Authorities Share of Cause of Death Behind 3 Missing Surfers in Mexico

Sabba Rahbar
·2 min read
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Originally appeared on E! Online

Tragedy has struck the surfing community.

The bodies of three surfers were found in a hard-to-reach well near Ensenada, Mexico, last week, and now authorities have confirmed the cause of death for Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad.

Authorities explained the trio were killed in an apparent carjacking, according to NBC News, with the Ensenada medical examiner saying that the official causes of death were gunshot wounds to the head.

The three were originally considered missing on April 27 after they failed to return to an Airbnb rental. Their bodies were discovered in a remote well that was 50 feet deep—along with a fourth body that had been there longer—in La Bocana, south of Ensenada, per NBC News. According to a statement by the state's attorney general's office, family members were brought in to make the identifications in person.

Prosecutors shared during a news conference on May 6 that they suspect the carjackers were trying to steal the wheels on the pickup truck used by the surfers.

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Authorities said they have three people in custody—one of whom was in possession of one of the victim's cellphones. Two of suspects were held on methamphetamine-related allegations, while the third was the subject of a kidnapping warrant.

Surfer Death, Aerial Shots
GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images

Jake, Callum and Jack were apparently in a makeshift encampment during a trip along the Baja coast when they were attacked, with prosecutors saying they found tents, spent gun shells and bloodstains.

Jake and Callum's mother Debra Robinson was posting actively about her sons after they were considered missing, and now she and husband Martin are mourning their loss.

Surfer Death, Aerial Shots, Well
GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images

"Our hearts and broken and the world has become a darker place for us," she said during a news conference via ABC News. "They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together."

E! News has reached out to the Baja California Attorney General's Office but hasn't heard back.

(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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