Sheriff: Two New Suspects In Falcon Lake Murder

Reported by: Will Ripley
Last Update: 9:11 pm

ZAPATA - More than two months after the alleged murder of an American jet skier on Falcon Lake, new clues began to emerge Thursday. Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. said he was looking for two men who opened fire on David and Tiffany Hartley on September 30.

Gonzalez said he believed the suspects were in Mexico. "But they sometimes, I understand, come over to the U.S.," he said.

The sheriff said the suspects were from Guerrero, Mexico, and are known smugglers suspected of drug and human trafficking. He said they were working with the Zetas on Falcon Lake and fired shots at the Hartleys. David died and Tiffany fled on her jet ski back to the U.S. side of the lake.

"And they had also supposedly gotten the green light to kill her also. But she was able to escape," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez told CHANNEL 5 NEWS he got his information from confidential informants who told him David's body and jet ski were destroyed and will never be found. When asked about the lab results on Tiffany's blood-stained life vest, Gonzalez replied, "It was human blood. It did belong to David Hartley."

Gonzalez also said at least four sources had confirmed Tiffany Hartley's account of what happened. Sheriff Gonzalez said this now makes four suspects in the Falcon Lake murder case.

A Mexican investigator identified two brothers, suspected Zeta cartel members, back in October. That investigator turned up dead days later. He was beheaded and his head was placed in a suitcase and delivered to the Mexican military. The search for David Hartley's body was later suspended.

Sheriff Gonzalez said he'd been trying for several days to call his counterparts in Mexico with information about the two new suspects. As of Thursday evening, he said they had not called him back.

The Hartleys lived in Reynosa, Mexico, for two years before moving to a rented home McAllen. David Hartley worked in the oil and gas industry. The couple was preparing to move back to their home state of Colorado when he was allegedly murdered on a recreational jet skiing trip to Falcon Lake.

Mexican investigators questioned Tiffany Hartley twice at the FBI field office in McAllen. Hartley then left the Rio Grande Valley and returned to her parents’ home in Colorado. She remains an outspoken advocate of the need for more border security and has appeared on numerous national programs, including “ABC's World News,â€