The Mexican attorney general announced on Sunday that the bodies, believed to be those of Australian and American surfers who went missing in Mexico, were found with gunshot wounds to the head at a resort in the country. Attorney General María Elena Andrade stated, "The bodies all have bullet holes in the head caused by a firearm." She added at a press conference that the victims' families arrived in Mexico on Saturday to formally identify the bodies.
One hypothesis being investigated is whether the tourists' deaths resulted from an attempted theft of their pickup truck. The truck was found burned a short distance from the bodies of Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, and their American friend Jack Carter, who were known surfers last seen on April 27 in Punta de Santo Tomas, a coastal resort in Ensenada.
According to Australian media, 30-year-old Jake Robinson was a doctor in Perth, Australia. His brother Callum was 33, and their friend Jack Carter was also 30 years old. Three suspects, including a woman, were arrested on Thursday for their possible direct or indirect involvement in the case, according to Mexican authorities.
On Saturday, attorney general María Elena Andrade stated that the bodies were "in an advanced state of decomposition," complicating the identification process. She added, "However, based on the clothing and certain features like long hair and specific physical descriptions, the possibility is high" that these are the bodies of the three missing young men.
Journalists reported that on Friday, search teams retrieved three bodies that had been buried in mud from a pit overlooking the ocean in Santo Tomas, Baja California. A fourth body was also found in the same location, but tests indicated that it had been there for some time and was not related to the disappearance of the three tourists. Authorities in Baja California confirmed that they are interrogating three Mexicans connected to the disappearance of the three tourists, and the investigation is being conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the American and Australian consulates.
