Police say Ashly Robinson died by suicide after a dispute, but her parents say key details still do not add up.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The family of Ashly Robinson, a 31-year-old American influencer known online as Ashlee Jenae, is demanding answers after she died during a trip to Zanzibar, where police say she took her own life but relatives say the timeline and medical details remain unclear.
Robinson’s death has drawn attention in the United States and Tanzania because the public accounts differ on basic facts, including when she was found, what injuries were documented and what happened in the hours before her family was notified. Her parents say they have contacted police, the U.S. consulate and embassy officials while pushing for surveillance video and fuller records from the resort and hospitals involved. Zanzibar police, meanwhile, say preliminary findings point to suicide and that they see no basis for criminal action against Robinson’s fiancé.
In the days before her death, Robinson had posted images from Tanzania that showed a celebratory trip. Her family said she arrived in Zanzibar to mark her 31st birthday on April 5 and had become engaged during a safari two days earlier. Her mother, Yolanda Denise Endres, said Robinson called home to share the trip and seemed excited about what she saw as a new chapter in her life. Then, on April 8, Endres said, Robinson called again and said she and her fiancé had argued and had been moved into separate rooms. The next day, Endres said, the fiancé called with alarming news. He told her Robinson “did something to herself” and was on the way to a hospital, Endres said. What shook the family most was what she said came next: when she asked what had happened, she said he told her it had been 11 hours earlier.
Hours after that call, the family said, the hotel informed them Robinson had died. Her father, Harry Robinson, said the information that followed only deepened the confusion. The family said a hospital medical report they reviewed noted an unidentified mark around Robinson’s neck and included an account stating that she had been found hanging. A second hospital record, according to the family, listed the cause of death as cerebral hypoxia caused by strangulation and suffocation. The parents say those details do not square with the limited explanations they have received from officials or from the man who was traveling with her. “My daughter Ashly, she’s no longer here with us, and we’re trying to find out why,” Endres said in a television interview. Harry Robinson described the past several days as filled with uncertainty, anger and sadness. The family has said Robinson showed no sign that she intended to harm herself.
Zanzibar police have offered a far more definite account. North Unguja Police Commander Benedict Mapujira said preliminary investigators concluded Robinson used a piece of cloth from her dress and attempted to hang herself inside a wardrobe on April 9 after a disagreement with her fiancé. He said hotel management had separated the couple into different rooms after the dispute and that the matter was first reported to Nungwi Police Station as a suspected suicide attempt. Police said Robinson was still alive when she was taken for treatment and died the next day, April 10. Mapujira also said investigators had found no sign of foul play and that Robinson’s fiancé would not be detained because authorities did not see grounds for criminal action. That official version has become the backbone of the case in Zanzibar, but police have not publicly released a full forensic report, toxicology findings or a detailed minute-by-minute timeline.
The gap between those accounts is why the case has spread so quickly across social media and national news. Robinson had built a sizable online following with lifestyle posts and videos that often centered on travel, celebration and her relationship. In one recent post from the trip, she wrote that she was exactly where she needed to be as she entered what she called “Chapter 31.” Her relatives later described the vacation as a dream trip that turned into the family’s worst nightmare. In a statement issued April 12, the Robinson and Endres families said she had been found unconscious in her villa and rushed to a local hospital, where her death was confirmed hours later. They called the circumstances suspicious and said they were cooperating with local authorities while seeking clarity. Friends also challenged the suicide finding. Savannah Britt, a friend of Robinson’s, publicly called for justice and said those who knew her had trouble accepting that conclusion.
Several important questions remain unresolved. The family says it still does not know exactly when Robinson was first discovered, who first reached her, what security or hotel staff saw, or why so much time may have passed before relatives in the United States were told. It is also not clear what video, room-entry logs, phone data or witness interviews investigators have reviewed. Police have said the body remains in Tanzania while examinations continue before repatriation. That means some of the most important records in the case, including any post-mortem and toxicology results, have not yet been publicly released. The lack of those documents has left room for suspicion on one side and a firm official conclusion on the other. For Robinson’s family, the problem is not only grief but distance: they are trying to piece together their daughter’s final hours from another continent while relying on institutions they say have given them little direct explanation.
The case also sits inside a broader pattern that often shapes deaths involving tourists abroad. Jurisdiction belongs to local authorities, medical records can be hard for relatives to obtain quickly, and public statements sometimes arrive before all testing is complete. In Robinson’s case, the speed of the online reaction has raised the pressure. Her last public images showed wildlife, flowers and a newly accepted proposal. Those images now stand in sharp contrast to the narrow, disputed descriptions that followed. The resort named in family and media accounts, Zuri Zanzibar, has not publicly given a detailed statement explaining what staff witnessed in the room change, the emergency response or any internal review. Robinson’s fiancé also has not given a full public account. As a result, the family has been left to compare fragments: a phone call, hospital paperwork, police comments and the silence around everything in between.
The next phase of the case is likely to depend on records. Robinson’s parents have said they want surveillance footage from the resort and fuller communication from authorities. Zanzibar police have indicated that examinations are continuing before Robinson’s body can be returned to the United States. Until those results are released, the public record remains incomplete. There are no announced criminal charges, no public hearing date and no published forensic report that settles the differences between the family’s account and the police version. What exists instead are two sharply different narratives. One comes from officials who say the evidence points to suicide and no foul play. The other comes from a family that says the details are too thin, the injuries too serious and the unanswered questions too many to close the matter.
For now, that is where the case stands: an American woman went to Zanzibar for her birthday, celebrated an engagement and died days later under circumstances that remain disputed. Her parents say they will keep pressing for records, video and a fuller explanation of her last hours. The next milestone is the release of any formal forensic findings and the repatriation of Robinson’s body, steps that could determine whether the official story holds or faces deeper scrutiny.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.