"Lake Pirates"

In My Humble Opinion
1

http://www.denverpost.com/latin/ci_16226060?obref=obinsite

True story or the next Susan Smith?

In short, a Texas woman says that she and her husband were jet-skiing on a lake that straddles the Mexico-U.S. border, and three boats of “Lake pirates” approached them, shot her husband in the back of his head, but let her go.

On the one hand, these lake pirates do exist, and are tied to violent drug traffickers, but on the other, her story has some serious flaws.

Her husbands body has not been found and neither has the jet-ski. He was wearing a life vest, so presumably his body would float for a period of time. I suppose the pirates could conceivably had gone back and retrieved the body and jet-ski and taken them back to Mexico, but Mexican authorities are questioning her story. She says she can’t describe any of the men, even though they were ten feet away from her.

She went on the morning news shows today and her husband’s family was by her side, but she seemed to be playing a part to me. OTOH, if she killed him, she wouild have had to do it discretely, dump the body and get rid of the jet-ski that belonged to him.

It’s just speculation, but I’m guessing that the jet ski is going to turn up in Texas, either bought on Craigslist or found in a remote location. I’m guessing Susan Smith all the way.

Here’s some video from this morning.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/today_show_asks_tiffany_hartley_did_you_have_anyth.php?ref=fpb

2

The first article says she escaped, not that she was let go.

It could be made up, but the article doesnt sound particularly implausible, other than the body not being found.

Presumably they took the jetski, and the person may have been partially undressed while they were looking for loot, so I wouldnt take it as a given it would be floating. They also said they were only searching the US side of the lake, so it could simply be on the other side given it supposedly happened there.

“U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Narcizo Ramos said he didn’t know whether Mexican authorities were searching their side.”

Edit: 10 feet and escaping rifle fire does seem a bit implausible but stress can mess with perception a fair bit. OK and on the second article she said they let her go. It does sound odd.

Otara

3

If that had happened to me the last place you would find me would be on some talking head’s news show. Criminy!

4

I called shenanigans immediately. Things do not add up here and I doubt it will be very long before we know the score.

5

Yeah, I’m thinking the same thing. This lake has been in the news a lot since the new year, and it seems like a good way to dispose of someone.

6

If I were in charge of this, I’d be pursuing two lines of investigation - checking on “lake pirates” and checking if the wife did it.

But not lupus. It’s never lupus.

7

According to the story they were visiting a submerged church on the Mexican side. It looks like it’s over a mile one way to this church from the opposite shore. How far do people normally travel on jet skis?

8

I was looking at it wrong. It appears to be over 5 miles one way and deep into Mexican water.

9

Hmmm, wonder if the wife also beheaded the Mexican investigator and stuffed his head in a suitcase today

10

Well, naturally. Doing so would deflect some of the suspicion off of her.

11

You’re assuming that the beheading is related to this case. In point of fact, uncorrupted Mexican police officers have a beheading rate of about 20% per month.

12

Why would drug traffickers kill random Americans? My understanding was that most of the drug-related violence in Mexico was directed towards rival gangs, police, government officials, etc - the idea is to deter encroachments upon territory or enforcement of drug laws. Of course there are plenty of people who get caught in the cross-fire, and the people doing this stuff are deeply evil men - but what objective is served by deliberately targetting these folks?

13

20%? Are they getting them fro the same places they find Iraqi Suicide Bombers and Iranian Police Trainees? What percentage are uncorrupted?

14

The story does have a lot of holes. Where is the jetski? Why would Mexican drug gangs attack these people.
Of course, it is possible that they saw something they shouldn’t have seen. But has anyone enquired about the life insurance situation?

15

To be honest, I’m not sure where I got that number from, but here’s a news article which suggests that it’s an underestimate.

16

“Well, Mrs. Hartley, the policy does say it will pay triple indeminty if death occurs while doing jetski tricks in Mexican waters whilst attacked by pirates. I guess we’ll just have to pay out…”

17

Back when Digg used to exist, this is exactly what always frustrated me about the pro-marijuana-legalization people’s idea that legalization would make the drug gangs go away. (Oh, and I support legalization, and I only mention this lest someone think my perspective is influencing my logic.)

The short version is, “narco gangs” aren’t only into narco traffic. They’re into kidnapping, corrupting local authorities, robbery, extortion, carjacking, and all kinds of other, unpleasant business. Certainly the turf wars only intentionally target other gangs and the police/military, but the poorer henchmen go after other crimes of opportunity. So this case wasn’t just a random murder of an American, it was a robbery.

Now how is a drug gang organized? It’s run like any business, with inside- and outside-sales, material planning, logistics, product development, security, lobbying, and so on. You have a board and CEO at the top, upper management, middle management, and people on the ground, for each of these activities. The guys on the ground, they’re poor. Maybe they’ve decided to work for the organization because it’s better than being illegal in the USA. Maybe they’re being forced into it because their families are threatened. Maybe third cousin Javier is doing it, the money is okay, so this guy will do it, too. Once you’re in the organization, it’s pretty tough to maintain any morals you’ve had, so you lose them. Oh, and the organization isn’t paying you enough, but you know they’ve got your back, so now you’ll supplement your income by kidnapping an actor’s daughter. Of course, you have to pay a little tribute to the organization that has your back. And if the kickbacks are big enough, maybe it becomes an official sideline of the gang’s upper management.

Really, Mexican drug traffickers aren’t just about drugs.

18

What did they steal, the jetski?

19

The footage of her clearly shows that she’s having trouble hiding her smiles. That doesn’t mean that she killed him, but she’s definitely not grieving his loss. Also, if you look at the pictures of them together, his arms are around her but she’s never holding on to him. She’s always got her arms at her sides or crossed. He appears blissfully unaware that she’s pulling away.

20

Perhaps she said that she wanted to shoot a famous church in Old Guerrero and he drastically misunderstood. Maybe he even tried to stop her and bravely put the back of his head in her way. Twice.
“…another marital mis-communication related death in the news today…”