Mexican officials said Saturday that they believe they have recovered the bodies of two Australians and a San Diego man who went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip, but they are waiting for genetic testing to confirm.
Four bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where the foreigners disappeared, Mexican authorities said on Friday. The state prosecutors office did not immediately say whether three of the bodies were those of the three foreigners, but said the bodies were discovered during the search for the missing men.
“Three bodies were found south of the city of Ensenada, and they were recovered in coordination with other authorities during a specialized operation because they were found in a zone of difficult access,” the office said in a statement.
“This was done as part of the search for two Australians and one American reported missing,” the office said.
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The bodies were discovered in Santo Tomas, Baja California, FBI San Diego confirmed on Friday. The site was near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s tents and white pick-up truck were found Thursday on a remote stretch of coast.
Later on Friday, the fire department in Ensenada confirmed to NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 that four bodies were found in the same 18-meters-long well. It took three hours to get the bodies out, and the entire operative took 14 hours, the department said, adding that tactical and special materials had to be used to get to the bodies.
The district attorney in Baja California said on Friday that the bodies were decomposed and that authorities were working to confirm the identities of the bodies.
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The men — identified by family members as brothers Jake and Callum Robinson from Australia and American Carter Rhoad, who multiple people have reported lives in San Diego — went missing last Saturday. They did not show up at their planned accommodations over the weekend.
Friends say Jake was visiting from Australia and that he, along with Callum, who lives in Ocean Beach, were headed south for a birthday surf trip.
The U.S. State Department said: “We are aware of those reports (of bodies) and are closely monitoring the situation. At this time we have no further comment.”
Baja California prosecutors had said Thursday that they were questioning three people in the case who were tied to the case directly and indirectly.
“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,” María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor, said Thursday. “There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public.”
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.”
On Wednesday, the missing Australians’ mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons. Robinson said Callum and Jake had not been heard from since April 27. They had booked accommodations in the nearby city of Rosarito.
Robinson said one of her sons, Callum, was diabetic. She also mentioned that the American who was with them was named Carter Rhoad, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately confirm that. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports a U.S. citizen missing in Baja, but gave no further details.
"I'm concerned about their safety now that we haven't heard from them in this many days," Annie Wang, Jake Robinson's friend, said. "Callum is type 1 diabetic, so their families are really worried right now."
Andrade Ramírez said her office was in contact with Australian and U.S. officials. But she suggested he time that had passed might make it harder to find the missing trio.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the last few days that they were reported missing. So, that meant that important hours or time was lost,” she said.
In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez — from the Baja peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.
This is a developing story that will be updated as more information arrives.
