SAN DIEGO (KSWB/KUSI) – Surfers paddled out and protested in Ensenada, Mexico, on Sunday in honor of the three international surfers who were found dead on a surfing trip.
Some surfers held signs, “I don’t want to die,” just miles from where three bodies, identified as the missing Australian and American surfers, were found in a well.
“Something we have in common, we are surfers and sometimes we want to surf by ourselves but we never do it unless we have company. But with them it is just an example of the unsecure area. We need more safety,” a protestor said in Ensenada, Mexico, on Sunday.
Relatives had identified the three bodies as brothers Jake and Callum Robinson from Australia and American Jack Carter Rhoad, Mexican authorities said Sunday. The three men were on a camping and surfing trip to the Baja peninsula, posting idyllic photos on social media of waves and isolated beaches, before they went missing last weekend.
Baja California state prosecutors said the relatives had viewed the corpses, which were recovered from a remote well about 50 feet (15 meters) deep.
Chief state prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez described what likely would have been the moments of terror that ended the trip, theorizing that the killers drove by and saw the foreigners’ pickup truck and tents and wanted to steal their tires. But “when (the foreigners) came up and caught them, surely, they resisted.”
She said that’s when the killers would have shot the tourists.
“They may have been looking for trucks in this area,” Andrade Ramírez said.
The thieves then allegedly went to what she called “a site that is extremely hard to get to” and allegedly dumped the bodies into a well. The well was located some 4 miles (6 kilometers) from where the foreigners were killed, and also contained a fourth cadaver that had been there much longer.
She said investigators were not ruling out the possibility the same suspects also dumped the first, earlier body in the well as part of previous crimes.
-
A man holds flowers during a tribute to 3 missing surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda) -
Surfers throw flowers during a tribute to 3 missing surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda) -
A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish ” No more violence” protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda) -
Locals march to protest the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda) -
Locals march to protest the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda) -
A demonstrator holds photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared during a protest in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda) -
A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish ” I don’t want to die” protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda) -
The photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared are placed on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)
During a vigil on Sunday, held about 100 miles north from Ensenada, more than 100 family members and friends gathered at the soccer field at San Diego’s Point Loma Nazarene University to share stories of the three men.
Callum Robinson’s LinkedIn page indicated that he graduated from Stevenson University in Maryland, and worked in marketing and development. Australian Media outlets reported that his brother Jake Robinson was a doctor, working in their hometown of Perth, Australia.
Rhoad’s LinkedIn page shows that he played professional soccer in Guatemala after graduating from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2014, and also started an apparel company, Loma Apparel.
A student at PLNU told Nexstar’s KSWB that Carter was recently promoted to Assistant Soccer Coach position at the university. Some of his friends said he lived in Ocean Beach, and was engaged, getting ready to get married in August.
GoFundMe fundraisers has been set up to support Rhoad’s family and the Robinson family.
Baja California prosecutors had said they were questioning three people in the killings, though prosecutors believe more may be involved.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
