Falcon Lake Shooting: David Michael Hartley Feared Dead(arrest)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/1006/Mexico-Probe-into-Falcon-Lake-killing-delayed-by-Tiffany-Hartley-s-missing-complaint

Mexico: Probe into Falcon Lake killing delayed by Tiffany Hartley's 'missing' complaint

Mexican officials said Wednesday they still awaited a formal complaint, which would trigger a full investigation into the alleged killing of David Hartley on Falcon Lake.
Mexico City

Six days after Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake allegedly shot an American tourist, Mexican officials said they expected Tiffany Hartley, the wife of the deceased, to formally file a complaint with Mexican authorities today.
But the prosecutor’s office in the border state of Tamaulipas said Wednesday morning that it was waiting to receive that complaint, which is needed before a formal investigation can begin into the alleged Sept. 30 killing of David Hartley.

“The official complaint is missing.... Everything was ‘they said this, they said that’ but there hasn’t been a formal claim,” says Ruben Dario, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

Mr. Dario said Wednesday morning that Mexican officials expected Ms. Hartley to visit the municipality of Miguel Aleman and lodge a complaint in person.

The prosecutor's office said that a search began Sept. 30 for Hartley's still-missing body when the state was first contacted by the sheriff’s office in Zapata, Texas.

It was unclear Wednesday why Hartley would wait nearly a week before filing a formal complaint into the alleged killing, though it comes amid tit-for-tat accusations that Mexican authorities are not searching hard enough and that Hartley is withholding details about the incident.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also entered the fray today, giving Mexico a subtle two-day deadline to find the body.

"I hope that if [Mexican President Felipe Calderón] calls me within the next 48 hours, that the body has been retrieved," Governor Perry told the Associated Press. "If not, we're not looking hard enough."

Shortly thereafter the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement condemning the alleged murder and saying that authorities have been coordinating with United States officials from the beginning.

“The Mexican government offers its commitment to investigate the death of a US citizen in waters of the Falcon Dam,” the ministry said.

Specialized personnel, boats, and helicopters have been deployed to the lake, according to the statement. It added that Hartley has already given testimony at the Mexican consulate in McAllen, Texas, permitting "Mexican ministerial authorities to integrate the investigation into whoever is responsible for the US citizen."

Boaters on Falcon Lake, a 60-mile area of reservoir and lakes straddling US and Mexican territory, have come under repeated attacks in recent months.

Since April 30, four incidents of armed robberies or attempted theft have been reported on Falcon Lake: one in April, two in May, and one in August. The fifth ambush ended last week with the possible death of Mr. Hartley, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

In fishing boats, gunmen armed with AK-47s and AR-15 rifles disguise themselves as Mexican police, while others use crude signs to disguise their boats as Texas Parks and Wildlife vessels.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-mexico-border-news/texas-mexico-border/the-us-offers-to-assist-mexico-in-finding-victim/
The U.S. Offers to Assist Mexico in Finding Victim
October 6, 2010

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said today that his office sent a letter to Arturo Sarukhan, Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., offering to assist in the search for the body of a U.S. citizen allegedly shot and killed last week on South Texas’ Falcon Lake.

Cuellar — who chairs the Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism, and whose district includes the freshwater lake — was in Austin for a conference on international human trafficking. Tiffany Hartley told Zapata County authorities Mexican pirates shot her husband David Hartley, 30, in the head while the two were sightseeing on the Mexican side of the international body of water. She said he was shot while the two were on Jet Skis. The shooters continued to fire at her as she tried to retreat, she said, and she could not carry her husband's body to shore.

A frustrated Hartley told the San Antonio Express-News  on Tuesday that she believed Mexican authorities were not doing all they could to locate her husband’s body. The Associated Press reported today, however, that Mexican authorities say they have stepped up their search efforts as a result of a phone call from Gov. Rick Perry to Mexican authorities urging them to do everything in their power to find Hartley’s body.

Some on both sides of the Rio Grande have speculated about what happened on the lake, and why the couple would travel into Mexico during what’s been dubbed an all-out war between cartels and law enforcement there. Former Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster — who also served as chairman of the Texas Border Coalition — expressed his own doubts about the incident to the Express-News on Tuesday, questioning whether there was any “domestic discord” between the two.

Cuellar acknowledged the rumors. He said he preferred to see what transpired before addressing their substance. “[Have] there been some questions that have been raised? Definitely. I’ve been privy to some of those, but we’ll wait until they do the investigation,” he said.

Cuellar, whom Perry appointed as Texas secretary of state in 2001, introduced the governor at the conference. Perry said the Falcon Lake incident should serve as yet another reminder that Washington needs to do more to secure the border, a theme he repeated more than once during his speech at the conference.

“These transnational gangs oppress their trafficking victims but they also employ them as pawns," Perry said. "That’s why in the absence of adequate assistance from Washington, we made another plea [Tuesday] to the office of Homeland Security and reached out to their counterparts in the Mexican side for continued effort to secure our border with Mexico.”

Addressing the governor’s comments, Cuellar told reporters that “this is not the time to be attacking, but I understand we are at that time of the [election] year.” Washington, he added, has added $600 million for border security, which he called “the largest infusion we’ve had for the border.”

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20018747-504083.html
Falcon Lake Update: Texas Gov. Calls On U.S., Mexican Presidents to Find Missing American
October 6, 2010



David Michael Hartley, right, believed shot by Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake. (Personal Photo)

[Sister]

I hope I am so wrong . . . I hope this woman is not involved . . . and thus making us look . . . whatever.

[cookie]

I am not buying this story...I hope that I am wrong..
if he had his life jacket on, it would have kept him afloat..also, where did his jet ski go? it would not have sunk easily...She could have perhaps stayed on her jet ski, grabbed his life jacket by the straps and drug him along side of her own jet ski till they got to safe waters? dunno, but where there is a will, there is a way..strange that his body disappeared like that..Why did the pirates let her go and didn't steal her jet ski too? the guy who saw her coming into shore said that he saw a boat coming towards shore but turned around..I didn't see anything where he said that he saw them chasing her..
if the pirates did kill David, why would they bother retrieving his body from the water? one thing comes to mind though..the jet ski key is usually hooked to the life jacket and when the body would have fallen into the water, the key would still be attached to his life jacket..maybe they took the life jacket off of him to get the key and then his body sank? just a thought...
like I said, I hope that I am wrong about all of this cynical feelings that I have...

[Sister]

I am not buying this story...I hope that I am wrong..
if he had his life jacket on, it would have kept him afloat..also, where did his jet ski go? it would not have sunk easily...She could have perhaps stayed on her jet ski, grabbed his life jacket by the straps and drug him along side of her own jet ski till they got to safe waters? dunno, but where there is a will, there is a way..strange that his body disappeared like that..Why did the pirates let her go and didn't steal her jet ski too? the guy who saw her coming into shore said that he saw a boat coming towards shore but turned around..I didn't see anything where he said that he saw them chasing her..
if the pirates did kill David, why would they bother retrieving his body from the water? one thing comes to mind though..the jet ski key is usually hooked to the life jacket and when the body would have fallen into the water, the key would still be attached to his life jacket..maybe they took the life jacket off of him to get the key and then his body sank? just a thought...
like I said, I hope that I am wrong about all of this cynical feelings that I have...

As I read on Blink's site from one of the commentators, how do you turn someone over with a life vest . . . life vests are designed so you float on your back!
I hope I'm wrong too Cookie.

[cookie]

will go check out what Blink has to say about this matter...
how are ya Sister?

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/search-for-man-missing-on-lake-thwarted-by-958992.html
Search for man missing on lake thwarted by gangs
October 7, 2010

ZAPATA, Texas — U.S. officials say the search for an American tourist reportedly shot dead on a border lake by Mexican pirates has been hampered by threats of an ambush from drug gangs.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas said the search for David Hartley was temporarily halted Wednesday evening as Mexican officials "worried about being ambushed because they've gotten the call already."

He said the search resumed Thursday morning, but Mexican searchers are "doing this under threat of their lives."

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said the area where the shooting allegedly happened while Hartley and his wife were exploring the lake on Jet Skies is a stronghold of the Zeta drug gang. Gonzalez said he has sent word to Zetas that he wants the body returned and has no plans to prosecute.

Cuellar and two other area congressmen say Mexico was "doing the best that they can" even though Gov. Rick Perry has said drug-gang fears are no excuse to call off the search.

___

[MuffyBee]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/7236619.html
Texas sheriff on Jet Skier: 'All we want ... is a body'
October 7, 2010

ZAPATA — A Texas border sheriff on Thursday said he was calling directly on Zeta operatives to simply produce the body of a missing U.S. citizen believed shot and killed last week by drug gangs on Falcon Lake reservoir.

“All we want on this side is a body,” Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said at a news conference here attended by three congressmen and a host of other U.S. officials.

Gonzalez said he had made his entreaty privately through channels he could not disclose, but that now he was making his request public so the Zetas — an assassination hit squad now turned full-fledged cartel — would know he had no jurisdiction to go after them.

Mexican authorities resumed their search Thursday morning for the body of David Michael Hartley. This morning’s ongoing efforts, being conducted by at least 40 troops, comes one week after Hartley’s wife made a frantic 911 call reporting his slaying during a sightseeing trip.

There were conflicting media reports early Thursday suggesting that Mexican officials had stopped their search because of threats from drug cartels, prompting criticism from Gov. Rick Perry, who on Wednesday called on Mexican President Felipe Calderón to do a thorough search for the body.

Speaking in Houston, Perry, who's running for re-election, said he had not heard from Calderón. He was harshly critical of the Mexicans’ efforts to find the body.
“No, I’m not satisfied, I don’t think we’re doing enough. When you call off a search the way they did this morning, and give as the reason that the drug cartels are in control of that part of the state, something’s not right,” said Perry, after receiving the endorsement of the Houston Police Officer’s Union at their headquarters. “If they need some assistance, the United States needs to be visiting them about how we can give the assistance to take back control of that part of the state. "

“But we do not need to let our border continue deteriorate from the standpoint of having drug cartels telling us whether or not we can go in and bring back the body of an American that’s been killed, that is irresponsible,” Perry added.

Meanwhile, three members of the South Texas congressional delegation said they had called for more federal Homeland Security resources, not only along the border, but directly on Falcon Lake and Amistad reservoirs.

The congressmen said they wanted to emphasize that the incident did happen on Mexican waters and that people were safe to visit the U.S. side of the lake.

The ambush by three boatloads, as the couple was on Jet Skis viewing Mexican ruins, was the fifth reported confrontation with “pirates” on the border lake since the spring. It was the first involving a shooting death, followed by a gun chase extending to the U.S. side.

Tiffany Hartley and her family met Wednesday night with two Mexican state police commanders at an international crossing linking Roma, Texas, with the Mexican city of Miguel Aleman.

“I took them to the Roma ..... port of entry and brought them face to face with the two people that were in charge of the search,” Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar said. “One of the things I wanted to do was make sure the family met up with the people in charge of the search and let them know that the Mexican government is indeed searching.”

Cuellar said officials on Wednesday searched a tributary where the reported incident had occurred, and planned Thursday morning to widen the search into the lake.

Family members said they were encouraged by the meeting.

“They were extending the courtesy to come out and to try to put us at ease,” said Paul Hartley, David Hartley’s uncle who traveled from Tucson, Ariz.

The Mexicans are frank about their fears searching an area under known control of traffickers protecting prime real estate for contraband. On either side of the 60-mile-long lake are long stretches of privately owned scrub land, with the U.S. side patrolled primarily by a handful of game wardens.

Eleven mayors have been killed, and police on all levels are under pressure to moonlight for the cartels. Kidnappings are rampant, as are threats to harm officials and their families.

“We don’t want that on our conscience,” Paul Hartley said.

Tiffany Hartley said it was difficult returning to the lake to observe the Texas efforts in the search Wednesday, as it brought back memories of how last week’s sunny day on the lake ended in horror.

Laying a wreath in the water from Tuesday night’s well-attended memorial service gave her some peace, she said, but closure won’t come until her husband’s body is found.

She said she’s hoping that by speaking publicly, the Obama administration will ramp up border security more than has already been done. She’s also dealing with a nation that largely doesn’t want to believe her, with some television personalities insinuating she killed her husband.

“How on earth could I want to live this life without him?” she said. “I can’t even imagine why people would think that I would do this to him. But there’s people who don’t know us.”

[cookie]

watching Tiffany on JVM now...She is sooooooo calm about this whole ordeal...
she could recount almost everything she was saying to David as he lay in the water with the gang holding a gun to her practically but she does not know what any of the gang looked like...
now she wants to get his body back so they can on get on with the lives..wth???

no tears, no trauma in her voice...no hesitation in explaining her story...l don't get it...

[nicubird]

Statement analysis is thought provoking:

http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2010/10/mexican-standoff.html

http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2010/10/statement-analysis-of-tiffany-hartley.html

[cookie]

Statement analysis is thought provoking:

http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2010/10/mexican-standoff.html

http://seamusoriley.blogspot.com/2010/10/statement-analysis-of-tiffany-hartley.html

very good read there nicubird...thanks...just reinforced what I already feel about her..
don't know how a bullet didn't hit her and how did David get hit in the forehead...and how did she just go by on her jet ski right past 3 boats of murdering gang members? without any harm to her at all...
nope, not buying any of it...those jet skis are not the easiest to get back up on from the water once you have fallen off of them...why didn't she just drag David in the water along with her, holding onto the strap of his life jacket to at least get him over to the American side...? and of course, the pictures of the church that they went out to photograph was in the camera on David's jet ski..which can not be found...I think that those pirates/gang would have taken her jet ski too..maybe left her alone but why leave an expensive jetski there when they are theives? or ask her for money? too fishy for me..

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.gazette.com/articles/colorado-106005-trees-mill.html
SUNRISE: Efforts to retrieve Colorado man's body ramped up
Comments 0
October 08, 2010 7:25 AM
MATT STEINER
THE GAZETTE

(NEWS REPORTS) Authorities in Mexico say the search has intensified for a missing American tourist presumably shot and killed by Mexican pirates on a border lake.

That news came after U.S. officials said threats of an ambush from drug gangs temporarily thwarted efforts.

"When darkness was falling (Wednesday evening), they got word that there might be an ambush," U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said. "People that are trying to do their job on the Mexican side are facing a risk, they're right inside the hornets' nest ... they had to suspend the search."

Berthoud, Colo., native Tiffany Hartley said her husband, David, was shot to death by Mexican pirates chasing them on speedboats across Falcon Lake on Sept. 30 as they returned on Wave Runners from a trip to photograph a historic Mexican church.

Neither his body nor the Wave Runner has been recovered.

Mexican officials say hundreds of people using speedboats, helicopters and all-terrain vehicles are searching for David Hartley.

The Denver Post reports that Texas officials have warned boaters and fisherman that pirates frequent the Mexican side of the lake, a 25-mile by 3-mile dammed section of the Rio Grande.
That part of Tamaulipas state is overrun by violence from a turf battle between the Gulf Cartel and the Zeta drug gang, made up of former Mexican special forces soldiers, and both are battling the Mexican military.

The couple were planning to return to Colorado after David Hartley's work in the oil industry slowed in Texas, according to the Denver Post.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/07/mexican-authorities-say-search-american-tourist-began-week-alleged-pirate/?test=latestnews
Authorities: 'Info' Indicates U.S. Woman Had No Role in Husband's Death on Border Lake

Published October 07, 2010
| FoxNews.com
An American woman isn't being identified by as a suspect in her husband's death on a Mexican border lake, U.S. investigators said, tamping down speculation about the credibility of her story.

U.S. law enforcement officials said Thursday that they have undisclosed "information" leading them to believe Tiffany Harley had no criminal involvement in an alleged attack on her husband on Lake Falcon, a 60-mile-long lake that connects Texas with Mexico.

Sheriff Martin Cuellar of Webb County said Thursday that authorities have information suggesting Hartley's story is credible. Hartley of Milliken, Colo., said her husband, David, was shot by Mexican pirates on the lake last week as they were returning to the United States on Jet Skis.
Information has surfaced that we can't disclose at this time that she didn’t commit any kind of offense," Cuellar told reporters.

Hartley has said she tried to pull her husband's body from the water after he was shot in the back of his head but was unable to. The 29-year-old woman told authorities she fled the scene for fear that Mexican bandits would shoot her.
No body has been recovered and Mexican authorities, meanwhile, have questioned Hartley's account, saying there's no evidence indicating that a crime was committed.

On Wednesday, Cuellar sought to dispel such suggestions. He told reporters "there is indication of blood on her vest," and he suggested that the blood -- which he didn't immediately identify as David Hartley's -- got onto his wife's vest as she was trying to lift him from the water.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, the sheriff's brother, also said that a "reliable" eyewitness on the U.S. side of the lake saw Tiffany Hartley being chased back to shore by an unknown boat.

"A person did see her coming in with a boat chasing her," the lawmaker told reporters.

Mexican authorities said they began searching the border lake Wednesday for Hartley's body -- almost one week after the 911 call from his wife reporting the alleged shooting.
The Mexican Foreign Ministry said Wednesday they have been coordinating a search "from the first moment" that Hartley reported Mexican pirates shot and killed her husband as they were riding Jet Skis across the lake last week. But Rios' comment suggests the search didn't begin until Texas Gov. Rick Perry called Mexican authorities late Tuesday to demand more action.

Ruben Rios, spokesman for Tamaulipas state prosecutors, said the search was suspended at 5 p.m. Wednesday because of bad weather conditions and was resumed Thursday morning.

Rios says authorities have been looking by air and in the lake, but he says, "so far they have found nothing."

U.S. officials also said Thursday that the search has also been hindered because of threats of an ambush on the lake.

"There is a threat. There is a drug war going on in Mexico," Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez of Zapata County said during the press conference.
Perry said Wednesday he has asked Mexico's president to call him in the next 48 hours to say that the body of an American reportedly shot to death on a border lake has been recovered.

There is no word yet on whether such a call has taken place.

Rep. Solomon Ortiz said Thursday that Mexico is fully cooperating in the search to recover Hartley.

"There's no doubt that we see this as a cooperative effort," he said.

The U.S. State Department said in an e-mail sent to FoxNews.com Thursday that: "Mexican authorities are engaged in the search effort and the U.S. government has offered our assistance in that search."

FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin and the Associated Press contributed to this report

[Sister]

Thank you Trimm.
I wish I felt this woman was telling the truth . . . but I don't.

[cookie]

Thank you Trimm.
I wish I felt this woman was telling the truth . . . but I don't.

I wish I felt that she was telling the truth too, but I don't either...

[carpe noctem]

Looky here!


I think we have stumbled onto a family of gun lovers, folks!

-source

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=713984458&v=wall#

Tia Young's FB.

Tiffany Young-Hartley's sister. David's S.I.L.


Joshua Cunningham Well we won't see eachother for a week so maybe you'll get over being sick of me by then, look at it this way, u have to see me, but u get to shoot my gun!
May 17 at 1:00pm

Tia Young Don't you know that is why I keep you around. Mister AR-15
May 17 at 3:47pm

Joshua Cunningham Well getting to shoot your gun is why I keep YOU around Ms. XDM.


Tia Young What a perfect day! Enjoyed the sunshine read a whole book, 200 rounds through my pistol and dinner with a friend tonight.
March 6 at 5:05pm

Tia Young It's decided my next gun is an AK-47!! I'm thinking this habit is going to get expensive!
February 7 at 8:20pm

Ryan Barney You cant go wrong with that one
February 7 at 9:15pm

Chansa Doris Mulenga Oh yeah!
February 7 at 9:17pm

Ryan Dick You and Jacob both...
February 7 at 9:56pm

Jamie Alluisi Good luck getting that gun. I am pretty sure that they are illegal here. You may be able to construct one from parts though.
February 8 at 8:57am

Tia Young I shot one this weekend so I don't think they are illegal.
February 8 at 12:36pm

Jacob Roush As long as it's only semi-auto it is legal
February 8 at 12:38pm

Ric Kucharyson Tia, nice going... You can own any non-full-auto, you can buy a full auto with a class 3 tax permit. If I might suggest that you play with an AR15 first, my choice, I've owned both, dumped my AK/ SK, but still have my AR.
February 8 at 2:23pm

Tia Young Im waiting for my brother in law to buy the AR 15 since he lives in Mexico I told him I would break it in for him til he comes back to a free country.
February 8 at 4:25pm

(Tia's brother-in-law: the late David Michael Hartley)

Ric Kucharyson What are you holding in your picture, looks like a Mouser action? Looks competitive...
February 8 at 4:45pm

Tia Young It's my brother in laws 228. (David's 228)
February 8 at 6:53pm

Lyssa Lochard Tia, the thought of that gum scares me, what the heck are you gonna shoot with something like that??? You need to talk to Clint, he loves his guns too, and being part of Mister Money he gets some great deals. (don't tell him I told you that part though... lol) Good luck with your collection, and BE CAREFUL!! ♥
February 12 at 11:31am

Jared Webb Now there is a girl after my own heart!!
February 25 at 7:38pm

Tia Young's FB pics with some impressive guns.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w214/iliketoN0KTEM/tia1.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w214/iliketoN0KTEM/tia2.jpg

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w214/iliketoN0KTEM/tia3.jpg

[carpe noctem]

[carpe noctem]

David's FB -

http://www.facebook.com/dmhartley?v=wall

facebook.com/dmhartley

David Michael Hartley is now using Facebook in English (US).

David Michael Hartley is now using Facebook in Español.


RECENT ACTIVITY

David Michael Hartley joined the group National Rifle Association of America (NRA) -- Official Group. · Join this Group

[carpe noctem]

Honey Bunny be swingin' some heavy artillery.

If I had to break off a relationship with her... I'd be sure to say:

It's not you... It's ALL MY FAULT...