[color="Sienna"]Texas Teen's Mysterious Mexico Death
Wednesday, 05 May 2010, 1:35 PM CDT

By Alice Wolke Kalthoff

HOUSTON - No one is sure why a Houston-area high school student was in Mexico, and whether her death was an accident or murder.
Friends in Sugar Land, a bedroom community outside Houston, are still mourning 18-year-old Elisabeth Mandela.

She was last seen on April 27 outside her mother's home. The next day, she posted on her Facebook page that she was in Mexico, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Her mother reported her missing on Saturday, the same day Mandela and two men were found dead in when their pickup crashed into another vehicle near Monterrey.

At first, Mexican authorities thought all three died in the wreck. Then police found evidence that someone jammed the accelerator with a rock, and the victims may have actually been beaten to death before the crash.
The two men were carrying fake identification, Mexican police said. They were twice the girl's age.

Mandela may not have been the innocent high school senior that she seemed.
According to myfoxhouston.com, Houston police are investigating whether the teen was in Mexico to learn the immigrant smuggling trade.
Her mother also recently learned that her daughter was an exotic dancer.

The U.S. Consulate is working with Mandela's family and Mexican authorities in the investigation.

Fort Bend ISD sent out a note on Monday to classmates at the girl's high school, and is supplying grief counseling.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/050510-texas-teens-mysterious-mexico-death