Accused killers on trial for Australian brothers' deaths sent to ‘Mexico's toughest prison'

The Age

19-07-2025

Two of the men accused of murdering Perth brothers Callum and Jake Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad will remain in a notorious maximum-security prison in the Mexican desert while lawyers determine the facts of the case.
Two court hearings into the men's deaths were held back-to-back in Ensenada, in Baja California, on Thursday afternoon (Friday morning AEST).
The Robinson brothers, from Perth's northern suburbs, were killed while on a surf trip to the Baja California peninsula in April last year.
The brothers were travelling with Rhoad, a San Diego local, and drove a Chevrolet Colorado pick-up to their Punta San Jose campsite on the region's coastline.
Four people will be tried in connection with the men's alleged murders.
Prosecutors believe the trio was targeted by criminals looking to steal their car's tyres, and were killed when they resisted.
However, this masthead understands the surfing spot where the men had been camping, La Bocana, which is almost two hours from a main road and accessible only by four-wheel-drive, is a 'hot spot' for local drug labs and marijuana plantations. The beach is used to transport drugs and migrants across the ocean to the United States.
It is also understood that one of the men accused of the murders, Jesús Gerardo, had a long background with law enforcement, including connections to organised crime and allegedly corrupt Mexican police officers.