Jake and Callum Robinson, along with Jack Carter Rhoad, who were killed in an apparent carjacking in Baja.
A man arrested in connection to the murders of Callum Robinson, Jake Robinson, and Jack Carter Rhoad reportedly confessed the crime to his girlfriend. The new information was reported on Wednesday when the man appeared in court on kidnapping charges, but officials say murder charges are also coming.
The three surfers first went missing sometime around the weekend of April 27. Their bodies were found in a well several days later along with the body of a landowner. The Robinson brothers and Rhoad were all identified by family members earlier this week. Authorities revealed the murders were likely the result of a carjacking in which the group was killed in an attempt to steal the tires from their truck and other electronics.
In Wednesday’s court appearance, the suspect, Jesús Gerardo, was officially charged with “forced disappearance.” His girlfriend Ari Gisel and another man had been detained in connection to the crime. Gisel has reportedly been made a witness by the prosecution, who told the court her then-partner came to her house on the night of April 28 and said, “I f***ed up three gringos.”
When Ari asked what that meant, he allegedly responded, “I killed them.” Then, the prosecution says he gave her a mobile phone and brought her outside to show the new tires on her car. That mobile belonged to one of the victims and authorities found Ari Gisel with it when they initially detained the suspects.
According to ABC Australia, the primary belief of authorities in Mexico is that the crime was a one-off, senseless robbery that resulted in the three murders. However, the outlet reports that a former official of the Ensenada Police Department believes that story “doesn’t add up.”
“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.”
