The family of 31-year-old Ashly Robinson is seeking answers after authorities in Zanzibar announced that the American social media influencer died by suicide at a hotel in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
“My daughter Ashly, she’s no longer here with us, and we’re trying to find out why,” Robinson’s mother, Yolanda Denise Endres, told ABC station in Philadelphia, WPVI.
Robinson, a lifestyle influencer who has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, goes by the name Ashlee Jenae on social media, where she shared life updates, travel adventures and moments with her fiancé Joseph McCann, who was vacationing with her in the Zanzibar region of Tanzania at the time of her death.
Robinson’s most recent Instagram posts included photos of her and McCann celebrating her 31st birthday on the safari trip in Tanzania. Her final post on Instagram was posted on April 5 and included a montage of photos showing Robinson feeding a giraffe, where she was surrounded by rose petals that spelled, “HBD Ashlee,” and the caption, “Chapter 31 and I’m exactly where I need to be.”
“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.
Zanzibar deputy police commissioner Zuberi Chembela told ABC News Tuesday that McCann is still being questioned by police, and an investigation into her death is ongoing.
According to Zanzibar Police, Robinson and McCann checked into the Zuri Zanzibar hotel on April 6 and Robinson was found in her hotel room overnight from April 8 to April 9.
Endres told WPVI that her daughter called her on April 8 and said that she and McCann had an argument and they were moved to separate rooms by hotel staff.
Police said that hotel staff had been alerted to a domestic disturbance that was described as a “romantic conflict” between Robinson and McCann during their stay by other hotel guests.
Hotel staff separated McCann and Robinson on the night of April 8, moving McCann to a different villa in the resort about 8-10 minutes walking distance from Robinson’s room, police said, and Robinson was found unresponsive in her room “about two or three hours” later by hotel staff.
Endres said that McCann called her on April 9 and told her that her daughter was in the hospital.
“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.
According to police, Robinson was “taken to a local hospital, and then transferred to another hospital before being declared dead on April 9.”
“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 results of a medical examination into Robinson’s death are pending, police said, and McCann’s passport has been confiscated amid the probe.
Robinson’s parents told WPVI that they have reached out to Tanzanian and U.S. officials as they seek answers about their daughter’s death.
“She was loved. She was not just going to be discarded and forgotten about,” Endres said.
In a statement to ABC News, Zuri Zanzibar resort management said they were “deeply saddened by a tragic incident involving one of our guests,” and that they were cooperating with local authorities and the U.S. Embassy.
A state department spokesperson confirmed to ABC News the recent death of an American in Zanzibar and said, “we offer our sincerest condolences to the family and loved ones on their loss,” but that “due to privacy and other considerations, we have no further comment.”
