MEXICO CITY – Authorities in Mexico's Tamaulipas state say they are coordinating with U.S. law enforcement to launch an investigation into the killing of American missionary Nancy Davis.
State Attorney General spokesman Ruben Dario Lopez says Mexico will investigate the assault on the couple as they tried to avoid an illegal roadblock while driving in Tamaulipas, as well as the gunshot that killed 59-year-old Davis.
But Lopez said Friday the state is not investigating a murder because Davis died in the U.S.
Her husband Sam Davis frantically drove his bleeding wife for help, crossing the wrong way on an international bridge into Texas, where she later died.
The assault occurred Wednesday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
MONTE ALTO, Texas (AP) — Sam and Nancy Davis had taken their missionary work to Mexico for 30 years, but relatives say the Texas couple recently put off trips because of spiraling drug cartel violence. Nancy even stopped making some of those trips because of the risks.
"But for some reason Nancy went in (on Wednesday) and did not come out" alive, Francille Davis said a day after her daughter-in-law died of a gunshot wound to the head following an attack in one of Mexico's most violent areas.
Nancy Davis, 59, was shot as her husband tried to speed away from suspected drug cartel gunmen who may have wanted to steal their pickup truck, authorities said. Sam Davis frantically raced to the Pharr International Bridge border checkpoint with his wife bleeding beside him, but she was declared dead at a McAllen hospital.
The couple was well aware of the dangers they faced, and their son said his mother often text-messaged after crossing the border to let him know they arrived back safely.
"It would be easier to count the times they weren't chased," Joseph Davis told The Associated Press on Thursday outside his family's home in the remote South Texas town of Monte Alto.
Francille Davis told the AP that her son and daughter-in-law were in Mexico Wednesday to pay pastors in some of the village churches the family had established. She said the drug war had prevented Sam from reaching the churches earlier in the month.
"Sam had gone in and there were dead bodies all over the place," Francille recalled.
The Davises were driving along the two-lane road that connects the city of San Fernando with the border city of Reynosa, about 70 miles north, when they came upon an illegal roadblock, an official in Mexico's Tamaulipas state attorney general's office told the AP. The official would not be identified because he is not authorized to discuss the case.
The area where the couple was attacked is dominated by the Gulf Cartel, which has been waging a fierce turf war in northeastern Tamaulipas with the Zetas cartel for control of lucrative smuggling routes to the U.S. The area has had 40 violent car thefts in the last two months, the official said.
Sam Davis told U.S. investigators that he tried to speed away from the gunmen, and that they gave chase in a pickup truck and opened fire, hitting his wife.
Pharr police said the couple's 2008 Chevrolet pickup is the kind of heavy-duty, high-profile truck prized by cartels, and that it's likely the reason the Davises were targeted. Damage to the truck's quarter-paneling suggests the gunmen tried to ram them, Pharr police Chief Ruben Villescas said.
Wednesday's killing echoes the September attack on American tourist David Hartley and his wife on Falcon Lake, on the U.S.-Mexico border. Tiffany Hartley said she and her husband were Jet-Skiing in Mexican waters when pirates fired on them, striking her husband and forcing her to flee. His body was not recovered.
"I just thank God that he was able to get back across the border with her," Hartley told the AP.
Concerns about the investigation into David Hartley's death led Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call for a stronger response from Mexican authorities. On Thursday, Perry's spokeswoman, Katherine Cesinger, said Nancy Davis' slaying underscores the need for greater border security.
There were conflicting reports about exactly where along the road the attack occurred. Pharr police said it happened near San Fernando, but the Tamaulipas official said it happened about seven miles south of Reynosa.
Tamaulipas is one of three Mexican states that accounted for 50 percent of the country's more than 15,000 killings last year, according to the Mexican government.
The Mexican government in November sent more troops and federal police there in what it called a major operation to control drug violence, but drug gangs still roam freely in caravans of SUVs and trucks, attacking rivals, terrorizing locals and in some cases emptying entire towns.
Merton Rundell III, a friend of the Davises and the director of finance at Union Bible College in Indiana, said the couple spent 80 to 90 percent of their time in Mexico and had a home in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. He said they spent the rest of their time at their home in McAllen or traveling the U.S. raising funds for Gospel Proclaimers Missionary Association, the organization they founded.
"They loved the work they were doing in spite of the danger," Rundell said.
Rundell described Nancy Davis as "a petite lady with a drive like you wouldn't believe. She lived life to the fullest. They were both totally given to (their work)."
Joseph Davis said his mother loved music, and could compose songs and lyrics in minutes. But he said she loved the work she did most of all.
"Time after time, what made her the happiest was seeing somebody hit their knees and come up forgiven for whatever they've done — murder, rape, the smallest sin," Joseph Davis said. "She'd come home so happy. She'd say, 'Well, we stole another one from the devil today.'"
AP – The Pharr International Bridge is seen, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, in Pharr, Texas. A U.S. missionary … .By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Paul J. Weber, Associated Press – 28 mins ago PHARR, Texas – An American missionary couple who were allegedly attacked by gunmen in a dangerous part of Mexico may have been targeted for their expensive pickup truck, because drug gangs covet the vehicles, police said Thursday.
Damage to the 2008 Chevrolet pickup truck that Sam Davis frantically drove against traffic across a border bridge Wednesday with his bleeding wife next to him suggests that another vehicle tried to run the couple off the road, Pharr police Chief Ruben Villescas said Thursday.
Nancy Davis was pronounced dead at a McAllen, Texas, hospital more than an hour after her husband reached the Pharr International Bridge border checkpoint. Her husband told investigators that that he and his wife were driving near the city of San Fernando, about 70 miles south of the Mexican border city of Reynosa, when gunmen in a pickup truck tried to stop them. When the Davises sped up, the gunmen fired, shooting Nancy Davis in the head.
Pharr said Nancy Davis was struck in the head by a bullet that shattered her vehicle's back window.
Authorities say the couple's heavy-duty truck is the kind prized by criminal organizations in Mexico, and similar to ones Pharr police say they can often single out as stolen before the vehicles are driven across the border.
"Driving that type of truck is an eye-catcher," said Pharr police Sgt. Ray Lara, who routinely patrols bridge traffic. "We figure maybe they don't bother the church people. But they want those trucks."
Lara described the truck as so conspicuous that he remembers seeing the couple drive it across the bridge several times. He believed the couple may have used the truck — which he estimated to be worth about $50,000 — to bring supplies into Mexico for their missionary work.
An autopsy on Davis, 59, was scheduled for Thursday. Pharr police chief Ruben Villescas said he planned to speak with Mexican investigators on Thursday, and that police interviewed Sam Davis into the night Wednesday.
Villescas wouldn't reveal where Sam Davis was Thursday or details about his church, citing the need to protect his family from criminal organizations who he said might now be after him.
"They were Christian warriors," Villescas said of the couple.
Wednesday's shooting echoes the disappearance and suspected slaying in September of an American tourist, David Hartley, while he was Jet-Skiing with his wife on a border lake. Tiffany Hartley said Mexican pirates attacked them and shot her husband while they were fleeing. His body was not recovered.
"I don't know them, but my heart breaks for them," Tiffany Hartley said of the Davises.
Concerns about the investigation into David Hartley's death led Texas Gov. Rick Perry to call for a stronger response from Mexican authorities. On Thursday, Perry's spokeswoman, Katherine Cesinger, said Nancy Davis' slaying underscores the need for greater border security.
"How many Americans are going to have to die for the federal government to pay attention and realize they need to secure the border," she said.
Villescas said Mexican authorities contacted by his department confirmed that Wednesday's shooting happened near San Fernando. The area is heavily controlled by the Zetas drug cartel and is one of Mexico's most dangerous. It is the same area where 72 Central and South American migrants were found slain in August, a massacre blamed on the Zetas.
A friend of the couple said the two spent 80 percent to 90 percent of their time in Mexico and had a home in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon. The rest of the time they were in Texas and traveling across the U.S. raising funds for Gospel Proclaimers, the organization they founded.
"They've been working in Mexico for over 30 years," Merton Rundell III, the director of finance at Union Bible College in Indiana, told The Associated Press on Thursday. "It was mainly establishing churches — that was their main thrust.
"They loved the work they were doing in spite of the danger," Rundell said. "Yes, they were aware (of the dangers)."
Rundell, who has known Sam Davis since the two attended a Bible college in Florida together in the mid-70s, said he had spoken to Sam Davis since the shooting.
"It's still kind of hard to fathom," Rundell said. "I know it's happened but I guess the reality of it hasn't hit me yet."
Rundell described Nancy Davis as "a petite lady with a drive like you wouldn't believe. She lived life to the fullest. They were both totally given to it (missionary, teaching and evangelistic work)."
The Mexican Interior Ministry released a statement expressing condolences over Davis' death. It said Mexican authorities were investigating but provided no further details. Officials at the Tamaulipas state attorney general's office in Mexico could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Alexander Featherstone said the embassy was trying to contact Mexican authorities about the case. He could provide no other information.
___ Associated Press writers Terry Wallace and Linda Stewart Ball in Dallas, and Alexandra Olson in Mexico City contributed to this report.
