Jake and Callum Robinson, along with Jack Carter Rhoad, were killed in Baja last year.
New court documents revealed that two suspects in the triple homicide of three traveling surfers in Mexico have ties to organized crime. Contrary to initial comments by local authorities, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports that the newly released documents, which the courts did not properly redact, show that two of the four alleged perpetrators are linked to the Sinaloa Cartel.
Jesús Gerardo and Irineo Francisco (last names are withheld under Mexican law) were both transferred from the local prison in Ensenada to the “El Hongo” maximum-security prison in a mountainous region near the U.S.-Mexico border town of Tecate. According to the courts, the two men “require special security measures given that penitentiary authorities have identified them as members of criminal groups affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel.”
Jesús Gerardo was part of the initial round-up of suspects in May 2024, but Irineo Francisco was recently arrested in July 2025. Four suspects in total face charges for the murders. The three men – Jesús Gerardo, Irineo Francisco, and Ángel Jesús – are charged with aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, violent robbery, grand theft auto, and forced disappearance. The only female suspect, Ari Gisell, faces the same charges, except for forced disappearance.The documents state that one of the suspects “claimed within the detention center population that he can escape confinement at any time he chooses, in addition to participating in the use of prohibited substances on behalf of the gang known as ‘Los Paisas.'”
The lawyers of Jesús Gerardo and Irineo Francisco objected to the transfer. However, the court upheld the decision, reasoning that the two men have “high criminal capacity, high aggressiveness, emotional detachment, high egocentricity, and marked emotional instability.”
Local authorities initially said that the suspects targeted the surfers for their truck’s tires in April 2024 while they were camping at Punta San José south of the port city of Ensenada, and the robbery went wrong. Each of the deceased – two Australian brothers, Callum and Jake Robinson, and an American friend, Jack Carter Rhoad – had a single gunshot wound to the back of the head and were found in a 50-foot deep well in the area, along with another unrelated body identified as a local farmer. Their truck and campsite were burned, and the truck’s tires were missing.
Former Ensenada police director Jesús Luna Lezama previously told ABC that he suspected the murders had ties to organized crime. “What started as a minor crime – car theft – turned into forced disappearance and the murder of three people, in a way that closely resembles the behavior of organized crime groups,” Lezama told the ABC. “It could have been an isolated incident, not necessarily directed by cartel leadership. These groups often avoid drawing attention from authorities.”
The initial court hearings, originally scheduled for July 17, were adjourned to July 25.
