The guilty verdicts followed more than two years of investigation, testimony and court proceedings after the three friends vanished in Baja California.
ENSENADA, Mexico — For the families of Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and their American friend Carter Redd Rhoad, guilty verdicts against three men marked a major legal milestone more than two years after the travelers were killed during a surfing trip along Mexico’s Baja California coast.
Judge Raúl Hernández convicted Jesús Gerardo García, known as “El Kekas,” Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús in an Ensenada court following a monthlong trial. The men were found responsible for the killings and were also convicted of crimes tied to the robbery and theft of the victims’ vehicle. Their sentences are scheduled to be announced Oct. 16.
The Robinson brothers’ parents, Debra and Martin Robinson, traveled from Western Australia for the proceedings and were in court for the verdict. They thanked court officials, prosecutors, witnesses and Australian representatives who supported the case. They also made clear that the ruling could not erase the loss of their sons and Rhoad, whose deaths turned a recreational trip into an international criminal case.
The three friends had traveled to Baja California in April 2024 to surf and camp near Punta San Jose, about 50 miles from Ensenada. When they stopped communicating with relatives and friends, their disappearance prompted a search. Their bodies were found May 3 in a well, several days after they had last been seen in the coastal area.
Mexican prosecutors said the travelers encountered people seeking to rob them and take property connected to their vehicle. The case eventually led authorities to García, Irineo Francisco, Ángel Jesús and García’s former partner, Ary Gisell Silva Raya. García and the two other men went to trial, while Silva Raya resolved her case separately.
Silva Raya was sentenced in November 2025 to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery with violence and vehicle theft with violence. During the later trial, she testified about events surrounding the crime and statements she said García made afterward. Her testimony was among the evidence considered as prosecutors sought convictions against the remaining defendants.
The long court process brought the Robinson family back to Mexico more than two years after Callum and Jake were killed. Their attendance gave the proceedings a visible human dimension as the court examined evidence about the final days of the surf trip. Family members of Rhoad also followed the case as the defendants faced judgment for the deaths of all three men.
The killings drew attention far beyond Baja California because the victims were visitors from Australia and the United States traveling together through a popular surfing region. The case also placed Mexican investigators and prosecutors under international scrutiny as they searched for the missing men, recovered their remains, made arrests and prepared criminal cases that would take years to reach a verdict.
The guilty findings changed the legal status of the three defendants from accused men awaiting judgment to convicted offenders awaiting sentencing. The decision also brought the families closer to the end of a court process that had required repeated testimony, hearings and travel while leaving the central loss unchanged.
For Debra and Martin Robinson, the emphasis after the verdict remained on the lives of Callum and Jake rather than on the men convicted of killing them. The family has repeatedly described the brothers in terms of their relationships, ambitions and the future they lost. Their parents said the verdict represented accountability, even though no punishment could restore what was taken from the families.
The court’s next step is sentencing on Oct. 16. Until then, the three convicted men remain in custody as the judge considers the penalties to be imposed, while the victims’ families await the final stage of a prosecution that began after a surf trip ended in disappearance, an international search and three deaths.
Author note: Last updated October 11, 2026.