Three convicted in murders of Australian brothers, American friend in Mexico

On a Friday in Ensenada, a Mexican judge delivered guilty verdicts in a case that had gripped two families across continents. Jesús Gerardo García, known as "El Kekas," along with Irineo Francisco "N" and Ángel Jesús "N," were found guilty of murdering Callum and Jake Robinson—two Australian brothers—and their American friend Carter Rhoad. The three men were also convicted of armed robbery and armed carjacking. Prosecutors are now seeking 210 years in prison for each defendant, with sentencing scheduled for October 16.

The story began in April 2024, when the three friends traveled to Baja California for a surfing trip. They set up camp near Punta San Jose, roughly fifty miles south of Ensenada, drawn by the waves and the promise of time away. Within days of their arrival, they vanished. Their disappearance triggered an international search, the kind that pulls in media attention and official resources across borders. Weeks later, authorities discovered their bodies in a well, and what had seemed like a missing persons case became a murder investigation.

The trial that followed lasted a month and revealed the brutal mechanics of what happened that April night. García's former partner, Ary Gisell Silva Raya, took the stand and described his account of the attack. He had approached the surfers' tent carrying a 9mm pistol, she testified. The men inside, recognizing the threat, threw their belongings toward him—a desperate attempt to satisfy what they believed was a robbery and walk away alive. One of them pleaded for his life. García ignored the plea and opened fire.

Initially, authorities believed the motive was straightforward: thieves had spotted the truck and tents, wanted the tires, and killed when they met resistance. But the testimony painted a picture of calculated violence. Silva Raya herself had met the surfers on April 27, just days before the attack, and prosecutors said she urged one of her companions to rob them. She was later found with one of the victims' cellphones. In November 2025, she pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with violence and vehicle theft with violence and received a twenty-year sentence. García and his two co-defendants chose to go to trial instead.

During that trial, García allegedly told his girlfriend he had done something to "three gringos" before confessing outright: "I killed them." She also testified that he showed her a vehicle fitted with tires stolen from the victims' truck—physical evidence of the crime and its aftermath.

The guilty verdicts arrived more than two years after Callum and Jake Robinson died. Their father, Martin Robinson, described the decision as a significant moment in the family's long pursuit of justice. He acknowledged that no verdict could undo their loss, but said it represented a step forward as the family continued to honor the three men.

Their mother, Debra Robinson, had spoken publicly shortly after the bodies were found. Standing on a San Diego beach, she remembered her sons as young men consumed by their passion for surfing. Jake had been a doctor who deliberately sought work at hospitals near good waves. "Our hearts are broken, and the world has become a darker place for us," she said then. She urged others to live in their memory—to live bigger, shine brighter, and love harder. The guilty verdicts do not change what was lost, but they mark a boundary: the men who took those lives have been named, tried, and found accountable by a court of law.