Enlarge By Eric Gay, AP Tiffany Hartley, center, and family members lay a wreath Wednesday near the site where she says her husband, David Hartley, was shot last week on Falcon Lake in Zapata, Texas. Gov. Rick Perry AP The search broadened for the body of an American whose wife said he was shot to death by Mexican pirates while sightseeing on a lake along the U.S.-Mexican border, despite a threat of drug cartels, U.S. officials said. 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. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said the search was halted temporarily as Mexican officials "worried about being ambushed" by drug gangs. He said Mexican searchers are "doing this under threat of their lives." MORE: Mexico joins search for man in Jet Ski case Sigifredo Gonzalez, sheriff of Zapata County, Texas, said the area is a stronghold of the Zeta drug gang. Gonzalez said he sent word to Zetas that he wants the body returned and has no plans to prosecute. "We just want a body," Gonzalez said. "We cannot arrest anybody for what happened in Mexico. ... I did send word to the drug cartel, the Zeta cartel in Mexico, I sent word to them unofficially. I can't tell you how, but I sent word to them." The Mexican Foreign Relations Ministry said Wednesday that it had been coordinating a search "from the first moment" Tiffany Hartley reported that her husband, David, was shot Sept. 30 as they rode Jet Skis from the Mexican side of Falcon Lake. "We have people looking by air and in the lake, but so far they have found nothing," Rios said. He said Tamaulipas authorities have not opened a criminal investigation because they don't have a formal complaint. He said they were helping U.S. authorities with the search as a courtesy Cuellar released briefing papers that said U.S. consular officers had accompanied Tiffany Hartley to the Mexican Consulate in McAllen, Texas, to file a complaint. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, said Thursday at a re-election campaign event in Houston, "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." Ricardo Alday, spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said, "We're not going to prejudge an investigation, but we're going to do our best to try to solve this and bring to justice whoever is responsible." The incident occurred about 7 miles from the U.S. border in a cove, and activity there is not easily seen from the U.S. side, Mange said. Hartley said she was disheartened by comments from Mexican officials suggesting she was lying about how her husband died. "I know what I know," she said. "I know what I saw." Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more