Zanzibar police question fiancé as forensic probe continues in woman's death

Zanzibar police are questioning Joe McCann as a witness in the death of Ashly Robinson, the Miami-based influencer known online as Ashlee Jenae, while forensic work continues to establish exactly how she died. North Unguja Regional Police Commander Benedict Mapujira said officers have not detained McCann and are also interviewing several other people, including hotel staff, as investigators piece together the final hours of the 31-year-old American creator.

Police said Robinson died on April 10 in Zanzibar, Tanzania, after being found alive and taken to hospital. A more detailed police account says the incident happened on April 9 at a hotel in Nungwi, in northern Unguja, after a disagreement with McCann. Investigators say Robinson allegedly used a piece of cloth from her dress to hang herself inside a wardrobe, and Mapujira said further examinations of her head are being carried out to determine the exact cause of death.

The case has drawn intense attention because Robinson was more than a tourist in transit. She had more than 88,000 followers and had traveled to Zanzibar to celebrate her 31st birthday on April 5. US media reports said McCann proposed during a safari two days before her death, turning what her family described as a dream birthday-and-engagement trip into a grim international investigation.

Her parents, Yolanda Denise Endres and Harry Robinson, said they have not received clear information from Tanzanian officials or from McCann and are seeking answers. The family has said it wants surveillance footage and is considering traveling to Zanzibar. In a statement, they described her death as suspicious and urged the public not to circulate unverified claims as fact.

Zuri Zanzibar said it is cooperating with investigators and the US Embassy, while Zanzibar’s acting tourism and antiquities minister, Mudrick Ramadhan Soraga, said authorities are waiting for the forensic results before commenting further. The case now sits at the intersection of law enforcement, diplomacy and online scrutiny, with police trying to preserve the line between witness questioning and suspicion as speculation races ahead of verified evidence.