In a courtroom in Ensenada, Mexico, a judge has found three men guilty of the murders of two Australian brothers and an American surfer who vanished from a coastal campsite in Baja California in April 2024 — a case that drew international grief and scrutiny. Callum and Jake Robinson and Carter Redd Rhoad had traveled to Punta San Jose to surf, and instead became victims of an armed robbery that ended in their deaths. The verdict, arriving more than two years after their bodies were recovered from a well, marks a formal reckoning by the Mexican justice system — though their families know, as on
Three convicted in 2024 murders of Australian and American surfers in Mexico
Three young men—two Australian brothers and one American—were murdered during a robbery attempt while on a surfing trip.
They will never be forgotten.
Mark
So three men were convicted, but only one of them actually pulled the trigger?
Mimi
That's what the evidence showed. García was the shooter. The other two were accomplices in the robbery and the violence that followed.
Luke
We should be clear: the trial revealed García's role through his ex-partner's testimony. She said he confessed to her. That's hearsay, though it was admitted in court.
Mark
And the woman, Silva Raya—she got twenty years already. Why did she plead out while the men went to trial?
Mimi
The prosecutor's office said she instigated the robbery. She was found with one of the victims' phones. She had leverage to negotiate, maybe, or her lawyers advised her to take the deal.
Luke
We don't actually know her reasoning. We know she pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and vehicle theft with violence, and got twenty years. The men chose trial.
Mark
Two years in custody before trial. That's a long time to wait.
Mimi
It is. But the trial itself was only a month long, and it produced detailed testimony about what happened—the gun, the victims' attempts to resist, the plea for mercy.
Luke
Again, that detail comes from Silva Raya's testimony about what García told her. It's credible evidence, but it's important to know the source.
Mark
What happens now?
Mimi
Sentencing on October 16. The prosecutors want 210 years each—essentially life sentences.
Mark
Will they get that?
Luke
The judge has discretion. We'll find out in a week.
Le Pouls
- Three young men on a surfing trip disappeared within days of arriving at a remote Baja California coastal site, triggering an international search that ended with their bodies found in a well.
- Trial testimony revealed a calculated attack: the shooter arrived armed at the victims' tent while they slept, and one of the men pleaded for his life before being killed.
- A fourth accomplice — the woman who allegedly encouraged the robbery and was later found with a victim's phone — had already been sentenced to 20 years in a separate expedited proceeding.
- All three defendants who contested the charges were found guilty Friday of murder, armed robbery, and carjacking after a month-long trial before Judge Raúl Hernández in Ensenada.
- Prosecutors are seeking 210-year sentences for each convicted man as an exemplary punishment, with final sentencing set for October 16.
In a courtroom in Ensenada, Mexico, a judge has found three men guilty of the murders of two Australian brothers and an American surfer who vanished from a coastal campsite in Baja California in April 2024 — a case that drew international grief and scrutiny. Callum and Jake Robinson and Carter Redd Rhoad had traveled to Punta San Jose to surf, and instead became victims of an armed robbery that ended in their deaths. The verdict, arriving more than two years after their bodies were recovered from a well, marks a formal reckoning by the Mexican justice system — though their families know, as one father said, that no sentence can undo what was lost.
In April 2024, Callum and Jake Robinson, two Australian brothers, and their American friend Carter Redd Rhoad traveled to Punta San Jose — a coastal stretch about fifty kilometers south of Ensenada — to surf. They disappeared shortly after arriving. On May 3, their bodies were found in a well, and what had begun as a surfing trip became an international case of violent crime and its long pursuit of justice.
On Friday, Judge Raúl Hernández convicted three men — Jesús Gerardo García, known as "El Kekas," and two co-defendants identified only by first names — of the three murders, as well as armed robbery and carjacking. The month-long trial reconstructed the night of the attack in grim detail: García, identified as the shooter, approached the foreigners' tent carrying a 9mm pistol. Testimony from his ex-partner, Ary Gisell Silva Raya, described the victims throwing their belongings at him in desperation, and one pleading for his life before García opened fire.
Silva Raya, who had arrived at the campsite on April 27 and allegedly encouraged the robbery that took place the following day, was found with one of the victims' cell phones. She had already accepted a guilty plea in November 2025 and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. The three men convicted Friday had chosen to contest the charges — and lost.
Martin Robinson, father of Callum and Jake, called the verdict "a significant moment" in the family's search for justice, while acknowledging that nothing could restore what was taken. The Baja California State Attorney General's Office is seeking 210-year sentences for each defendant — a figure prosecutors describe as exemplary. Judge Hernández will deliver the final sentences on October 16.
A Mexican judge delivered guilty verdicts on Friday against three men for the murders of two Australian brothers and an American surfer that unfolded in Baja California in April 2024. The case, which drew international scrutiny, centered on the deaths of Callum and Jake Robinson of Australia and Carter Redd Rhoad of the United States—three young men who had traveled to the coastal town of Punta San Jose, roughly fifty kilometers south of Ensenada, to surf.
The three disappeared shortly after arriving in late April. Their bodies were discovered on May 3 in a well. Judge Raúl Hernández, presiding in Ensenada, found Jesús Gerardo García (known as "El Kekas"), Irineo Francisco "N," and Ángel Jesús "N" guilty not only of the three murders but also of armed robbery and armed carjacking. The defendants had remained in custody for more than two years while the case moved through the Mexican justice system.
During the month-long trial, the prosecution laid out a methodical account of the crime. García, identified as the shooter, arrived at the tent where the foreigners were sleeping carrying a 9mm pistol. According to testimony from García's ex-partner, Ary Gisell Silva Raya, the victims threw their belongings at him in an attempt to stop the attack. One of them pleaded for his life, but García proceeded with the shooting. Silva Raya had arrived in Punta San Jose on April 27 and, according to the state prosecutor's office, encouraged one of her companions to rob the three men—a robbery that took place the following day.
Silva Raya, found in possession of one of the victims' cell phones, had already been sentenced in November 2025 to twenty years in prison after she pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with violence and vehicle theft with violence in an expedited proceeding. García and his two co-defendants chose to contest the charges in a full trial, which concluded Friday with their conviction.
Martin Robinson, the father of Callum and Jake, released a statement following the verdict. He called the guilty finding "a significant moment" in the family's pursuit of justice, though he acknowledged that no outcome could reverse the tragedy. "They will never be forgotten," he said of his sons and their friend. The Baja California State Attorney General's Office has requested an exemplary sentence of 210 years in prison for each of the three convicted men—a figure that reflects the severity with which Mexican prosecutors are treating the case. Judge Hernández will announce the final sentences on October 16.
Citations marquantes
Today's guilty verdict is a significant moment in our long and painful journey to seek justice for our beautiful sons, Callum and Jake, and their friend Carter Rhoad, whose lives were so cruelly taken from them in 2024.— Martin Robinson, father of the Australian victims
No outcome can ever undo this tragedy, but we hope today marks an important step towards justice and allows us to continue honoring their lives and the extraordinary young men they were.— Martin Robinson
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Crime & Justice