Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@callum10robinson
Topics: Mexico, Crime, World News, Australia, US News
Liv Bridge
Topics: Mexico, Crime, World News, Australia, US News
Mexican authorities have released a major update in the case of three tourists who were killed while on a surfing trip in Mexico last year.
Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their buddy, US tourist Jack Carter Rhoad, went missing while on a surfing trip in the Mexican state of Baja California on April 27, 2024.
The group were believed to have last been seen alive in the city of Ensenada but failed to check into their pre-booked accommodation.
Their bodies were tragically found just days later on May 3 at the bottom of a 50-foot-deep well in Baja California, alongside a fourth body, reportedly not directly involved in the case or connected to the three buddies.
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Investigators confirmed Jake, Callum and Jack had died each with a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Police also said officers found their abandoned tents, a burnt white pickup truck and a phone while they determined the fourth body 'had been there for a long time'.
Three locals were arrested last year in connection with the death of the tourists and now, authorities have confirmed a fourth person will join them in court.
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Baja California state attorney general María Elena Andrade Ramírez said the investigation suggests the trio were robbed and resisted the thieves' attempts, which led to them being killed.
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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.
"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."
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Local authorities have since charged the fourth person in connection with the killings.
According to ABC, Irineo Francisco is the latest to be named and charged, alongside co-accused Jesús Gerardo, Ari Gisell, and Ángel Jesús, whose surnames are suppressed.
Prosecutor Miguel Ángel Gaxiola Rodríguez told the news outlet that the accused had attempted to rob the three tourists due to having come across the foreigners in the isolated spot.
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There was reportedly no evidence of drug cartel involvement, but the prosecution is set to argue that the incident unfolded in a robbery gone wrong.
“We have compelling evidence, including witness statements, and we have found the vehicle,” Gaxiola Rodríguez told ABC. “The objective is to ensure that the accused are brought to trial and convicted of the homicide and robbery.”
The suspects were caught on May 1 when Ari Gisell was pulled over in a traffic stop and reportedly threw 100g of meth on the ground while attempting to flee.
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In searching her vehicle, police officers discovered an iPhone belonging to Jack and other narcotics.
Gisell then reportedly handed in two of the men, who she said had told her: “I f**ked up three gringos.”
The three suspects face charges of aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, violent robbery, grand theft auto and forced disappearance.
Gisell faces the same charges, other than forced disappearance.