Three bodies found dumped in a well with gunshot wounds to the head have been confirmed as missing tourists, including a US citizen, Mexican authorities said Sunday. <\/p>\n
Relatives of American Jack Carter Rhoad and Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson identified their bodies without having to perform genetic tests, the Baja California Attorney General\u2019s office said in a statement on Sunday. <\/p>\n
Three Mexican citizens previously questioned in relation to their disappearance have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, the attorney general\u2019s office said. One of the suspects was identified as Jes\u00fas Gerardo \u201cN,\u201d alias \u201cEl Kekas.\u201d <\/p>\n
The three friends were on a surfing and camping trip near the town of Ensenada, about 60 miles south of the border city of Tijuana, when they went missing on April 29, and are believed to have been murdered, according to authorities. <\/p>\n
Baja California Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez met with parents of the victims on Sunday and \u201creaffirmed the institution\u2019s total commitment to continue the investigation into these unfortunate events until those responsible are fully prosecuted by the law,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The surfers may have been attacked in an attempted vehicle robbery, officials said, citing preliminary investigations. Baja California has been plagued by cartel violence in recent years, though it rarely occurs in tourist areas like Ensenada. <\/p>\n
The confirmation of the surfers\u2019 deaths is heartbreaking news for desperate relatives who had flown to Mexico hoping for better news \u2013 and for their friends back home. <\/p>\n
The siblings went to Coachella music festival a week before they crossed into Mexico with their American friend, planning \u201cto surf for a few days,\u201d parents Martin and Debra Robinson said last week. <\/p>\n
\u201cCallum and Jake are beautiful human beings. We love them so much and this breaks our heart,\u201d they said in a statement before departing Perth, Western Australia. <\/p>\n
Callum, 33, was a member of Australia\u2019s national lacrosse team and a Stevenson University alumnus. He was based in San Diego, California. <\/p>\n
In an Instagram post, the Maryland college said, \u201cCallum will be remembered for his infectious spirit and larger-than-life personality.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWith his beautiful long hair and charming smile, he truly embodied the nickname \u2018big koala\u2019\u2014 warm, friendly, and always there to lend a helping hand,\u201d the post said. \u201cThough he may be gone, Callum\u2019s legacy will live on in our hearts forever.\u201d <\/p>\n
She said she saw him on the morning he left for Mexico, but quickly felt something was wrong when she didn\u2019t hear from him. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on but I think he\u2019s mad at me, like something doesn\u2019t seem right,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
While parts of Mexico are established tourist destinations, violent crime including kidnapping and human trafficking plague parts of the country, particularly in border areas. Mexico\u2019s homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and more than 100,000 people remain missing in the country. <\/p>\n
Drug cartels have terrorized the country with ever-increasing levels of violence and cruelty, fueled in part by huge demand for drugs from US consumers and armed with an arsenal of weaponry from north of the border. <\/p>\n
In 2015, the bodies of Australian surfers Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman were found in a burned-out van in Sinaloa state. Authorities said they were killed by low-level drug dealers who had been robbing motorists. <\/p>\n
The latest suspected murders sparked outrage in the surf community of Ensenda, where about 500 people marched on Sunday to call for justice and better security, Australian public broadcaster ABC reported. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are here in solidarity with our friends from Australia and the United States,\u201d local surfer H\u00e9ctor Estrada told the ABC. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a big community of surfers all over the world and we need security, we need the beaches to be safe [for] camping around, surfing or just playing with your family, friends.\u201d <\/p>\n
Another resident, Ana Acosta, told the ABC: \u201cI\u2019m asking for justice and security from the government and for the state to provide to us surfers.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a statement Sunday, Mexico\u2019s Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences over the suspected killings. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Foreign Ministry stands in solidarity with the families of the victims in this tragic event and deeply regrets the outcome of the events,\u201d it said. <\/p>\n
This story has been updated with additional information.<\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three bodies found dumped in a well with gunshot wounds to the head have been confirmed as missing tourists, including a US citizen, Mexican authorities said Sunday. Relatives of American Jack Carter Rhoad and Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson identified their bodies without having to perform genetic tests, the Baja California Attorney General\u2019s office <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}