Missing American and Australian tourists were likely killed in carjacking in Mexico, police say

The American and Australian tourists who vanished while on a trip in Mexico were believed to have been killed in a robbery-turned-shooting, authorities say.

Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their friend Carter Rhoad, from the United States, were reported missing after failing to show up to their accommodation in Baja California on Saturday 27 April.

Their car was later found burnt out, and three tents abandoned.

Now, police in Mexico are saying that it appears a group approached the tourists, trying to steal their white pick-up truck — when they refused, they were shot, 7News reported.

“When they tried to get the vehicles, the victims opposed the robbery. The robbers were armed with a firearm and then apparently shot the victims,” said Baja California Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez.

Three bodies were later found in a “rugged area” in the southern part of the municipality of Ensenada, according to a press release from the Baja California attorney general.

The bodies were found in an advanced state of decomposition at the bottom of a 50-foot-deep well, the outlet reported.

“All three bodies meet the characteristics to assume with a high degree of probability” that they belong to the tourists, the attorney general said on Saturday.

Laboratory tests are underway to determine the identity of the recovered bodies, 7News reported.

Investigators also found a fourth body in the well, believed to be the property owner, and is not believed to be linked to the case, police said.

Investigators announced on Friday that three Mexican citizens had been charged with a crime equivalent to kidnapping in connection to the tourists’ disappearance. They don’t appear to have been charged with murder.