http://www.nbc6.net/news/4629530/detail.html

Smuggled Guatemalan Teen Found Dead Outside Boynton Beach Home
Girl Found Hanging From Tree

POSTED: 11:34 am EDT June 20, 2005

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. -- A Guatemalan teenager who was smuggled into the United States and then kidnapped when her family could not pay the traffickers was found hanging from a tree in the family's backyard.

Susana Mateo Jose, 18, died nine days after two men pleaded guilty to smuggling her into the United States.

Boynton Beach police would not comment on Sunday about the death.

In March, Jose was delivered to her parents, who could not pay the remainder of the smuggling fee. The traffickers then kidnapped her. Police found her and arrested the men after a six-hour chase.

Jose's 14-year-old brother Octavio said he did not notice any unusual behavior from his sister before her death on Friday.

"She was fine," Octavio said outside their Boynton Beach home. "She was playing with my little brother. She was happy here."

Jose's trip to the U.S. began in February and many of the illegal immigrants traveling with her were caught. But she made it to Phoenix, Ariz., where Ricardo Jose Contreras and Rogino Sanchez picked her and the others up and drove them to Alabama and Florida.

Contreras and Sanchez pleaded guilty in federal court to human smuggling charges. They face up to 20 years in prison.

Susana Jose's immigration status had been under review.