The recently recovered three bodies from a well near Baja California state in Mexico have been identified by the authorities as two Australian and one American surfers. The foreigners --Jake Robinson, Callum Robinson and Jack Carter Rhoad--had gunshot wounds on their bodies.
According to the officials, the deceased were robbed before they were killed and dumped into a well nearby. The foreigners were camping along the stretch of coast south of the city of Ensenada when the incident took place. The thieves stole their truck tyres by killing the campers and then got rid of the bodies by dumping them in a well, said officials.
The well was located around 6 km from where the foreigners were killed.
According to the officials, the campers have been posting pictures of isolated beaches and waves before they went missing last weekend. It clearly shows that they were adventurous people, they added.
Jake and Callum Robinson were brothers from Australia, while Jack was from the United States.
How they were killed?
According to the chief state prosecutor Mara Elena Andrade Ramrez, the killers might have driven by and seen the foreigners' pickup trucks and tents and wanted to steal their tyres. But when the campers came up and caught them, they would have resisted and it would have ended up in a fight.
That's when the killers would have shot the tourists.
The thieves then allegedly dumped the bodies into a well that they apparently were familiar with.
The well was covered with boards and it was difficult to find the bodies, said officials. According to Ramrez, the suspects seemed to be familiar with the well.
Dozens of surfers, mourners and demonstrators gathered in a main plaza in Ensenada, the nearest city, to protest and join the sadness at the deaths of the foreigners.
People missing and getting killed is not something rare in the area, said the locals.
Protesters raised placards saying ‘Ensenada is a mass grave’ and held demonstrations seeking the safety of the people.
Three people were taken to custody
According to Baja California prosecutors, they were questioning three people in connection with the killings, two of them were caught with methamphetamines. The suspects were also being held pending drug charges.
However, a third man was arrested on charges of a crime equivalent to kidnapping, but that was before the bodies were found. Andrade Ramrez said he had a criminal record, and that more people may have been involved.
Earlier in 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California also known as the Sea of Cortez from the Baja peninsula. Three suspects were arrested in that case.
(With PTI inputs)