Ariz. sheriff criticized for rush to tie deaths to border

An Arizona sheriff was quick to blame Mexican cartels for the grisly deaths of five people in a case that suburban Phoenix law-enforcement authorities are convinced is a murder-suicide unrelated to the bloody drug war south of the border. For more than three days after a torched Ford SUV was discovered in Pinal County's remote Vekol Valley, a well-known drug- and immigrant-smuggling corridor, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu repeatedly linked the deaths to Mexican drug violence. Babeu, a Republican who rose to prominence as a border-security hawk, even took a politically charged swipe at Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "All information is pointing that this is connected to the violent drug cartel smuggling in this high smuggling area," Babeu said Saturday via his Facebook page. "The border is NOT more secure than ever Ms. Napolitano!" Through Tuesday, Babeu and his office continued to draw a connection between the five deaths and drug-cartel smuggling violence, even after receiving information from Tempe, Ariz., police Monday that seemed to shift the focus of the investigation to a missing family whom Tempe police suspected may have died in a murder-suicide incident...more