Thread: Mystery Deepens Border attack on Lake; Denver Rally Planned

Mystery deepens over alleged border attack
Widow slams investigation as skepticism grows
By LYNN BREZOSKY
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Oct. 6, 2010, 8:07AM


Resources VIDEO: msnbc.com

Update: Friends of an American man allegedly killed by pirates in a lake on the Texas-Mexico border are planning a rally in Denver. The family of David Hartley say Mexican authorities aren’t doing enough to find his body. Supporters plan to gather outside the Mexican consulate at 1 p.m. Friday (Mountain time) to call on them to do more.


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McALLEN — The wife and family of the man reportedly killed by drug thugs on a border lake criticized U.S. and Mexican officials on Tuesday, saying they are not doing enough to find David Hartley's body or to stem the gang violence straining the seams of the southern border.

The family's pleas come amid mounting skepticism about last week's shooting. Comments on media sites, news reports out of Mexico and at least one border business leader have expressed doubts about the story, some wondering why a couple would go there given recent warnings of Mexican pirates, others suggesting a "drug deal gone bad."

"It's awful to even have people think that," Tiffany Hartley said. "I can see how they would, just because we have no body, we have no Jet Ski; we don't have anything. ... I loved my husband more than anything in the world."

She expressed frustration with U.S. and Mexican authorities for the lack of progress in finding her husband.

She says they were sightseeing on Falcon Lake on Thursday when three boatloads of armed men fired on them. Tiffany escaped, but she says her husband was shot in the head and is believed dead.

U.S. officials have said their search for his body is hampered because they can search only the U.S. side for fear of violating international treaty and that they have reached out to their Mexican counterparts for help.

No formal investigation
As of Tuesday morning, Tamaulipas state police had not officially begun investigating the disappearance because they had not received a formal complaint from either the family or U.S. authorities, said Ruben Dario Rios, spokesman for the state attorney general's office.

"But they have unofficially been looking and have found nothing so far," Rios said of the state detectives.

Tiffany and her mother spent about three hours Tuesday afternoon in a private meeting with consular officials in McAllen.

U.S. officials and politicians maintain they have been in touch with Mexican authorities. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, both said they have reached out to agencies in the local, state and federal levels. Matt Chandler, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said the U.S. government has also offered to help.

'He was a good man'
Tiffany said Tuesday she's heard nothing from the federal agencies she thought would be taking charge of the search. Instead, she thinks they are tiptoeing around Mexican authorities, and like them are hoping the story about incursions on Falcon Lake goes away.

"I think they're all too worried with elections and everything else, and anything and everything other than our border," she said in a shaking voice from the McAllen studios of KURV radio.

David's mother, Pam, had tears in her eyes as she pleaded for leaders to figure out something to "let us get David."

"He was a good man," she said. "He needs to be laid to rest."

David, 30, and Tiffany, 29, said they took their personal watercraft onto the Mexican side Thursday to photograph ruins of Old Guerrero, a Mexican settlement that was drowned decades ago to make the lake.

Tiffany said they had been aware of the warnings issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety in May about "pirates" shaking down U.S. boaters. But since they hadn't heard of any more recent incidents, they went sightseeing at Falcon Lake in August. Last Thursday was their second outing to the area.

Doubts raised
Investigators in Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas, across from Roma, Texas, told the McAllen Monitor they had doubts about the story.

Chad Foster, former Eagle Pass mayor and prominent member of the Texas Border Coalition, also raised questions.

"What was the shooters' gain? Why let the wife go? Any domestic discord?" he asked.

Tiffany said she could understand why people in other parts of the country may have problems believing her story.

"They just don't grasp what's going on down here. They have no clue," she said.

The 60-mile-long reservoir runs along two sparsely populated Texas border counties with a smuggling tradition that dates back to prohibition-era bootlegging. The Mexican side of the lake is said to be under control of the Zetas, an insurgent arm of the fractious Gulf Cartel.


Staff writer Gary Martin in Washington, D.C., and Houston Chronicle staff writer Dudley Althaus in Mexico City contributed to this report.

lbrezosky@express-news.net


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 33450.html

"What was the shooters' gain?

Oh, let me guess, a really nice jetski?

The Mexican government won't do squat. They can't even keep up with and solve murders of Mexican citizens inside their own country. What makes anyone think that they will spend their resources and time investigating the death of a single American?!

Originally Posted by TexasBorn

The Mexican government won't do squat. They can't even keep up with and solve murders of Mexican citizens inside their own country. What makes anyone think that they will spend their resources and time investigating the death of a single American?!

Dollars to doughnuts Obozo won't lift a finger to help either!