After her two sons didn’t check into an Airbnb in Ensenada, Baja California, Debra Robinson posted a plea for information about her sons, Callum and Jake Robinsons’ whereabouts on social media. The two Australian brothers and their American friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, were on a surfing trip in Baja, California, and had stopped responding to texts and calls from their loved ones. Although it was reported that the burned remains of a white pickup truck that the surfers had been traveling in was located near La Bocana beach, these men were still nowhere to be found. However, on Friday, May 3rd, three bodies were found in the township of Santa Tomás, about 120 miles south of San Diego. The bodies were identified as those of the brothers Jake Robinson, 30, Callum Robinson, 33, and their friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, 30. They were found in a 50-foot-deep water hole about four miles from where they had been camping. Each of these men lived full lives. 

Callum was a former Major League Lacrosse and Premier Lacrosse League player who considered the United States his second home. Jake loved surfing as much as his brother and worked in various hospitals back in Australia. And Jack Carter Rhoad was engaged to be married later this year in August. Notably, he helped fundraise for the La Jolla High School athletic teams, contributing to the lacrosse, water polo, and track teams. The news spread quickly. Freshman Lily Kamali said, “I wish the best for their families and when I heard the story, it made me think twice about traveling.” A fourth body was also found in the hole, but it is not believed to be related to this case. Currently, three people, two men and a woman, are under investigation. Authorities were quick to charge one of them, believed to have directly participated in the killings, Jesús Gerardo, and officially charged him with “forced disappearance.” A tribute to the murdered surfers was held in the waters off the coast of Baja California on the evening of May 5. Debra Robinson misses her sons dearly and, in a news statement about their deaths, said, “our hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us.”