Ashly Robinson death: Family seeks answers after South Jersey woman found dead in Zanzibar
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The death of a South Jersey woman is drawing international attention as her family searches for answers about what happened in the Zanzibar region of Tanzania.
Ashly Robinson’s parents spoke to Action News from Delaware. They say they have not received clear information from officials in Tanzania or from her fiancé about what happened to her.
“My daughter Ashly, she’s no longer here with us, and we’re trying to find out why,” said her mother, Yolanda Denise Endres.
“Uncertainty. Mystery. Anger. Sadness. It’s like a part of me has been taken,” said her father, Harry Robinson.
Ashly Robinson
Instagram / @ashleejenae
According to her family, Robinson – an influencer and content creator known online as Ashlee Jenae – was celebrating her 31st birthday in Zanzibar on April 5. She was traveling with her boyfriend of one year, who proposed two days earlier.
“She was starting the next chapter of her life. She called us to FaceTime us to share with us her travel and her vacation,” Endres said.
Less than a week later, she was dead. Her mother said Robinson called on April 8 to say she and her fiancé had argued and were moved to separate rooms.
The next day, Endres said she received a call from the fiancé.
“He told me that Ashly did something to herself and she was being taken to the hospital, and he told me she was stable,” Endres said. “I said what happened, and he told me, it had been 11 hours prior.”
Hours later, the hotel where the couple was staying notified the family that Robinson had died.
According to a hospital medical report, Robinson had an unidentified mark around her neck. The report states that her fiancé “found she hung herself on the door.”
“Sometimes Joe went back to the room with security, and that’s how they found her,” said the woman’s father.
Robinson was later taken to a second hospital, which listed her cause of death as cerebral hypoxia by strangulation and suffocation.
“She’s never done anything that would ever ever lead me to believe that she would do something to harm herself like that. She was happy,” Endres said.
The family says they have contacted police, the consulate, and the embassy, but have not received additional information beyond confirmation that the death remains under investigation. They have also requested surveillance footage from the resort.
“She was loved. She was not just going to be discarded and forgotten about,” Endres said.
The family says they are considering traveling to Zanzibar to seek answers. Attempts to contact Robinson’s fiancé, the resort and the embassy were unsuccessful.
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