MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to robbery with violence in the case of the 2024 killings of an American and two Australian surfers, authorities said Thursday.
The Baja California State Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that a judge sentenced Ary Gisell Silva Raya on Wednesday in relation to the case of Australian brothers Callum Ryan Robinson and Jake Martin Robinson and their friend Jack Carter Rhoad, whose bodies were found in a sparsely populated area 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Ensenada, Mexico.
The prosecutor’s office said that Silva Raya made contact with the three foreigners in the coastal area of Punta San Jose and “instigated her companions to rob them of their belongings.”
She was the romantic partner of one of the men charged in the killings of the American and Australians who had traveled from California to surf in the area.
The surfers were robbed and shot, and their bodies were then dumped in a remote well where investigators eventually found them.
The three men arrested on charges for the killings remain in custody awaiting trial.
FILE - The photos of foreign surfers who disappeared are displayed on a poster on the beach in Ensenada, Mexico, May 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Karen Castaneda, File)
COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The last ghoulish gargoyle has been returned to its perch as part of a two-year restoration of a Kentucky cathedral with a facade modeled after Notre Dame in Paris.
The rehab project at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption was sorely needed to repair deteriorated stone, metal and glass that adorns the limestone exterior. The project included 32 recreated gargoyles along with repairs of deteriorated finials, arches and balustrades.
The 125-year-old church, in Covington just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, offers the experience of a European gothic cathedral in the Midwest, said the Very Rev. Ryan Maher, the cathedral’s rector. The cathedral has an “intimate connection to what is really the most popular and most well-known cathedral outside of Rome itself,” he said.
“I think it's very special and very unique,” said Maher, who watched from the sidewalk as the last gargoyle, made of terra cotta, was raised to top of the facade on Monday.
The renovation price tag was nearly $8 million, and most came from donations, Maher said.
Brian Walter, CEO of Trisco Systems, the contractor, said the final gargoyle going in was “a symbol of the accomplishment of all our facade work.”
“That’s a big, monumental occasion for not only people here, but for us. That kind of symbolized the last stone we’re putting in,” Walter said.
Restoration plans grew out of Maher's discovery in 2018 of a large piece of stone that fell from the exterior.
“We realized at that time that we needed to investigate not only the source of that one piece of stone that had fallen, but to take a look at the overall facade of the cathedral,” Maher said.
Workers will continue with smaller tasks around the facade, including the installation of chimeras that sit on the roofline, but the heavy lifting has been completed, Walter said.
“This is kind of a once or twice in a lifetime project,” Walter said.
The story has been updated to correct that the gargoyles are made of terra cotta, not stone.
Workers are seen beyond an orange cherry picker high on the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, known as "America's Notre Dame," as the final new terra cotta gargoyle is secured with straps to the left, in Covington, Ky., on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The final new terra cotta gargoyle is installed by Cole Burklund, top, and Blake Priest using a cherry picker high on the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, known as "America's Notre Dame," in Covington, Ky., on Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The final new terra cotta gargoyle is secured at right after being installed high on the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, known as "America's Notre Dame," in Covington, Ky., on Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The final new terra cotta gargoyle is installed by Cole Burklund, in the bright yellow, and Blake Priest using a cherry picker high on the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, known as "America's Notre Dame," in Covington, Ky., on Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The final new terra cotta gargoyle is prepared for installation high on the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, known as "America's Notre Dame," in Covington, Ky., on Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
