• Home
• U.S.

(CBS/AP)  Updated 3:07 p.m. ET

An air and water search is on for the American tourist reportedly shot dead on a border lake by Mexican pirates, authorities there said Thursday, two days after Texas Gov. Rick Perry called for a more action.

Ruben Rios, spokesman for prosecutors in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, said the search began Wednesday but was suspended in the evening because of bad weather. He said it resumed Thursday morning.

"We have people looking by air and in the lake but so far they have found nothing," Rios said.

The Mexican Foreign Relations Ministry said Wednesday they had been coordinating a search "from the first moment" Tiffany Hartley reported her husband was shot last week as they rode Jet Skis across Falcon Lake, which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border. But Rios's comment suggests the search didn't begin until after Perry called Mexican authorities late Tuesday.

Police: Witness Supports Lake Pirate Chase
Mexico Lake Pirate Shooting Story Questioned
PICTURES: Tiffany and David Hartley

Perry urged Mexican authorities to have Calderon call him within 48 hours to update him on the hunt for David Hartley's body.

Rios said Tamaulipas authorities have not opened an investigation into Hartley's death because they don't have a formal complaint. He said they were helping with the search, with U.S. authorities, as a courtesy to Zapata County, Texas, officials.

"There isn't a complaint, there isn't a body, we don't have anything to go on and open an investigation," he said.

Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez has said he called the Mexican consulate on Sept. 30 to report the incident.

Tiffany admitted on "The Early Show" that there is no evidence of a crime because she doesn't know the state of her husband's jet ski -- because it hasn't been found -- and her jet ski doesn't have any bullet holes.

However, she added a witness has come forward that says she was being chased.


At a Thursday campaign event in Houston, Perry said he wasn't satisfied with the Mexican response. He said he believed the search was suspended Wednesday evening because of fears of drug cartels in the area, a claim Rios flatly denied.

"I don't think we're doing enough. When you call off the search the way they did ... and give as the reason because the drug cartels are in control of that part of the state, something's not right," Perry said.

Drug war violence has spread in the last few months from Ciudad Juarez, the epicenter of Mexico's drug war across from El Paso, Texas, to the Gulf Coast region of Mexico, including Tamaulipas state where Hartley reportedly disappeared. Two drug gangs, the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas, are battling for supremacy there and fighting the Mexican military.

Falcon Lake is a dammed section of the Rio Grande, 25 miles long and 3 miles across, that has been plagued by pirates who rob boaters and fisherman who wander into Mexican waters. Texas officials have warned fisherman and boaters to avoid the lake. Hartley's death would be the first killing there.

The Hartley family has said Mexican authorities are not doing enough to find their relative's body. U.S. authorities are unable to investigate Hartley's disappearance because it happened in Mexico, although Rios said Americans were aiding in Thursday's search.

"Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez said American police are getting involved, but on the Mexican side, they're saying they wouldn't stand a chance.

"They would be outgunned," Rodriguez said, adding, "Is that discouraging to you? Do you feel they might not be as likely to search because they're afraid?"

Tiffany said, "It is discouraging, yes. They need more manpower and they are asking for more people to come and help them. Currently, right now, we think they have like 40 people or so, we're don't really know for sure how many, but they are probably outnumbered, so we do need -- they do need to get more people to help them."

"As long as David's not home, enough hasn't been done," said his mother, Pam Hartley.

Tiffany Hartley has said she and her husband were sightseeing when he was shot in the head by three men chasing them in speedboats and that he fell off his Jet Ski and into the lake. Game wardens escorted her and several relatives members out onto Falcon Lake to lay a large wreath of orange and yellow flowers in the water Wednesday.

Tiffany Hartley sat on the side of a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department boat with her hand over her mouth as she watched the wreath float away.

© MMX, CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this repor