Poppy Bilderbeck
Mexican authorities have released new details surrounding three tourists going missing and their bodies being found.
Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and US tourist Jack Carter Rhoad went missing around a week ago while on a surfing trip in Mexico. The trio were last heard from on 27 April.
In their search for the tourists, police discovered bodies, three of which were confirmed as being that of Jake, Callum and Jack, and authorities have since released further updates in the investigation.
The trio were camping near the northern city of Ensenada, having shared photographs of their trip onto social media. However, when they failed to arrive at their pre-arranged accommodation after their surfing trip, concerns for their safety grew.
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Police immediately launched an investigation to find the missing tourists and discovered their abandoned tents, a burnt white pickup truck and a phone.
On Friday (3 May), four bodies were found at the bottom of a well in an area of Baja California 'that is extremely hard to get to' prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez said.
An official noted: "A fourth body was located. It is not related to the three foreigners. The fourth body had been there for a long time." However, investigators are looking into whether the body was dumped by the same people who targeted Jake, Callum and Jack.
And police have since released further details which have come to light in the investigation into the deaths.
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On Sunday (5 May) Baja California state prosecutors said the three bodies were found at the bottom of a 15m-deep (50ft) well and each had a single gunshot wound to the head, 7 News Australia reports.
Andrade Ramírez said the investigation points to the trio being robbed and resisting the thieves' attempts, which lead to them being killed.
She theorized, as quoted by CBS News: "The attackers drove by in their vehicle. They approached, with the intention of stealing their vehicle and taking the tires and other parts to put them on the older-model pickup they were driving.
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"When they (the foreigners) came up and caught them, surely, they resisted. And these people, the assailants, took out a gun and first they killed the one who was putting up resistance against the vehicle theft, and then others came along and joined the fight to defend their property and their companion who had been attacked, and they killed them too."
Three people - two men and one woman - have been arrested, however not all of them on suspicion of direct involvement in the attack.
Ramírez reported the suspects appeared to have stolen the surfers' truck and said: "A working team (of investigators) is at the site where they were last seen, where tents and other evidence was found that could be linked to these three people we have under investigation.
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"There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public."
The suspects remain in custody, one held on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping - also known as 'forced disappearance' - and two on drug charges.
However, all are still being interrogated in relation to the death of the tourists.