Surfers Likely Killed for Their Truck Tires on Baja Trip

Prosecutors say the two Australians and one American killed during a surfing trip to Mexico were likely murdered by thieves who wanted to steal the tires off of their pickup truck. Authorities in Baja California said relatives have confirmed the identities of the three men, whose bodies were found in a remote well near a beach Friday, as Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their friend, American Jack Carter Rhoad. The trio disappeared during a camping and surfing trip along the coast south of Ensenada, the BBC reports. They'd been posting pictures of their adventures before vanishing around April 27, the AP reports.

The thieves "may have been looking for trucks in this area," chief state prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez says. Spotting the truck and tents, the thieves may have attempted to steal the truck tires when the men came back and saw what was happening. "Surely, they resisted," the prosecutor says, at which point the suspects shot them—all three had been shot in the head—and dumped their bodies. A fourth body, which had been in the well much longer, was found at the same time as the three men, and authorities say it's possible the same suspects had dumped another body at the difficult-to-access location after a previous crime. Three people were being questioned in the case. (More Mexico stories.)