American surfers and their Australian brothers found dead on a surfing vacation in Mexico were likely killed when they refused to hand over their car to a trio of car thieves, a report says.
The bodies of Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, and brothers Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, were discovered next to their burned white van almost a week after they disappeared from the Baja California province .
Authorities speculated that the idyllic trip turned tragic when local bandits approached the men while they were at their beach camp at a popular surf spot known as La Bocana.
“When they tried to recover the vehicle, the victims resisted the theft, the thieves were armed with a gun and apparently shot the victims,” said Baja California chief prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez, at Australian channel 7News.
What’s disturbing is that the killers didn’t even take the car they probably murdered the trio for, preferring to set it on fire in the camp.
Police have not confirmed how the men died, but noted that shell casings were found in the campsite.
Three bodies of men were found at the bottom of a well on a nearby ranch and it took firefighters several hours to recover them.
Mexican authorities have not officially confirmed that three of the bodies were those of Rhoad, a Georgia resident, and the Robinson brothers, but said there was a “high degree of probability” that they had been executed.
However, several sources confirmed their identity to Reuters this week.
The fourth body was identified as that of the homeowner who went missing two weeks ago, authorities said.
Police later arrested Jesús Gerardo Garcia Cota, aka El Kekas, his partner Ari Gisel García Cota, and Jesus’ brother Cristian Alejandro Garcia in connection with the men’s disappearance, but were not charged with murder.
All had methamphetamine and other illegal narcotics on them at the time of their arrest, while Ari Gisel Garcia Cota, 23, was carrying one of the surfer’s phones when she was arrested, according to local reports .
The Robinsons and Rhoad were last seen on April 27, enjoying the tropical climate of the coast, but they were not officially reported missing for several days when they failed to show up at an Airbnb they were staying in. had rented further south.
In the hours before their disappearance, Callum shared a series of social media posts describing what looked like an exhilarating vacation along the Pacific coast.
The men were seen donning wetsuits, drinking beers and enjoying local foods on Rosarito Beach, where they surfed and camped before moving another 50 miles south to the port city of Ensenada.
A snapshot shows the white van which some sources say is the same one found burned at the abandoned camp.
Stevenson University in Baltimore released a statement mourning the passing of Callum Robinson, who graduated in 2015 and was a star lacrosse player at the school and later played for the Premier Lacrosse League.
Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states, although tourist areas like Ensenada are considered safer.
New York Post
