Mexican officials say 3 bodies recovered in Baja California during search for 3 missing foreigners

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican forensic examiners were at a remote site in Baja California on Friday where three bodies were reportedly found, in the same area where two Australians and an American went missing last weekend.

An employee of the state prosecutors’ office who was not authorized to be quoted by name said Friday that examiners and emergency workers were trying to recover evidence found at the scene. But the employee would not say what that evidence was.

The site is near the township of Santo Tomás, south of Ensenada. That is the area where local media reported three bodies had been found.

Mexican news outlets and the local Talk Baja Facebook group all cited sources close to the investigation as saying the bodies had been found relatively near where the three foreigners went missing last weekend during what was apparently a surfing and camping trip.

The surfers’ tents and truck were found Thursday on a remote stretch of coast nearby. Three men — identified by family members as brothers Jake and Callum Robinson from Australia and American Jack Carter Rhoad — went missing Saturday in the area.

The U.S. State Department said: “We are aware of those reports (of bodies) and are closely monitoring the situation. At this time we have no further comment.”

Baja California prosecutors said Thursday they were questioning three people in the case.

María Elena Andrade Ramírez, the chief state prosecutor, would not say whether the three people questioned were considered possible suspects or witnesses in the case. She said only that some were tied directly to the case, and others indirectly.

But Andrade Ramírez said evidence found along with the abandoned tents was linked to the three. The three foreigners were believed to have been surfing and camping along the Baja coast near the coastal city of Ensenada, but did not show up at their planned accommodations over the weekend.

“A working team (of investigators) is at the site where they were last seen, where tents and other evidence was found that could be linked to these three people we have under investigation,” Andrade Ramírez said Thursday. “There is a lot of important information that we can’t make public.”

“We do not know what condition they are in,” she said at the time. While drug cartels are active in the area, she said, “all lines of investigation are open at this time. We cannot rule anything out until we find them.”

On Wednesday, the missing Australians’ mother, Debra Robinson, posted on a local community Facebook page an appeal for help in finding her sons. Robinson said Callum and Jake had not been heard from since April 27. They had booked accommodations in the nearby city of Rosarito.

Robinson said one of her sons, Callum, was diabetic. She also mentioned that the American who was with them was named Jack Carter Rhoad, but the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City did not immediately confirm that. The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports a U.S. citizen missing in Baja, but gave no further details.

Andrade Ramírez said her office was in contact with Australian and U.S. officials. But she suggested he time that had passed might make it harder to find the missing trio.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the last few days that they were reported missing. So, that meant that important hours or time was lost,” she said.

In 2015, two Australian surfers, Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, were killed in western Sinaloa state, across the Gulf of California — also known as the Sea of Cortez — from the Baja peninsula. Authorities said they were victims of highway bandits. Three suspects were arrested in that case.

Mark Stevenson, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Mexican officials say 3 bodies recovered in Baja California during search for 3 missing foreigners

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