>> but it's a question he's had to answer ever since that day in 1993, when 17-year-old jessie misskelley confessed to witnessing this most heinous of crimes. >> damien hollered. said, hey, the little boys came up there. then they tied them up, tied their hands up, they started screwing them and stuff, cutting them and stuff. >> did you actually rape any of these boys? >> no. >> did you actually kill any of these boys? >> no. >> did you see any of the boys actually killed? >> yes. >> he was a vulnerable kid who was in a high pressure situation for a very long time. and he started off saying, i don't know anything about it.

and by the end of it, he had named two other people and himself. >> the two others? jason baldwin and damien echols. when you heard about this confession, what went through your mind? >> well, the very first time i heard about it, they wouldn't even tell me what they were talking about. they brought me into the police station and the head cop comes in and he starts saying, you know, we already know you did it. you may as well tell us what you did. >> jessie, damien and jason were all arrested hours after jessie's confession. >> we all, i think, breathed a sigh of relief that someone was in custody that was being accused of committing the crimes. >> pam hobbs is stevie branch's mother. >> based on what the police told you, they were 100% certain these were the guilty guys. >> uh-huh. and so believing in my justice system and believing that the police who are to protect and

serve i really felt like they had the right ones and i wanted to do something to them. >> what did you want to do? >> i wanted to bash their head up against the wall, kick their face in. i was just so angry. if i could have got ahold of them i think i probably could have shredded them with my bare hands. >> you wanted to kill them. >> i did. >> but while jessie may have confessed, he soon took it back and steadfastly refused to testify against jason and damien. ultimately, jessie was tried separately, and ultimately, it would be his own words that would convict him. >> he hit him with his fist and bruised them up real bad. then jason turned around and hit steve branch. >> okay. >> and started doing the same thing. then the other one took off, michael moore took off running,

so i chased him and grabbed him and hold him. >> jessie's confession was played for the jury at his trial. >> they heard jessie misskelley say, i saw damien and jason do this and when that one boy escaped i caught him and held him. >> on february 4th, 1994, jessie misskelley was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. damien's and jason's trial was next but the case against them was much weaker. >> now, going into the trial of damien and jason, they don't have a confession. they don't have any information, a witness, anybody who says that these boys even knew the victims. >> six months after the child murders in west memphis, arkansas, prosecutors had little evidence against jason and damien. they had jessie's confession but he wouldn't testify against the other two. they did, however, get a big break right here in this lake

behind jason baldwin's home. >> there was an announcement by the prosecutor that he had a hunch that there was a knife in this lake. >> dennis riordan is damien's attorney. >> the hunch, however, turned out to be a situation where they had informed the press to be there because they would discover -- essentially, because we're going to discover the knife in this lake. >> so the state police divers come and go in there and very quickly come up holding in profile a serrated knife, which is what the medical examiner said had been used on one of the boys. >> a damning discovery that made headlines and all but sealed the fates of damien and jason. ♪

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♪ a knife found in a lake, an alleged murder weapon, rumors of satanic rituals and the words of a convicted killer. all of it adding up to an apparent slam dunk in the case against jason baldwin and damien echols. >> any time we would go to court, they were always standing along the walkway when they would lead us into the building, you know, screaming, holding signs.

wishing death on me. >> damien and jason's trial for the murder of three young boys in west memphis, arkansas, began on february 28th, 1994. >> crowds around the courthouse were irate, and they believed these were three kids who, in some kind of ritual involving satan, had murdered and mutilated three 8-year-old boys. >> mara leveritt wrote "the devil's knot, the true story of the west memphis three." she questions the strength of the prosecution's case. >> they had very little to go on and to present to the jury. so they made the decision they were going to say this was an occult slaying and that's why it all happened, because these guys were dabbling in the occult, and they brought in an expert

witness, they said, named dr. dale griffiths. and he was going to be their expert in the occult. >> dennis riordan is damien's attorney. >> this is a man who has a ph.d. from a diploma mill in california parading as an expert in this field when the fbi has looked at this and said this whole satanic thing is utterly unfounded. >> griffiths pointed out that the killings took place over a full moon and that practitioners of satanism wore black. >> i just wore what i liked and the black clothes happened to be what i liked. >> listening to heavy metal, wearing black clothing. >> reading steven king books. >> none of these are crimes. >> they thought they were. to them it may have not been a crime but they were indicators of the type of person who would commit a crime. >> when you say that, i'm sort of detecting a bit of bitterness. >> there is a little. i try not to be.

>> but his bitterness was apparent during the trial. and it cost him. damien didn't exactly help himself on the stand, did he? >> no. no. damien was conceited, arrogant, and he fell into something that is very adolescent. >> you know, when i was a teenager, i really was a smart ass. i always felt like if these people were stupid enough to look at me in that way, then, mess with them. play on their fears, you know? i would have thought it was funny. >> well, just watching you back then, you came across, i think one of the more kind words would be arrogant. >> i was a kid, and i was scared out of my mind, so my strategy for dealing with that fear was to pretend that i wasn't. i don't think there was any way i could have behaved, any way i could have dressed, anything i could have said that would have

changed anything going on in that courtroom. i think they were absolutely determined, no matter what, to convict us of this crime. >> it wasn't just damien's courtroom antics. remember, prosecutors also had that knife found in the lake behind jason baldwin's home. but even this bit of evidence cut both ways. >> i think the knife that was pulled out of the lake is a problem. because it had no providence. there was nothing showing that it related directly to this case in any way other than that it was a serrated knife found in a lake near where one of the defendants lived, and the crime lab had said there was a serrated knife used. other than that, there was nothing. but they made a big deal out of that knife in the trial. >> this knife could have never produced the wounds that we're talking about on these bodies. even the state's pathologist described what it would have taken, if these wounds had been

made by a knife, he said, you know, a practiced surgeon would have had a difficult time doing that. in fact, there is a ready explanation of how this occurred. it's postmortem animal predation. >> animal predation. that means it was possibly animals in that gully that had cut and scratched the bodies of the three little boys. on march 18th, 1994, jason and damien were found guilty of killing stevie branch, christopher byers and michael moore. >> we the jury find damien echols guilty of capital murder. >> getting accused killers off the street was a big, huge, relief to people. and then trying them and convicting them just sealed that relief. >> i feel wonderful at this point. i feel like we've definitely been vindicated in this case. >> now my boy can play and go on about his life in heaven the way it is, and i'll go on with mine the best i can.

>> what are you going to say to your son? >> son, we won. and wait till mama gets there, and we'll have a good time when i get there with you. i'm glad it's over. >> jason was sentenced to life in prison. damien was dealt with even more severely. he was sent to arkansas's death row. >> i was satisfied that they had the right ones in prison, and i was going to go watch damien be injected some day. >> you wanted to go to damien's execution. >> yeah. >> you wanted to see him injected. you wanted to see him die. did you want to say anything to him on that day? >> i just wanted to look at him, tell him to look into my eyes and i hope you see my son. >> hated, reviled, convicted. in the case of west memphis three, justice was served. or was it? what does that dna tell us? >> it tells us that me, jason,

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♪ my conversation with damien echols, a convicted child murderer three times over, was never supposed to happen. he's supposed to be dead.

sentenced originally to die all the way back on may 5th, 1994. why are you still alive? >> over the years, people have paid more and more and more attention to this case. instead of forgetting about it, the attention paid to it has gradually built up. and i think that's why i'm still alive. >> and keeping damien's hope of getting off death row alive is this man. attorney dennis riordan. >> i was immediately very reluctant to get involved in a death penalty case. prosecutors generally will not pursue the death penalty unless they feel the evidence of guilt is overwhelming, and i was stunned to find out that there was not, in my opinion, a single piece of credible evidence in a death case of this man's guilt. >> damien echols, jason baldwin and jessie misskelley, now known as the west memphis three, have all found supporters from all

over the world, including celebrities, like actor johnny depp and rock musician eddie vedder. do you know how rare it is for someone on death row to be set free? >> there are so many things about this case and about my life in general that are against the odds that things like that don't even make me blink anymore. >> and that support has led to hundreds of thousands of dollars for dna testing of a hair found at the crime scene. and that has led to some startling revelations. >> the dna evidence proves there were no sexual assaults. the forensics proves that as well. the material that does exist, all three defendants are eliminated from it. they couldn't have produced it. and on the other hand, there is evidence consistent with a relative or a family member of one of the victims. and it's a hair in one of the ligatures which ties up one of the boys, and that's consistent with terry hobbs, who is the

stepfather of stevie branch, one of the victims. >> but the hair was found on stevie's friend, michael moore. while the dna is consistent with terry hobbs, it is far from conclusive. we've reached out to both terry hobbs and his attorney ross sampson and both have declined to speak. but i did sit down with them in 2007 when the dna results were first announced. is it possible, mr. hobbs, that that was your hair? >> sure. it was his son, steven branch, who was murdered, and he's had to deal with this for the last 15 years. >> is there anything that you feel comfortable telling me? >> you live with this every day. and then to have your friends and neighbors look at you and think, is there something else there? that's -- that hurts.

>> terry hobbs has never been named a suspect in this case. and authorities stand by their convictions. but his ex-wife pam, stevie's mother, doesn't know what to believe anymore. do you believe that any of those three young men are guilty? >> at this point, no, i don't. >> you think three innocent men are behind bars? >> i do. >> do you believe your ex-husband could have done that? >> i don't want to believe that, no. i lived with the man another 14, 15 years after my son and if it came out that he was the one that actually committed this crime, i'm going to fall face first, i know that. but i'll get back up. and that's what scares me about the truth. was he involved? >> pam hobbs may have changed her mind about the west memphis three, but judge david burnett who initially presided over the case has remained unmoved over

any new developments. >> he denied in an evidentiary hearing. he essentially said i don't have to listen to the dna evidence. >> that all changed, however, on november 4th, 2010, when the arkansas supreme court ruled unanimously that a new hearing be held to determine if the west memphis three deserve a new trial. the court ordered that all new evidence, including the dna, must be considered at the hearing. >> i think judge burnett made some erroneous rulings in the original trial, and i can say that because every member of the arkansas supreme court agreed with our position in challenging his ruling, denying an evidentiary hearing on the new evidence. >> but this is as close as we could get to judge david burnett. we came here to osceola, arkansas, where he lives and works. we had arranged to speak to him at his home, but he wasn't there

when we arrived. we came to his office to find the office closed. we spoke to him on the phone and he says that he is not going to be giving any interviews now, unless the prosecutors in the case talk, as well. and they're not talking. the judge says that he believes that there is a circus-like atmosphere around this case, and he's tired of being called the bad judge. we also reached out to the west memphis police department and the original detectives on the case, including chief investigator gary gitchell. they all declined to speak with us. >> these are good kids. >> in the meantime, jessie misskelley's father is hopeful about his son's future. jessie's truck that he used to drive is still under here? >> yep. >> does he know you're keeping it for him? >> yeah. i'll probably have it going by the time he gets out. but i've started on it. tearing it down. >> and like jessie's dad, damien is hopeful but somewhat fearful at the same time.

>> because this time the world is watching. this time, you know, you've got people all over the world paying attention to this case now. so steven king novels and bad teenage poetry aren't going to be enough for them to do this again. but at the same time, i guess it's -- i don't know. i guess if you've been hurt by something, there will always be some part of you that's wary of it, scared of it, that never completely trusts it. >> but one fact remains. three 8-year-old boys are dead, viciously murdered. their families devastated to this day. for them, their sons, there are no second chances. >> that has to be horrifying, to live through something like this, to lose your child, and then, to come to this belief that the police got the wrong guys. >> 18 years later, and i still don't know the truth. i don't feel like i know the truth.

>> now the west memphis three jason baldwin, jessie misskelley jr. and david echols are free men, after pleading guilty to first-degree murder charges. it's a unique plea where they're able to go free and proclaim their innocence, but at the same time they had to acknowledge that prosecutors had the evidence to convict them. prosecutors now say it's case closed. they believe that they did it. but for those who don't, there is that lingering question. if the west memphis three didn't kill those boys, then who did?

♪

>> tonight, a cnn special report. murder in mexico. what happened at falcon lake? it is late afternoon in mcallen, texas. air operations are about to begin. >> there is some areas in mcallen, west of mcallen, southwest border, that are completely out of control, in my opinion. >> captain stacey holland and his team are trying to stop drug smugglers from crossing into the u.s. from mexico.

>> one guy got out -- >> they are also trying to stop the violence of a full-scale drug war from spilling north. are there parts of this border that you would deem basically lawless or run by the cartels? >> absolutely. smack in the middle of this 21st century version of the wild west, two young american, david hartley, and tiffany young, just teenagers when they fell in love. >> we started dating in '98, the summer of '98 and dated for quite a while before we got engaged in 2001 and married in 2002. >> what took so long? >> we were 18. >> they wound up here in the mexican border town of reynosa, just south of mcallen, he was a district manager for an oil

company. >> it was a blessing to our marriage, that is where we truly grew as a couple and had adventures. >> when the hartleys first arrived here, this peaceful town was a perfect place for the young couple to live, but slowly it became more and more violent. there is a war in reynosa, two drug cartels battling for tough, the zetas, a former rogue band, trying to push drugs across the border for decades, killings are constant. tiffany and david hartley learned firsthand, mexican police were not to be trusted. >> for one instance, he was coming home from the bank after cashing our rent check, and police pulled him over, followed him from the bank, pulled him over. and had him step out and punched

him in the face and stole his money. >> david, she says, saw someone get shot on the street. >> did you sense it was getting more dangerous? >> you could. yeah, you could sense it, you hear more about it. >> what did they look like, describe how you could pick out a cartel member. >> their trucks at that time had their name, the cdg, or a "z" on it for the zettas. so they had actually marked their vehicles with their name and who they were. >> david convinced his company to allow him at least to live on the american side of the border in mcallen. soon afterwards, the company told david he was being offered another transfer, back home to colorado. to his mom, that was a blessing. >> they were going to be home that next week. looking for a house. to move into, and we were

excited about them coming home. >> but there was some unfinished business, one last adventure david had long talked about but never got around to. he had heard of a church partly submerged on the falcon lake, on the mexican side, for the couple who loved their jet skis and loved adventure. >> i'm just like okay, let's go see it. >> had they asked, local law enforcement would have warned them about pirates on the lake. had they asked, captain stacey holland would have told them not to go. >> we don't recommend, you know, going into mexican on the side of the lake, it is perfectly within your rights but we just want you to be aware that the threat is out there and it is very real. and you should take it seriously. >> it was a thursday, and david hartley called home. >> they were excited to go have

one last big ride on their jet skis before they came back to colorado, and colorado doesn't have the water, that they have around there. so yeah, one last time to have a good time. >> it is a two-hour drive to falcon lake from mcallen. a trip documented by a traffic stop half way there in a town called rio grande city. >> something looked suspicious, like somebody may be stealing jet skis. >> the trailer had expired tags, troopers let them go with just a warning. but this videotape would become part of the evidence for what was about to happen. >> you come to any strange area on the united states/mexican border, you go to sightseeing as

a tourist, stop in and talk to the locals. find out what is going on in the area. if they had stopped in here and i knew they were going out on jet skis, that is a total no-no. >> up next, jet ski into the heart of a drug war. [ male announcer ] imagine this cute blob is metamucil. and this park is the inside of your body. see, the special psyllium fiber in metamucil actually gels to trap some carbs to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. metamucil. 3 amazing benefits in 1 super fiber. do you mind grabbing my phone and opening the capital one purchase eraser? i need to redeem some venture miles before my demise. okay. it's easy to erase any recent travel expense i want. just pick that flight right there. mmm hmmm. give it a few taps, and...it's taken care of. this is pretty easy, and i see it works on hotels too. you bet. now if you like that, press the red button on top.

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>> along the texas/mexican border, there is little doubt, drugs and human smuggling are big business, very big.

>> their operational plans are very good. and the one thing about these cartels, they're ruthless and violent, but they're not stupid. >> captain stacey holland of the texas department of public safety says his proof is in these videos, captured night after night by the thermal imaging camera mounted underneath his helicopter. over the last few years, there has been more violence, and most disturbing of all to holland, more coordination, look out, even reconnaisance in smuggling. >> one thing you have to understand is how coordinated this is, and what the level of scouting and the organization is. >> these videos of chases at first made no sense. drug runners caught in the u.s. and then racing back to mexico. >> coming up to the river. >> their stolen vehicles being thrown full speed into the rio

grande. at first, law enforcement believed these were desperate attempts to escape. then they began to hear radio traffic. coordinates. >> no, that is a recovery team. >> recovery team right there, activity. >> the cartels even began organizing search and rescue teams. and suddenly, the videos made sense. drug smugglers hurling their stolen vehicles back in the rio grand e were doing it for one reason, to protect their dope. >> they don't mind losing their truck into the river, but at the end of the day if they can recover 2,000 pounds of narcotics that has an estimated street value of 600 to 800,000,

then that is what they are going to do, is protect that. inside mexico, the army has visibly taken over much of the security in border towns. local mexican police who were not corrupted by the cartels are targets of them. thousands killed. and americans have been targets, too. >> you know, i almost think that we're flying over tribal pakistan, the way you describe this area. are you surprised or are you hardened to the fact that most of america doesn't realize this is going on? >> you know, it does amaze me, and maybe it is because i'm exposed to it so much working on the southwest border, but we're in a war. we're in an engagement with an enemy that is like no other enemy that we've faced before. you have to combat these people with some of the same tactics

that they employ on you. so you know, if you asked me ten years ago if we did some of the missions and tactics that we're doing today i would have said absolutely not. >> since 2004, the state department says 200 americans have been killed in mexico, and nearly all caught up in the vicious firefights between rival drug cartels. it is no different, even along this peaceful 28-mile long lake, straddling the u.s./mexican border, two hours north of mcallen. >> we have had along the border shootings. we have had murders, home invasions. burglaries, rapes. all types of crime where -- that is associated with the violence. >> ziggy gonzales was the sheriff of zapata county, texas, and oversaw the hartley investigation.

he has retired since the incident. >> i remember when i first started as a deputy in the '70s where this was used for human trafficking. it has been used forever. >> and lately, even before the hartleys trip to falcon lake, gonzales says a new threat has come up. pirates. >> totally accurate, the definition of piracy is a lot different than what i know it to be. you know, we had one robbery on the lake totally. >> robert speedy collette owns a fishing lodge here says he has been stopped by drug cartels. but also bristles at the mention of drug cartels. he says the area is safe, as long as you know the rules. >> it happened to me. i didn't run.

they boarded, they found out i wasn't a threat and i was released. never robbed. never took a penny from me. they did not. my wallet was in my glove box, i had $1100 in my wallet, my clients were wealthy people, nothing ever happened to them. >> in the air over falcon lake, state highway says that texas was already advising them to be very careful. >> it is just a warning to let people know that this threat is out there and it is very real. and that we have had documented cases of pirating. so it is mainly for situational awareness. and you know, we don't recommend you know, going into mexico on the side of the lake. >> tiffany hartley says she had heard about troubles on falcon lake. but she and david had been there once before, and things were fine. never thought that somehow anything could happen. >> we hadn't heard anything for a while.

and we were just there in august. and enjoyed three or four hours that day on falcon lake. >> after all, it was so sunny. so calm, so perfect for one last ride. >> i told him, please don't shoot, please don't. >> in an instant, tiffany hartley claims she and david were caught in a war zone. >> are you sure that your husband got shot? >> yes, he was hit in the head. he was thrown off the jet ski and i couldn't pick him up to get him on mine. .

david hartley had always been interesting in visiting the sunken church on falcon lake. on thursday morning, 2010, a week before he and his wife would move home to colorado, david decided they would go. >> did you know then what you must know now? that there had been several attacks on that lake that fishermen don't cross into mexico on that lake anymore? >> we did know that there were attacks. we didn't know where they were

exactly. >> you had no worries whatsoever when you took the jet ski? >> no idea. >> and as tragic as this is, what i think i am hearing from you is what the hartleys did was incredibly stupid? >> incredibly. fishing guide and resort owner speedy collet says that his business has taken a beating since the couple took the trip. he insists that fishermen and others are completely safe, as long as they follow the unwritten rules. >> this is not a jet ski lake, there are never jet skis seen here, they come up, show up on a jet ski. they don't see them, and then they try to approach them and stop them because it is a war over there. two cartels fighting each other for control. and they don't stop. they take off running. >> collet agreed to take us to

old guerrero, eight miles into mexico into what he describes as a drug war to show us just how safe it really was. but before he even passed the channel marker dividing the u.s. and mexican border, speedy made us promise not to raise our camera or any suspicion. and told us there is no doubt how jet skiers would look following this same path like drug smugglers. >> only people with jet skis are involved with dope. >> right. >> clearly nervous, collet barely slowed down as we approached the church tiffany and david hartley visited on the 30th. he turned the boat and gave us 30 seconds to take these pictures at the exact spot where tiffany hartley said they had stopped. so this is the last place they came to? the old guerrero church, they took pictures on the front step, according to tiffany hartley and then sat down on this channel. it was about five minutes into

their voyage when they were approached by the boats. in an instant, the man who told us this lake was safe, was again speeding away from mexico 70 miles an hour, the same path the hartleys were on when tiffany said the attacks began. >> there was a boat on the left, two on our right. kind of towards the land. we're kind of in the middle of the lake. and then that is when he motioned that we needed to go. >> did you see something in his eyes that said this could be serious? >> i could just tell by his body language. you know, i saw him and he was just kind of -- we got to go. like this is serious. but he stayed behind and stayed between me and the boats. >> you think protecting you? >> uh-huh.

>> it was now a chase. tiffany says her jet ski was going at least 65 miles an hour. they were racing for the other side, for the u.s., for safety. >> i mean, were you scared? were you frightened at that moment? >> oh, my gosh, yeah. >> you thought, these guys are coming after us? >> uh-huh. >> three boats, closing from two directions but not catching up. tiffany thought they could outrun them until she heard the shots. >> you heard shots? boom, boom, boom? >> you could hear them, you could feel them, you could feel them fly by you until i saw the two next to me. that is when it became really clear how close they were. >> and you saw your husband get shot and thrown from the jet ski? >> yeah. >> tiffany says she circled back as the three boats encircled her. david was face down, she says,

floating when she jumped into the water in a failed attempt to save him. turning him over, she realized there was nothing to save. >> why did you turn around? >> he is my husband, he is my love, he is my life. he is everything to me. and once i saw him flying off, i didn't know where he was shot but i knew he -- it couldn't have been good. and there was no way i was not going to try and help him. >> can i ask you where he was shot? >> in the back of the head, but it came out in the front, the forehead. >> did you know immediately? >> yeah. he wasn't there. he was gone. you know, yelling for help and looking for anybody who could help me. but knowing there was not going

to be anybody. >> but somebody was still there. she claims standing over her, a gunman in one of the boats. >> did you think, this is it? >> uh-huh. i told him, please don't shoot. please don't. >> in a moment of apparent confusion, hartley says she saw her chance to flee. >> the gun would be on me, and then he would take it off and put it back on me. it is like he didn't know what to do with me. do i shoot or do i not? that is when they left to go meet the other boats. >> racing towards the u.s., she passed the boat launch from which she and david had left an hour ago, she spotted a man on the lawn, yelling, asking if he spoke english. that man would help a distraught tiffany hartley place this 911 call. >> are you sure that your husband got shot?

>> yes, he was hit in his head, yeah. >> was he thrown off the jet ski, into the water? >> no, he was thrown off the jet ski and i couldn't pick him up to get him on mine. >> what is your name? >> tiffany hartley. >> when the story broke it was almost unbelievable. americans being fired on? a jet ski chase? a narrow escape and a dead husband whose body has yet to be found? >> when you describe this horrific events, you seem somewhat detached. >> the victim, at least in the eyes of some, was about to come under suspicion.

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>> from almost the very beginning after the attack, tiffany hartley seemed to be everywhere, telling her story. >> i think it would be difficult for anybody in my situation. and you know, i know there has been stories out there before and people questioned. but i know what i know. i know what i saw. >> not only interviews with local television stations but networks, on "the today show". >> how close did these people come to you? ask you describe them to me? >> honestly, look at the barrel was all i saw. >> the cbs morning news. >> we never had the feeling that something was going to happen that day. >> but word came out, even from mexico, that her story was doubted. zapata county sheriff, ziggy gonzales, was the first american law enforcement official to speak with her.

>> it seems something made up. like a story out of the comic books. >> it is hard. >> but tiffany hartley insists on telling her version of what happened, here with cnn's anderson cooper. >> and i know you were meeting with mexican investigators for much of today. did you get the feeling that they believed you or they didn't believe your story? >> no, i do believe that they believe my story. i mean, we had people from the state and then also federal. so everyone has come together to get my statement. and that is why it is taking so long. just so everybody has the statement. everybody can't say that they don't have it. >> and while texas authorities mounted an intensive search for any evidence that could back up her story, tiffany hartley's behavior detached to some, showing little emotion, ramped up gossip and suspicion that somehow she was not telling the truth.

>> i think that there has been a lot of suspicions based on some of her behaviors and interviews she did shortly after the murder of her husband, which raised doubt in people's mind. >> fred burton's firm provides security information for companies worldwide. including information on drug cartels operating along the u.s./mexican border. >> anybody that is an outsider that goes into that area is viewed as either working for another cartel, or a possible informant for a government agency. >> this is the boat ramp right here, this is the area where she came in to seek help. >> the sheriff now trying to investigate a crime in another country, was fending off calls from reporters asking if the hartleys themselves were drug runners. or if david hartley was working with the cartel. speculation began to swirl that tiffany hartley killed her

husband for the insurance money, or even that she was seeing another man. >> people still have a hard time believing you. does that hurt you? >> some days. other days they don't have room to judge. i mean, they don't know me. they don't know my husband. they were not there that day. so really, they have no room to judge me. >> with television and newspaper attention still at viral levels, authorities in texas were trapped. they could dispatch all the boats and helicopters they wanted, but law enforcement in mexico was still in charge. and what happened next in mexico showed just how difficult getting any answers would be. >> one mexican detective did try to find out what happened to david hartley.

but his head was severed from his body. and his decapitated head was delivered to the mexican army here in a border town. >> his name? rolando villegas. his brothers who lived near the church in old mexico. old guerrero, it is unclear if he went looking for him, but only days later after he identified the brothers by name, the detective was dead. a clear warning for any law enforcement not to follow in his foot steps. >> one detective did try. >> we understand that he did try, yes. and -- >> he was executed. >> i asked also if he was perhaps executed because of involvement or trafficking and because of the case. and i was told by the source that they thought he was killed because of his involvement in trying to assist in the investigation of the case.

>> a case gone cold. but new evidence is about to emerge from falcon lake. [ maragno ] if the car was invented today,

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i'm don lemon, here are your headlines this hour, president obama spent the evening pressing his case for military action against syria, the president and vice president joe biden attending a dinner for republican senators who are either undecided or actively opposed to the strike against syria, the president will talk to cnn's wolf blitzer on monday, as well.

tune in at 6:00 eastern in the "the situation room" for that interview.

>> on falcon lake, there has been no sign of david hartley's body. his jet ski, anything that could prove his wife's story, that her husband was shot to death by mexican drug smugglers. the beheading of the one mexican detective willing to at least try to solve the crime has dealt the hartleys another blow. >> you feel right now there is people in mexico, maybe even police in mexico, who wouldn't say what happened to david? >> uh-huh. >> because they're afraid? >> yes. i said if you have threats against your loved ones, if you don't know if they're going to come home, i mean, that is a fear that i can't imagine. i don't want to imagine. that is why it is like this has to stop. >> without any clear answers

from mexico the hartleys have turned to intelligence sources north of the border who can try to explain why the couple was targeted. former intelligence official fred burton has been studying a turf war in mexico between two drug cartels, a former band of military guards called the zetas and the more traditional coast cartel. >> what most people don't realize when you're looking at the border is that there are certain portions that are not controlled by the mexican government. in the area of falcon lake, it was directly controlled by the zetas. and this was a very strong smuggling corridor for them. >> so you believe this was mistaken identity? >> clearly, all evidence indicates this was a case of mistaken identity based on the tactical intelligence i have seen surrounding the case.

>> the most likely scenario is david and tiffany hartley had wandered into a drug war and were mistaken as the enemy. >> zapata county sheriff sigifredo gonzales believes the hartleys had not only wandered into a war but had arrived on the mexican side of falcon lake at the exact moment a cartel was about to move a large amount of marijuana. up on a bluff, the spotters, his sources told him, caught the first glimpse of a possible glitch in the drug deal. >> that area is an area that is notorious for crossing or storing of thousands of pounds of marijuana. we've known that a for a long time. that information is such that i have related it to federal officials, local, i mean state officials, we're all aware that this area is used as an area that they hide tons of marijuana here. >> so based on your sources and

your intelligence, when they began to encroach on what would be a drug deal, they were looked upon as potentially -- >> as threats, as threats. and this is why they were given the instructions to go ahead and shoot at them. >> the sheriff now tells cnn that eyewitnesss have come forward to him, witnesses he says who claim to know what happened that day. they describe a military-style attack. three boats, several shooters and hundreds of rounds being fired at two jet skiers. >> the shot that killed david hartley was an unlucky shot. >> the sheriff now believes the killers were instructed to kill tiffany hartley, too. what happens next, he says, is a scenario he has put together from three witnesses on the mexican side of the lake. one source in mexico and at least one witness who told cnn that he saw a high speed chase on the u.s. side.

a boat chasing a girl on a jet ski. it is clear that one of sheriff gonzales' sources was involved in the attack itself. >> so they were given the instruction to go ahead and shoot and kill her also. but she was able to say. and they also say she was able to get away from us. and we kept shooting her to hit her, but she kept zigzagging across, being chased by a boat across to the u.s. and of course, there is a witness that corroborates that also. >> the eyewitness standing here at the time is too scared to show his face on camera. but he tells cnn that he not only witnessed tiffany hartley on her jet ski, but the boat chasing her right there as they came into the inland, into american water's chasing tiffany hartley almost up until the time she came to shore. >> it is 20 people to be involved, to be a conspiracy,

which is going to be paying people off. >> sheriff gonzales says she believes tiffany's story and his sources and witnesses confirm it. >> you don't believe the hartleys were involved in drugs? >> no. >> you don't believe there is an insurance scam going on? >> where is the body? >> you don't believe that tiffany hartley herself may have executed her husband? >> i don't think so. >> and now, even more evidence tiffany hartley is telling the truth. a surveillance photo taken that very afternoon, an hour after the attack. >> you notice there on the front of the boat, you see the bundles of marijuana there. >> it shows a small boat and a group of men, one with a green shirt. one shirt black, fitting the description given by tiffany hartley. and what gonzales says is a bale of marijuana in the bow. it is information mexican authorities have had since the very first day. >> sheriff, i mean, i got to ask you. is that possible that mexico is

going to find, catch, and adjudicate the killers in what is a lawless part of mexico? >> i really cannot answer that. but i can tell you this. that based on their past record, i think they have a -- somewhat of a zero solvency rate and a zero conviction rate. >> and there is one more piece of evidence. a small blood spot on the life jacket tiffany hartley wore the day she says her husband was shot. the blood is from her husband. >> sheriff gonzales says a dna test confirms it. but even the dna match remains just one more piece of an unsolved puzzle. there is still no body, no jet ski. is tiffany hartley even telling the truth? or is there another secret yet to be told?

>> after all the searching, all the investigation, texas authorities say they could not find the body of david hartley.

>> where is the body? >> the body was disposed of. there is no body. >> this is the international boundary. >> in his office in texas, county sheriff sigifredo gonzales says he knows for a fact that david hartley will never be returned to the united states for burial. >> do you know how? >> yes, four different sources with different agencies have come forward and told us how they disposed of the body. >> those sources say the body of david hartley was placed in a barrel and burned. in colorado where she now lives, tiffany hartley refuses to believe her husband's body will never be returned. >> it has passed my mind, but i'm not willing to accept it in my heart. i know my god. and he is bigger than anyone and anything. and he -- he wants justice just as much.

>> the cold reality, however, seens very different. on her website, bringdavidhome.com, there are plenty of people who still believe she is a suspect. she continues making statements perceived as odd. and what she told me that god was involved in this traffic stop the day david was killed. to help her. >> tiffany, you just said that from that moment i knew god's hand was in our lives that day. >> people probably think that well, how? >> i'm thinking that right now. >> because i believe he had us being pulled over to prove, because he knew that i would be judged. that i would be questioned. that day for what a. >> even though dna proved david's blood was on tiffany's life jacket, questions persist,

where was the camera that they used to take pictures of old guerrero? why wasn't there far more blood evidence? >> the jet ski -- >> the jet ski was also destroyed. it is my understanding that the jet ski was taken apart. the parts that would float were burned and buried afterwards, and the parts that would not, were just floating in the lake. >> sheriff sigifredo gonzales says he believes hartley's story but he may never be able to prove it. david hartley's mother can barely control her emotions. >> what happened to david and tiffany was an act of terror, plain and simple. it was a senseless violence, but it was an act of terror. and that is not going to end at the border. it is over here already. >> and for tiffany herself, it is even more troubling. >> do you think your husband is a victim of -- in a way, politics? >> i would say a victim of

terrorism. of politics. and -- the way of life of mexico. and the politics, i think there is too many connections between u.s. and mexico, too much money going back and forth. >> connections, you mean in a criminal way? >> in a money way. i think it is all the money. >> in the air over border country, captain stacey holland says the financial stakes are so high for the drug cartels that money takes precedence over everything else. >> so what the state is faced with and the nation, really, is an aggressive narcotics smuggling ring or cartels, their interest lies in their inventory, and that is what they're going to do, is anything to protect their inventory. >> and that includes the cartel,

inflicting its own investigation and its own brand of justice. security expert fred burton has followed the case closely. >> it is my understanding that the individuals that were involved with the killing of mr. hartley were in essence picked up and killed by the zetas themselves. >> the killers were killed? >> correct, the killers were killed by the organization because remember, this is bad for business. >> if the killers are dead, tiffany hartley may never be able to prove what happened. she knows how many people still don't believe her story. that she and david were just sightseeing, that she tried to save him. that she outran boats with gunmen firing at her. in interviews she remains

unemotional. that, too, in the eyes of many has made tiffany hartley suspect. >> people don't see me at night when i go to bed. they don't see me in the mornings when i'm waking up. >> what would they see? >> every night i miss my husband. and i -- i miss laying next to him and kissing him good night. >> and for tiffany hartley, those are the kinds of memories that will last far beyond the questions and speculation that have followed her since that fateful day on falcon lake. >> i want my why to be answered. and i know i'm never going to know why until the day i can ask god.

>> here, in the midwest, several young girls went missing. some were found murdered. others were never found at all. laurie depies, 20, in appleton, wisconsin, rayna rison, 16, from michigan. wendy felton, 16, from indiana, michelle dewey