Australian brothers Jake Callum Robinson went missing in Mexico with their friend Jack Carter Rhoad. Jake was 30, Callum was 33 and Carter was 30.
As some background into the men, Jake was a doctor who was based in Australia. Jake was an avid traveller. He spent two months in Indonesia in 2023.
Callum was living in San Diego where he was a professional lacrosse player. He graduated from Stevenson University in Maryland in 2015. He was known by his friends as the ‘big Koala’.
I believe Carter also lived in San Diego. He had been employed at a technology services company in the city since December 2019.
In 2012, he founded a clothes company, Loma Apparel.
Between 2014-15, he played professional football at Deportivo Mixto in Guatemala’s top-tier national league.
He had previously volunteered on humanitarian trips to South Africa, Guatemala and Mexico.
Jake travelled to the US to attend Coachella with his brother.
The two men decided to head into Mexico for a quick surfing trip with Carter and another friend.
Beaches in Mexico are often known by their latitudes. In late April 2024, the men went to the K38 surf break.
Rodrigo Leal Bravo from the local surf shop remembers them coming in to buy wax.
“They were excited about their surf trip and they were on their way south,” he told the ABC.
Callum told Rodrigo that they were heading to Punta San Jose, a remote spot which was three hours away.
It’s only accessible by unsealed roads and the mobile tower coverage is patchy at best, but Rodrigo says he wasn’t concerned for their safety
“I did not think anything should happen to those big strong guys, right?” he said.
Callum has a Mexican highlight on his instagram. The first photo shows their white Chevvy packed with boards and towels right near the water’s edge.
“….and it begins,” Callum wrote as the caption, along with a surfer emoji and a picture of the Mexican flag.
He then added more snapshots of their journey — taco stands, brightly coloured buildings, and Carter beaming with a boom box on his shoulder.
Callum and Jake’s mother started appealing for help after her sons stopped answering their phones. She made a post on a Baja Facebook group.
Word started emerging that the phone of one of the men was found in possession of a 23 y/o Mexican woman Ari Gisel García Cota, who had been arrested. Following her arrest, police allegedly found a transparent plastic bag filled with a substance believed to be crystal meth and a grey iPhone with a picture of a man matching the description of one of the missing men.
More arrests were made fairly quickly.
Mexican media outlet Zeta Tijuana reported Jesús Gerardo Garica Cota, also known as El Kekas, his partner Ari Gisel García Cota and Kekas’ brother Cristian Alejandro García were charged. Police found the remains of FOUR people in a well at a ranch in Northern Mexico.
It is understood all three were in possession of methamphetamines and other illegal drugs when they were arrested.
The truck that the Australian’s had been driving was found torched and burned on the ranch.
The fourth body that was found is said to belong to the owner of the ranch who had been missing for weeks.
“We have secured a cell phone and a firearm,” Attorney General Andrade Ramírez said.
“The firearm was discovered in the pick-up truck belonging to an individual currently under investigation
“A criminal scene has already been processed where we found evidence that someone burned the remains of tents, clothes, drink bottles and some evidence related to this case.”
At this stage, investigators are treating this as a potential robbery gone wrong, with the suspects allegedly trying to steal the victims’ car.
“When they tried to get the vehicles, the victims opposed the robbery. The robbers were armed with a firearm and then apparently shot the victims,” she said.
“This aggression seems to have occurred in an unforeseen, circ*mstantial manner,” Ms Andrade Ramírez said.
“We pledge that this crime will not go unpunished.”
Ms Andrade Ramirez gave another update on the possible motive.
She said it appears the attackers were passing through the area when they decided to steal the campers’ ute, which they wanted for its tyres, and they shot the campers when they resisted.
“They may have been looking for trucks,” she said.
“The perpetrators drove by and saw the foreigners’ ute and tents, and wanted to steal their tyres.
“The perpetrators approached with the intention of taking over the ute to remove the tyres, and put them on their older car. It is likely that there was resistance on the part of the tourists, and the aggressors took out a weapon in their possession.”
All three died from a single gunshot to the head, according to the Baja California Forensic Medical Service.
There have been many tributes for the men.
In a statement posted online, Stevenson University athletics director Brett Adams wrote that Callum was “a stellar student, a stellar athlete and an even better friend”.
“We are all so thankful that he was a part of our lives,” his former coach, Paul Cantabene, said in the statement. “He lived an extraordinary life, but what is most impressive about Callum is what a loyal friend he was. Once you were his friend, you were friends for life.”
A friend of Callum, Hayley Jacobs, told Australia’s Nine News that he “lit up a room”, adding that he eventually hoped to return to Australia.
“I asked him what his goals were in life and he just said that he wanted to go back to Australia and raise a family and grow,” she added.
A friend of Jake, Jenny Nguy, paid tribute to him on social media, saying she “can’t stop thinking about you, your smile, your laugh, your kindness”.
“I can’t stop crying thinking about how your parents must be feeling,” she wrote.
Callum and Jake’s parents made a statement on May 7.
SOURCE LIST –
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68965803
