McALLEN, Texas -- Tiffany Hartley said her hopes turned to frustration after officials denied press reports that police had zeroed in on the men behind her husband's Falcon Lake slaying. Several news agencies reported Sunday that Mexican state police had identified two known 'pirates' on the lake as suspects in the alleged killing of David Michael Hartley. But by Monday, the reports had been discounted. 'It's real up and down. It's a roller coaster,' Tiffany Hartley said, beginning another round of media appearances. Initially fearful of speaking publicly, Hartley and her in-laws now say they hope to make her husband's death a wake-up call to the drug war along the U.S.-Mexico border. According to Tiffany Hartley, David Hartley was shot in the head by gunmen on Sept. 30, when the two rode their personal watercraft to view a sunken town on the Mexican side of the binational reservoir. After trying in vain to lift David onto her watercraft, she fled back to U.S. waters, the gunmen firing bullets as they trailed behind her. The search for David Hartley's body has been hampered by jurisdictional issues and the drug war. U.S. officials say they are unable to cross the border. Mexican officials have vowed to assist, but say they risk their lives because that side of Falcon is known turf for drug cartel smuggling. The search has also been shadowed by wide suspicion that Tiffany Hartley made the story up. She said she hoped a Texas Department of Public Safety video showing the couple getting stopped for an expired tag the morning of the incident, as well as a report that Border Patrol agents saw the couple at a Subway restaurant eating lunch, would help convince naysayers. 'Me being a Christian and believing in God, I believe He lined all that up, He lined up the traffic stop, He lined up us going to Subway and having the Border Patrol there so my story would be supported by events that happened,' she said. Hartley's family initially shied away from the media, but broke their silence because nothing seemed to be getting done. 'I really believe that in the beginning they were trying to shove it under the rug,' said Tiffany Hartley's mother, Cynthia. 'We feel like the country needs to know what happens here on the border..... David died for a bigger reason.' Their attempts to draw attention have worked. Three congressmen and a host of other officials joined local sheriffs in a press conference on Thursday, and Mexico's ministry on foreign affairs said Friday the government was intensifying its search. Tiffany Hartley said she won't settle for sham arrests to make the attention go away or return to the couple's native Colorado until the body is returned. 'If the suspects are true and they're able to tell us . . . where David is, great. But I don't want just two random guys,' she said. 'Honestly, I don't even care to have justice right now. All I want is David back.' 