Parents of surfers killed in Mexico pay emotional tribute to their sons, saying ‘world has become a darker place’

The mother of two Australian surfers killed in a suspected carjacking in Mexico fought back tears as she said: “The world has become a darker place for us.”

Debra Robinson issued a moving statement alongside her husband Martin, saying they were “heartbroken” after their sons Callum, 33, and Jake, 30, died in Baja California.

Ms. Robinson also mourned American Jack Carter Rhoad, who was killed with them.

On a beach in San Diego, she said, “They were young men enjoying their passion for surfing together.”

“Live bigger, shine brighter and love stronger in her memory,” she added.

A Mexican man has been charged with “forced disappearance” and is expected to be charged in the three murders.

Another man and woman caught with drugs were arrested on suspicion of involvement.

The three friends disappeared April 27 during a surfing and camping trip near Ensenada.

A desperate search ended when their bodies were found Friday in a cliffside well, about four miles from where they were attacked at a beach campsite.

According to local authorities, each man was killed by a shot in the head.

A fourth body was also found in the well, but had been there for a long time and had no connection to the case, it was said.

Callum was a member of the Australian national lacrosse team and lived in San Diego, just over the US-Mexico border near Baja California. Jake, an avid traveler, left Australia about two weeks before the incident. The two attended the Coachella music festival in California together before crossing the state border into Mexico.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a radio station in the Robinsons’ hometown of Perth, Western Australia, that all parents were grieving the family’s loss.

“I think the nation’s heart goes out to Callum and Jake Robinson’s parents. It is every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a son or daughter. Losing these two brothers is simply terrible and I extend my deepest sympathy and condolences. “Surely the whole nation goes out to the parents and other family and friends of these two great young Australians,” Albanese told Perth Radio 6PR.

Albanese said he was reminded of this when his only child, Nathan Albanese, traveled to Spain for a music festival last year at age 22.

“You’re worried, but you also think that it’s part of Australian travel law, that you’re traveling around with a backpack and meeting people and it’s also making you grow as a person, so you want to encourage them,” Albanese said.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in the western state of Sinaloa, across the Gulf of California – also known as the Sea of ​​Cortez – from the Baja Peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of muggers. Three suspects were arrested in this case.