Ensenada judge finds 3 men guilty in 2024 murder of foreign surfers

A judge in Baja California found three men guilty in the 2024 murder of two Australian brothers and a U.S. friend who were in Mexico on a surfing trip. 

Judge Raúl Hernández ruled on Friday in the coastal city of Ensenada that Jesús Gerardo García, alias “El Kekas,” Irineo Francisco “N” and Ángel Jesús “N” were responsible for killing brothers Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, and American Jack ​Carter Rhoad, 30. 

3 arrested as search continues for 3 missing foreigners in Baja

Hernández found that the three men acted with premeditation.

Prosecutors requested sentences of up to 150 years for the three suspects during the trial. The sentences will be ​announced on Oct. 16.

The three victims were camping and surfing near Punta San José when they were reported missing in late April 2024. Their bodies were found a few days later.

The confession last November of an accomplice to the murders was key to the prosecution’s case. Ary Gisell Silva accepted a 20-year prison sentence, admitting to her role in instigating the attack on the three surfers.

The murders sparked an outpouring of grief and condemnation in Australia and the United States. It also shocked locals and tourists in the region as the beach town has a reputation as a welcoming spot for surfers. 

The Robinsons’ parents, Martin and Debra, travelled from Australia for the trial, which began on Sept. 7. During the trial, the court heard that the three surfers were killed during an apparent robbery attempt in a secluded beach area barely 36 hours after they had crossed into Mexico from the United States. After the men were killed, their bodies were dumped down a well.

Martin called the verdict “a significant moment in our long and painful journey to seek justice for our beautiful sons … and their friend.”

Rhoad’s family joined the trial by video link.

“They took our sons from our lives forever,” said Debra, who testified on the final day of the trial. “What hurts us most is that, in their final hours, they were treated with such cruelty.”

With reports from Reuters, the BBC, The Guardian, CNN, The Associated Press and Animal Político