Bodies of Three Foreign Surfers Found in Mexico

Mexican authorities have located three bodies in northern Mexico where two Australians and one American were reported missing, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation.

Unconfirmed local reports cited by the Daily Mail suggest two of the bodies were found in a well, while other outlets describe the location as ‘near a cliff’.

The bodies have not yet been identified. Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and American Jack Carter Rhoad were last seen on April 27 in the Mexican province of Baja California, prosecutors said. They were on a surfing holiday in the municipality of Ensenada, about an hour and a half south of the U.S.-Mexico border, when they vanished.

Before the discovery of the bodies, local police had suspected foul play as their burned-out car was found as well as an abandoned campsite with traces of blood and “dental parts,” reported local news outlet Zeta.

Australia’s 7News has also reported a tooth was discovered.

Hours before the remains were found, Australian media reported Callum and Jake’s parents were flying out to Mexico to look for their missing sons. It is unclear if they made it on a flight before police announced the discovery of the three bodies. The disappearance comes after the three young men shared eerie final social media posts from their trip, where they were seen having the time of their lives on the beach.

“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,” prosecutor Andrade Ramírez remarked in a statement, per the Daily Mail, before the bodies were found. 

Baja California, where the men shared their vacation snaps, is known as one of Mexico’s most violent, cartel-controlled states.

Police have arrested three people in connection with their disappearance, including a 23-year-old Mexican woman who reportedly was discovered in possession of a mobile phone belonging to one of the brothers, along with methamphetamine.

Two men, also Mexican and also in possession of drugs, were arrested as part of the investigation, said Baja California’s chief public prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez. The three detainees have been named by Mexican media but Daily Mail Australia is awaiting independent confirmation. The disappearance of the men has not been linked to organized crime, but investigators are not ruling anything out. Police believe the trio’s vehicle was later found burnt-out in the Santo Tomás area.