Surfers are believed to have been killed in a carjacking, Mexico says

Three tourists found dead in Mexico were shot in the head and their bodies dumped in a well, authorities confirmed.

Officials believe the men were attacked while trying to prevent their pickup truck from being stolen.

Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, 30 and 33, and their American boyfriend Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, disappeared April 27 during a surfing trip in Ensenada.

Relatives of the three men identified their bodies on Sunday after they traveled to Mexico to help authorities, a prosecutor said.

The attackers wanted the vehicle for its tires and shot the tourists when they resisted, Baja California state prosecutor Maria Andrade suggested.

Their bodies were found on Friday in a 4 m (15 foot) deep well about 6 km (4 miles) from the site of the attack in the city of Santo Tomás.

Abandoned tents, a burned white pickup truck and a phone linked to the missing surfers were found nearby.

A fourth body was found in the well but had been there for some time and was unrelated to the case, officials said.

Two men and a woman were arrested on suspicion of direct or indirect involvement in the attack. A man with a criminal record was accused of “enforced disappearance”.

The FBI had previously said it was reviewing the case and was in contact with international partners.

Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states as local drug gangs wage turf wars.

In 2023, according to official data, it had the second highest murder rate in the country after the state of Guanajuato.

National Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said earlier this year that 85-90% of murders committed in Baja California were linked to drug trafficking and organized crime.

But the area around Ensenada, about 120 km (75 miles) south of the U.S.-Mexico border and known for its surfing conditions, is considered safer and has long attracted tourists from California.

The brothers’ parents – Deborah and Martin Robinson – said Callum lived in the US and pursued his dream of becoming a professional lacrosse player.

Jake was on the “trip of a lifetime” to visit him before he starts a new job as a doctor in Victoria, it was said on Friday.

“Callum and Jake are beautiful people. We love her so much and it breaks our hearts.”

Friends of the brothers have also flooded social media with tributes.

Callum’s teammates at Stevenson University’s lacrosse club said the athlete was a larger-than-life personality.

“With his beautiful long hair and charming smile, he truly embodied the nickname ‘big koala’ – warm, friendly and always there to lend a helping hand,” the club said in a statement.

His friend Emily Horwath said her heart was “shattered into a million pieces.”

“I’m at a loss for words right now… I will love you forever,” she wrote in an Instagram post alongside pictures of the couple.

Carter Rhoad’s social media accounts featured happy snaps of him proposing to his partner less than a year ago.

A fundraiser set up by friends of his family said he and the Robinson brothers had “brought immeasurable joy, love and kindness” to the world.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the country was thinking of the Robinson family.

“It was an absolutely terrible, absolutely terrible ordeal and our thoughts are with all of them today,” he said at a news conference on Monday.

The killings have sparked fear and anger in the Ensenada region.

Scores of demonstrators marched through the city on Sunday carrying surfboards with slogans written on them in Spanish.

“They just wanted to surf – we demand safe beaches,” said one. “Australia, we are with you,” said another.

A group of surfers later performed a “paddle out” ceremony, a vigil on the sea in honor of the trio.

It’s not the first time Australian surfers have been killed while holidaying in Mexico.

In 2016, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman were murdered in the northwestern state of Sinaloa while resisting an attempted robbery.

Their bodies were found weeks later in their burned-out mobile home.

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State Department figures show that at least 1.6 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico, which is also the world’s most popular destination for U.S. tourists, with more than 30 million visitors in 2022.

In 2022 — the most recent year for which State Department data is fully available — 192 Americans died in Mexico, 46 ​​of which were classified as homicides.