Ashly Robinson, a lifestyle influencer from Florida who was known online as Ashlee Jenae, traveled to Tanzania to celebrate her 31st birthday. Now she is dead.
The Miami-based content creator, who promoted luxury items to her 100K Instagram followers, traveled abroad with her wealthy fiancé Joe McCann for a dream vacation in Zanzibar.
McCann, who founded cryptocurrency investment firm Asymmetric Financial, proposed to Ashly during the trip.
The influencer uploaded a video to Instagram on April 3, showing McCann getting down on one knee and proposing while they were on a safari. She jumped into his arms and excitedly showed off her engagement ring.
Disturbing Phone Call
Ashly grew up in Southern New Jersey and her family now lives in Delaware. They spoke with local news station ABC 6 Action News.
In the news report, which aired on Monday, April 13, Ashly’s mother said she received a call from her daughter on April 8, saying she had been in a serious argument with her fiancé and the hotel moved them to separate rooms. The two were staying at the Zuri Zanzibar luxury resort.
Her mother, Yolanda Denise Endres, said the next day she received a call from McCann, saying Ashly was hospitalized.
“He told me that Ashly did something to herself and she was taken to the hospital. I said, ‘What happened? When?’ He told me it had been 11 hours prior,” said Endres.
Hours later, the resort contacted the family and said Ashly had passed away.
Medical Report
Her parents showed the TV station a copy of the hospital’s medical report, which said Ashly had a mark around her neck.
The hospital report read, “According to the husband, he found she hanged herself on the door????”
It’s unclear why the question marks were included in the report.
Ashly’s parents said she was taken to a second medical facility in Tanzania that said she died from cerebral hypoxia by strangulation and suffocation.
“She’s never done anything that would ever, ever lead me to believe that she would harm herself,” her mother said.
Calling for Answers
Ashly’s family told reporter Cheyenne Corin they are not getting answers from McCann or officials in Tanzania. They added that they had not received an autopsy report or been given an official cause of death.
Her dad, Harry Robinson, said he is feeling “uncertainty, mystery, anger, and sadness.”
The reporter said she contacted the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, the hotel and McCann, but no one responded to her requests for information.
Ashly’s story went viral when her family posted a statement to Instagram on April 12, announcing her death. The statement said she was “vibrant, full of life, and had so much ahead of her.”
Her close friend Savannah Britt is a publicist in Los Angeles and has also been raising awareness about the case.
You can watch the full news report here.
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