Suspect arrested in David Hartley killing

Suspect arrested in David Hartley killing, Mexican authorities say

Posted: Monday, October 8, 2012 11:21 am | Updated: 11:49 am, Mon Oct 8, 2012.
ILDEFONSO ORTIZ The MonitorBrownsville Herald

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican navy has announced the capture of a top Zeta general believed to be behind the murder of David Hartley at Falcon Lake and the San Fernando massacres.

Salvador Alfonso “Ardilla” Martinez Escobedo was presented by Mexican marines as their newest capture Monday morning.

Martinez Escobedo was arrested Friday early morning in Nuevo Laredo after a firefight and chase, a news release shows.

According to the Mexican Navy, Martinez Escobedo was the top general who led the fight against rival drug cartels and is the mastermind behind the San Fernando massacre where 72 migrants were slaughtered in 2010 and also the massacre of more than 200 bodies that were buried in shallow graves throughout San Fernando and discovered in 2011.

Naval officials also accuse Martinez Escobedo of having taken part in the murder of U.S. citizen David Hartley and of the dismemberment of Tamaulipas police investigators Armando Flores Villegas who was investigating the slaying of Hartley.

Suspect arrested in David Hartley killing, Mexican authorities say - Brownsville Herald: Valley

Mexico makes arrest in killing of U.S. tourist on Falcon Lake

Jason Buc, San Antonio Express-Newshttp://analytics.apnewsregistry.com/...19/E/prod/AT/A
By Jason Buch
Updated 12:34 p.m., Monday, October 8, 2012

• http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/15/45/41.../3/628x471.jpgSalvador Alfonso Martinez also known as "La Ardilla," or "Squirrel," in English, holds up his right finger while presented to the press under the custody of navy marines at the Organized Crime Special Investigations Unit (SIEDO) headquarters in Mexico City, Monday, Oct. 8, 2012. According to federal authorities Martinez is one of the most wanted criminals in Mexico, and is allegedly a top regional leader of the Zetas drug cartel. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
  Photo: Marco Ugarte, Associated Press / AP
  Salvador Alfonso Martinez also known as "La Ardilla," or...
• http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/06/11/41.../3/628x471.jpg
• U.S. Coast Guard patrols on Falcon Lake, a lake that straddles the U.S. Mexico border, where where Coloradan David Hartley is still missing, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 in Zapata, Texas. Hartley's wife says he was shot to death by Mexican pirates chasing them on speedboats across the lake on Sept. 30 as they returned on Jet Skis from a trip to photograph a historic Mexican church.
  Photo: AP / SA
  U.S. Coast Guard patrols on Falcon Lake, a lake that straddles the...
• http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/03/60/47.../5/628x471.jpgTexas game warden Jake Mort, armed with an M-16, and Coast Guard officials patrol Falcon Lake in the wake of the death of David Hartley.
  Photo: Associated Press File Photo / SA
  Texas game warden Jake Mort, armed with an M-16, and Coast Guard...
• http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/06/11/40.../3/628x471.jpg
• Tiffany Hartley, center, arrives at her parents home in LaSalle, Colo., on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, with her mom Cynthia, right, and father Bob Young, left, after riding with them from Texas. Hartley's husband was shot and believed killed while the couple were jet skiing on Falcon Lake last month. David Hartley's body has not been recovered.
  Photo: AP / SA
  Tiffany Hartley, center, arrives at her parents home in LaSalle,...
• http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/01/31/46.../3/628x471.jpgMembers of the Mexican military search for David Hartley's body in Falcon Lake. The photo from last week was provided by the Webb County Sheriff's Office.
  / SA
  Members of the Mexican military search for David Hartley's body in...
• http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/04/01/33.../3/628x471.jpgIn this image released by the Mexican Navy on Monday, May 9, 2011, a group of Mexican Navy marines conduct an operation in an island on Falcon Lake in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, Sunday, May 8, 2011. One marine and 12 suspected gunmen of the Zetas drug cartel were killed when the marines discovered a camp, which is believed to have been used as a launching point for smuggling marijuana into Texas by speedboat.
  Photo: AP / SA
  In this image released by the Mexican Navy on Monday, May 9, 2011,...
• http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/01/27/21.../5/628x471.jpg
• Tiffany Hartley (left) and family members on Oct. 6, 2010, lay a wreath near the site where her husband, David Hartley, was reportedly shot last week, on Falcon Lake in Zapata.
  / SA
  Tiffany Hartley (left) and family members on Oct. 6, 2010, lay a...
• http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/06/11/40.../3/628x471.jpg
• A man on a U.S. Coast Guard uses binoculars on Falcon Lake, a lake that straddles the U.S. Mexico border, where where Coloradan David Hartley is still missing, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 in Zapata, Texas. Hartley's wife says her husband was shot to death by Mexican pirates chasing them on speedboats across the lake on Sept. 30 as they returned on Jet Skis from a trip to photograph a historic Mexican church.
  Photo: AP / SA
  A man on a U.S. Coast Guard uses binoculars on Falcon Lake, a lake...
• http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/06/11/41.../3/628x471.jpgTiffany Hartley, right, and family members, take part in a news conference with Zapata County sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, Jr., left, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010 in Zapata, Texas. Hartman husband, David, was shot by Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake last week as they were returning to the United States on Jet Skis.
  Photo: AP / SA
  Tiffany Hartley, right, and family members, take part in a news...
• http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/06/11/41.../3/628x471.jpgA personal watercraft that was used by a couple from McAllen on the waters of Falcon Lake near Zapata, Texas, Thursday afternoon Sept. 29, 2010 is parked outside the Zapata County Sheriff's office as evidence following an attack by armed suspects on the couple on the mexican side of the lake.
  Photo: CESAR RODRIGUEZ / LAREDO MORNING TIMES
  A personal watercraft that was used by a couple from McAllen on the...
• http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/06/11/41.../3/628x471.jpgFederal officials combed the waters of Falcon Lake near Zapata, Texas, Thursday evening Sept. 30, 2010 following a reported attack by armed suspects on a couple from McAllen as they rode a personal watercraft on the mexican side of the lake.
  Photo: CESAR RODRIGUEZ / LAREDO MORNING TIMES
  Federal officials combed the waters of Falcon Lake near Zapata,...
• http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/06/11/40.../3/628x471.jpgTiffany Young-Hartley accepts a Texas flag from the Rev. Chris Johnson during the memorial service for her husband, David Hartley on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010 at Timberline Church in Fort Collins, Colo. The flag was flown over the capital in Texas in his memory. Tiffany Hartley says her husband was shot on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake on Sept. 30. Authorities have not yet found Hartley's body.
  Photo: AP / SA
  Tiffany Young-Hartley accepts a Texas flag from the Rev. Chris...

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Mexican marines over the weekend arrested a man they say masterminded some of the most horrific crimes in northern Mexico, including the killing of U.S. tourist David Michael Hartley two years ago and mass slaughters in a border state.

The Marines announced that Saturday they arrested Alfonso Martinez Escobedo, 31, known as “La Ardilla,” Spanish for “the squirrel,” in the border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Mexican officials said Martinez is a high-ranking Zeta who oversaw the gang's criminal activity in the states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, all of which border Mexico.

They also accused him in the killing of Hartley; the summer 2010 slaughter of 72 Central American migrants in northern Mexico; another 200 slayings near the town of San Fernando in Tamaulipas and the killing of a police commander who was investigating Hartley's death.

In a written statement, officials also alleged Martinez was behind massive prison breaks in the border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Piedras Negras and was a point man on the Zetas war against their former masters in the Gulf Catel.

jbuch@express-news.net

Mexico makes arrest in killing of U.S. tourist on Falcon Lake - San Antonio Express-News

I hope we can get some true justice for this senseless murder that illustrates what kind of war zone America's border with Mexico has become thanks to lying politicians like Bush, Obama, and Napolitano.

W

Narcoboss 'Commander Squirrel' Linked to American's Mystery Death on Falcon Lake

October 8, 2012
http://abcnewsradioonline.com/storag...=1349723408169ABC News / Google Earth(NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico) -- Mexican authorities have arrested an alleged drug cartel leader known as Commander Squirrel who they say is linked to the 2010 murder of American jet skier David Hartley on a border lake, as well as to more than 200 other deaths in Mexico.

After a gunfight on Saturday evening in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexican Marines captured Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo, AKA the Squirrel or Commander Squirrel, who earned his odd nickname for his permanent smile and for allegedly helping direct operations for the violent Zetas cartel in Coahuila, Tamalapais and Nuevo Leon states.

David Hartley's wife Tiffany says that she and her husband were jet skiing on Falcon Lake on the Texas-Mexico border on Sept. 30, 2010, when unknown assailants shot David Hartley in the head. Tiffany Hartley says she sped back toward the U.S. shore of the lake, and was unable to pull her husband's body onto her jet ski.

Hartley's body has never been recovered, and a Mexican official who attempted to investigate the death was found beheaded. Authorities speculated that the Hartleys had interrupted a drug transaction on the Mexican side of the lake.

In a written statement, the Mexican Navy did not elaborate on Martinez Escobedo's alleged role in the Hartley killing, but did say he was believed linked to hundreds of deaths. They alleged that he ordered the killing of 72 undocumented migrants who were found dead on a ranch in Tamaulipas state in August 2010, and was responsible for hundreds of other deaths.

"Squirrel is credited with being the mastermind of the deaths of 72 undocumented migrants in San Fernando," said the statement. "[He] is the alleged perpetrator of the narco graves found in Tamaulipas state, with more than 200 bodies and the execution of more than 50 people by his own hand in different parts of the republic, [as well as] the murder of David Hartley, an American citizen killed at Falcon Dam on September 30, 2010."

The statement also alleged that the Squirrel was responsible for the murder of the police official investigating Hartley's death.

According to Mexican media, Commander Squirrel's arrest was followed by massive "narco blockades," or street barricades, in Nuevo Laredo.

The Squirrel and five other Zetas suspects, including men known as the Cherry and the Stutterer, were presented to the media during a Mexico City press conference on Monday morning. Martinez Escobedo was not smiling in pictures taken at the press conference.
News/Talk 980AM WXLM

I wonder what Geraldo saying now? It should be an apology to Tiffany Hartley. JMO

Read Also:
http://www.alipac.us/f12/tiffany-har...ustice-241047/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/justice-sou...border-227590/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/new-evidenc...murder-223747/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/clinton-rej...n-lake-204692/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/wife-mom-ca...h-body-203988/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/david-hartl...linton-204760/

http://www.alipac.us/f12/mexico-lake...tioned-203932/

...and to think so many thought SHE had something to do with his death. I never doubted her innocence.
As for "squirrel" - it would make no difference if you put a turban on his head - he's still a terrorist!

This story made it on Fark.com under the following headline;


2010 murder of American citizen on Falcon Lake now linked to Mexican cartel leader "Commander Squirrel", at least according to FBI agents Boris and Natasha Badanoff

Here is a link to the comment section;

FARK.com: (7372059) 2010 murder of American citizen on Falcon Lake now linked to Mexican cartel leader "Commander Squirrel", at least according to FBI agents Boris and Natasha Badanoff

For Archive.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Falcon Lake Texas- Zetas regional leader arrested, named in the David Hartley Murder



Lucio R. Borderland Beat Material from BB archives and Laredo Morning Times

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-87vPiHOb1Z.../s1600/z31.png

Brothers Juan Pedro and José Manuel Zaldívar Farías, also known as "El 27" and "El 31", are suspects in the murder of American (Reynosa resident) David Hartley on Falcon Lake.

They are also named in the killing of the lead investigator of the PME group in Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas, Rolando Flores, who was allegedly decapitated and his head sent in a briefcase to a military base in Mexico. (Mexico would not confirm this only that he was assassinated)


At the time of the Harley murder rumors began tagging a “Zetitas” gang (teens to early twenties) were responsible. Subsequently, a Mexican investigator began sharing information with Texas channel 5 ABC news, that identified the Saldivar Farias brothers as leaders of the gang and lead suspects of the murder.



http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mniDn8hR3M...and%2Bbike.jpg

From Channel 5 who was working with the investigator accessing information on the Falcon Lake Murder:


“the victim was identified as homicide investigator Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, (Commander of state investigators in Ciudad Miguel Aleman). This is the same investigator who delivered documents to a local ABC channel 5 Laredo Texas station crew over the weekend in Reynosa. He also provided our crew with information about two Mexican brothers, Zeta Cartel members, suspected of involvement in the alleged murder of David Hartley.


[Flores]Villegas said Juan Pedro and Jose Manuel Saldivar Farias are suspected members of the Zeta drug cartel, wanted criminals, and members of a pirate gang (Zetitas) that has been terrorizing boaters on Falcon Lake and residents of a nearby town.”



Tamaulipas state police commander confirmed information with respect to the brothers: “Commander Juan Carlos Ballesteros reported that research conducted in coordination between the sheriff of Zapata, Texas, Sigifredo González and the group leader of the Ministerial Police Miguel German, Tamaulipas, Juan Carlos Ballesteros, those responsible (for Hartley's murder) were already identified as Juan Pedro Saldivar Farias alias "The 27 " (below left) and José Manuel Saldívar Farias alias" El 31 ".
Salvador Alfonso Martínez Escobedo, aka "Ardilla", was arrested in 2012, according to Mexico, it is he who masterminded the killing of Hartley. How that transpires I don’t know. To mastermind would have to mean Ardilla was there at the lake and created a plan to kill Hartley, or that he was a preemptive target. The more likely scenario, is if Ardilla was contacted by the Zetita gang patrolling the lake and Ardilla authorized a hit. Knowing who Hartley was or not, that is the likely scenario.





Z31 along with his brother supposedly were at the lake and in charge of the gang. Hartley and his wife lived in Reynosa. It would be difficult to think that anyone living along the border did not know about Zeta patrols and shootouts that regularly impact the lake.

Today from LMT:


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oalJTymMe7...edro%2Bz27.png
A commander for the Zetas drug cartel was arrested last week while traveling from Mexico to the U.S. in a boat on Falcon Lake, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Jose Manuel Saldivar-Farias, also known as “Z-31” or “El Borrado,” was charged with conspiracy to possess marijuana allegations after illegally entering the U.S.

Saldivar-Farias, 27, is alleged to be a regional commander for the Zetas. Initially arrested on immigration charges related to his illegal presence in the U.S., a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday charges him and Osiel Hernandez-Martinez, 26, with conspiracy to possess more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana. Salidvar-Farias is also charged with giving false statements to government agents.

They appeared in federal court in Laredo on Wednesday morning and are set for a detention and probable cause hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Guillermo R. Garcia on Friday.

The criminal complaint alleges that on the night of March 12, Texas Department of Public Safety Quick Reactionary Force, in conjunction with the Texas Air National Guard, were conducting fly-over operations over Falcon Lake.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9racevdMle...ake-tx-map.jpg

During that time, they saw a boat traveling northward into the U.S. from Mexico at a high rate of speed. Suspecting the individuals were undocumented foreign nationals attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, DPS immediately apprehended the individuals aboard the boat, which included Saldivar-Farias and Hernandez-Martinez. Upon arrest, the criminal complaint alleges Saldivar-Farias lied to agents about his identity.

According to the criminal complaint, Saldivar-Farias is the regional commander of the northern region of Mexico to include the states of Coahuilla, Taumalipas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico, as well as Zapata. As such, he is allegedly in charge of all narcotics moving through the area. The criminal complaint alleges several multi-ton quantities of marijuana have been crossed into U.S. over this area every week.

If convicted on the drug charges, Saldivar-Farias and Hernandez-Martinez each face a minimum of 10 years and up to life in federal prison and a possible maximum fine of $10 million. Saldivar-Farias also faces up to five years and a $250,000 fine if convicted of making false statements.

The arrest was a collaboration effort between FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security Investigations which are all investigative partners within the South Texas corridor to include Customs and Border Protection components Office of Border Patrol, Office of Field Operations and Office of Air and Marine. DPS also provided invaluable assistance in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Casey N. MacDonald and Anibal Alaniz are prosecuting the case.

Borderland Beat Reporter Lucio Posted at 8:57 PM http://img1.blogblog.com/img/icon18_email.gif
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2015/03/falcon-lake-texas-zetas-regional-leader.html

Move to NEW Section for "Americans Killed by Illegals."