Three bodies found in the Mexican state of Baja California last week have been identified as those of three tourists from Australia and the United States who went missing days ago, Mexican authorities said on Sunday.
The bodies were identified as brothers Callum and Jack Robinson from Perth, Australia, and Jack Catrod from Santiago, the Baja California Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. “Confirmation was made without the need for genetic testing after the victims’ families were able to identify them,” the statement read.
The Robinsons and Mr. Rod were vacationing, surfing and camping on the coast near the Mexican city of Ensenada when they disappeared on April 27. Da city.
Earlier Friday, Mexican authorities pulled three bodies from a 50-foot-deep puddle near La Bocana Beach. A fourth unidentified male body was also found at the bottom of the cave, which prosecutors said was unrelated to the case.
The state’s attorney general, María Elena Andrade Ramírez, said each of the bodies later identified as tourists had gunshot wounds to the head.
Three suspects in connection with the killing have been detained. One of them was charged with enforced disappearance. Ms. Andrade Ramirez said he tried to rob the pickup truck in which the Robinson brothers and Mr. Carter were riding. When they resisted, he shot them and then disposed of their bodies, she said.
“Unfortunately, they live in an uninhabitable place and cannot seek help,” Ms. Andrade Ramirez told a news conference on Sunday.
Ms. Andrade Ramirez said two other detainees were charged with possession of methamphetamine. She said more arrests were likely but there was no indication that Mexican organized crime groups were involved in the killings.
“The assumption so far is that they approached with the intention of seizing the pickup truck and assaulting the victim,” she said.
Ms. Andrade Ramirez said a burned-out camp was found in a remote area south of Ensenada, about four miles from where the bodies were found. Ms. Andrade Ramirez said a shell casing and blood stains were found at the scene, and the tourists’ pickup truck was burned and abandoned nearby.
