{"id":492051,"date":"2026-10-11T00:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T00:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/492051\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T00:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T00:14:19","slug":"judge-convicts-3-mexicans-in-the-killings-of-2-australian-brothers-and-american-friend-on-surf-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/492051\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge convicts 3 Mexicans in the killings of 2 Australian brothers and American friend on surf trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

ENSENADA, Mexico (AP) \u2014 A local judge on Friday found three Mexicans guilty of the murders of two Australian brothers and their friend from San Diego,<\/a> who were killed while on a surfing trip in April 2024 in a remote part of Baja California.<\/p>\n

The trial for the triple homicide that shocked Mexico<\/a> and drew international attention concluded Friday after Judge Ra\u00fal Hern\u00e1ndez in the coastal city of Ensenada ruled that Jes\u00fas Gerardo Garc\u00eda, alias \u201cEl Kekas,\u201d Irineo Francisco and \u00c1ngel Jes\u00fas were responsible for the murders.<\/p>\n

The defendants, some of whom were identified only by their first and middle names, as is usual in pending criminal cases in Mexico, had been in custody for more than two years. They were also found guilty of armed robbery and armed carjacking.<\/p>\n

Killed were Callum Robinson, 33, an Australian living in San Diego, his visiting Australian brother, Jake Robinson, 30, and their friend Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, a U.S. citizen from San Diego.<\/p>\n

The three traveled to Baja California in April 2024 to surf, but shortly after arriving in the town of Punta San Jose, about 50 miles from Ensenada, they were reported missing. Their bodies were found<\/a> on May 3 in a well.<\/p>\n

Garc\u00eda, identified as the perpetrator of the murders, was arrested in May 2024 in connection with the case, along with his ex-partner Ary Gisell Silva Raya, Irineo Francisco and \u00c1ngel Jes\u00fas.<\/p>\n

During the month-long trial, chilling details of the brutal crime were revealed. Silva Raya testified last month during a hearing that Garc\u00eda confessed to her that he arrived at the tent where the foreigners were staying with a 9mm pistol.<\/p>\n

Upon seeing him, they began throwing their belongings to prevent him from attacking them, and one of them begged for his life, which the assailant ignored, she said.<\/p>\n

The state prosecutor\u2019s office reported that Silva Raya arrived in Punta San Jose on April 27, 2024, where she met the three foreigners and \u201cinstigated one of her companions to rob them,\u201d which was carried out the following day.<\/p>\n

The woman, who was found in possession of one of the victims\u2019 cellphones, was sentenced in November 2025 to 20 years<\/a> in prison after pleading guilty to \u201caggravated robbery with violence\u201d and \u201cvehicle theft with violence\u201d in an expedited proceeding. However, Garc\u00eda and his two accomplices decided to go to trial.<\/p>\n

The judge will announce the final sentence in the coming days. The Baja California State Attorney General\u2019s Office requested the maximum sentence of 200 years in prison for the defendants.<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s Latin America coverage at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/latin-america<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ENSENADA, Mexico (AP) \u2014 A local judge on Friday found three Mexicans guilty of the murders of two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[2457,74,76,75,191759],"class_list":["post-492051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-mexico","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-surf-trip-murders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}