Is LMN’s Deadly Girls Trip based on a true story? All about the real-life incident behind the movie 

Lifetime’s Deadly Girls Trip is a crime thriller directed by Damián Romay. It follows four women on a weekend getaway that turns into a nightmare when one of them, Janice, is found dead in the mansion’s swimming pool.

Her friends claim she lost her balance after drinking too much, but Lacey, one of the friends, who is a suburban mother-to-be, grows suspicious after overhearing an argument the night before. She starts investigating on her own and soon uncovers hidden secrets within the group in the movie Deadly Girls Trip.

Deadly Girls Trip is reportedly inspired by true events, drawing from the case of Shanquella Robinson. The 25-year-old woman died in October 2022 while on vacation in Mexico with friends under circumstances that left many questions unanswered, as per Moviedelic on March 6, 2025.

Her friends initially claimed alcohol poisoning was the cause of death, but an autopsy later revealed a severe spinal cord injury. This finding led authorities to investigate possible foul play, as reported by People on April 13, 2023.

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Shanquella Robinson died during a Cabo trip with six companions, a case echoing Deadly Girls Trip

Lifetime’s Deadly Girls Trip presents a fictionalized crime thriller, but its premise is based on the real-life case of Shanquella Robinson. The 25-year-old woman from Charlotte, North Carolina, died while on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with six companions. Initially, her sudden death was attributed to alcohol poisoning, but further investigations revealed a more disturbing reality, as per People, October 30, 2024.

On October 28, 2022, Robinson arrived at a luxury villa in Cabo with six friends, commonly referred to as the "Cabo Six." The next day, her travel companions contacted a doctor, claiming she had fallen ill due to excessive alcohol consumption.

The doctor noted that Robinson was "dehydrated and verbally unresponsive" and recommended hospital admission. However, her friends insisted on keeping her at the villa, where she later died around 6 p.m., as noted in moviedelic.com on March 6, 2025.

Authorities in Mexico initially listed the cause of death as alcohol poisoning. However, an autopsy conducted in Mexico contradicted this claim, revealing that Robinson had suffered "severe spinal cord injury and atlas luxation," a condition involving excessive movement or dislocation of the uppermost neck vertebrae, as per CNN on April 12, 2023. This discrepancy prompted a criminal investigation into the circumstances of her death.

The case that inspired the movie Deadly Girls Trip took a more sinister turn when a video surfaced online showing Robinson being physically assaulted, seemingly inside the same villa where she died. In the footage, she is seen being beaten while an unidentified man in the background asks:

"Quella, can you at least fight back?" reported on People, April 13, 2023.

The emergence of this video fueled widespread speculation of foul play. As the case gained attention, Mexican authorities classified Robinson’s death as femicide, a gender-based hate crime, and issued an arrest warrant for one of her travel companions.

However, U.S. officials did not proceed with extradition. In April 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that, based on an autopsy conducted in the United States, "federal charges cannot be pursued," citing insufficient evidence, according to CNN.

Further FBI investigations uncovered conflicting accounts. One informant claimed Robinson’s friends said she "hit her head on the toilet while intoxicated," while another witness reported seeing photos of her body that appeared as though she had been stomped on, as per ABC11 on March 6, 2025. Despite these accounts, no arrests have been made in connection to the case.

Two years after her death, Robinson’s family filed a lawsuit against "The Cabo Six," the U.S. Department of State, and the FBI. The lawsuit, filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court, seeks damages exceeding $25,000 per defendant and accuses the parties of "battery, civil conspiracy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress," as reported in People, October 30, 2024.

As reported by People on October 30, 2024, family attorney Sue-Ann Robinson stated:

"The lack of justice serves as a painful, painful reminder of the vulnerabilities faced by individuals, especially young Black women, when they seek adventure in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar faces."

Meanwhile, two of the accused, Alysse Hyatt and Wenter Donovan, have filed motions to dismiss the wrongful death lawsuit, arguing that Mexican authorities should have jurisdiction over the case. They also asserted that they were merely bystanders during the altercation and did not directly participate in any violence, as per Yahoo News on February 25, 2025.

The legal battle remains ongoing, with Robinson’s family continuing to advocate for justice. They have held public demonstrations and urged U.S. authorities to act on the evidence.

"This has been two years and there's no reason that no one has not been arrested yet," Robinson’s mother, Sallamondra Robinson, said during a press conference, as per People on October 30, 2024.

The details of Shanquella Robinson’s case align closely with the events depicted in Deadly Girls Trip, where a group of friends' vacation takes a tragic turn after one of them is found dead under suspicious circumstances. While Deadly Girls Trip does not explicitly name Robinson’s case as its inspiration, the film's storyline suggests it was influenced by the real-life tragedy.

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Deadly Girls Trip is available to stream on Lifetime Movie Network.