Zeta Drug Cartel’s Salvador Alfonso “Commander Squirrel” Martinez Escobedo, Suspect Arrested in the Falcon Lake Murder of David Hartley

Has the death of David Hartley finally been solved? David Hartley was reported murdered on September 30, 2010 when he and his wife, Tiffany Hartley, were jet skiing on Falcon Lake between the US and Mexican border. It is believed that they wondered into the middle of a drug trade. Tiffany escaped; however, David was reportedly shot and killed. His body has never been recovered.

Pic via Facebook

Monday, Mexican authorities said they had arrested a leader of the ruthless Zetas drug cartel and linked him to the Falcon Lake killing. The arrest of Zeta drug cartel’s Salvador Alfonso “The Squirrel” Martinez Escobedo was arrested and is being called a suspect in the murder of David Hartley. The Squirrel is responsible or has had a hand in numerous murders. Mexican authorities also suspect Martinez is behind the 2010 slaying of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas.

Authorities accuse Martinez, known as “The Squirrel,” of being a regional leader of the Zetas in three northern Mexican states and heading up a brutal battle with the rival Gulf cartel. They had offered a reward of more than $1 million for information leading to his capture.

He was picked up in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo on Saturday night and presented to the media on Monday. But one Texas sheriff says the 31-year-old alleged cartel leader wasn’t on a list of five suspect names in the Hartley case that he’s handed over to the FBI.

“Based on the information I have, he may have been the one responsible for that area, but not the one responsible for the actual killing,” said Sigifredo Gonzalez, sheriff of Zapata County, Texas.

But is Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo responsible for David Hartley’s death? It is not quite sure how “Commander Squirrel” is connected to the murder of Hartley.

He was picked up in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo on Saturday night and presented to the media on Monday. But one Texas sheriff says the 31-year-old alleged cartel leader wasn’t on a list of five suspect names in the Hartley case that he’s handed over to the FBI.

“Based on the information I have, he may have been the one responsible for that area, but not the one responsible for the actual killing,” said Sigifredo Gonzalez, sheriff of Zapata County, Texas.

More from ABC News on the Mexican authority statement:

“Squirrel is credited with being the mastermind of the deaths of 72 undocumented migrants in San Fernando,” said the statement. “[He] is the alleged perpetrator of the narco graves found in Tamaulipas state, with more than 200 bodies and the execution of more than 50 people by his own hand in different parts of the republic, [as well as] the murder of David Hartley, an American citizen killed at Falcon Dam on September 30, 2010.”

The statement also alleged that the Squirrel was responsible for the murder of the police official investigating Hartley’s death.

Grim Discovery Made on Falcon Lake on the Texas-Mexico border … Human Remain Found, Could It Be Missing David Hartley? (UPDATE: Remains Not David Hartley)

Are the remains found that of missing David Hartley?

As reported by KWTX, a grim discovery was found by three local fisherman on Falcon Lake on the Texas-Mexico border. Yes, the same Falcon Lake where Tiffany Hartley stated that her husband, David Hartley, was gunned down and murdered while the two were on their  Jet Skis.  Human remains were found what appeared to be a skull and ribcage on the bank of the dammed section of the Rio Grande. The skeletal remains were found  15 miles from where David Hartley disappeared as told by the initial story of Tiffany Hartley. Could this be David Hartley or just one of many killed by the Mexican drug cartels in the area?

On closer inspection, Jones said, it quickly became obvious they had discovered the remains of a human draped in mud-caked clothing with the feet tied together and appeared to be a hole in the rear of the skull.

“It struck us these were human remains we were looking at,” he said Friday, “and it sends a chill down your spine.”

Jones said the first thing that came to mind was David Hartley, the Texas transplant who was gunned down by pirates on the lake in September 2010.

He said he and his friends took a photo and noted the GPS coordinates and then forwarded information to the U.S. Border Patrol.

One of the fisherman, Alton Jones, posted on his Facebook. Really, he posted on Facebook that he found human remains? Dude, TMI!

Jones posted on his Facebook page, “The fishing on Falcon was great. But unfortunately, our fun was over shadowed when we found a dead body on the Mexican side of the lake. We contacted the border patrol and they are notifying the Mexican authorities with the details. The body apparently had been there for a long time, because all that was left was the skeleton.”

Hmm, according to the report it states that the victims feet were still tied together. Just curious, why would a drug cartel bind an individuals feet together after they had supposedly already shot David Hartley in the head on his Jet Ski?

Tiffany Hartley had stated back on September 30, 2010 that Mexican pirates shot her husband who chased them on speedboats across Falcon Lake. As the search went on for David Hartley, the lead investigator in the case was beheaded.  Obviously the drug cartel who control the area did not want this case solved.

Will this finally provide closure for the family of David Hartley or just add to the body count at the hands of Mexican drug cartels?

UPDATE I: Remains found at Falcon Lake  are not those of missing David Hartley.

She told KUSA-TV in Denver on Monday that test results from the Mexican government show clothing on a human skeleton found at the lake recently don’t match what her husband was wearing, and the skull does not have a bullet wound.

The Dana Pretzer Show On Scared Monkeys Radio – Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 – Special Guests: Robin Sax, Blink from Blink on Crime, Susan Murphy Milano and Joe Turner

LISTEN TO THE DANA PRETZER SHOW ON SCARED MONKEYS RADIO

Tonight Dana welcomes special guests:

• Robin Sax - Former LA County  ADA, Author and NBC News analyst discussing Keeping Grayson Home 
• Crime Blogger Blink from Blink On Crime discussing the death and disappearance of David Hartley on the US-Mexico border at Falcon Lake where Hartley’s wife claims he was murdered by Mexican drug cartel pirates.  
• Susan Murphy Milano - Domestic Violence Expert and Author discussing three domestic violence cases from Oklahoma
• Joe Turner discussing the murder of his daughter Chandra Turner.

Missing & Murdered David Hartley: Lead Mexican Investigator of Falcon Lake Case Rolando Armando Flores Villegas Beheaded

DECAPITATED …

If you thought that the case of missing and presumed murder of American tourist David Hartley could not get any more strange and bizarre, you were wrong. UNREAL!

The lead Mexican investigator of the“missing & murdered” David Hartley case, Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, was beheaded. The Mexican investigators severed head was delivered in a suitcase to the military. It is confirmed, the drug cartels have drawn a line in the sand … leave the area, do not investigate, or die.

Think this is not a message from the drug cartels to the Mexican authorities to cease and desist? Obviously the Zeta drug cartel does not want any one investigating or snooping around in this area as they have sent a clear and present message.

The area is known to be under control of the Zeta drug cartel, which fiercely protects the sparsely populated ranchland lining the border, as well as the Mexican side of the vast Falcon Lake reservoir.

Young said the family felt the cartels were trying to scare search teams away.

“I just think they’re trying to send a statement that they don’t want us there,” she said. “We haven’t really processed what it means.

 Welcome to how things are done in Mexico, ala drug cartel style … who does not want border security again? So you think the violence is overblown on the border and there are no issues. You think that America-Mexico has the movement of drugs handled that are passed into the US? Who is in charge in Mexico? Then again, if one questions these Mexican barbarians and want to protect American citizens, you are called a racist. There is a larger issue here than just a case of a the murder of an American citizen, as if that is not bad enough.

The lead Mexican investigator in the Falcon Lake case, Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, has been killed, his severed head delivered Tuesday in a suitcase to the Mexican military, officials told CNN.

“His head was delivered to the army garrison this morning in a suitcase after he failed to report back home last night,” Zapata County, Texas, Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. said.

A spokesman for the attorney general of Tamaulipas state in Mexico, Ruben Dario-Rios, confirmed the killing Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview.

The report came a day after authorities in the Tamaulipas state attorney general’s office gave conflicting information on whether authorities were pursuing a pair of suspects in the case of David Michael Hartley’s disappearance.

Mexican authorities had previously released the names of two suspects in the death and disappearance of David Hartley.

Mexican Police have Identified Two Suspects (Juan Pedro Saldivar-Farias & Jose Manuel Saldivar-Farias) in Shooting Death of David Hartley on Falcon Lake

Two “persons of interest” named  …

Mexican police have identified two individuals as “persons of interest”in the shooting death of American tourist David Hartley on the US-Mexico border Falcon Lake. The two individuals names suspected in the murder of David Hartly are Juan Pedro Saldivar-Farias, known as “El 27″,  and Jose Manuel Saldivar-Farias, , known as “El31″. However, police have not released a photo of the two suspects.

State police Commander Juan Carlos Ballasteros stated that the two men are from New Guerrero, Mexico,  close to the abandoned town of Old Guerrero where David and Tiffany Hartley were reportedly attack by Mexican pirates.

Tamaulipas State Police Commander Juan Carlos Ballesteros told El Universal newspaper on Saturday that authorities believe Juan Pedro Saldivar-Farias and Jose Manuel Saldivar-Farias killed Hartley.

Ballesteros told the paper that the two men are accused in numerous crimes in Mexico, including burning homes, robbing businesses and several homicides.

If there is no body, is there no crime … Sound Familiar?

This area of the US-Mexican border hardly seems like a safe vacation spot that would be endorsed by travel agents as it was reported that Mexican soldiers reportedly killed six gunmen Thursday afternoon, in the same area where Hartley went missing.

One question that comes to mind in the naming of these people of interest, what is the rational behind it? Is this the rounding up of the usual suspects in Mexico or do authorities have sunstantial facts as to why to point the finger at these two?