Three bodies were found near a popular Mexican surfing destination where an American and two Australian tourists vanished last week, according to a report.
Three sources close to the investigation confirmed the discovery to Reuters Friday, nearly a week after Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, and brothers Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, were last seen in the province of Baja California.
They were enjoying a surfing vacation in the port city of Ensenada, just 80 miles south of San Diego, a trip they were documenting on social media until Saturday, when the posts mysteriously stopped and they failed to arrive at an Airbnb.
Investigators suspected foul play upon finding abandoned tents in the area that linked the trio with the missing surfers, the Attorney General of Baja California said Thursday.
They also found a burnt white pick-up truck — similar to the white Chevrolet Colorado pickup the men were driving, according to a missing persons poster.
Mexican police are investigating three people in connection to the men’s disappearance but didn’t say whether they were considered suspects — though one, a 23-year-old woman, was detained with drugs and a cellphone that had a wallpaper photo of one of the missing men, the San Diego Tribune reported.
“A working team (of investigators) is at the site where they were last seen, where tents and other evidence was found that could be linked to these three people we have under investigation,” Baja California’s chief prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez said.
“There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public.”
“We do not know what condition they are in,” she added.
While drug cartels are active in the area, she said “all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them.”
Prosecutors wouldn’t confirm that bodies were found or whether they were those of the Robinson brothers and Rhoads, only stating that they were “aware of those reports and are closely monitoring the situation.”
The friends were missing for several days before they were reported missing, making the investigation harder to pin down, Andrade Ramírez said.
On Wednesday, the missing Australians’ mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons, Jake and Callum, who she had not heard from since Saturday.
Callum, she noted, is diabetic.
In the hours before they vanished, Callum shared a series of social media posts of what looked like an exhilarating vacation along the Pacific Coast.
The men were seen donning wetsuits, drinking beers and enjoying local food at Rosarito Beach, where they were surfing and camping before moving another 50 miles south to the port city of Ensenada.
One snapshot shows the white pick-up truck that sources believe is the same one found burned at the abandoned camp.
Callum shared one last photo of themselves at San Miguel beach in Ensenada, but never arrived at the Airbnb they had rented for Saturday.
“… and it begins,” Callum had captioned the post, alongside an emoji of the Mexican flag and of a surfer.
Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states, although tourist areas like Ensenada are considered safer.
The US State Department advises Americans to reconsider travel to the state due to crime and kidnapping.
A spokesperson for Australia’s foreign ministry said their embassy in Mexico was working closely with Mexican authorities and the Australian Federal Police.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recognizes this is a very distressing time for the family and is in regular contact with them to provide support,” they said.
With Post wires
