In this image made from video, Mexican police officers stand guard at the Ensenada Train Station in Ensenada, Mexico, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Mexican authorities said Thursday they had found a tent and questioned several people in the case of two Australians and an American. She went missing last weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California.
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In this image made from video, Mexican police officers stand guard at the Ensenada Train Station in Ensenada, Mexico, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Mexican authorities said Thursday they had found a tent and questioned several people in the case of two Australians and an American. She went missing last weekend in the Pacific coast state of Baja California.
AP
MEXICO CITY — Three bodies recovered in an area of Mexico’s Baja California state are likely those of two Australians and an American who went missing during a camping and surfing trip last weekend, the state says. The prosecutor’s office made the announcement on Saturday.
Although there is no confirmation based on forensic tests, physical characteristics, including hair and clothing, mean there is a high possibility that the bodies are those of the three tourists, the state prosecutor’s office reported on Milenio, a local television station. The story was reported by Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez. .
“(The body) is presumed to be under investigation,” a state prosecutor’s office official who was not authorized to be named told The Associated Press.
The body was found in a well, and investigators said they had found another body and would investigate.
“A fourth body has been found. It is not related to the three foreigners. The fourth body had been there for a long time,” the official added.
The site where the body was found near Santo Tomas County was near a secluded beach area where the missing man’s tent and truck were found along the coast Thursday.
The men, identified by their families as brothers Jake and Callum Robinson from Australia, and American Jack Carter Lord, went missing on Saturday. They did not show up to their scheduled accommodation for the weekend.
The US State Department said: “We are aware of these reports (of bodies) and are closely monitoring the situation. We have no further comment at this time.”
Baja California prosecutors announced Thursday that they are questioning three people in the case. Police announced Friday that three people were arrested on charges equivalent to kidnapping. It is unclear whether they may face further charges.
Chief state prosecutor Andrade Ramirez said the evidence found with the abandoned tent was linked to three people being questioned regarding the missing foreigners.
Milenio reported that the suspects appeared to have stolen a surfer’s truck and that some of its parts were found in another truck owned by one of the suspects.
On Wednesday, missing Australian mother Debra Robinson posted an appeal for help searching for her sons on a local community Facebook page. Robinson said Callum and Jake had not heard from each other since April 27 and had booked accommodation in the nearby city of Rosarito.
Mr Robinson said one of his sons, Callum, was diabetic. She also said the American who was with her was named Jack Carter Lord, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately confirm that. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports of Americans missing in Baja, but gave no further details.
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 a highway robbery. Three suspects were arrested in that case.
