Murder of three foreign surfers leaves Mexico and the international community in alarm – World

Jack Carter Rhoad, Callum Robinson and Jake Robinson had only recently been in Mexico when they were reported missing.

They arrived in Mexico, coming from the United States of America, on April 26th. 36 hours later there was no trace of them. The bodies were found after eight days, in a well.

The crime put the Central American country on alert and the US issued warnings to tourists who want to travel to Mexico.

It was with a photograph painted with two cars, sea waves and surfboards that Callum Robinson, 30, shared the beginning of the trip with his followers. “This begins…”, reads the image on the former lacrosse player’s social media.

He lived in San Diego, where he had been visited by his brother, Jake, from Australia. The two young men were originally from Perth, on the Australian west coast.

On social media they always shared many images of their trips, including the trip to Mexico, with the American Jack Carter Rhoad.

With a dog, enjoying a beer, with a radio, in a jacuzzi and contemplating the sea. The vast sea, which surfers enjoyed so much, is the last photograph published on Callum’s Instagram.

With no news from the young people, the Australians’ friends were alarmed. That night they did not arrive at the accommodation where they were supposed to spend the night, which increased the concern. The missing person report was made on April 30, in the state of Baja California. But it was the following day, with a Facebook post from Callum and Jake’s mother, that the case gained greater proportions.

The sharing, in a group with more than 120 thousand participants, gained media coverage and the news was quickly shared in the North American and Australian press. Mexican authorities were forced to act quickly.

On May 2, the camp where the victims would have been found was found, in a place popular with surfers. In the place, depopulated and without telephone signal, the young people’s tents were burned.

“Irons from the structure of the burned tents, gun bullets, water bottles, blood stains and drag marks were found”, reveals the local prosecutor, Elena Andrade. From that moment on, authorities suspected that the tourists had been violently attacked.

The omen was confirmed the following day when the three bodies were found in a deep well, six kilometers from the camp.

The prosecutor reveals that finding this place was like “finding a needle in a haystack”. The operations to remove the bodies from the 15 meter deep well took several hours. The bodies were recognized on Sunday.

Authorities believe there was a robbery gone wrong

Local prosecutors believe that the death occurred due to a robbery that ended in execution, reveals El País. The robbers found the surfers at the camp, where they tried to steal belongings.

“When they saw the white pickup truck, the victims’ vehicle, they went to the location to try to steal the car. The surfers were surprised and offered resistance”, explains the prosecutor, quoted by the Spanish newspaper.

According to experts, Mexican authorities believe that the attackers shot one of the young people, who opposed the assault, and the rest came to their colleague’s defense. “When they saw that the situation was out of control, they disposed of the bodies”, they add.

So far, three suspects have been detained. The main one, Jesús Gerardo, has a criminal record. The other two are Gerardo’s brother and girlfriend. The woman was found with the cell phone of one of the victims.