‘Crime Junkie’ episode adds new details to Shanquella Robinson’s final hours
More than three years after Charlotte native Shanquella Robinson died mysteriously during a group trip to Mexico, one of the country’s most popular podcasts was to release an episode Thursday that centers on previously unreported details from a man who says he was traveling with Robinson’s group at the time.
During the most recent episode of “Crime Junkie” — currently the fourth-most-listened-to podcast on Spotify’s list of top podcasts in the U.S. — lead host Ashley Flowers recounts highlights from a new conversation with the man, referred to as “Mike” because he did not want to be named. (There was no way for The Charlotte Observer to verify who Mike is, and whether what he’s saying is true.)
She says Mike claims he has never told the police about the interactions he observed and had with Robinson and others on Oct. 29, 2022, the day she died.
It was unclear how he was connected to the group, or whether he was part of the group of Robinson’s traveling companions that came later to be referred to as the “Cabo Six.” But he told the show that he was the last to join the group in Mexico, arriving after Robinson was repeatedly hit over the head in an altercation captured on video and widely circulated after her death.
According to a police investigation, the altercation occurred between 7 and 8:30 a.m. that day. On the podcast, Flowers reports that Mike claimed to her team that Daejhanae Jackson called him crying at 3 a.m. — hours before it broke out — and told him she wanted Robinson to leave the trip, which would give fresh perspective on brewing tensions between the two.
(Jackson has since changed her name to E’Mani Green.)
Robinson was found unresponsive in the living room of the villa where she was staying with six others that afternoon, and later died.
Her traveling companions originally said she died of alcohol poisoning. Months later, an autopsy revealed she had no alcohol in her system, which backs up assertions from Mexican law enforcement officials, her family and lawyers, who say Robinson’s death was violent.
Flowers says Mike told the podcast he arrived at the rental villa in Cabo San Lucas after the altercation was recorded but before Robinson was pronounced dead.
According to Flowers, Mike said that earlier that morning, around 3 a.m., Jackson — the woman later identified by hotel staff and investigators as the person physically assaulting Robinson in the video, according to Robinson’s family’s lawyers — called him crying.
Jackson reportedly told him that she and Robinson had argued while everyone in the villa was drinking, and that a broken glass had cut Jackson’s foot. Jackson also reportedly told him she wanted Robinson to leave the trip because it was Jackson’s birthday. He said he talked her down and believed the conflict had ended.
“Crime Junkie” also reported that Mike claimed Robinson was vomiting and disoriented when he arrived at the villa later that morning. According to Flowers, he said he laid her on a couch and stayed with her for hours, believing she was suffering from alcohol poisoning — because that’s what others had told him.
Robinson died of a broken neck, according to the autopsy report. Police reports say a doctor who spent hours with Robinson inside the friends’ villa after they called for help with potential alcohol poisoning repeatedly told them to call an ambulance. They refused, the report says, until it was too late.
More than three years later, lawsuits have been filed, but no arrests have been made as family and friends of Robinson’s have continued to criticize how U.S. officials have handled the case.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 9:19 AM.
