Members of the Sinaloa cartel have claimed they handed over the killers of an American surfer and his two Australian friends after their bodies were dumped in a well in Mexico.
U.S. citizen Jack Carter Rhoad and brothers Callum and Jake Robinson were found murdered Monday near the city of Ensenada.
The area is currently under the control of the cruel Sinaloa cartel, headed by brothers René and Aquiles Arzate.
But a representative of the organization denied any connection to the crime and claimed that they had handed the culprits over to the police for fear of receiving “unwanted attention.”
However, Mexican authorities have since claimed that they arrested three suspects after tracking the location of one of the victims’ phones.
Members of the Sinaloa cartel have claimed they handed over the killers of American surfer Jack Carter Rhoad and his two Australian friends after their bodies were dumped in a well in Mexico.
Australian brothers Jake, 30 (right) and Callum Robinson, 33 (center left; pictured with their parents) disappeared without a trace in the Baja California region of Mexico.
Since then, the brothers Jesús Gerardo García Cota and Cristian Alejandro García have been arrested. It is unclear which brother is which in their mugshots.
Ari Gisel García Cota, 23, is one of the three suspects arrested. He would be the partner of Jesús Gerardo García Cota, who was also arrested
‘They were low-level thieves who acted alone. But we delivered them,’ the member from Sinaloa told the Daily Beast.
‘We found out that the police were looking for the gringos and they also began looking for those responsible. We called the authorities to tell them where to find them.’
Baja California investigators said the trio died after thieves broke into their truck.
“The tourists refused and tried to defend themselves, but the robbers were armed,” said an investigator.
‘When the criminals took out their weapons, the three [tourists] I tried to calm the situation, but it was too late, they beat all three of them and then shot them in the head.
Police said they contacted U.S. authorities to obtain the victims’ cellphone numbers and were able to use them to track Rhoad’s phone, which was in the possession of a woman, Ari Gisel Garcia Cota.
Since then, Cota and his partner Jesús Gerardo García Cota, alias El Kekas, have been charged.
Cristian Alejandro García, brother of Kekas, was also charged.
The area where the murders occurred is currently under the control of the cruel Sinaloa cartel, led by brothers Aquiles and René Arzate (pictured by LR), who said they helped police identify the killers.
The suspects were arrested during two police operations on Wednesday, May 1; Ms. García Cota was reported to be in possession of one of the missing men’s phones, as well as illegal drugs.
The style of the executions has raised fears locally about the possible involvement of drug cartels that are rife in the region (pictured: the trio’s vehicle was later found burned in the Santo Tomás area).
Mexican authorities said the bandits attacked the three to steal the tires from their truck before killing them all and dumping their bodies in a disused well.
All three suspects were in possession of a variety of methamphetamines and other illegal drugs at the time of their arrest, according to Zeta.
The three tourists had only been on vacation for a few days when they disappeared on April 27.
The brothers’ mother issued a desperate plea on social media after the group failed to show up at an Airbnb they had booked in Rosarito.
His remains were found in a well more than 15 meters deep next to a cliff at Punta San José in Santo Tomás, in the municipality of Ensenada, near a remote surf spot known as Lighthouse, reports the San Diego Union. Tribune.
It took rescuers about 20 hours to remove the bodies from the well.
Before the discovery of the bodies, local police suspected foul play: Jack Rhoad’s burned truck and an abandoned campsite with traces of blood and “tooth parts” were found.
The San Diego recruiter was due to marry his fiancée Natalie Wiertz this summer and had joined Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson on a road trip along the Pacific coast before their big day.