Jake and Callum Robinson, along with Jack Carter Rhoad, were murdered in 2024 in Mexico.
Prosecutor Raúl Gerardo Cobo Montejano has recommended sentences of 210 years for Jesús Gerardo, Irineo Francisco, and Ángel Jesús if convicted of the 2024 murders of American Jack Carter Rhoad, and Australians Jack and Callum Robinson. The news comes as the three men appeared in court last week to stand trial for aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, violent robbery, and grand theft auto. The prosecutor called for an additional 168 years to be added to the sentence of Gerardo for forced disappearance.
The three friends went missing during a surf trip to Baja in April of 2024. The bodies of all three were later found in a well alongside another person officials believe was murdered in a separate incident. Investigators eventually declared that the triple homicide took place when the suspects attempted to rob the traveling surfers at gunpoint. A plea deal was proposed to all three suspects as well as Ari Gisell, Gerardo’s ex-girlfriend, but that was denied by all of the defendants. That deal would have dealt Francisco, Gerardo, and Jesús sentences of 47 to 52 years, while Gisell’s sentence would have been 20 years.
In July, two of the defendants were transferred from a local prison in Ensenada to “El Hongo” prison when investigators revealed they may have cartel ties. Authorities declared they “require special security measures given that penitentiary authorities have identified them as members of criminal groups affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel.”
None of the defendants have entered pleas while Gisell is set to appear in court later this month.
“The individuals did not accept responsibility,” Cobo Montejano said outside of the courthouse last week, adding that he expects the trial to be lengthy. “We are doing our best to bring them justice, we believe the case we have is solid. We are going to achieve a guilty verdict.”
