Mexico Mexico - David Hartley, 30, Lake Falcon, 30 Sept 2010 #3

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_16279531

Posted: 10/07/2010 03:06:38 PM MDT


Sheriff: Evidence supports wife's account in pirate attack



ZAPATA, TEXAS — Blood, witness accounts and other unspecified evidence all corroborate the version of events laid out by a Colorado woman whose husband is missing and presumed dead after an attack on a lake straddling the Mexican border, the sheriff leading the investigation said this afternoon.

But Gonzalez said he is not and said there is extensive evidence to corroborate her version of events.

He said an eyewitness - a man working outside that day - witnessed Tiffany Hartley being chased by a small boat with several men in it. He said investigators have concluded that the man was truthful and had no connection to her.

In addition, he said Tiffany Hartley's life jacket was smeared with blood that likely stained it as she tried to pull her husband's body onto her craft. And he said other witnesses have been interviewed who saw the couple in Zapata before they set out on their, and the information - and, in particular, the times - provided by those people also line up.

He said the type of attack described by Tiffany Hartley is exactly like other incidents in April and May on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake in which Americans were robbed. The only difference, he said, is that no one was injured then.

Finally, he said "other evidence has surfaced" that he would not specify that backs Tiffany Hartley's statements and descriptions.

Kimberlyd125 said:

She has NEVER been named a person of interest. She has NEVER been named a suspect.
She is a victim.

Do you have links to show that LE is tracking her?
Do you have any links to show that she was EVER suspected by LE?

Besides the Mexican gov who of course wanted to pin it on her from the beginning. I'm sure they don't like the fact that an American was killed while jetskiing on their side of the lake.

Where are you getting your information?
I'm curious.

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Mrs. Hartley embarked on a press junket to publicize her claims. The information comes from the various interviews reported in televised and written interviews. My information is nothing new, the suspicions about her accounts were present from the get go. Nothing has changed. Her stories remain dubious, and I would be very surprised if she is not under a degree of scrutiny from LE.

It's ok if you believe her. Really. It's ok. I don't happen to buy the story.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I realize there are many who do not believe Mrs. Hartley. I do believe her, but perhaps that because I live ON the border and am familiar with what happens here.

I'd just like to ask one question, to those who have their doubts.

Can anyone explain why the lead LE officer investigating this was kidnapped and beheaded, while he was investigating David Hartleys alleged attack and murder?

I'm all eyes!

TIA,
fran

I've seen several who say she is not being truthful.

But I've asked what their theories are. What do you think she did?
What is she not being truthful about?

I never really get an answer.

I'm all about batting different theories around.

The Sheriff has always believed her. He knows much more than any of us ever will.

I linked articles above where he says there is EVIDENCE that backs her story.

What is she lying about?

fran said:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I realize there are many who do not believe Mrs. Hartley. I do believe her, but perhaps that because I live ON the border and am familiar with what happens here.

I'd just like to ask one question, to those who have their doubts.

Can anyone explain why the lead LE officer investigating this was kidnapped and beheaded, while he was investigating David Hartleys alleged attack and murder?

I'm all eyes!

TIA,
fran

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Well, I imagine because after pressure from the US he was tasked with initiating an investigation of Mrs. Hartley's claims, thereby delegating him with the unenviable task of inserting himself into the midst of ongoing gang wars between the Gulf cartel and Zeta drug gangs. The poor man was doomed from the start. I'm not doubting that there is an unimaginable environment of crime, corruption and violence on the Mexican side of this lake. He unfortunately drew the ire and scrutiny of the gangs as a part of his investigation and became a target himself. I suspect he was an innocent victim of someone else's game.

animlzrule said:

Well, I imagine because after pressure from the US he was tasked with initiating an investigation of Mrs. Hartley's claims, thereby delegating him with the unenviable task of inserting himself into the midst of ongoing gang wars between the Gulf cartel and Zeta drug gangs. The poor man was doomed from the start. I'm not doubting that there is an unimaginable environment of crime, corruption and violence on the Mexican side of this lake. He unfortunately drew the ire and scrutiny of the gangs as a part of his investigation and became a target himself. I suspect he was an innocent victim of someone else's game.

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BBM
He's a victim of who's game? Mrs. Hartley's? So Mrs Hartley killed her husband David and the Mexican LE officer in charge of investigating this is killed by the drug cartel? Why? I'm missing something here.

RANCH said:

BBM
He's a victim of who's game? Mrs. Hartley's? So Mrs Hartley killed her husband David and the Mexican LE officer in charge of investigating this is killed by the drug cartel? Why? I'm missing something here.

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And what did she do with his jet ski?
:waitasec:

tiredblondy said:

I feel bad for the Hartley's but what in the world are those fishermen doing over there on the Mexican side??? That's pretty risky isn't it?

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No. It's common.

Record bass just caught @ Falcon Lake
http://blog.wired2fish.com/blog/bid/48431/Record-Fish-New-Falcon-Lake-Record-Bass

embedded in the above link ^^^
http://blog.wired2fish.com/blog/bid/44538/The-Other-Perspective-on-Falcon-Lake

ONE death is too many, IMVHO.

fran said:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I realize there are many who do not believe Mrs. Hartley. I do believe her, but perhaps that because I live ON the border and am familiar with what happens here.

I'd just like to ask one question, to those who have their doubts.

Can anyone explain why the lead LE officer investigating this was kidnapped and beheaded, while he was investigating David Hartleys alleged attack and murder?

I'm all eyes!

TIA,
fran

Click to expand...

I have never had any doubts about Tiffany Hartley or the way her husband died.

I think some people tend to put way too much weight in how someone speaks in the media during a stressful situation. I have seen others critized many times and often it turns out they were nothing more than victims themselves who had lost someone they loved.

From what Sherrif Gonzalez says her story matches the evidence found and there was also an eye witness who called in when they saw Tiffany being chased by the men in the small boat.

They have so many murders in that area. I doubt they will ever find David's remains.

imo

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2012/jan/06/dps-bolsters-lake-patrols/

DPS to bolster lake patrols with gunboats
Posted January 6, 2012 at 7:21 p.m.

snipped:
SAN ANGELO, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety soon will patrol border lakes with gun-mounted, high-speed power boats in response to drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"Mexican drug cartels have unlimited financial resources to procure high-powered, military-grade weapons," Tom Vinger, assistant chief of public affairs with the DPS, said in an email.

"Cartel operatives have fired at law enforcement officers while they were attempting to interdict drug loads on the Rio Grande River. When our officers come under fire from these weapons, we want to afford them every opportunity to return home safely from each patrol mission."



also snipped:
Trouble on the Rio Grande has been brewing since Sept. 30, 2010, when David Hartley was shot and killed on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake while he and his wife, Tiffany, were photographing an old church eight miles into Mexico. Hartley's body has not been found.

Texas officials contend that the killing was carried out by pirates and noted that several more piracy acts occurred in 2010, but Hartley has been the only person killed.

BBM

The body was not David.



I'll be back with a link if I can get this phone to cooperate.

http://www.9news.com/news/article/2...-Falcon-Lake-not-man-killed-while-jet-skiing-

Test results from the Mexican government show clothing on a human skeleton found on Falcon Lake does not match what David Hartley was wearing the day he reportedly died. Additionally, the skeleton's skull does not have a bullet wound.

* :waitasec: earlier reports said the skull did have a bullet hole.

Kimberlyd125 said:

Professional angler Alton Jones of Waco was fishing Wednesday with two friends on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake when one of his companions spotted what appeared to be a skull and ribcage on the bank of the dammed section of the Rio Grande, which is split between the two countries.

On closer inspection, Jones said, it quickly became obvious they had discovered the remains of a human draped in mud-caked clothing with the feet tied together and appeared to be a hole in the rear of the skull.








The Berthoud, Colo., native said the pirates shot her husband in the back of the head.

http://www.kwtx.com/mobi?storyid=136453738

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This is the article about the hole in the back of the head.

Hartley's wife, Tiffany, said Tuesday there were no DNA tests and no forensics tests performed by Mexican authorities on the remains. But, she said the height of the skeletal remains found was much shorter than David, the clothes didn't match and there was no bullet hole in the skull.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/30181891/detail.html

Kimberlyd125 said:

Hartley's wife, Tiffany, said Tuesday there were no DNA tests and no forensics tests performed by Mexican authorities on the remains. But, she said the height of the skeletal remains found was much shorter than David, the clothes didn't match and there was no bullet hole in the skull.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/30181891/detail.html

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Why wouldn't they have performed these tests? I wonder if it's a question of managing scarce resources.

s

I doubted Mexico would do any real testing.

There are so many dead bodies found in Mexico I couldn't imagine them trying to forensically ID them all.

I hope David is found one day.

I was almost certain they would not identify this poor person's dead body as David Hartley. There are so many people killed in Mexico, related to the drug cartels in the past several years, it's unreal. No DNA testing? I am NOT surprised at all. This is just another day in THEIR WORLD.

I've been following this since '04(?), '05(?), when articles started popping up about over 40 people from Loredo, Texas who'd disappeared after crossing into Mexcio. LE in Mexico told the families it was because their loved ones were involved with the drug cartels, when MANY said, "There is no way!' After reading several of the families' accounts, I realized, these people were being slaughtered for no reason. I even attempted to begin a dialogue here on Websleuths and started a thread, but received almost no response, or very little.

Living on the Mexican border and having family from Mexico, I KNOW what's happening. I personally love Mexico and am sad that it's now too dangerous to travel there.

But guess what? I still have people in my family who still find a reason, 'oh, they just have to go there. Don't worry, nothing will happen.' ....................oh? really?

I realize there are many people who I, or anyone else, can convince that this was a day-trip that went horribly bad. This is after all, a crime sleuthing community and many of us suspect everything and everyone. But sometimes, bad things happen to nice people. Nice people sometimes make bad, or incorrect decisions that have deadly consequences. And the younger you are, the more invincible you feel, leading to the type of thing that happened to David and Tiffany Hartley. To be honest, when I was their age, I may have felt the same. IF ONLY I knew THEN, what I KNOW NOW, well,................you get the point.

Unfortunately, I believe the Hartley family will never find the answers they seek. There is no happy ending here. There will most likely never be an arrest, ............. no confession, no body.......... Just another day in the world,........... life of the Mexican drug cartels.

So sad. So many lost lives, unnecessary loss of life. My heart goes out to all of the victims of this violence. Most especially to Tiffany and the Hartley family.

JMHO
fran

Kimberlyd125 said:

http://www.9news.com/news/article/2...-Falcon-Lake-not-man-killed-while-jet-skiing-

Test results from the Mexican government show clothing on a human skeleton found on Falcon Lake does not match what David Hartley was wearing the day he reportedly died. Additionally, the skeleton's skull does not have a bullet wound.

* :waitasec: earlier reports said the skull did have a bullet hole.

Click to expand...

That's why we don't have fishermen doing autopsies.:rocker:

Was checking my subscriptions and I noticed this thread had revived activity...
I did not hear/read that skeletal remains had been found in Falcon Lake..
Looks like I need to go back a few pages and start reading ....

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

"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."

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/lo...g-of-U-S-tourist-on-3928519.php#ixzz28jMfJ9vX