Armed Convoy of About 12 Vehicles Escorts Robinson Family to Baja Memorial as Ensenada Judge Sets Oct. 9 Verdict in Killings of American Carter Rhoad and 2 Australian Surfers
A convoy of about 12 vehicles from Baja California’s prosecutor’s office, state and municipal police and the Mexican Army escorted the family of murdered Australian surfers Callum and Jake Robinson to a memorial at Punta San José, south of Ensenada, on Thursday, Oct. 1, Semanario Zeta reported on Oct. 4, 2026. A judge in Ensenada is due to deliver a verdict on Friday, Oct. 9, against the three men accused of killing the brothers and their American friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, in 2024.
Verdict at 10 a.m. on Oct. 9
Zeta reported that, after almost a month of oral-trial hearings, Judge Raúl Hernández Arellano paused the case and will hear closing arguments on Wednesday, Oct. 8, then rule at 10 a.m. the next day. ABC News (Australia) reported on Oct. 1 that the judge adjusted his schedule after the brothers’ mother, Debra Robinson, asked for a verdict before the couple’s Oct. 9 flight home. “It would mean so much to us as Callum and Jake’s parents to be here for the verdict,” she told him, according to ABC. The defence chose not to cross-examine two protected witnesses, a mother and son, ABC said.
The accused and the charges
The defendants are Jesús Gerardo García Cota, alias “El Kekas,” his brother Irineo and Ángel Jesús Aguilera, Zeta reported. They are charged with aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, robbery at night, violent robbery and violent vehicle theft. Prosecutors argue the three men were killed in a robbery gone wrong; the defence says the evidence does not prove that theory, ABC reported. ABC also reported that court documents link Irineo Francisco to the Sinaloa Cartel. None of the three has been convicted, and all are presumed innocent.
According to the investigation as described by Zeta, the men, ages 30 to 33, rented a vacation house in Playas de Rosarito in April 2024, then drove at least 100 kilometers down a dirt road to Punta San José, where they were intercepted, robbed and shot. Their bodies were found in a well on a ranch at La Bocana on May 3, 2024. A fourth person, Ary Gisell Silva, was sentenced in November 2025 to 20 years for violent robbery in the case, CBS News reported.
ABC News (Australia) video from the start of the trial:
Why it matters for travelers
The killings, on a remote stretch of coast popular with surfers, became one of the most closely followed cases involving foreign visitors in Baja California. Travelers can follow the area on our Ensenada and Rosarito safety page.
Sources
- Semanario Zeta: Juicio por asesinato de los hermanos Robinson llega a su etapa final (Oct. 4, 2026)
- ABC News (Australia): Jake and Callum Robinson’s mother asks for timely verdict at Mexico trial (Oct. 1, 2026)
- CBS News: Woman sentenced in murders of American and Australian surfers in Mexico (Nov. 21, 2025)
- Photos: Guillermo Arias, AFP, via ABC News (Australia); Semanario Zeta, via Zeta. Video: ABC News (Australia).
Reported Oct. 4, 2026, from Semanario Zeta, ABC News (Australia) and CBS News. No verdict has been delivered; the account of the killings is the prosecution’s, which the defence disputes.