American Killed On Border Lake

[Dr. Shane]

Wife of Man Missing on Border Lake Wants Obama to Take On Mexican Cartels

Quote:

Tiffany Hartley, the wife of David Hartley who was allegedly shot and killed by Mexican pirates on a border lake with Texas, is telling President Obama that it's time to take on drug cartels.

"He should wake up and look what's going on in our backyards," she told the Denver Post.

Hartley says her husband's death should be a focal point as to why the U.S. should take on these drug cartels.

"David is not the only American who has been killed, but this situation may be a turning point," she told the paper.

Hartley returned to Colorado on Saturday to be with her family from McAllen, Texas, where the couple had been living.

"The hardest part of it all was leaving without him," she told Colorado Fox affiliate KDVR.com.

She says she wants to continue raising awareness about the ongoing border violence crisis.

"I am ready for the challenge. I don't want his death to have been in vain," she told the Denver Post.

Hartley told authorities the couple were sightseeing when her husband was shot Sept. 30 by gunmen who ambushed them on the Mexico side of Falcon Lake, where pirates have robbed several Americans this year.

Authorities have not found David Hartley's body.

Falcon Lake is just up the road from where I live. It is actually in the county just west of the one I live in. McAllen is in the same county as me. My office was in McAllen for many years. A lot of pirates have robbed fishermen in Falcon Lake and that has been on the news many times. So this couple was well aware of that. I am not aware of any fishermen that had been killed. Still... it was rather foolish to go over into Mexican waters (there are buoys that mark the border).

This guy was driving a pick-up with Mexican plates on it and the authorities believe that he was mistaken for being part of a rival cartel. Thus he was killed because one cartel is not suppose to go into the territory of another. He was on a jet ski which is a common means of moving drugs up, down and across the river. His body and jet ski both disappeared. Since he was wearing a life jacket, his body obviously didn't sink but was removed and probably destroyed.

The initial reaction of the Mexican government was to do nothing. That is reasonable given that they are in a pretty big war and have to choose how to best allocate their resources. They investigated this only after the governor of Texas made a big deal about it. The head investigator was soon beheaded by a cartel and that ended the investigation.

[John317]

Yes, I agree that it was stupid of them to go over there. It seems like they had to know it could be dangerous. But the authorities still need to investigate his death and punish whoever committed the murder. Yet given the terrible things that go on over there, I can see why his death may not have the highest priority. As you probably know, though, murders are not investigated in Mexico like they are in the United States. In Mexico, a lot depends on the wealth of the victim and his family. That's just the way it goes over there.

Do you know why he was driving a truck with Mexican license plates?

I think you're probably right that his killing was a tragic case of mistaken identity. I feel badly for the poor woman and her family.

[Dr. Shane]

He worked at a mequila-dora factory. (That is an American factory in Mexico). He and his wife had been living in Mexico until recently when the moved because of the violence. He was known to be a thrill-seeker and when this story was first reported they said one of the reasons they took their jet skis into Mexican water was because of the danger. The fishermen that have been robbed were robbed in US waters which are patrolled by the Border Patrol. Going into Mexican waters was very stupid.

Northern Mexico is a war zone. People getting killed are not considered murders so much as war casualties. In a war, not every casualty is going to be investigated. There are a lot of warnings out right now. There are a handful of safe places in Northern Mexico. The area we do missionary work is one of them. However one should not even think about driving from one town to the next on a Mexican highway. We crossover a US/Mexico bridge, do our thing and then cross back over the same bridge. We use to drive around the interior of Mexico a lot but not any more.