Three tourists disappear, and bodies are discovered in Baja California

Three tourists disappear, and bodies are discovered in Baja California

The three dead were found by Mexican officials as they searched for two Australian tourists and a U.S. citizen who had vanished during their holiday.

Prosecutors, rescue personnel, and forensic experts were saw Friday near Baja California's La Bocana beach in Mexico.Give credit...Gianluca Arias/Presse Agence France-

Three tourists went missing in a surfing hamlet along the border between the United States and Mexico. The hunt for them lasted for many days, but on Friday the police announced that they had found three dead in a water hole.

Callum and Jake Robinson, two Australian brothers, and their American buddy Jack Carter Rhoad had been camping and surfing on the shore close to the Mexican city of Ensenada when they vanished on Saturday.

The boys' mother, Debra Robinson, said on social media on Wednesday that the brothers had reserved an Airbnb in a different seaside town north of Ensenada but had never checked in.

I'm contacting everyone who has seen my two boys. She begged the more than 120,000 members of a community Facebook group set up for anyone interested in traveling to Mexico's Baja California peninsula, saying, "They have not contacted us."

Callum had Type 1 diabetes, she said.

At a press conference on Thursday, the state's attorney general, María Elena Andrade Ramírez, said that although prosecutors were looking into three individuals connected to the case, a critical amount of time had gone since the three men went missing.

Ms. Andrade Ramírez informed reporters, "Unfortunately, they weren't reported missing until the last few days." "That implies that significant hours or time were lost."

According to Ms. Andrade Ramírez, during an interview, Mexican officials discovered three male remains early on Friday after closely inspecting a 50-foot-deep water hole at La Bocana beach, which is adjacent to the town of Santo Tomás. She went on to say that the bones, which have already broken down, "meet the characteristics to assume with a high degree of probability" that they are Mr. Rhoad and the Robinson siblings.

DNA testing will be done by researchers to verify the results.

The three individuals connected to the killings, according to the prosecution, allegedly attempted to take the victims' car. One guy pulled out a revolver, shot fire, and then attempted to dispose of their corpses when they protested, according to Ms. Andrade Ramírez. That individual is in custody.

She said, "It appears that this aggression happened in an unexpected, circumstantial way." "We promise that there will be consequences for this crime."

At the same location, the unidentified human remains of a fourth male victim that is unrelated to this case were also discovered.

According to State Department data, 192 American residents died in Mexico in 2022; however, the majority of these fatalities were due to accidents or suicides. Homicides were only found in 46 cases.

Baja California's large waves have long drawn crowds of surfers and tourists, many of whom have had to contend with the region's escalating crime rates for over 20 years.

But in recent years, the state has seen unprecedented levels of violence. According to government statistics, Mexico's minister of defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, said this year that Baja California presently leads the country in car theft and ranks second in killings, the most of which are connected to drug trafficking or organized crime.

Unauthorized to talk in public, an official acquainted with the inquiry said that a white pickup vehicle used by the missing visitors was discovered burned close to La Bocana beach. The official said that further items and pieces of evidence were also being examined.

In a nation where, as of the most recent tally supplied by Mexican authorities in March, about 100,000 individuals are still unaccounted for, the quick search for the visitors was a unique exception.

Most instances are still unresolved. It is up to family members and volunteers to pursue leads, but searching becomes risky due to cartel activity and a lack of help from the government.

The latest Ensenada instance brought to mind an incident in 2015 involving the deaths of two Australian surfers, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, as they were traveling through the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. Three guys were detained by the local police on suspicion of shooting the two companions for resisting a robbery. Their vehicle had been sprayed with gasoline and set on fire when their corpses were discovered inside.