From San Diego to Baja California there was nothing but endless beaches and blue skies. The open space where the three young people settled was less idyllic: the trip was shortened and they lost their lives here.
Callum Robinson, a 33-year-old Australian, lived in San Diego, California, where he pursued his dream of being a professional lacrosse player. His younger brother Jake, 30, left Australia to visit him for two weeks. You two are together, like Callum’s North American friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, also 30, has planned a dream trip: after spending a few days in California, crossing the border into Mexico and surfing along Baixa Califórnia (in Spanish, Baja California). Death cut short the trip and a few days after being reported missing, the bodies of the three surfers were found in a 15-meter-deep well.
From photographs of beaches and blue skies to total silence
Before leaving for Mexico, the two brothers went to the famous music festival. Coachella, in California. The festival ended on April 21. Five days later, Callum posted an Instagram story with the caption “So it begins…” (‘This is how it begins…’), in which a white, boarded-up Ford van could be seen on a dirt road. There are several photographs of beaches, blue skies and open spaces. The last image is from April 27: the three children on the beach of San Miguel.
Screenshot of an Instagram story by @callum10robinson
The young people then stopped sharing posts on Instagram and did not arrive at the nearby accommodation. The Rosarito, nor the next places they had planned. This silence led a friend to report the disappearance of the three to the Public Ministry (in Spanish, Tax) from Baja California, on May 1, according to the Spanish newspaper The country. Although far away, the mother of the Australian brothers, Debra Robinson, launched a request for help to find her children in a group on the social network Facebook.
The disappearance of the three young people gained notoriety, thus accelerating the investigation of the local authorities, who found, one day after the report, the camp of the three friends. These would have been installed in La Bocana de Santo Tomás, an inhospitable place, without a network and difficult to access. Here, according to Elena Andrade, attorney general of Baja California, in a press release, cited by CBS NewsFootprints and footprints were found that would point to the dragging of something voluminous and heavy, firearm bullets and tent poles and plastic bottles, which suggests that the missing people would have been violently attacked.
In the same press release, the attorney general of Baja California presented a hypothetical scenario of what the death of the three friends would have been like. Although they settled in an isolated place, they were not alone: during the night of April 28 or 29, the murderers saw the Ford truck. According to Andrade, the objective would be to steal parts from this vehicle, but the young people resisted, which precipitated the events and caused their death.
Investigation and suspects
A local judicial source told CNN that authorities had found the white Ford truck with which the young people had started their trip burned in a ranch near the city of Santo Tomás, in the interior of Baja California.
The researchers advanced The countryHe believes it all started when one of the young men resisted the robbery and was immediately shot. The other two boys allegedly came to their friend’s defense and were also shot. The authorities point out “a loss of control of the situation” on the part of those who initially wanted to commit a robbery: the plan led to a murder and forced the murderers to “drag the bodies to a well” 15 meters deep. where the bodies were found on May 3.
The attorney general of Baja California, as advanced by the CBS News, is interrogating three Mexican citizens. One of them was identified as Jesús Gerardo, known as The Kekas – what does it mean quesadillas or cheese tortillas, traditional Mexican dishes – and with an extensive criminal record, with accusations of domestic violence, vehicle theft and drug trafficking. The other two suspects are a woman found with one of the victims’ cell phones and another man. It is not known if the latter will be tried, since he was accused of kidnapping before the bodies were found. Andrade said that there are surely more people involved and stressed that he cannot release the suspects’ statements because Mexican law prevents it.
Is it still possible to do safe tourism in Mexico?
According to the portal statesmanIn 2022, tourism represented 8.5% of Mexico’s GDP, 126 billion euros, being a significant sector for the country. Also in 2022, data from the State Department shows that 192 US citizens were murdered in Mexico, as indicated by the The new times.
The Secretary of Defense of Mexico, General Luis Cresencio Sandoval, revealed this year that Baja California is the state with the highest number of vehicle thefts and the second state in Mexico with the highest number of homicides, mostly related to drug trafficking and organized crime.
Since 2007, as this article advances, The New York Times, that the surfers of Baja California “no longer talk only about waves”, they wonder “when” it will be their turn to die. Several surfers were stopped on their way to the beach by armed men who forced them out of their vans and robbed them. Pat Weber, who had a surf academy in Tijuana, decided to leave Mexico behind after being attacked by two armed men who sexually assaulted his wife and then stole his computer, camera, equipment and money.
Given this scenario, the attorney general of Baja California emphasized ensuring that the victims “were not attacked because they were tourists,” with the aim of safeguarding the practice of safe tourism in the Mexican state. According to the The country, The speed with which the investigation progressed highlighted the difference between investigations into disappearances of local and foreign people, with at least 2,700 people missing in the state of Baja California alone.
Reactions: surfer meetings and social networks
The discovery of the bodies, reports the The Guardian, led dozens of people to gather in the main square of Ensenada, the closest city, to express their sadness over the death of the three young people. “Ensenada is a mass grave”, “We want a safe beach”, “No to violence” were some of the cries of indignation written on the posters brought to the protest.
Also in the San Miguel area there was a tribute to the three young people, with the same demands. “We are all brothers. In the water, it doesn’t matter what country we come from, we are all brothers,” he told The Guardian. molder (professional who builds surfboards) Eduardo Echegaray, explaining the commotion felt.
Screenshot of @stevensonulax’s Instagram profile
Social networks were also filled with posts remembering the victims. Callum Turner studied at Stevenson University, in Maryland (USA), and, after her death, the institution’s lacrosse group published an image of the young Australian on the social network Instagram, remembering his “smile full of charm”. Callum’s girlfriend Emily Horwath also left a farewell message on Instagram: “This man changed my life in a way I can’t even describe. I still can’t conceive of a world without his energy. I feel immensely grateful to have loved him.”
Screenshot of an Instagram story posted by @emily_livia
Australia’s ambassador to Mexico, Rachel Mosey, through social network (formerly Twitter) said he was “heartbroken” by the deaths of the three children. The parents of the Australian siblings, Debra and Martin Robinson, thanked friends and the community for their support, stating that “the world has become a darker place since what happened in Mexico,” according to the Australian newspaper WAToday (video available here). In the United States, a friend of Jack Carter Rhoad’s family created a page about GoFundMe to finance the costs of repatriation of the bodies and lawyers of the process.
I am heartbroken by the deaths of Australians Callum and Jake Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad.
This is devastating for your loved ones. pic.twitter.com/yabjyBvzHP—Rachel Moseley (@AusEmbMex) May 6, 2024
Source: Observadora
