MEXICO CITY — Two Australians and an American were doing what they loved on Baja California’s stunning and largely isolated stretch of Pacific coast. Their latest images on social media showed them sitting looking at the waves, contemplating the waves.
What happened to end their lives could have been as random as a pickup truck full of people with bad intentions. The surfers were shot in the head and their bodies were thrown into a covered well miles away. The way it all unfolded was the stuff of nightmares.
Brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, from Australia, and American Jack Carter Rhoad, apparently stopped to surf the waves between Punta San José, about 50 miles south of Ensenada, and La Bocana, further north on the coast. They were attacked there on April 28th or 29th.
Once police arrived at the last known campsite, it was clear that something had gone violently wrong.
There were bloodstains and marks “as if heavy objects had been dragged,” leading to suspicions of an attack, the Baja California state prosecutor’s office said in an attempt to reconstruct the scene.
The state’s chief prosecutor, María Elena Andrade Ramírez, described what would likely have been moments of terror that ended the three men’s trip.
She theorized that the killers passed by and saw the foreigners’ truck and tents and wanted to steal the tires and other parts of the truck. But “when (foreigners) came and took them, they certainly resisted.”
She said that was when the killers would have shot the men. She said they were probably not attacked because they were tourists. “The evidence suggests that they (the killers) did not know where they were from.”
Andrade Ramírez said the reconstruction of the events was based on the forensic expert’s reports, noting that all three had gunshot wounds to the head.
There was a hasty attempt to destroy evidence. The foreigners’ tents were apparently burned. The truck was taken miles away and burned. The attackers’ truck was later found with a gun inside.
Then, in an “extremely difficult to access location”, the bodies were dumped in a well approximately 6 kilometers away. Investigators were surprised when, beneath the bodies of the three foreigners, a fourth body was found that had been there for much longer.
“They had to have prior knowledge of this,” Andrade Ramírez said of the attackers, acknowledging the possibility that they were behind the previous murder.
The well was covered with boards. “It was literally almost impossible to find him,” Andrade Ramírez said. It took two hours to remove the bodies.
Prosecutors said they were questioning three people involved in the murders. Two were caught with methamphetamine. One of them, a woman, had one of the victims’ cell phones when she was caught. Prosecutors said the two were being held pending drug charges but remain suspects in the murders.
A third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. It was unclear whether he could face more charges.
The third man is believed to have directly participated in the murders. In accordance with Mexican law, prosecutors identified him by his first name, Jesús Gerardo, also known as “el Kekas,” a slang term meaning quesadillas or cheese tortillas.
Andrade Ramírez said he had a criminal record that included drug trafficking, vehicle theft and domestic violence, adding: “We are sure that more people were involved.”
She emphasized that she could not discuss anything related to the suspects, or their possible statements, because this was not permitted under Mexican law and could harm the case against them.
Andrade Ramírez recalled that the victims’ families said that the brothers and Rhoad had been to the seaside location many times and had never had any problems. This time, however, “there was no way to ask for help when the attackers appeared.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday he had requested an opportunity to speak to the parents of the brothers, Deborah and Martin Robinson.
“This is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to them. To identify these wonderful young people and they are traveling through Mexico. We have been dealing with them through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I have indicated that I wish to speak to them at an appropriate time of their choosing,” Albanese told reporters in the Queensland state city of Rockhampton.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
