Three bodies found in the Mexican state of Baja California last week have been identified as those of three tourists from Australia and the United States who disappeared days earlier, Mexican authorities said on Sunday.
The bodies were confirmed to be those of Callum and Jake Robinson, two brothers from Perth, Australia, and Jack Carter Rhoad of San Diego, the Baja California attorney general’s office said in a statement. “The confirmation comes after the families of the victims were able to identify them, without the need for genetic testing,” the note reads.
The Robinsons and Mr Rhoad were on holiday, surfing and camping along the coast near the Mexican city of Ensenada, when they disappeared on April 27. The Robinsons’ mother said in a social media post Wednesday that they never showed up at an Airbnb they booked in another coastal city.
Early Friday, Mexican authorities recovered the three bodies from a 50-foot-deep pool of water near La Bocana Beach. A fourth male body, still unidentified, was also found at the bottom of the pit, which according to the prosecution had no connection with the case.
Each of the bodies later identified as those of tourists had a gunshot wound to the head, said María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the state attorney general.
Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the murders. One was accused of enforced disappearance. Ms. Andrade Ramírez said she tried to rob the Robinson brothers and Mr. Carter of the pickup truck they were traveling in. When they resisted, she said, he shot them and then disposed of their bodies.
“Unfortunately, they remained in an inhospitable place where there was no way to call for help,” Ms. Andrade Ramírez said at a news conference on Sunday.
The other two people detained were charged with possession of methamphetamine, Ms. Andrade Ramírez said. She said there may be more arrests, but that there was no indication that any Mexican organized crime gang was involved in the killings.
“The hypothesis so far is that they approached with the intent to seize the pickup truck and attacked the victims,” he said.
Ms. Andrade Ramírez said a burned campsite was discovered in a remote, isolated area south of Ensenada, about four miles from where the bodies were found. A single shell casing and bloodstains were found at the scene, and the tourists’ pickup truck, which was also burned, had been abandoned nearby, Ms. Andrade Ramírez said.
