Hartley Cautiously Optimistic After Announcement
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) - Two new suspects have been identified in the border shooting of David Hartley. The Colorado native was killed 5 months ago. His body has never been found.
David and his wife Tiffany were jet skiing on Falcon Lake, which is cut in half by the U.S./Mexico border. Tiffany Hartley says armed men on boats opened fire on them.
Tiffany Hartley talked with CBS4's Tom Mustin about the new developments.
"I'm not going to rejoice quite yet," she said.
Tiffany is cautiously optimistic about word of a possible breakthrough in her husband's murder.
"You want to make sure it's the real deal before you put too much into it," she said.
Monday Zapata County Sheriff Sigy Gonzalez delivered some encouraging news.
"We have some suspects that we didn't have before," Gonzalez said. "We have now four suspects in that case ... I believe there's about seven."
Gonzalez believes the suspects are members of a Mexican drug cartel.
"One boat came up to me and had the gun pointed at my head they were about 10 feet away," Tiffany said. "I remember seeing … they didn't know what to do. Do we shoot her? They didn't know what to do," she said.
Gonzalez said he has corroborated Tiffany's account of what happened.
"They were watching her with a rifle to her body and they lowered it and picked it up and lowered it. They were waiting for word whether to shoot her or not shoot her. Their intent was to kill her," he said.
"At the same time I was like, 'Oh well. Because you just took the one person in my life that meant the most to me,'" Tiffany said.
Speaking from her mother's hometown of Loveland, Tiffany said she believes the attack was a case of mistaken identity. That's why they let her go.
David's body has never been found.
Tiffany said what keeps her going each day is the drive to bring her husband home.
"Number one on our top list is to have him back and to have him back on U.S. soil and put some closure to it," she said.
Both Tiffany and Gonzalez believe as many as nine people could be responsible for David's death. Tiffany said she's hopeful that one day they'll all be brought to justice.
