Suspect’s stepson led investigators to vehicle linked to Baja beach murders

One of the two vehicles suspected of being used in the murder of three surfers on the idyllic Mexican beach was found abandoned and partially burned.ENSENADA, Mexico (CN) — An investigator for the Baja California State Investigation Agency testified Thursday that the stepson of one of the three men charged with killing a pair of Australian brothers and their American friend led her to a pickup truck reportedly used in the crime.“He was very nervous,” the investigator said, explaining that the stepson, Ramón, came forward with information into the April 27, 2024, killings.“On May 6, we did a search of the campsite. We found bloodstains and a .45 caliber shell,” the investigator said. The judge has asked names of investigators testifying the case not be disclosed.Ramón is the stepson of Jesús Gerardo, one of the three defendants accused of aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, violent robbery and grand theft auto in the killings. Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús are also charged.The investigator located one white Ford Ranger in the Vista Hermosa neighborhood of Ensenada in a small driveway, led by Ramón.The investigator told the court that Ramón told her in a May 5, 2024, interview he went unknowingly with his stepfather the night of the killings; he said heard screaming and gunshots as he sat in his stepfather’s pickup. He then ran towards his family member’s house and hid in the bathroom.“On May 23, we found a white pickup that matched the characteristics Ramón told us,” the investigator said. “With three black hubcaps and one silver.”The hubcaps have been established as part of the possible motive for the murders — that the three surfers were killed in attempted robbery for resisting the theft of their belongings including their hubcaps, tipped off by Ari Gisell, girlfriend of Jesús Gerardo.According to the investigator, Gisell had told her she liked the surfers’ hubcaps. Gisell has accepted a plea bargain for instigating the murders and has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.Gisell, now a witness, said on Monday Jesús Gerardo bragged that the three begged for their lives, including one victim who pled and cried for his life because he had a wife. Gisell had also testified Jesús Gerardo was a hitman and had a list of people he planned on killing.A bullet hole in the front of the head of one of the victims, the back of the head of another and multiple gunshot wounds in the third show suggest two of them were killed execution style and another for resisting the robbery.Ballistics and forensics experts will give their findings to the court next week, including official causes of death.Maintaining their tactic of strategy of poking holes in the way evidence was collected and possible contamination of the crime scenes, the defense team asked if the scene was cordoned off in between searches, which the investigator denied.The investigator also noted that she found a piece of fiberglass, a plastic water bottle that tested positive for a type of gasoline, two bedsheets, an empty soda bottle and a plastic bottle filled with a yellow liquid.“Why is this piece of fiberglass important?” asked the prosecution.“It is the type of material they make surfboards out of,” she saidLater, the defense team asked if they make other objects out of fiberglass, which the investigator conceded.A different investigator for the Prosecutor’s Office of Baja California also testified to the discovery of a second white pickup truck, this one partially burned out and abandoned along a lone stretch of highway near the well where the three surfers’ bodies were found at the Punta San José lighthouse beach near the town of Santo Tomas.Inside the back left door pocket, the investigator found a grey-black metallic pistol with two cartridges. On the seat of the pickup, a cellphone case without a cellphone.The prosecutor’s investigator also testified to interviewing a Santo Tomás ranch worker who also came forward. The ranch worker said he was watering the area when the police came.When asked why he noted the car during his daily rounds, the ranch worker, who showed signs of limited cognitive and physical ability, the investigator testified, said simply, “it was burned” and that something was off.After the hearing, the defendants were taken in a windowless van with a single-police car motorcade around the block to the state prison. Trial will resume next Tuesday.Courthouse News reporter William Savinar is based in Mexico City.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads