'Didn’t think he would lie': Shanquella Robinson's sister and mom questioned her 'friends' about her death
CABO SAN LUCAS, MEXICO: Shanquella Robinson, who was found dead in Mexico last month during a vacation with whom she believed to be her friends, left an entire family devastated. The Charolette native's sister, Tequila Long revealed in a recent interview on Wednesday, November 30, that Shanquella's friends lied to her family about the incident surrounding the death of the 25-year-old from the very beginning. Shanquella, who went for holidaying with her friends, was discovered unresponsive in their rental house in Mexico, on October 28, a day after arriving at the well-known tourist destination.
Her friends claimed that alcohol poisoning was the cause for her death. Confirming ESSENCE that the friends had spoken to Long and her mother, Salamondra Robinson, the former said, “I was believing the dude that she went on the trip with because that was her best friend. I didn’t think that he would be malicious about anything. I didn’t think that he would tell us a lie. I trusted him.”
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While in Mexico, Shanquella's family heard she and the group were involved in a fight, but her friends denied all the claims until the assault video went viral in social media. "The two young ladies and the male told us that there wasn’t any type of fighting going on… We asked him about the fight because we were hearing from other people that they were out there fighting her; they had jumped on her out there. So they all was giving us a story, a lie, until the video surfaced,” Long added.
In November, a distressing video surfaced in the social media wherein Shanquella was seen naked and being physically assaulted by a woman while one male voice said in the background "Quella can you atleast fight back?" Long said she can't unsee the video wherein her sister was getting brutally attacked, “I was livid,” then Long shared her reaction after seeing the video. “I was extremely upset. When I saw the video, I automatically yelled. At that moment, I was wishing I was there. I played that video over and over again. They had to wake her up out of her sleep because she sleeps naked. And she was naked standing there, and here she is fighting this girl. And my sister’s like 5’1″, 100 pounds. That image of her didn’t sit well with me,” said Long.
Shanquella suffered serious back and neck injuries, which later discovered during an autopsy. The case was escalated to a homicide after the FBI joined the investigation into how she died. Since then, a female suspect has been wanted in Mexico, and officials there have issued an arrest warrant. There will be charges against that suspect involving physical assault and murder. The victim was buried in Charlotte, North Carolina, her hometown, on November 19. There were hundreds of people lined up along the streets when a hearse carrying her casket arrived at Macedonia Baptist Church.