Widow remarries, gives birth
In today’s world of woe, it’s always nice to see a happy story pass by the wayside, even if it does stem from a terrible tragedy.
This story dates back in time to Sept. 30, 2010, when a couple, David and Tiffany Hartley, originally from Colorado, decided to take their jet skis and explore Falcon Lake.
At the time, Los Zetas was the dominant drug cartel in the area, frequented by drug traffickers carrying loads across the lake, or branches of the Rio Grande, which fed into Falcon from the northwest before exiting it on its southeast side. Half the lake is Mexican territory, while half belongs to the U.S.
On the Mexican side, the Zetas were fighting their original benefactor, the Gulf Cartel, and just for good measure, the Sinaloa Cartel had shown up recently to decide exactly who was going to control the drug border crossings that passed through the sparse landscape.
The couple had been to Falcon a week or so prior and encountered no problems, but it’s unclear whether or not they had heard the recent lake news: four fishermen stopped by drug traffickers and warned to stay on the U.S. side of the lake.
Unfortunately for the Hartleys, they ventured their jet skis into the Mexican side in search of a semi-submerged church, just one week before they were set to move back to Colorado, saying goodbye to David Hartley’s maquila job. In fact, the couple was so familiar with Mexico, that they had lived in the Reynosa area when they first came south from Colorado before the escalating acts of violence made it wiser for them to move to the U.S. side. Sure, David Hartley would still have to cross the border to get to the maquiladora where he worked, but actually living on the Mexican side of the border had become different, less safe in recent months, especially for a couple driving a pickup with Colorado plates.
Now it was time to head back to the Rocky Mountain State, but before leaving, why not go to Falcon Lake and enjoy jet skiing one last time. Find that half-submerged church they had heard about, which had recently risen partially to the surface with the lake level so low.
According to multiple news interviews given by Tiffany Hartley, the couple ran into three speed boats, which were full of armed men who looked anything but friendly. For some reason, instead of warning them off as they had done with the four fishermen, this time, the cartel members started shooting rounds at the couple, either semi-auto, full-auto, or both.
One unfortunate round struck David Hartley in the head as the couple tried to flee, his wife would later tell investigators. He fell off the jet ski, and even though she grabbed at his life vest, she couldn’t pull him onto her ski. The cartel gunmen approached her with guns drawn, but instead of shooting her, they whispered between themselves, and motioned for her to leave.
Without her husband’s body, and without his jet ski.
To show how violent things were south of the border, within several weeks of the David Hartley murder, unknown cartel gunmen killed the lead Mexican investigator working the case, Rolando Flores, and delivered his decapitated head inside a suitcase to a nearby military base.
At the time, Flores was commander of the Tamaulipas State Police in Ciudad Miguel Aleman, located near the center of cartel activity. Just prior to his murder, he had given the names of two brothers, the suspects, to a local TV reporter (KRGV), giving credence to the theory that Flores’s murder was related to the Hartley case. (Source: NY Times.)
Immediately after the murder of Rolando Flores, the Tamaulipas State prosecutor told the NY Times, “We have no suspects.”
The Tamaulipas government insisted that there was no connection, absolutely none, between Flores’s murder and the Falcon Lake shooting.
Still grieving over the murder of her husband just weeks prior, Tiffany Hartley told ABC News that Rolando Flores had been working hard to find her husband’s remains.
“I can't even explain how my heart is just broken for him and his family. There aren’t any words,' she told ‘Good Morning America’ today. “He was just such a nice guy and he really wanted to do what he could for us.”
The remains of David Hartley were never discovered, and neither was his jet ski.
No one was ever brought to trial for his murder.
According to ABC News, Mexican authorities asked Tiffany Hartley to come to Mexico to give a statement, but for her own safety, she insisted on giving one instead at the Mexican Consulate in McAllen.
New Beginnings
After so much misery, turns out there’s a happy ending for Tiffany Hartley, which says a lot considering what she went through, including gossip spread by the malicious few who insisted that the Hartleys had to be part of some drug deal gone bad.
During all that time, the Zapata sheriff, Sigifredo Gonzalez, stood by her side, telling anyone who would listen that her story checked out, and the couple had done nothing wrong but being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, the murder was doing a number on the local businesses that relied on recreational lake fishermen and those who loved to jet ski, and while there were few still around after the Hartley killing, it was hard to argue that Falcon Lake was still a safe place to hang out.
According to a story published nearly five years ago, October of 2019, by KMGH in Greeley, Colo., Tiffany Hartley remarried and became a mother for the first time.
Two years after the Falcon shooting and the loss of her husband, she was hit with a new whammy in 2012: a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.
Despite that, the new marriage and birth of a daughter has her feeling blessed, she told KMGH.
“I’m at peace knowing David is in heaven, and he’s happy, and he’s having way more adventures than we could ever imagine here. I just hold my memories dear, and the adventures we took and the love that we shared.”
She said that her faith pulled her through the really difficult times, and with a new family, she’s grateful for a second chance.
“I truly see blessings coming out,” Hartley said. “I didn’t expect to have kids but here she is.” (Source: turnto23.com.)