A judge in northwestern Mexico on Friday convicted three men of murder in the 2024 killings of two Australian brothers and their American companion during a surfing vacation in Baja California.
Judge Raúl Hernández in the coastal city of Ensenada found the lead defendant, Jesús Gerardo García, known by the alias “El Kekas,” along with Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús, guilty of murder, armed robbery and vehicle theft, CBS News reported. The judge determined the men acted with premeditation when they ambushed the tourists at a remote camping location, according to The Guardian.
The victims—Australian siblings Callum Robinson, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, and American citizen Carter Rhoad, 30—disappeared in late April 2024 near Punta San Jose, roughly 50 miles south of Ensenada. Their bodies were discovered days later dumped inside a well, each bearing a gunshot wound to the head.
Botched Robbery Turned Deadly
Prosecutors argued the three surfers were targeted during an attempted robbery aimed at stealing their pickup truck and belongings. García arrived at the campsite armed with a 9 mm pistol, according to testimony from his former girlfriend, Ary Gisell Silva Raya, CBS News reported. Silva Raya testified that the victims threw items toward the attacker to ward him off and that one victim pleaded for his life before the fatal shots were fired.
Silva Raya, who was arrested shortly after the crimes with a mobile phone belonging to one of the victims, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and vehicle theft charges and was sentenced in November 2025 to 20 years in prison.
The three male suspects chose to face trial, which began on Sept. 7 and spanned roughly a month. Prosecutors described the killings as an opportunistic crime, arguing the travelers were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time barely 36 hours after entering Mexico from the United States, according to the BBC.
Families Address the Court
The victims’ families attended the closing proceedings. Martin and Debra Robinson traveled from Australia to deliver statements before the ruling was read.
“No outcome can ever undo this tragedy, but we hope today marks an important step towards justice and allows us to continue honouring their lives and the extraordinary young men they were,” Martin Robinson told reporters outside the courthouse, according to The Guardian.
Debra Robinson told the court that the killers had stolen “the future we had imagined with them,” the BBC reported. She wept as the verdict was delivered. Rhoad’s mother, Page Rhoad, and his fiancée, Natalie Weirtz, observed the hearing remotely through video link from the United States. Weirtz told the court that the defendants must face punishment so no other family experiences similar grief, The Guardian reported.
Sentencing and Security Concerns
Sentencing for the three convicted men is scheduled for Oct. 16. The Baja California State Attorney General’s Office requested an exemplary sentence of 210 years in prison for each defendant, CBS News reported, though The Guardian noted that the statutory maximum prison term under state law is 60 years.
The violent attack rattled the international surfing community and sparked local protests calling for tighter security across Baja California, where tourism remains a pillar of the local economy. While parts of the state endure ongoing cartel conflicts, direct violent assaults against foreign visitors in the area remain relatively uncommon.
