PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The parents of a 31-year-old U.S. social media influencer found dead in her hotel room in Tanzania are pressing for answers, as local authorities continue investigating the circumstances surrounding her death.
Officials in Tanzania have confiscated the passport of her fiancé, Joe McCann, while he is still being questioned. According to the BBC, local police did not previously suspect him of wrongdoing. The family says they want to know how their daughter died.
“We’re here, helpless. We’re here helpless,” said her father, Harry Robinson.
Desperation has grown for the parents of Ashly Robinson as they seek clarity about what happened to their daughter in Zanzibar.
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On Tuesday, they spent the day in Washington, D.C., trying to obtain information from the embassy after saying they were getting nowhere in earlier attempts.
“No one wants to talk to us. Just let us know what happened, that’s the only thing we want to know is the truth,” Harry Robinson said.
Ashly Robinson, who went by Ashlee Jenae online, was found unresponsive in her hotel room in Zanzibar and was declared dead on April 9.
Police have said they are investigating her death as a possible suicide. Investigators in Tanzania also said Robinson had been in a fight with her fiancé hours earlier and that the two were separated by hotel staff. McCann was moved to a different villa, about a 10-minute walk from where Robinson was staying.
Yolanda Denise Endres, Robinson’s mother, said the family has received no confirmed information from authorities.
“There is nothing that is confirmed. We don’t have anything from the police or law enforcement that states there is a conclusion to anything. It’s under investigation, and it’s under investigation because it doesn’t look right,” she said.
The parents are pushing for security footage from the Zuri Zanzibar hotel where Robinson was staying.
“If there’s security footage, that would tell the story. So we just want to know if there’s any security footage, if there’s anything, just to say his story is true,” Harry Robinson said.
The hotel has not responded directly to the family but provided a brief statement to ABC News, saying it was “deeply saddened by a tragic incident involving one of our guests.”
The family is preparing to fly to Zanzibar to seek answers in person.
“I just know I need to keep moving forward. I’m never going to give up. I just want the truth out there,” Harry Robinson said.
Attempts to reach McCann for comment were unsuccessful.
An autopsy is expected to be completed on Wednesday.
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