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Falcon Lake Update: Texas Gov. Calls On U.S., Mexican Presidents to Find Missing American

Falcon Lake Update: Texas Gov. Calls On U.S., Mexican Presidents To Find Missing American Tourist
David Michael Hartley, right, believed shot by Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake. (Personal Photo) Personal Photo

AUSTIN, Texas (CBS/AP) Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon need to have a meeting geared toward helping in the search of David Hartley, the American tourist who was reportedly shot to death near the U.S.-Mexican border last week.

PICTURES: Tiffany and David Hartley

"How many more American citizens have to die?" Perry told The Associated Press.

Mexican authorities have been highly scrutinized as days pass in the search for 30-year-old David Hartley who is believed to have been shot Sept. 1 by Mexican pirates on Falcon Lake, located about 60 miles from Laredo.

"Frankly, these two presidents need to get together with their secretaries of state and say, 'What are we going to do about this?'" said Perry.

Perry also said he spoke Tuesday to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's chief of staff and once again made his request for an additional 1,000 National Guard troops on the Texas-Mexico border, a request that has repeatedly been denied.

Hartley's wife, Tiffany, of Milliken, Colorado claimed she and her husband were riding personal watercrafts back from Mexico on Falcon Lake last week when gunmen in three speedboats approached them and opened fire.

Though it is unclear what exactly happened to Hartley, Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he was apparently shot when the couple attempted to flee after they spotted the boaters. His wife was not hurt and reportedly tried circling back to pull her husband from the water, but she was forced to speed away to U.S. waters after the gunmen opened fire again.

However, over the past few days, Mexican authorities in Tamaulipas State have questioned the accuracy of Tiffany's story.

The district attorney in charge of the case, Marco Antonio Guerrero Carrizales, told newspaper The McAllen Monitor that officials "are not certain that the incident happened the way that they are telling us."

Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, the Tamaulipas State Police commander overseeing the search for David Hartley, also told the paper on Monday that no one near the lake reported hearing gunshots or the sound of anyone on a Jet Ski.

The Hartley family has complained that Mexican authorities are not doing enough to find Hartley's body. Dennis Hartley, the alleged victim's father, is frustrated with the progress of finding his lost son.

"I don't think anything right now is being done," he said. "I don't think at this time Mexico is really doing anything."

Perry said he has asked Mexico's president to call him within the next 48 hours to say that Hartley's body has been found. U.S. authorities are unable to investigate Hartley's disappearance because it happened in Mexico.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF FALCON LAKE SHOOTING ON CRIMESIDER

ALSO ON CRIMESIDER

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