest warrant for an unnamed woman who was on the trip with Robinson, charging the woman with femicide. That development was shared after a disturbing video circulated online. Robinson's own father confirmed it showed her being beaten, likely sometime during the trip.
WCNC Charlotte has chosen not to share the video out of respect for Robinson, and because the video may be disturbing for some viewers.
FBI Charlotte stated in November 2022 that they had opened an investigation into Robinson's death as well.
Chris Swecker, a retired FBI agent, previously told WCNC Charlotte there is a statute that gives the FBI and the state department the ability to investigate the murder of a U.S. citizen in a foreign country at the hands of another U.S. citizen, but there are limitations.
“If the foreign country is willing to prosecute ... that individual they will exercise that jurisdiction," Swecker said in November 2022. "The other one is if that perpetrator is out of the country where the murder took place and that country has no means of prosecuting or investigating the perpetrator."
Note: Daniel de la Rosa Anaya's quotes were translated from Spanish.