Trial Begins in Mexico Over Murders of Foreign Surfers

A murder trial has opened in Mexico for three men accused of killing two Australian brothers and an American tourist during a coastal camping trip in 2024. The victims were shot in the head and dumped down a shaft in what investigators describe as an attempted robbery of their truck.

Courtroom Testimony

The proceedings began on Monday in the port city of Ensenada, in the northwestern state of Baja California. Parents of victims Callum and Jake Robinson attended the hearing, where their mother, Debra Robinson, wept in the courtroom. Her partner, Martin Robinson, stated to reporters outside the court that they attended “to find out what happened” and to represent their sons.

Three witnesses gave evidence on the first day of the trial. Among them was the stepson of one defendant, who testified from an adjacent room with his face hidden. He described his stepfather as violent and stated that he had accompanied the group to the area. He told the court he fled after hearing “a lot of noise” during the incident, before later rejoining the men. He testified that the group warned him that “the same thing that happened to the gringos would happen to him” if he reported what occurred.

The 2024 Attack

The victims—33-year-old Callum Robinson, 30-year-old Jake Robinson, and 30-year-old Jack Carter Rhoad—went missing in April 2024 while camping along a beach in Baja California. Prosecutors allege that the suspects attacked the group to steal their pickup truck. The vehicle was subsequently found burned near the cliff-top shaft where searchers located the three bodies several days after the men disappeared.

Callum Robinson was a professional lacrosse player living in the United States, while his younger brother Jake was training for a medical career. Rhoad, an American citizen, was engaged to be married a few months after the trip. The deaths triggered widespread grief and online search efforts coordinated by friends and relatives across Australia and the United States.

Background

Baja California experiences high levels of organized crime and violence, although foreign tourists are rarely targeted. However, violent attacks against visitors have occurred along Mexico’s Pacific coast in the past. In 2015, Australian surfers Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman were killed and their bodies burned while traveling through the northwestern state of Sinaloa.