UPDATE
May 4, 2024 7:00 AM CDT
A grim update on three missing tourists in Mexico: Authorities on Friday said three bodies have been found in Baja California. Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez, the state's attorney general, said that investigators discovered three decomposed male bodies in a 50-foot-deep water hole on a beach near Santo Tomas, per the New York Times. The remains "meet the characteristics to assume with a high degree of probability" that they're Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and their friend from the US, Jack Carter Rhoad, says Andrade Ramirez. DNA testing will be carried out to make a positive identification. Baja California is one of Mexico's most violent states, though Ensenada, near where the three men had been camping, is usually considered relatively safe, per Reuters.
May 3, 2024 9:03 AM CDT
Mexican police have reportedly discovered a burnt-out truck used by an American and two Australians who disappeared while exploring the Baja California coast over the weekend. Police have arrested three people in the case: two brothers, and a woman who was found with a phone belonging to one of the missing men, reports ABC Australia. The American, identified as Jack Carter Rhoad, and Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson had been camping at the popular surfing spot Punta San Jose near Ensenada, about an hour and a half drive from the US-Mexico border, before failing to show up at an Airbnb in Rosarito, per ABC and CNN.
Debra Robinson, who identified the American traveling with her sons, last heard from them on Saturday, she wrote in a Facebook post. Baja's chief prosecutor, María Elena Andrade Ramírez, said Thursday that investigators at the site where the trio was last seen discovered "tents and other evidence" possibly linked to "three people we have under investigation," per the AP. Police said a burnt-out vehicle used by the missing trio was discovered on a ranch south of Ensenada, per ABC. Andrade Ramírez noted drug cartels are active in the area, but "all lines of investigation are open ... until we find the whereabouts of these people and establish what happened in this case."
story continues below
All three suspects had drugs in their possession, ABC reports. Authorities were able to trace the woman, who is in a relationship with one of the male suspects, using GPS from the stolen phone, sources tell the outlet. Callum Robinson, 33, is a member of Australia's national lacrosse team who lives in San Diego. Jake Robinson, a 30-year-old doctor, traveled across the world for a "trip of a lifetime" with his brother and their friend, Debra and Martin Robinson said in a Friday statement. "Our only comfort right now is that they were together doing something they passionately loved," they said, adding "we are heading to the US/Mexico to be as close as possible to the area where they were last seen." (More Mexico stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
