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Questions swirl around alleged pirate shooting at Mexico lake as David Hartley's body still missing
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/10/05/2010-10-05_question_swirl_around_alleged_pirate_shooting_at_mexico_lake_as_david_hartleys_b.html#ixzz11c5DUQTX
What happened in Mexico seems to be staying in Mexico.
Tiffany Hartley claims her husband David was shot and killed by Mexican pirates last week during the couple's trip to a Texas lake, but police who have been searching for the 30-year-old's body are now raising doubts she is telling the whole story.
Tiffany, 29, says the pair was enjoying an afternoon of riding jet skis around Falcon Lake on the Texas-Mexico border when three men riding speedboats came out of nowhere to attack them, shooting David in the head, according to The Associated Press.
He fell face-down into the water, and though she tried to pull him out, she claims one of the assailants threatened her with a gun before she was able to rescue him.
"I couldn't get him up, and I just kept hearing God tell me, 'You have to go, you have to go,'" she told the "Today" show on Tuesday. "So I had to leave him so I could get to safety."
But almost a week later, authorities still haven't found his body, and conflicting reports have led them to question if the version of events she reported actually occurred.
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Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, the State Police commander overseeing the search, told Texas paper the McAllen Monitor on Monday that no one in the area had reported hearing jet skis or gunshots.
And the district attorney on the case, Marco Antonio Guerrero Carrizales, cast his own doubts on the story, pointing out that David's jet ski itself still hasn't been recovered, and his body is still missing despite the fact he was wearing a life vest.
Police "are not certain that the incident happened the way that they are telling us," Carrizales told the Monitor.
Since the incident technically happened in Mexican waters, the U.S. has no jurisdiction over the case and Mexican authorities are handling the investigation.
David's parents Dennis and Pam slammed Mexican police for the way they have been handling the case, and hit back at any allegations their daughter-in-law could be hiding something.
"I don't think anything right now is being done," Dennis told the AP. "I don't think at this time Mexico is really doing anything."
"If they're saying that this did not happen, that this was all staged, if that's what they're trying to pursue, they're going the wrong way," Pam said. "It did happen. My son is gone."
I watched this gal this morning on HLN. I too think something is up, but apparently the authorities have said that there is evidence supporting this womans story. Supposedly it was her husbands blood on her life jacket. (To me, that just means she was present at the site of her husbands murder....it certainly doesnt clear her of anything)
And as for not finding the body....not a miracle to me. If this did play out as this womans says, why wouldnt the pirates take the body and the jet ski. They bury the body or worse....use or sell the jetski....
And as for not finding the body....not a miracle to me. If this did play out as this womans says, why wouldnt the pirates take the body and the jet ski. They bury the body or worse....use or sell the jetski....
People react strangely sometimes to traumatic experiences. I've remained perfectly calm in emergency situations. Afterward I shake like a leaf. But the strange thing was that later it was like watching someone else doing it and me watching myself. Strange.
So I've learned not to put too much credence in lack of emotion. It could be shock. What does raise eyebrows with me is crying but not a tear in sight.
So I've learned not to put too much credence in lack of emotion. It could be shock. What does raise eyebrows with me is crying but not a tear in sight.
There seems to be a lack of emotion to me on the part of the wife that survived such a horrible trauma of first seeing her husband shot in the head and barely escaping herself. I am not sure I could keep my composure after such an ordeal much less speak about it with the detachment this lady seems to have. I think that is what bothers me about the story. Just somethin is off about her, not sure what tho.
You know something. A lot of people get killed on the border doing drug deals. What might be missing from this is a drug deal gone bad. It's my understanding that locals don't go on the Mexican side normally. So I don't think she killed him. I do believe he was shot by a Mexican gang. But the why might be the missing ingredient. I think it's drugs. And of course they didn't find his Jet Ski. Those things would fetch a lot of money on the black market. The drug dealers wouldn't have just have left it there.
Something doesnt sit right with this, but I just cannot put my finger on it! I watched the family on the morning news, something just isnt quite right. It will be interesting to see where they go with this. I just am not sure what to think at this point. sigh
I saw her on TV. Last I heard was that the Mexican patrol boat has a broken engine. (rolling eyes). I believe her. This is from Fox:
Texas Governor Pressures Mexican President to Find American "Victim" in Alleged Pirate Attack
Published October 06, 2010 | FoxNews.com
Texas Gov. Rick 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.
Tiffany Hartley of Milliken, Colo., says her husband, David, was shot by Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake last week as they were returning to the United States on Jet Skis. Falcon Lake is a dammed section of the Rio Grande that has been plagued by pirates who rob boaters and fishermen who wander into Mexican waters. Hartley's death would be the first killing on the lake.
Mexican authorities have since questioned Hartley's account, saying they've retrieved no evidence indicating that a crime was ever committed.
Perry, however, called any suggestion that the woman is lying "reprehensible."
"Anyone who is trying to deflect off of what this actually is ought to be ashamed of themselves," he said in an interview Wednesday with Fox News.
The Hartley family has complained that Mexican authorities are not doing enough to find David Hartley's body. Tiffany Hartley has said that her husband was shot in the head by three men chasing them in speedboats and that he fell off his Jet Ski and into the lake. His body has not been recovered.
Perry said Mexico needs to use every resource available to find the body and have it returned to U.S. soil.
"I hope that if (Mexican President Felipe Calderon) calls me within the next 48 hours, that the body has been retrieved," Perry told the Associated Press.
Officials in Mexico's Tamaulipas state, where the shooting occurred, have cast doubt on Hartley's story, telling the McAllen Monitor that no one near the lake reported hearing gunshots or the sounds of a Jet Ski engine.
The district attorney there, Marco Antonio Guerrero Carrixales, also told the paper that authorities "are not certain that incident happened the way that they are telling us."
Perry said the couple was innocently sightseeing in Mexico when Hartley's husband was attacked.
"This is a tragedy," he said.
Perry used the incident to renew his demand that the federal government do more to secure the U.S.-Mexico border as northern Mexico sinks deeper into drug-gang violence. The violence has spread in the last few months from Ciudad Juarez, the epicenter of Mexico's drug war across from El Paso, Texas, to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande Valley, including Tamaulipas state where Hartley reportedly disappeared. Two drug gangs, the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas, are battling for supremacy there and fighting the Mexican military.
"I don't know how many more Americans have to lose their lives before the federal government steps in and sends the troops (to the border)," Perry said.
Perry also told the Associated Press that he spoke Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's chief of staff and once again made his request for an additional 1,000 National Guard troops on the Texas-Mexico border, a request that has been repeatedly denied.
U.S. authorities are unable to investigate Hartley's disappearance because it happened in Mexico.
On Tuesday, Hartley's wife and mother, Pam Hartley, called on the Obama administration to intervene in the search.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Texas Governor Pressures Mexican President to Find American "Victim" in Alleged Pirate Attack
Published October 06, 2010 | FoxNews.com
Texas Gov. Rick 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.
Tiffany Hartley of Milliken, Colo., says her husband, David, was shot by Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake last week as they were returning to the United States on Jet Skis. Falcon Lake is a dammed section of the Rio Grande that has been plagued by pirates who rob boaters and fishermen who wander into Mexican waters. Hartley's death would be the first killing on the lake.
Mexican authorities have since questioned Hartley's account, saying they've retrieved no evidence indicating that a crime was ever committed.
Perry, however, called any suggestion that the woman is lying "reprehensible."
"Anyone who is trying to deflect off of what this actually is ought to be ashamed of themselves," he said in an interview Wednesday with Fox News.
The Hartley family has complained that Mexican authorities are not doing enough to find David Hartley's body. Tiffany Hartley has said that her husband was shot in the head by three men chasing them in speedboats and that he fell off his Jet Ski and into the lake. His body has not been recovered.
Perry said Mexico needs to use every resource available to find the body and have it returned to U.S. soil.
"I hope that if (Mexican President Felipe Calderon) calls me within the next 48 hours, that the body has been retrieved," Perry told the Associated Press.
Officials in Mexico's Tamaulipas state, where the shooting occurred, have cast doubt on Hartley's story, telling the McAllen Monitor that no one near the lake reported hearing gunshots or the sounds of a Jet Ski engine.
The district attorney there, Marco Antonio Guerrero Carrixales, also told the paper that authorities "are not certain that incident happened the way that they are telling us."
Perry said the couple was innocently sightseeing in Mexico when Hartley's husband was attacked.
"This is a tragedy," he said.
Perry used the incident to renew his demand that the federal government do more to secure the U.S.-Mexico border as northern Mexico sinks deeper into drug-gang violence. The violence has spread in the last few months from Ciudad Juarez, the epicenter of Mexico's drug war across from El Paso, Texas, to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande Valley, including Tamaulipas state where Hartley reportedly disappeared. Two drug gangs, the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas, are battling for supremacy there and fighting the Mexican military.
"I don't know how many more Americans have to lose their lives before the federal government steps in and sends the troops (to the border)," Perry said.
Perry also told the Associated Press that he spoke Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's chief of staff and once again made his request for an additional 1,000 National Guard troops on the Texas-Mexico border, a request that has been repeatedly denied.
U.S. authorities are unable to investigate Hartley's disappearance because it happened in Mexico.
On Tuesday, Hartley's wife and mother, Pam Hartley, called on the Obama administration to intervene in the search.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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