MEXICO CITY — Relatives have identified three bodies found in a well as those of two Australian surfers and one American who went missing last weekend, Mexican authorities said Sunday.
Baja California state prosecutors said the relatives had viewed the corpses recovered from a remote well about 50 feet (15 meters) deep and recognized them as their loved ones.
“They may have been looking for trucks in this area,” Andrade Ramírez said.
“It was literally almost impossible to find it,” Andrade Ramírez said, and it took two hours to winch the bodies out of the well.
“Do you have to be a foreigner in Baja California in order for there to be an investigation if something happens to you?
“Every investigation is different,” Andrade Ramírez replied.
Baja California prosecutors had said they were questioning three people in the killings, two of them because they were caught with methamphetamines.
Andrade Ramírez said he had a criminal record, and that more people may have been involved.
MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities announced on Sunday that the bodies of two Australian surfers and one American who went missing last weekend, as well as three bodies discovered in a well, have been identified by their relatives.
According to state prosecutors in Baja California, the family members had seen the bodies that had been pulled from a secluded well approximately 50 feet (15 meters) down and identified them as their loved ones.
The three were reportedly killed by thieves who wanted the tires from their truck. They were visiting the Baja peninsula of Mexico for a surfing trip. According to reports, they dumped the bodies in a well close to the coast in order to dispose of them.
The well held a fourth corpse that had been there for a lot longer and was about 4 miles (6 km) from the scene where the foreigners were killed.
Three individuals are being detained in relation to the case, which residents claim was resolved much faster than the thousands of Mexican disappearances.
Before they vanished last weekend, the three men were camping and surfing a stretch of coast south of Ensenada, sharing dreamy pictures of waves and secluded beaches on social media.
María Elena Andrade Ramírez, chief state prosecutor, described what would have probably been terrifying moments that put an end to the trip for Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and American Jack Carter Rhoad.
According to her theory, the murderers wanted to take the tires from the foreigners after they drove by and noticed their pickup truck and tents. However, upon encountering the foreigners, they undoubtedly resisted. “.
She said the tourists would have been shot by the assassins at that point.
After that, the bodies are said to have been dumped into a well that the robbers apparently knew well, at what she described as “a site that is extremely hard to get to.”. According to her, investigators were not ruling out the possibility that the same suspects were involved in earlier crimes and had also dumped the first, earlier body in the well.
Andrade Ramírez speculated that “they might have been searching for trucks in this area.”.
Boards were supposedly used by the thieves to cover the well. Two hours were needed to winch the bodies out of the well, according to Andrade Ramírez, who claimed that finding it was practically impossible.
Jim Chalmers, the treasurer for Australia, felt sorry for the Robinson family. The nation’s sympathies are with all of their loved ones, I believe. “We are thinking of all of them today. It has been an absolutely horrific ordeal,” he said during a press conference on Monday in Canberra, the nation’s capital.
The remote seaside location close to the township of Santo Tomás, where the missing men’s truck and tents were found on Thursday, was where the bodies were found. From their most recent photo uploads, the trip appeared to be ideal. However, even seasoned foreigners from the area are unsure if it is still safe to camp along the mostly uninhabited coast.
“The reality is, the dangers of traveling to and camping in remote areas are outweighing the benefits anymore,” the local resident and moderator of the Talk Baja internet forum wrote in an editorial on Saturday. “.”.
However, the victims’ way of life depended somewhat on adventure.
The tagline on Callum Robinson’s Instagram page read, “You’re taking up too much space if you’re not living on the edge. ****.
When Andrade Ramírez was questioned at the press conference, one reporter asked why, when locals go missing in the area, not much is usually done for weeks, months, or years, despite applauding the swift and extensive search for the foreigners.
“The reporter, who did not give her name, questioned whether you have to be a foreigner in Baja California for there to be an investigation if something happens to you. In response, Andrade Ramírez said, “Every investigation is different.”.
The closest city, Ensenada, hosted a large gathering of mourners, surfers, and protestors in a main plaza to express their sorrow and indignation over the deaths, as if to emphasize that point.
One protestor-carried placard said, “Ensenada is a mass grave.”. One man wrote, “Australia, we are with you,” on one of the six surf boards that were used for the demonstration.
They just wanted to surf; we demand safe beaches,” said the sign held aloft by a woman. “.
In order to express love, solidarity, and respect for the three lives lost, surfer Gabriela Acosta went to the demonstration. Baja surfers are conscious of the risks, according to Acosta.
Acosta remarked, “We are women and sometimes we would like to surf alone.”. The circumstances prevent us from ever doing that, though. We are always required to travel in company. “.
She remarked, “I believe that what happened to them is just one illustration of how unsafe this state is.”.
Later, surfers formed a circle in the water on their boards to participate in a “paddle-out” ceremony.
Three persons were being questioned in connection with the killings, according to Baja California prosecutors, two of whom were found in possession of methamphetamine. Although they are awaiting drug charges, the two are still being investigated by prosecutors for the killings, they said.
Before the bodies were discovered, a third man was taken into custody on suspicion of committing a crime similar to kidnapping. It was unclear if he would be charged with anything more.
It was thought that the third suspect had a direct hand in the murders. Following Mexican legal protocol, the prosecutor referred to him by his given name, Jesús Gerardo, also known as “el Kekas,” a colloquial term for cheese tortillas or “quesadillas.”. Andrade Ramírez claimed to have a criminal history and that there might have been additional participants.
Debra Robinson, the mother of the missing Australians, made a plea for assistance in finding her sons on a local community Facebook page last week. Callum and Jake, according to Robinson, haven’t been in contact since April 27. They had made reservations for lodging in Rosarito, a nearby city of Ensenada.
Callum had diabetes, according to Robinson. She added that Jack Carter Rhoad, an American, was with them, but the U. S. The Mexico City embassy did not immediately corroborate that. The ‘U. S. The State Department declared that it knew of rumors regarding a U. s. citizen reported missing in Baja, but no additional information was provided.
Over in western Sinaloa state, on the other side of the Gulf of California, also called the Sea of Cortez, from the Baja peninsula, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, perished in 2015. Police claimed that highway bandits were responsible for their deaths. In that case, three suspects were taken into custody.
