Body of Ashlee Jenae returned to family in New Jersey amid ongoing death investigation

The Ashlee Jenae Tanzania investigation continues as her family awaits autopsy results and missing belongings.

The body of content creator Ashly Robinson, known online as Ashlee Jenae, has been returned to her family in New Jersey, but her personal belongings, including her engagement ring, remain unaccounted for.

As TheGrio previously reported, Robinson, 31, died April 9 at a hospital in Zanzibar, Tanzania, one day after hotel staff found her unconscious in her villa at the Zuri Zanzibar luxury resort during a birthday trip with her fiancé, Joe McCann. Portland’s KGW reported that her father, Harry Robinson, told TMZ the family believes the missing items are still being held by investigators as the investigation into Ashlee Jenae’s death in Tanzania remains active.

The family has since conducted an independent autopsy, though results are still pending. A funeral service is planned for early next week in New Jersey.

McCann proposed to Robinson during a safari portion of the trip, days before her death. According to KGW, authorities say Robinson was involved in a dispute with McCann shortly before she was found unconscious, and hotel staff stepped in to separate the two into different rooms. That incident remains a central focus of the ongoing investigation. McCann has not made any public statement. He recently made his social media profiles private and his whereabouts remain unclear, though CBS News previously reported that Tanzanian authorities had retained his passport pending autopsy results.

A local Tanzanian outlet previously obtained records listing Robinson’s immediate cause of death as cerebral hypoxia due to strangulation and suffocation, though those findings have not been independently verified, and official autopsy results have not been publicly released. While local Tanzanian reports suggested investigators were exploring the possibility of suicide, Robinson’s family has firmly rejected that theory.

Her father traveled to Washington, D.C. earlier this month to press U.S. government officials for assistance reaching Tanzanian authorities. That effort resulted in contact being made, and the family was informed that a Tanzanian autopsy was completed April 14, but full results have not been shared with them.

Robinson had built a following of over 100,000 across her social media platforms, sharing lifestyle and travel content. One of her last Instagram posts, on her birthday April 5, showed her feeding a giraffe in Tanzania, writing: “Chapter 31 and I’m exactly where I need to be.” Her family’s GoFundMe, launched April 14, has raised over $63,000 to cover funeral and travel costs as they continue seeking answers.