Mexico - Elisabeth Mandala, 18, beaten to death, Nuevo Leon, 27 April 2010

SUGAR LAND, Texas – A Sugar Land teen was killed over the weekend while traveling in Nuevo Laredo, according to the Fort Bend County ISD.

Elisabeth Mandala, 18, was a senior at Kempner High School.

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http://www.khou.com/news/local/Fort-Bend-ISD-senior-dies-in-Mexico--92786044.html


not much info on this yet but i can certainly say i would never let my kid anywhere near mexico these days

I wouldn't go near Mexico either. What a strange story. One of the men killed along with her was 38 and the other's age was unknown. I wonder if she even knew these men?

tk71texas said:

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Fort-Bend-ISD-senior-dies-in-Mexico--92786044.html


not much info on this yet but i can certainly say i would never let my kid anywhere near mexico these days

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Heck no I wouldn't be anywhere near Mexico even if you paid me. I wouldn't want my mother, grandmom, Uncle or anyone else there right now. However, in all fairness the article states she went without her parents permission. There'd been a time I'd have said "Where are these parents. Where do they think the kid was?" Then I had a kid turned 17 and found out real quick they'll try and get away with anything.

It's sad. This is a young girl. An entire life ahead of her. Very shifty though she was in the company of two adult men.

Prayers for this little girl. No young person should be murdered for making a mistake.

Seems to me she was there looking for trouble, seems like she found it.

I LOVE Mexico!

There are just some areas ya need to stay out of....just like here in the USA.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/23453989/detail.html

According to milenio.com, Mandala was killed and her body found in a crashed truck in the city of Mina, Mexico.

Mexican authorities reportedly said that Dante Ruiz Siller, 38, and Luis Angel Estrella, both of Mexico City, were also killed and found in the truck. Authorities said that Siller had false documents on him.

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what a beautiful young lady.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6989743.html

Mandala, a senior at Kempner High School, had been reported missing by her mother last week, Houston police said. She was last seen leaving her parents’ home in the 10100 block of Synott last Tuesday in a rental car, according to the Houston Police Department missing persons report. Mandala’s mother reported her missing around noon on Saturday, said Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties.

Just a few hours earlier, Mandala had been found dead by authorities in Mexico in what first seemed to be a normal crash — a speeding pickup that slammed into a semi-tractor trailer on the highway to Monclova, just west of Mina, according to a Mina police official interviewed by the Chronicle.

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more at the link.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/100504-sugarland-high-school-teen-killed-in-mexico

No one seems to know for sure why Elisabeth Mandala, 18, was in Mexico, but according to Houston Police the family had their fears.

HPD spokesman John Cannon says Mandala's mother told police her daughter may have gone to Mexico to learn how to smuggle undocumented immigrants into the United States.
Students say Mandala was a popular senior at Kempner and looking forward to graduating. Last Wednesday, she posted on her Facebook page, "I'm in Mexico. I'll be back Thursday."

According to the missing person report, Mandala's mother last saw her daughter on Tuesday, April 27th. She said Mandala rented a car after her personal vehicle was damaged in a car accident.

The mother believed Mandala was meeting up with someone and possibly going to Mexico. She said her daughter had mentioned she wanted to be a coyote, someone who brings undocumented immigrants across the border for money.

The mother also told police she just learned her daughter was an exotic dancer.

Memories are pouring in on a Facebook page set up in Mandala's honor. Mandala posted last month "fame is looking for me," but it's likely no one thought it would find her like this.

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this is a strange case...

Very strange case. Hinky meter over the top here.

I'm not sure I believe any of this story

She left on Tues and was not reported missing until Saturday. Why? Why not report her when you see her facebook saying "I'm in Mexico"?

Do 17 year old girls really want to be coyotes?

Salem

Salem said:

Very strange case. Hinky meter over the top here.

I'm not sure I believe any of this story

She left on Tues and was not reported missing until Saturday. Why? Why not report her when you see her facebook saying "I'm in Mexico"?

Do 17 year old girls really want to be coyotes?

Salem

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I am going to take a wild guess that her parents didn't have a good handle on what she was up to, or couldn't control her behavior. For instance, the article above says her mother just learned her daughter was an "exotic dancer." Maybe she didn't live with her parents, or it wasn't unsual for her to not come home for several days and that's why they did not report her missing. By the way, her age is 18, which means legally she is an adult.

I think my mind is going in the direction that the parents knew a whole lot more than they are saying...... and that throwing the 'exotic dancer' out is a bit of a red herring to make everyone think this was a wayward teen.

I don't know?

Salem

I'm with you Salem. How many young american girls grow up and say "I want to be a coyote".

That one stopped me in my tracks because it doesn't pass the smell test IMHO.

Salem said:

I think my mind is going in the direction that the parents knew a whole lot more than they are saying...... and that throwing the 'exotic dancer' out is a bit of a red herring to make everyone think this was a wayward teen.

I don't know?

Salem

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She looks very sweet and young in the photo provided with the OP article. Not so much in a photo on what appears to be her facebook page.
That said, I agree that we clearly don't know the whole story and what was it all about, starting with why she was in Mexico with two much older men.

The story sounds plausible if Mandala was bipolar, and experiencing her first bout of mania. Whatever it was, it's tragic.

Linda7NJ said:

There are just some areas ya need to stay out of....just like here in the USA.

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Poor girl would have been in just as much danger as in Camden.

justthinkin said:

The story sounds plausible if Mandala was bipolar, and experiencing her first bout of mania. Whatever it was, it's tragic.

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I don't follow your reasoning. How would that make this story plausible?

Very sad, I think she is latina, and am curious to know if she had ever been in Mexico before, and these men she was with are they friends of her parents where did she meet them. This story has alot missing out of it. Prayers for her family.

Linda7NJ said:

Seems to me she was there looking for trouble, seems like she found it.

I LOVE Mexico!

There are just some areas ya need to stay out of....just like here in the USA.

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I agree about Mexico. It's not a dangerous place per se, but certain areas should be avoided of course. That can be said about every country, I imagine.

My prayers for the family of this girl.

FWIW, there may be some areas of Mexico that are safe but not many of the border towns. Neuvo Loredo being one of those that one should really not travel to as an American.

This article is from March of this year but I'm willing to say it's still accurate:

http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Gun-battle-rages-in--86026647.html

and this one dated a bit later:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/20/AR2010042004961.html

(I only linked the above articles so that we can get a sense of things there in the town she was found, not all areas of Mexico are combat areas for the cartels, just the borders ones).

Even if she has a Latino surname she shouldn't have been there. What is odd is that the accident was staged. Usually, these cartel hinchmen will just leave a body lying out in the open so that others are intimidated and terrorized. They are known in the Juarez area (border town in Chihuahua) to remove the head of victim and stage their bodies for public view with the head on their chest or nearby. (If that is who is responsible for these deaths)

I live about five miles from Juarez as the crow flies. I can see the break in the Franklin mnts where the rio cuts through and that is right at the border ---from my backyard.

As a civilian I could travel to Mexico (Juarez) but I have chosen not to do so. My Husband (Active duty Military) has been given a directive that he can't travel to Juarez. If the DOD says a man that has been trained in combat for 26 yrs can't go because it's too dangerous---my lil' (not so lil' anymore) middle aged behind is staying put right here! LOL

Seriously, if I had to guess at this moment in time what she was doing there. I would have to guess that one or more of the people in the vehicle where the crash was staged was involved with the drug war over there in one way or another. She may have only been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't know.

ETA: As the years go by in this turf war, more and more innocents are being killed to terrorize the general population. Many of those killed these days are in no way allied with these cartels. JMHO.

Kat said:

I'm with you Salem. How many young american girls grow up and say "I want to be a coyote".

That one stopped me in my tracks because it doesn't pass the smell test IMHO.

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Probably the same way so many young people end up being crack heads! It sounded like fun at the time!

Linda7NJ said:

Seems to me she was there looking for trouble, seems like she found it.

I LOVE Mexico!

There are just some areas ya need to stay out of....just like here in the USA.

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Unfortunately, the TX/Mexico border towns have become very dangerous because of the drug cartel wars.....I used to go to Nuevo Laredo & Ciudad Acuña several times a year -- but that was years ago.

In fact, a family member was going to cross over to Nuevo Laredo just a couple years ago & had to turn back because a gun-fight (automatic weapons at that) broke out....he hasn't been back either.

I love Mexico, too, but it's getting dangerous - even in the more upscale tourist areas like Acapulco (google "violence Acapulco mexico")...I miss my shopping trips with the girls -- but it's just not worth the risk, IMO....such a shame because shopping in Mexico is like a Texas tradition.