Posted on 10/08/2010 10:55:12 AM PDT by AuntB
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.
CBS News correspondent Don Teague reported on "The Early Show" this evidence is in addition to witness testimony that supports Tiffany Hartley's story that her husband was shot in the head by pirates on Mexico side of Falcon Lake.
David Hartley is presumed dead, and officials on both the U.S. and Mexican sides of the lake are searching for his body.
Gonzalez told Teague he believes the Hartleys were attacked by enforcers of the Zeta drug cartel. The Hartleys, Gonzalez says, were innocent victims of a bloody drug war.
Gonzales fears the same cartel enforcers who killed David have permanently hidden his body.
He said, "The body has been disposed of. They have it somewhere they've gotten rid of the body so there's no evidence."
But that's not something Tiffany Hartley is ready to accept, and says she's only now beginning to grieve.
Tiffany Hartley said, "At certain times there's points where you do feel like this is it. I'm never gonna see him again. He's gone. And then at other points he's gonna be walking through that door."
Doubt has been cast on Tiffany Hartley's story by Mexico officials, but she told CNN recently she would take a lie detector test if people continue to doubt her account of the attack.
On "The Early Show" Congressman Ted Poe, (R-Texas), who has been involved extensively in this case as well as ongoing border issues, said he has requested from the State Department that Americans search the Mexican side.
He said, "The Mexican government said yes, then backed off and said, 'No, we don't want the Americans over here.' We need to use the American resources that we have, because that area of the lake is controlled by the Zetas, there is an island on that lake where the Zetas really operate, the drug cartels. If we mean business about trying to recover David Hartley's body we need American involvement and the Mexican government needs to be relentless to find it. They are intimidated now, they really won't go near the area where the Zetas operate."
"Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith said, "We need to stop and pause a second because even the Mexican authorities themselves are clearly not in control. It's the drug cartel that is in control because…the Mexican authorities backed away when they were threatened."
Poe agreed, saying, "That area of Falcon Lake on the Mexican side, all the way to the American edge of the water is controlled by the Zeta cartels. They bring those drugs into the United States, usually at night by high-speed boats, and they operate -- that is their operation -- and the Mexican government hasn't been able to stop them, won't stop them, refuses to or cannot, whatever the situation is, and they control that area. The government, neither government, controls that area, the drug cartels. And we're being held really hostage by the drug cartels on that area of the lake."
Smith added that while there has been some doubt cast on Tiffany Hartley's story, this is not the only reported incident of violence on this lake.
Poe replied, "American fishermen, fishing both on the American side of the lake and on the Mexican side of the lake -- you can get a permit to do that -- have been robbed by pirates on the lake, some of them have been taken to the Mexican side, stripped of all of their clothing and their valuables and their boat and left stranded there. This is the fifth time since May there's been some type of violence -- but the first homicide."
Poe said he'd like to see the United States to have more involvement in the search.
"The United States needs to use our resources, the Coast Guard. That needs to be operating on the lake at all times, not just this time," he said. "We have been very lax, in my opinion, as a nation, of protecting the entire southern border of the United States, including Falcon Lake. We don't protect it. We wait for something to happen, and then we just sit back, as a nation, and wait for someone else to react. We need to cooperate, need better cooperation with the Mexican government, but need to have really the military presence on the southern border, and that includes putting the National Guard throughout the border, including the Air National Guard, if we are serious about protecting Americans and American property, and keeping the drug cartels out of the United States."
Also,I did a Google search and found this story from last May.It speaks of "pirates"...just as she did (a funny way to refer to killers,IMO) and the fact that several Americans were robbed at gunpoint...not killed or even harmed.It also mentions that the guys robbed were checking out the abandoned church on the Mexican side *just* like *she* said on Nightline last night.I wonder if *she* might have seen this story.I wonder whose idea it was to go to this particular place and then to (illegally) cross into Mexico to check out this church.Very curious,indeed (IMO).
I have no way of knowing what happened...I wasn't there...I don't know the area...and I don't know him or her.But particularly since finding that story (there's a link below) I'm suspicious of her.Quite suspicious.
Might she be telling the truth? Absolutely! Even Mexican authorities call that area dangerous.Might she be lying through her teeth? Given the evidence as it appears at this moment,absolutely! As I said before...life insurance...boyfriend/girlfriend......
(link) http://abcnews.go.com/International/Media/armed-mexican-pirates-terrorize-texas-lake/story?id=10737629
There are a lot of questions.
Did the ‘witness’ see the husband’s unmanned jet-ski going in circles?
If husband was wearing a life-jacket his body would have been floating.
She has blood on her clothing - and she claims she tried to drag her husband on to her jet-ski.
She says he was shot in the front of his head - he should have fallen backwards.
Why the perps didn’t shoot her and take both jet-skis and both bodies to rob or dispose of is really strange.
How long after he was shot was the incident reported?
A cop has come forward saying he stopped their truck with the two jet-skis on board. Reason for stop - different tags.
There have already been warnings to campers and hikers in the national forests in Oregon due to Mexican drug cartels shooting at anything and anybody who gets too close to their marijuana fields. Yes, Mexican marijuana fields in US parks and we’re allowing it.
My son an I would love to use a trip to Mexico to get the guns sited in for deer season. This trip would give us a great opportunity to do that task without having to harm anything of any value like a paper target.
The solution to this problem is so simple, its killing me. Fight back. Put some people on that lake and use the tried and true military tactic of movement to contact. When they come out into the lake to try something, have your men on line to deal with them. If they try it again, then they get the same treatment. And as far as the island that is mentioned in the article. I’d be willing to bet that there are certain units of the US military that are very well trained in amphibious assaults and would love the opportunity to provide the family, citizens of Texas and the country, some answers to the problem. Too bad theirs a complete pussy in the White House and I really don’t have much to say for the governor of Texas either.
I believe Jefferson did exactly that with the U.S. Marines.
The mental disease of Liberalism makes a game of crime, and gamers of criminals. If shoot them when defending their fields was in play, the criminals would not be as numerous, both by attrition and fear of death for their crimes. Toerating all manner of anti-civilization ebhavior is another hallmark of the mental disease of Liberalism. I’m too old now to give a darn what liberals think, I refuse to tolerate what they define as politically correct for my nation. Liberasls are killing the Republic by remaining here to rot in place and spread their plague.
Was this *before* or *after* the murder is said to have occurred?
Traffic stop was before the incident. The ski tags were different from the truck tag in some way (maybe State?).
That was a good link to the May 2010 incident. Important to remember - Americans should not stray into Mexico - for any reason.
That is not true she has had many tears in multiple interviews.There is also a witness who saw the persuit from the shore.I think it’s time we quit trying to blame her and try to realize just what happened and hold Mexico accountable for what has happened here.Wake up America there is a war gong on on our border and innocent civillians are being shot upon.
There is dash cam video of the stop it was 1.5 hours before he was reported shot.The jet skis were rented and the trailor had Mexican plates the truck they rented had texas plates.All checked out it was before.
“It just doesn’t make sense for him to be killed and for his body to disappear and she returns home without a scratch.”
We’re talking about MEXICO here, do you understand that?
NOTHING Mexico does makes sense.
And typically, what sympathy does the VICTIM get...cast blame.
Often the rape, assault victims of Mexicans are left alive...do you also doubt ALL those stories. Mexicans know there are plenty of you to cast doubt first on US citizens. They know they can get away with anything.
Hey, it’s only murder, move along.
” ‘No, we don’t want the Americans over here.’
Nope, not gonna say it... “
Enough irony there to wall up the entire border!
June, 2010
Bomb plot alert at Falcon Dam
[snip]An alleged plot by a Mexican drug cartel to blow up a dam along the Texas border — and unleash billions of gallons of water into a region with millions of residents — sent American police, federal agents and local disaster officials scrambling last month to thwart such an attack, authorities confirmed Wednesday.
Whether the cartel, which is known to have stolen bulk quantities of gunpowder and dynamite, could have taken down the five-mile-long Falcon Dam may never be known.
But it may have been derailed by a stepped-up presence by the Mexican military, acting in part on intelligence from the U.S. government, sources said.
The warning was based on what the federal government contends were “serious and reliable sources” and prompted the Homeland Security Department to sound the alarm to first responders all along the South Texas-Mexico border.
Mexico’s Zeta cartel was planning to destroy the dam
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/bomb_plot_alert_at_falcon_dam_95481059.html
We need to secure our southern border with mexico and if Obama and nopalitano do not put our military on our south border . WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL secure it. PS maybe they are in cahoots with the mexican government or drug cartels thats why they are not doing much YOU CAN COUNT ME IN
We need to secure our southern border with mexico and if Obama and nopalitano do not put our military on our south border . WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL secure it. PS maybe they are in cahoots with the mexican government or drug cartels thats why they are not doing much YOU CAN COUNT ME IN
And yes...I'm in favor a serious wall to keep illegals out,etc,etc,etc.
Tiffany Hartley said, "At certain times there's points where you do feel like this is it. I'm never gonna see him again. He's gone. And then at other points he's gonna be walking through that door."
They fired “at” her as she was fleeing... Jet skis are very fast and if she was scared and zig-zagging them missing isn’t a mystery at all. she said the first guys poing their guns at her seemed unsure what to do and went back to the main boat and then is when she took off and they started firing at her... Maybe they were trying to decide whether to kill her or rape her and their hesitation allowed her to escape.
Not sure how long they had been married. Apparently, he worked in Mexico -but even so, they were pretty reckless if they were both aware of the drug cartels’ activity in that area.
This is much like the mysterious disappearance of the bridegroom from a cruise ship. Strange!
I’m still stressing over 7 year-old Kyron Horman’s vanishing in Oregon.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.