A year has passed since Australian surfers Jake and Callum Robinson, along with their friend Carter Rhoad, were brutally murdered during a surfing trip in Mexico.
Now, a fourth person has been charged with aggravated homicide as the case prepares to return to court next week.
A New Suspect Emerges
The ABC has named Irineo Francisco as the fourth person expected to be tried alongside three other individuals who were arrested in the early stages of the investigation into the murder.
The three men, originally from Perth, and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad, were killed while on a surfing trip in the Mexican state of Baja California, a remote area known to be plagued by violent cartels.
A Senseless Crime
The trio were reported missing on April 27, and their bodies were found on May 3 at the bottom of a 10 to 15-meter unused well. Initial inquiries determined that the surfers were killed execution-style in an armed robbery when they tried to fight back against their truck being stolen.
Miguel Ángel Gaxiola Rodríguez, the Mexican prosecutor leading the case, says there is still no evidence of cartel involvement, and instead maintains the primary motive for the killings was to steal the brothers’ tires.
A Robbery Gone Wrong?
Mr. Gaxiola Rodríguez told the ABC that the prosecutors will continue to pursue the robbery-gone-wrong theory with the case expected to return to court next week.
“It appears that the perpetrators identified an opportunity for robbery when they encountered the foreigners in a highly isolated location,” he said. “These individuals exploited the circumstances to perpetrate the robbery, resulting in the fatal shooting of the three foreigners.”
Police made their first arrests in relation to the trio’s murders on May 1, 2024, when Ari Gisel, 23, was pulled over for a routine traffic stop by police in Ensenada.
A Break in the Case
Two other Mexican nationals were arrested along with Gisel, after she turned her then-partner Jesus Gerardo Garcia Cota and his brother Cristian Alejandro in to authorities.
Gisel allegedly threw a 100-gram bag of meth on the ground and tried to flee the vehicle. However, officers inspected the car and found an iPhone that belonged to Mr. Rhoad while the woman was also later charged with possession of narcotics.
The three men who have been charged are being tried on multiple offenses including aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, violent robbery, grand theft auto, and forced disappearance. Ari Gisel faces the same charges, except forced disappearance.