Mexican authorities raided Thomas Markle’s abandoned storage unit early Saturday, a day after Our News Outlet alerted the FBI to allegations that the facility contained child sexual abuse material.
Guardia Nacional officers who identified themselves as state sex-crimes investigators entered the 5ft-by-10ft unit shortly after midnight local time. The facility is located about three miles from Markle’s former home in Rosarito.
The team included forensic-computing specialists, a crime-scene investigator and officials from the Baja California attorney general’s office. They were seen examining the cluttered unit with flashlights and searching through dusty boxes.
An onlooker said one investigator appeared to recoil while reviewing the material and exclaimed, “Ay cabron,” a Spanish expression that can mean “holy crap” or “oh, damn.”
A search warrant obtained by Our News Outlet says a judge authorized investigators to look for “evidence consisting of child sexual abuse material” and evidence relating to the alleged aggravated crime of human trafficking.
Investigators cataloged and removed items including a computer, USB drives, VHS tapes and magazines before locking the unit and posting an official seizure notice, according to a source.
Mexican Guardia Nacional sex-crimes investigators raid Thomas Markle’s storage locker in Rosarito early Saturday, hours after Our News Outlet reported allegations about its contents
An officer appeared shocked while examining material in the storage locker, which Our News Outlet reported to the FBI
The operation at Baja Storage, a gated depot about 10 miles south of the US border, followed a warning from Our News Outlet that Unit 22 allegedly contained photographs of naked Asian women and magazines depicting the sexual abuse of children.
After the search, the shipping container was locked and covered with Mexican Guardia Nacional notices reading “Aseguramiento de inmuebles,” indicating that its contents had been seized.
Hours before the raid, Our News Outlet photographed Markle being pushed in a wheelchair between care homes in Lakeland, Florida.
Markle, who previously lost a leg after suffering a blood clot and has been diagnosed with a cognitive condition, was accompanied by his daughter Samantha and her boyfriend, Mark Phillips. Both have denied allegations that Markle is a pedophile.
Our reporting team discovered the storage container last week while examining the 82-year-old Markle’s former life in the gated expatriate community of San Antonio del Mar.
The unit was rented to the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex in 2017. He fell behind on payments two years ago and moved to the Philippines in early 2025 without clearing out the locker.
Employees and the owner of the storage business said they had known nothing about the alleged cache and were appalled by what was found.
Our News Outlet accessed Markle’s storage locker after he fell behind on rent. The reported contents included photographs of Asian women who appeared notably young, along with books and magazines that sexualized children as “Lolitas”
Alongside family keepsakes, letters and photographs, the unit reportedly contained black-and-white prints of naked Asian women, some of whom appeared notably young, as well as books and magazines that sexualized children as “Lolitas.”
Investigators also reportedly found strips of 35mm negatives showing voyeuristic images of children on a beach and dusty VHS tapes with titles including “Boys – Brother and Sister – Russian XX” and “Manila Nites.”
The locker contained old computers, hard drives and a paper plate marked “DARK WEB” in red ink alongside several URLs.
Our News Outlet’s report prompted an investigation involving officials in both the United States and Mexico.
FBI agents from the Tampa Field Office, near the Lakeland senior-living facility where Markle is staying after having his left leg amputated in December 2025, are among those involved.
FBI officials based in Southern California are also participating because they coordinate law-enforcement activity with agencies in Mexico.
A Mexican Guardia Nacional official carries a cardboard box during Saturday’s raid at Thomas Markle’s storage facility
The locker was covered with Guardia Nacional notices stating that its contents had been seized
The warrant obtained by Our News Outlet states that Mexican prosecutors asked Judge Estefany Moreno Gutierrez of Baja California’s Judicial Branch to approve the search during a closed hearing on Friday.
“The search shall be conducted exclusively for the purpose of searching for, locating and securing evidence consisting of child sexual abuse material that may be in printed form, as well as USB memory devices and memory cards for photographic cameras and cellular telephones,” the warrant states.
It also authorized investigators to search for communications equipment, including mobile phones, laptops, computers, tablets and other electronic devices that might contain videos featuring explicit sexual content.
At about 4pm Friday, a small group of uniformed officers arrived at the depot and asked to speak with the owner. According to a source, he wanted the material removed from the property as quickly as possible.
The officers took his statement and inspected and photographed the padlocked metal container but did not open it at that stage.
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As the night progressed, additional officers from the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion, Mexico’s State Investigation Agency, arrived while National Guard soldiers guarded the entrance.
A Mexican Guardia Nacional truck stands outside the Rosarito storage facility early Saturday
Armed officers guard the facility during the search of Thomas Markle’s storage locker
After showing the warrant to an overnight caretaker, more than a dozen agents entered the facility at 12.48am. The operation ended by 3am, when a convoy of vehicles left the site.
Public Prosecutor Emmanuel Sabino Sanchez Martinez must submit a written report to the court within one day. However, officials are expected to need weeks to examine the seized material.
The discovery of the storage unit, located minutes from Markle’s former home, represents another major development in a case that could carry a 10-to-12-year prison sentence if he is charged and convicted.
The former Hollywood lighting director moved to Rosarito, a coastal community popular with American retirees, in 2011.
During his time there, his relationship with his daughter Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, deteriorated.
Before Meghan’s 2018 wedding, Markle was caught working privately with a paparazzi photographer to stage a series of photographs, despite Prince Harry’s requests that the media leave his future father-in-law alone.
Markle moved to the Philippines in early 2025. He is also reportedly under investigation there after his son reported him to police.
A wider view of Saturday’s operation shows Guardia Nacional members examining the contents of Thomas Markle’s storage locker
Thomas Markle leaves a care home in Lakeland, Florida, on Friday afternoon
Markle lost a leg after a blood clot and has recently been diagnosed with a cognitive condition. He denies the allegations against him
Thomas Markle Jr., 60, allegedly discovered “hundreds, if not thousands” of child-sex images in boxes his father had shipped to the Far East, according to The Sun.
Markle, who uses a wheelchair, denies wrongdoing and has previously dismissed the allegations as “sick lies.”
Just hours before Saturday morning’s raid, he was seen being pushed between care homes in Florida.
He was accompanied by his eldest daughter, Samantha Markle, 61, the only child with whom he maintains a relationship, and her boyfriend, Mark Phillips.
When an Our News Outlet reporter approached Samantha at her home, Phillips defended Markle while Samantha sat nearby and did not speak.
“The only statement that you’re going to get is that Thomas Markle doesn’t even have fingerprints on the stuff in the Philippines,” Phillips, 68, said.
“He didn’t ever touch it the whole time it was there. He can’t be charged. Markle never had it in Mexico either … The FBI has no jurisdiction in Mexico.”
“Thomas Markle Sr. hasn’t lived in the States in 10 years. Even if there was bad [material], the statute of limitations ran out five years ago. This is all bulls**t.”
Most of the photographs found among 20 storage boxes in the Rosarito unit appear to date from when Markle was in his 40s or 50s.
He was 43 when he and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, divorced in 1987 after eight years of marriage.
Last week, Markle told Our News Outlet that he had paid for sex in the Philippines while single.
“I never had sex with anyone under the age of 18,” he said. “I like Asian women, but that is not a crime.”
The Duchess of Sussex said last week that she was “deeply distressed” by the allegations involving her father in the Philippines.
She has not commented on the developments in Mexico.
Thomas Markle Sr. told Our News Outlet on Saturday: “I had no storage units in Rosarito!”
