Experts: Mistaken Identity May Have Triggered Falcon Lake Shooting

Reported by: Will Ripley
Last Update: 9:02 pm

AUSTIN - The Sept. 30 attack on Falcon Lake may have been a case of mistaken identity, the Vice President of an Austin-based intelligence agency said Wednesday.

Fred Burton, VP of intelligence for STRATFOR, spoke to CHANNEL 5 NEWS via telephone about an article released by the agency Wednesday, claiming David and Tiffany Hartley were possibly mistaken for Gulf Cartel operatives.

When DPS officers pulled over David and Tiffany Hartley the morning of the attack, they noticed Mexican license plates from Reynosa, Tamaulipas. The Hartley's lived in Reynosa for two and a half years as David worked for the oil industry. The STRATFOR article said the plates could have made the Hartley's a target.

"You're moving into an area that is going to raise the attention of the cartels," Burton said. STRATFOR's article said the Zetas and Gulf cartel are fighting for control of Falcon Lake.

The Mexican town of Old Guerrero, where the attack allegedly happened, is a battleground. STRATFOR reported the cartel has been known to send spies to the area.

The old Mexican church the Hartley's were photographing is in a prime smuggling location. Burton says the Zetas may have thought David and Tiffany were spying for the Gulf cartel.

"That's how I look at how this set of horrible dominoes were set up that began to fall," Burton said.

STRATFOR sources said the Zetas could have opened fire on David and Tiffany Hartley when they tried to leave the area on their jet skis, an action unauthorized by Zeta bosses that Burton characterized as "undisciplined, knee-jerk behavior."

STRATFOR sources said the Zetas destroyed Hartley's body when they realized he was American. They said Tuesday's decapitation of a Mexican investigator was a "stern signal" to the United States and Mexico that David Hartley’s body will never be found and to leave the situation alone.

Speaking to CHANNEL 5 NEWS from her McAllen living room, Tiffany Hartley said she won't back down until her husband's remains are returned. "We want them to keep searching," Hartley said.

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