U.S. and Mexican authorities say a Mexican state police commander investigating the reported shooting and disappearance of an American tourist on a border lake plagued by pirates has been killed.

Tamaulipas (TAHM-uh-LEE-pus) state prosecutor’s office spokesman Ruben Rios said Tuesday that Commander Rolando Flores, the head of state investigators in the border city of Ciudad Miguel Aleman, was killed. Rios did not say how Flores was killed but said his slaying was unrelated to the investigation into the reported slaying of American David Hartley.

However, U.S. authorities say threats from drug gangs who control much of the area have hampered the search for Hartley’s body.

Hartley’s wife, Tiffany, says her husband was shot by pirates as they were jetskiing from Mexico to the U.S. on Falcon Lake on Sept. 30.

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