bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Three bodies believed to be those of two Australian brothers and an American who disappeared on a surfing trip in Mexico have bullet wounds to the head, authorities said on Sunday.
Relatives of Australians Callum and Jake Robinson, and their American friend Jack Carter, were in Mexico to aid in the identification process, state prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade said at a press conference.
“The relatives arrived in the United States [on Saturday] and today they presented themselves to the prosecutor’s office,” she said.
The victims “all have a hole in their head made by a firearm projectile”, Andrade added.
The motive was believed to the attempted theft of their pickup truck, she said.
The vehicle – which had been burned – was found nearby.
Three suspects, one of them a woman, have been detained on suspicion of direct or indirect involvement in this case, according to prosecutors.
Investigators said earlier that the bodies, which were recovered from a clifftop shaft in the crime-hit northwestern state of Baja California, were very likely those of the missing tourists.

The bodies were in an “advanced state of decomposition”, Andrade said.
But “given their clothing and certain characteristics such as long hair and specific physical descriptions, we have high probability”, that the bodies are those of the three missing men, she said.
Another body found at the site had been there longer and was unconnected to the others, officials said.
Agence France-Presse journalists saw the authorities use a pulley system to extract the mud-covered bodies from the shaft on Friday near the town of Santo Thomas, about 30 miles (45km) southeast of Ensenada.
The Australian brothers’ mother, Debra Robinson, had sounded the alarm on a Facebook page for Baja California tourists several days ago, after the young men dropped out of contact.
A missing poster shared on social media said Callum Robinson was 33 and his brother Jake, 30. It named their friend as Jack Carter Rhoad, aged 30.

Callum Robinson’s Instagram page showed several images from the trio’s Mexico trip: enjoying beers with their feet up in a bar, lazing in a jacuzzi, eating roadside tacos, looking out at the surf.
Six-foot-four (1.93 metres) Callum had played in the US Premier Lacrosse League, which left a message on its website saying the lacrosse world was “heartbroken by the tragic loss” of the trio.
Jake Robinson was a doctor in Perth, according to Australian media.
Baja California is known for its inviting beaches and its resorts are popular with US tourists, partly because of their proximity to the border.
It is also one of Mexico’s most violent states because of organised crime gangs, although cartel activity does not commonly affect foreign tourists.

The latest case echoes that of two Australian surfers who were murdered and their bodies burned while travelling in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa in November 2015.
In March 2023, alleged members of the Gulf Cartel kidnapped four Americans in the northeastern city of Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Two of them were killed.
Spiralling criminal violence in Mexico has claimed 450,000 lives and led to more than 100,000 disappearances since the end of 2006, when the federal government launched a controversial anti-drug strategy involving the use of military units.


Ryan Wedding arrested: ex-Olympian fugitive on FBI’s ‘most wanted’ list caught in Mexico

From Venezuela to Greenland, Trump is using US power to rewrite the rules

Why Trump’s Mexico military plan is a blow to Asian exporters to Americas

US airlines warned of ‘potential risks’ when flying over Mexico, South America

Mexico

Bodies in Mexico presumed to be missing Australian, US surfers have bullet wounds to head

Australian brothers Callum (left) and Jake Robinson. Photo: Instagram/callum10robinson

A wooden cross next to army trucks near the scene where human remains were found near La Bocana Beach, Santo Tomas delegation, in Ensenada, Baja California State, Mexico on Friday. Photo: AFP

Rescuers at a crime scene where human remains were found near La Bocana Beach in Ensenada, Baja California state. Photo: AFP

Members of a rescue team work at a site where three bodies were found in La Bocana, Mexico on Friday. Photo: Reuters 

3 bodies found after Australian, US surfers go missing in Mexico

A rescuer descends into a waterhole where human remains were found near La Bocana Beach in Ensenada, Mexico’s Baja California state, on May 3. Photo: AFP

A navy officer walks near the scene where human remains were found in Ensenada. Photo: AFP

Members of the national guard, police and investigators stand near a site where three bodies were found in Baja California state. Photo: Reuters

Rise in Mexican cartel violence fuels record migration to US: ‘everyone is fleeing’

Members of a migrant family hold hands to line up and be transported to a shelter after being processed in Nogales, Arizona, the United States, on November 11. Photo: Reuters

Migrants board a bus to be transported to a shelter after being processed, as Mexican families continue to be displaced by cartel violence and are requesting asylum in the United States, in Nogales, Arizona, on November 11. Photo: Reuters

Yomara, 26, a Mexican migrant from Chiapas, in Nogales, Arizona. Yomara, her husband and their daughter crossed into Arizona in early November and turned themselves into US border agents. Photo: Reuters

The Dennis DeConcini international bridge, on the border between Nogales, Mexico and Nogales, Arizona, the United States, on November 10. Photo: Reuters

Maria talks on her mobile phone while waiting for her appointment through the CBP ONE app, in an undisclosed location in northern Mexico. Photo: Reuters

Carlos and his daughter Karla, Mexican migrants from Chiapas, buy food as they wait to be transported to a shelter after being processed, in Nogales, Arizona, the United States, on November 11. Photo: Reuters

Chinese factories in Mexico on thin ice, Xi-Biden talks and the surprise tiny EV hit: 7 reads about US-China relations

Photo: Handout

Chinese companies are opening factories in Mexico – but some have found themselves in a precarious position. Photo: Shutterstock

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Photo: Reuters

Photo: Shutterstock

Photo: US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts handout via Reuters

China’s exports to Mexico are getting heavier tariffs – is it a sign of more to come?

Mexico’s trade with China has increased as US export restrictions have made business there more challenging. Photo: AFP

News

World

Americas

Grisly discovery appeared to confirm worst fears of the families of Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
Police investigating whether deaths resulted from attempt to steal the tourists’ truck. Three suspects have been detained in connection with the case


Grisly discovery appeared to confirm worst fears of the families of Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and American Jack Carter. Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the case.


Australia

United States

Crime

Perth