Ashlee Jenae death mystery deepens as family suspects fiancé—here's why

Ashly Robinson, a U.S. lifestyle influencer known on social media by the name of Ashlee Jenae, died last week while spending her vacation on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.

Robinson, 31, was found dead on April 9, just days after celebrating her 31st birthday and receiving a marriage proposal from her partner Joe McCann.

Over the weekend, Robinson's family shared a statement on Instagram, seeking answers to her mysterious death.

The statement reads, “Nothing about this loss feels real. One moment she was celebrating love and life in truly Ashly fashion, and the next, she was gone.”

It added, “The suddenness, the answered questions, and the distance from home have made this tragedy even more overwhelming for our family.”

Robinson's family, in a recent interview with ABC 7, has cast doubts over the role of her beau, McCann, 45, who first informed their parents with conflicting statements a day after she was found dead in the hotel room.

“She was starting the next chapter of her life. She called us to FaceTime us to share with us her travel and her vacation,” Robinson’s mother Endres told the outlet.

Endres further revealed that Robinson made a call on April 8 and informed them that she and her fiancé had an argument and were moved to separate rooms.

The very next day, Endres got 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.

When Roobinson’s mother inquired about what actually happened, McCann told her, “It had been 11 hours prior.”

However, hours later, the hotel management informed the family about the death of Ashly Robinson, known online as Ashlee Jenae.

What further deepens the mystery is the hospital report, which claimed Roinson had an unidentified mark around her neck.

The report states that her fiancé (McCann) “found she hung herself on the door,” per New York Post which cited the medical report.

“Sometimes Joe went back to the room with security, and that’s how they found her,” said the woman’s father.

Robinson was later shifted to another hospital, which declared her cause of death as cerebral hypoxia by strangulation and suffocation, per the ABC 7 report.

“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 told the outlet.

Now the Robinson family is planning to visit Zanzibar to seek answers to what actually happened to their daughter.

In the latest update on the case, Zanzibar officials issued a statement on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, confirming that McCann's passport has been upheld by the authorities.

So far the authorities investigating the case have not made any arrest.