Mexican AG Denies Report of Suspects in Jet Ski Case

(Oct. 11) -- Is it back to the beginning in the investigation of an American man reportedly shot to death by Mexican pirates?

A Mexican official is disputing a weekend report saying two suspects have been identified in the shooting death of David Hartley on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake, which straddles the Texas-Mexico border.

A Mexican police commander from Tamaulipas state identified two brothers as suspects, according to the El Universal newspaper. It said police were looking for Juan Pedro Saldivar-Farias and Jose Manuel Saldivar-Farias.

But Ruben Dario Rios Lopez, spokesman for the state attorney general in Tamaulipas, denied on Sunday that there are any suspects, according to The Monitor newspaper in McAllen, Texas. Rios Lopez said his office would know if there were.

"Neither the [Tamaulipas] attorney general's office nor the personnel working in this investigation have named any suspects," he told the paper. "Officially, there is nothing."

On the Texas side, Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he had not been notified that the brothers had been named as suspects, The Monitor reported.

Authorities have been looking for the body of 30-year-old Hartley, of McAllen, Texas. His wife, Tiffany Hartley, said he was shot in the head Sept. 30 while they were riding on a Jet Ski on Falcon Lake, a dangerous border area between Texas and Mexico. She said she tried to get him onto her craft but couldn't and fled to safety.

One Mexican authority questioned the details of the shooting that she provided and noted that there was no evidence of a crime, including David Hartley's body or his Jet Ski. Tiffany Hartley has denied any involvement in her husband's death or disappearance.

Despite the latest report, Tiffany Hartley, 29, said she didn't think the focus will return to her.

"I think everyone's on my side, and they do believe David is out there and that the pirates did shoot him," she said on NBC's "Today" show.

She has heard the conflicting reports about suspects but has not been told anything official.

"This is very frustrating," she said on "Today." "At one moment we do have suspects, at another moment we don't. Either way, I hope that they do find somebody who can lead us to where David is."

Her mother-in-law, Pam Hartley, is still standing behind her. "I support her 100 percent," she said on "Today."