3 Men Found Guilty in the Murders of 2 Australian Brothers and Their American Friend on Surfing Trip in Mexico
Brothers Callum and Jake Robinson; Carter RhoadCredit: Callum Robinson/InstagramThe bodies of brothers Callum and Jake Robinson, as well as their friend Carter Rhoad, were found at the bottom of a well in Baja California, Mexico, in May 2024
Three men in Mexico have been found guilty in the murders of two Australians and an American who were killed during a surfing trip in 2024
The victims were identified as Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their San Diego friend, Carter Rhoad
The defendants were also convicted of armed robbery and carjacking and are scheduled for sentencing later this month
Three men in Mexico have been found guilty in the murders of three Australians and an American who were killed during a surfing trip in 2024.
The and the BBC reported that the three men, identified as Jesús Gerardo García, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús, were convicted on Friday, Oct. 9, for killing Jake Robinson, 30, from Perth, Australia, his older brother, Callum Robinson, 33, who’d moved from Australia to San Diego, and their friend Carter Rhoad, 30, also of San Diego.
The three surfers were found dead at the bottom of a 50-foot well in a remote part of Santo Tomas, Baja California, Mexico, on May 3, 2024. All three had suffered gunshot wounds, and prosecutors said they all died as part of an apparent botched robbery.
Judge Raúl Hernández announced the verdict in the port city of Ensenada after a one-month trial. The defendants, who had been in custody for more than two years, were also found guilty of armed robbery and armed carjacking, according to AP.
Photos of the three missing surfers are displayed on a poster on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico, before they were found dead in May 2024Credit: Karen Castaneda/AP
Martin and Debra Robinson, the brothers’ parents, who traveled from Australia to Ensenada for the trial, spoke to the press outside the courthouse after the guilty verdict was announced.
“They took our sons from our lives forever,” said Debra, who testified on the final day of the trial. “What hurts us most is that, in their final hours, they were treated with such cruelty.”
“Today’s guilty verdict is a significant moment in our long and painful journey to seek justice for our beautiful sons, Callum and Jake, and their friend Carter Rhoad, whose lives were so cruelly taken from them in 2024,” Martin added, thanking friends and family for their support, as well as authorities in Mexico and Australia for their assistance in the investigation.
The three surfers were last seen on April 27 while they were surfing and camping along the Mexican coast, south of Ensenada.
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In November 2025, Ary Gisell Silva Raya, the then-girlfriend of the main defendant, García, was sentenced to two decades in prison after admitting that she instigated the robbery. She received 14 years in jail for robbery of a vehicle with violence, along with an additional six years for robbery with violence, and was also fined 54,285 Mexican pesos (about $4,565).
Prosecutors said Silva Raya met the three victims and “instigated one of her companions to rob them.”
Sometime between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time that night, García, Francisco and Jesús drove to Punta San José, where the three surfers were camping, killed them and robbed them, prosecutors said, per NBC San Diego.
Silva Raya testified last month during a hearing that García confessed to her that he arrived at the men’s tent carrying a 9mm pistol, AP reported. When they saw him, they began throwing their belongings to prevent him from attacking them. One of the men begged for his life, she testified.
Officials with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told The New York Times in a statement that they welcomed the outcome of the case as an “important step” toward justice.
“I don’t feel any different today as I did yesterday or I will tomorrow, because … Callum and Jake are not here. A verdict is a good thing, but it doesn’t bring them back,” Debra added outside the courthouse, per The Guardian.
“I have tried to hold on to the memory of my children, my sons, and I try really not to think about them,” she said of the perpetrators. “And I don’t actually want them to have any notoriety. We don’t actually really speak their names. They’re not part of our grief really.”
Debra and Martin have since started a foundation in their sons’ names that aims to “help people live bigger, shine brighter and love harder in their honor,” according to Martin.
García, Francisco and Jesús are set to be sentenced on Oct. 16, AP reported. The Baja California State Attorney General’s Office has requested that the judge hand down an “exemplary sentence” of 210 years in prison for each defendant.
Source: Crime