The new fiancé of New Jersey influencer Ashlee Jenae is being quizzed about her death in Zanzibar — which came just hours after an explosive fight left them forced to stay in separate rooms.
Joe McCann, 45, “continues to be questioned by the Police Force and his travel document has been withheld,” the Tanzania Police Force said in its latest update Tuesday.
The influencer’s death is “related” to a fight the newly engaged couple had at their hotel that was so severe hotel staff moved McCann to a separate room “for their safety,” the police statement confirmed.
McCann has said he returned with a security guard to check up on the influencer — also known as Ashly Robinson — and found her hanging from a door, her family said.
She died later in a hospital, just a week after McCann had popped the question.
Police confirmed that the death appeared to be a suicide, and did not elaborate on why McCann was being questioned. Sources told the BBC that he was being questioned just as a witness and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
However, the dead woman’s parents claimed that their daughter’s fiancé only alerted them to the tragedy 11 hours later, and has since been vague about what happened.
They also said they were struggling to get clear updates from Tanzanian authorities — while challenging the idea that their daughter would kill herself.
“My daughter Ashly, she’s no longer here with us, and we’re trying to find out why,” her mother, Yolanda Denise Endres, told WPVI.
“She’s never done anything that would ever, ever lead me to believe that she would do something to harm herself like that,” Endres said. “She was happy.”
The dead woman’s father, Harry Robinson, said it has left them overwhelmed with “Uncertainty. Mystery. Anger. Sadness.”
“It’s like a part of me has been taken,” he said.
Earlier this month, McCann popped the question to Robinson, who also celebrated her birthday in April.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling.
If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
