NewsNation

‘I’m not doing well’: Shanquella Robinson’s father speaks out

(NewsNation) — After the death of his daughter, 25-year-old Shanquella Robinson, her father, Bernard Robinson, said he is “struggling every day.”

“I’m not doing well at all,” Bernard Robinson said on “Morning in America” Friday.


Shanquella Robinson was found dead within 24 hours of her arrival in Cabo San Lucas for a trip with a group of friends. She arrived in Mexico in late October.

Some of Shanquella Robinson’s friends initially told her mother she died of alcohol poisoning, NewsNation partner The Hill reported.

However, NewsNation local affiliate WJZY obtained her official death certificate, which lists the cause of death as severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation, or instability in the uppermost vertebrae. Mexican officials on Thursday called Shanquella Robinson’s death the result of “a direct attack, not an accident,” and prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for one of her friends. They did not name the suspect, but officials reportedly said she is a U.S. citizen and they are working on extradition proceedings.

After hearing about how Shanquella Robinson died, Bernard Robinson said his life has changed.

“It just turned my life upside down,” he said. “But I asked God to show me what really happened over there in Mexico.”

Now, he wants to see more of Shanquella Robinson’s friends brought in for questioning. Video evidence shows Robinson was brutally attacked by an unidentified woman on the night of her death.

At the funeral home, Bernard Robinson said he saw his daughter with a knot on her head, a swollen eye and a cut lip.

“My daughter, she’s not a fighter,” Bernard Robinson said, adding that he didn’t “raise her to be that kind of way.”

“I raised her to love and respect people,” he said.

Like others in his family, the new evidence that came out makes Bernard Robinson want more answers about what happened to his daughter, who he called a “very loving child.”

“Every day is a struggle for me because she’s not here,” Bernard Robinson said. “I can’t be a granddaddy, can’t walk her down the aisle, can’t hear her voice.”