Jake and Callum Robinson, along with Jack Carter Rhoad.
The political and pop culture website The Daily Beast is reporting suspects in the murder of Jake and Callum Robinson and Jack Carter Rhoad were turned over to Mexican police by the Sinaloa drug cartel. The story published May 9 claims an anonymous source told the publication the criminal organization chose to help authorities because they were afraid of getting “unwanted attention” by being connected to the murders of the three men who were on a surf trip in Ensenada. The Daily Beast says its source is a member of the Sinaloa cartel who wished to remain anonymous.
“They were low-level robbers acting alone. But we handed them over,” the source reportedly said, “We learned that the cops were looking for the gringos and also began looking for those who were responsible. We called the authorities to let them know where to find them.”
Police arrested three people in the investigation and the first suspect was charged last week for “forced disappearance,” according to a press release from the Baja California Attorney General’s Office.
“For the crime of forced disappearance committed by private individuals, the Attorney General’s Office of Baja California achieved the connection to the trial of Jesús Gerardo ‘N’, alias ‘El Kekas’, who will remain in preventive detention after his involvement in the crime committed to the detriment of two brothers of Australian origin and an American in Ensenada,” they said.
ABC Australia also reported last week that the primary belief among Mexican authorities is that the robbery and ensuing murders was a one-off, senseless crime. Meanwhile, at least one former official of the Ensenada Police told the same news outlet that story “doesn’t add up” with many factors in the case.
“My experience tells me that if you want to steal cars, you don’t then commit more violent crimes. They don’t want to get caught,” Jesus Luna Lezama told ABC, explaining that the incident has the “hallmarks of organized crime.”
“There was more than one person involved, the perpetrators brought weapons to the scene and they were motivated to move the bodies and dispose of them.”
