Falcon Lake Murder: New Blood Evidence Found (Video)

Pajamas Media ^ | October 8, 2010 | Bryan Preston

[jazusamo]

A witness and blood evidence seem to corroborate Tiffany Hartley's story. But competing interests are driving competing views of what really happened on Falcon Lake.

Over the past couple of days there have been several developments in the alleged Falcon Lake piracy attack and murder. First,  Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez says that he has a witness who corroborates Tiffany Hartley’s story.  That witness, whose identity is being concealed out of safety concerns, claims that when Hartley came off the lake on her jet ski, she was being chased by men in a boat and that she was sobbing and frantic.  This eyewitness account of seeing the boat giving chase is key.  If the witness saw the chase, Hartley is at least telling the truth about that aspect of the incident.  Fox has also reported that the Hartleys were briefly stopped by police on their way to the lake, because they were driving a truck with Mexican plates but their jet ski trailer had Texas plates.  The couple did live in Reynosa, Mexico, until a few months ago, but the violence there led them to move back across the border to McAllen, TX.  So their license plate situation doesn’t suggest much, in my opinion.  They were let go after the brief stop and went on their way.

Sheriff Gonzalez also says that he has retrieved blood evidence from Tiffany Hartley’s life vest.  Put that evidence together with the witness corroborating her story of the chase, and her story overall looks more solid.

Zapata County’s sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez has told CBS News he has blood evidence from the lifevest of Tiffany Hartley, the wife of David Hartley, that supports her account of a pirate attack on a lake that straddles the Texas-Mexico border.

Those who already doubt Hartley may see this as evidence that she murdered David.  The blood could have gotten onto her vest whether she shot him or he was close to her when pirates shot him. Its presence on her vest is not dispositive either way, but does point to violence having occurred.  Sheriff Gonzalez is treating Hartley’s story as truth, and has throughout the week since it happened.

On Fox News Channel Thursday, another victim of Falcon Lake piracy came forward and said that Hartley’s story fits what happened to him on the lake a few months ago.  He’s Dr. Richard Drake, and he was fishing on Falcon Lake when pirates ambushed him.  Here’s his interview with Megyn Kelly.  Again, he wasn’t on the Mexican side of the lake.  He was out in the center, on the Texas side of the border, when he was ambushed.

Continued w/video

[Spike Knotts]

This is a response I posted to an opinion piece yesterday. It is written in response to “Wendy,” the author, but it contains rebuttals of most of the points the naysayers bring up.

“Like gangs on land, punks on water don’t kill randomly. They kill for money, they kill for revenge, they kill when drug deals go bad - and they sometimes kill by accident as when a kid gets caught in the crossfire of a shootout between rivals. But they don’t just walk around town shooting people in the head. “

Really? What town does Wendy live in? I think I’ll move there.

The equivalent on land is driving around in a nice car...with the added dimension of the criminal desiring not only its monetary value, but also its utility to the thieves/pirates. Now...do “gangs” kill for vehicles? Ever heard of a carjacking?

I can see how a jetski, especially a “top of the line” model as described by the husband’s mother would be a valuable target for PIRATES. They are fast, they are quiet, they are nimble, they are fuel efficient, and they are hard to spot. One would be absolutely perfect for 3 men to use to rob the presumably well off Americans who live on the lake. So for those who keep asking “why would pirates rob people on jetskis,” the jetski alone could easily be the answer. If we had roving bands of land pirates working the nation’s interstate system, would you question why fast cars were being especially targeted? Would you say...no land pirate would ever target some guy in a corvette, I mean, it’s only a two seater.

“First, there is no evidence, other than Tiffany’s word, that her husband was even on the water at all, much less in a jet ski getting shot in the head.”

Nice. Wendy just called her a liar...based on Wendy’s word since she admits the lack of evidence. Very classy. Is the jetski missing? I’d say that’s certainly circumstantial evidence that her husband was on the water. It proves nothing, since any adult would hopefully be smart enough to dispose of the jetski...but disposing of the jetski brings up a whole new set of problems. But it is something that should interest the police and no doubt already has. I wonder, does Wendy know if the jetski is indeed missing?

“And if they DID do that in this case, which is possible in theory, it makes no sense that they managed such a precise execution in the skull of a man while he was zipping along on a jet ski, but somehow couldn’t even graze the jet ski of the guy’s wife even as she was stopped, as she said she was, trying to lift her husband’s body from the water.”

Strange things happen quite often when people start shooting at each other. Even stranger things happen if the people shooting happen to be skilled shooters. According to Tiffany, there were 3 boats attacking them. Wendy’s assumption it would take a “sharpshooter” to make the shot shows her ignorance. It would take a hell of a shot. Someone like a SEAL, who actually practices shooting from moving vessels at moving targets. If it isn’t something you have as part of your skillset, I’d wager my money on 3 to 12 drunk Mexican pirates making the shot before you did...only because they’d be firing wildly and be relying mostly on luck. Also, Tiffany claims that the pirates didn’t shoot at her, but came up to her and held (I believe) a pistol to her head. Some question why they wouldn’t kill her...without being crude about I’d suggest that a pirate/bandit/criminal would be inclined to capture a woman alive because he has other thoughts on her potential value.

“Maybe the pirates are sharpshooters — but they sure can’t be sharpshooters ONLY if they’re aiming at husbands. She says she doesn’t know why she was spared. That makes two of us — I mean — two million of us. Random killers don’t develop a conscience in the middle of an execution.”

This is some really bad reasoning. Perhaps they had a reason not to want to kill the young woman? Perhaps her husband was hit only because freakish things happen when men starting emptying rifles at other men? Two million of you? Nice. A former prosecutor executing the dreaded argumentum ad populum.

“It’s possible Tiffany is telling the truth, but as a matter of simple common sense it just doesn’t ring true. And while lots of people are in a justifiable anti-Mexico mindset for a host of reasons related to illegal immigration, drug cartels, etc., let’s not let a pretty little housewife exploit our political sentiments to dupe us into believing outright absurdities.”

Now nice of you to allow that Tiffany is telling the truth, Wendy. Wendy slips and reveals her true agenda here...she’s worried about bad press for Mexico and her beloved illegals.

“But the simple truth is, when a wife or husband dies or goes missing in suspicious circumstances, the spouse SHOULD be the key suspect because they’re almost always responsible. Unless and until they can be ruled out — they should be ruled in — and Tiffany Hartley has yet to be ruled out.”

I agree completely. But it isn’t your job, Wendy, as part of a for profit media conglomerate. Being paid to trash a woman who MIGHT have just lost her husband makes you a type of mercenary whore. That responsibility lies with the local officials. I find this opinion piece to be in poor taste, considering the admitted lack of evidence, and how recent the events in question were. It smacks of tabloidism.

I don’t have a dog in this fight other than the desire to correct what I see as logical fallacies. If Tiffany is responsible, she has to be one of the most psychotic criminals in history. There are a hell of a lot of ways to off your mate that don’t involve TV cameras, a witness, appeals to the POTUS, Mexican pirates, and jetskis. I’m inclined to believe her until further evidence presents itself because I know that criminals, let alone pirates, don’t live by our rules.

[r9etb]

lol! Such bluster! Such indignation! Did you hold your breath and stomp your feet as you pounded out your reply?

[jazusamo]

Good post...Tabloidism is what Wendy Murphy is all about. She had the three alleged rapists in the Duke rape case tried, convicted and practically sentenced until the victim was made out the liar she is.

[CaptainK]

I was reporting what I heard on Fox.

[Yet_Again]

I’m not sure I understand why this woman’s story is not being taken as truthful.

Because there are elements in our society and media that bend over backwards to assure that nothing negative is said or believed about illegal aliens, Mexico, or anything associated with our neighbor to the south.

[Yet_Again]

I’ll add that I’m seriously irritated at all these hispanic democrat politicians from Texas who are throwing this woman under the bus and trying to say how wonderful the Mexican response to this has been.

[Cvengr]

If investigative journalism were minimally honest, there are fifty stories of unprovoked murder of Americans at the border for every one which hits the press. Any report questioning her veracity may nonchalantly report another 10 previously unreported homicides without distortion.

[jazusamo]

Agreed...The Mexican Govt is out to lunch on this and any Mexican American that supports their response is as corrupt as they are.

[jazusamo]

Exactly, and the support that people on this site give to conspiracy theorists on this had better start to come to grips with the real world.

[Cvengr]

Reassess the present soci-economic factors at play between these 2 cultures. Mexican culture is not the same as United States American culture.

Mexicans do not believe in unalienable rights, as do most US Americans.

The employment rate and expendable income of laborer Mexicans near the border is not the same as US Americans. Different by an order of magnitude with an unemployment rate greater than a factor of 2-5.

Religious values are discernibly different. Their heritage at best comes from a Catholic perception that the Church is God’s appointed controller of all worldly power systems,...which is why liberation theology was popular in Central America and when grafted with pagan sects tends to also worship the dead and even some forms of satanism.

Spiritually, there are different powers controlling these peoples and nations.

We are not the same people with Mexico.