A 23-year-old woman implicated in the disappearance and murder of two Australian men and their American friend in Mexico’s Baja California for a surf trip has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The three men, identified as Callum Robinson, 33, and his brother Jake, 30, from Australia, as well as their friend Jack Rhoad, 30, from the United States, were on a camping and surfing trip along Mexico’s Baja peninsula in April 2024.
On April 27, when the trio were in the remote Punta San Jose area, about 20 miles south of Ensenada, they met Ary Gisell Raya who took note of the men’s valuables, the Los Angeles Times reported the Mexican attorney general’s Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Crimes Against Life determined.
Raya then urged her boyfriend and two other men to rob the three surfers, Mexican prosecutors said she admitted in court.
Jesús “El Kekas” Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús, all of whom are in custody and awaiting trial, reportedly went to the location just hours later, between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. to steal the tires off the surfers’ vehicle.
Last year, chief state prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez theorized that the brothers and their friend were shot when they attempted to stop the men from taking their belongings.
The thieves then allegedly took the surfers to a well some four miles from where they had been camping that was extremely difficult to get to, dumped their bodies and covered the opening of the well with boards.
FILE – The photos of foreign surfers who disappeared are displayed on a poster on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda, File)
A demonstrator holding a bodyboard written in Spanish ” No more violence” protests the disappearance of foreign surfers in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)
A demonstrator holds photos of the foreign surfers who disappeared during a protest in Ensenada, Mexico, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Mexican authorities said Friday that three bodies were recovered in an area of Baja California near where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend during an apparent camping and surfing trip. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda)
Family members of the men reported them missing the same day after they failed to check into their Airbnb in Rosarito Beach, The Times reported.
A massive search involving local authorities, the Mexican military and the FBI was launched for missing men, who were found in the well on May 2, along with the body of a fourth person believed to have been there much longer.
The two brothers and their friend, according to authorities, had been shot in the head.
Raya and her alleged co-conspirators were later arrested in connection with the violent and deadly robberies.
Locals in the area said that the case, which involved three foreigners, was solved much quicker than authorities solve the disappearance of thousands of Mexicans.
On Nov. 19 of this year, a Mexican court sentenced Raya, who pleaded guilty to committing robbery and vehicle theft with violence and waived her right to trial, to 20 years in prison. She was also ordered to pay 54,000 pesos – approximately $3,000 – in restitution.
In the months after their deaths, the brothers’ parents, Martin and Debra Robinson, created a foundation meant to honor Jake and Callum, saying any donations would go to support a variety of philanthropic activities, KTLA’s sister-station KSWB reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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