Jenni Rivera's tragic 2012 death may have been the result of an alleged confrontation between the Mexican-American singer and drug lord Édgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal, El Diario de Coahuila said based on an unspecified "new line of investigation."

Around 2009, Rivera allegedly had performed on multiple occasions for the known trafficker, the newspaper noted. Valdez was arrested near Mexico City in mid-2010 on charges related to large-scale drug trafficking with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful criminal organizations.

According to El Diario de Coahuila, the "Diva de la Banda" had threatened Valdez after an earlier altercation, and the drug lord may have suspected that Rivera was involved in providing information that led to his capture.

The plane crash in which the singer died near Iturbide, in Mexico's Nuevo León state, on Dec. 9, 2012, meanwhile, may not have been accidental but planned by a Valdez associate in San Pedro Garza García, the newspaper speculated.

A cartel representative approached Rivera and other artists who had performed at the Monterrey Arena, El Blog del Narco noted based on unidentified "sources close to the investigation" -- a fact that seemed to underline the suggestion of a possible Valdez order to "execute Jenni Rivera precisely in the territory" close to the the capital and largest city of Nuevo León.

Despite frequent accusations to the contrary, Rivera, for her part, had always denied ties to Mexico's drug cartels, La Opinión recalled. Shortly before her death, she told the Los Angeles-based newspaper that she never agreed to any private performances.

"No, there is no need," she said. "Look what happened to Ramón Ayala; is there any need?" she added in an apparent reference to the norteño and conjunto star who had been caught up in a raid at a drug cartel party in 2009.

Rivera's marriage to Juan López, the singer's second husband, also fueled speculation about her relationship with the drug trade after López was sentenced for trafficking in 2007, the newspaper noted. Her ex-husband died in mid-2009, six years after the couple had separated, according to People en español.