Agencies
Mexico City
Three tourists found dead in Mexico were shot in the head and their bodies dumped in a well, authorities have confirmed.
Officials believe the men were attacked trying to stop the theft of their pickup truck.
Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, 30 and 33, and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, disappeared on April 27 while on a surfing trip in Ensenada.
Relatives of the three men identified their bodies on Sunday after travelling to Mexico to assist authorities, a state prosecutor said. The attackers wanted the vehicle for its tyres and shot the tourists when they resisted, Baja California state prosecutor Maria Andrade suggested.
Their bodies were found in a 4m (15ft) deep well about 6km (4 miles) from the site of the attack in the town of Santo Tomás on Friday. Abandoned tents, a burnt white pickup truck and a phone linked to the missing surfers were found nearby. A fourth body was found in the well, but had been there longer and was unconnected to the case, officials said.
Two men and a woman have been detained on suspicion of direct or indirect involvement in the attack. One man with a previous criminal record has been charged with “forced disappearance”.
Earlier, the FBI said it was looking into the case and was in touch with international partners. Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states, as local drug gangs fight turf wars.
In 2023, it had the country’s second highest murder rate, after the state of Guanajuato, according to official figures.
National Defence Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval said earlier this year that 85-90 percent of murders committed in Baja California were linked to drug trafficking and organised crime. But the Ensenada area, about 120km south of the US-Mexico border and known for its surfing conditions, is considered safer and has long attracted tourists from California.
