Teen Commits Suicide After She Was Rescued From Sex Trafficking Ring

Leticia Serrano, 15, lovingly called by her family as “Letty”, committed suicide on Oct. 12, nearly 2 years after she was rescued from a sex trafficking ring. She was reportedly kidnapped, drugged and sold for sex when she was 13.

Letty was known to be a typical high school student. She was kidnapped near Marshall Middle School in North Houston in 2017. Her family searched for days and finally found her near Moody Park.

“We were able to locate her and call HPD and have this animal arrested,” Cynthia Rivera, Letty’s grandmother, told FOX 26.

Her attacker was let go after a few days but Letty's grandmother says, she was not the same anymore. "She was a great girl. She was a good student and she loved her puppies," Rivera told KTRK. "We got her back damaged."

On that Saturday early morning, Letty locked herself in the bathroom. By the time her father, Mariano Serrano, managed to let himself in, it was already too late. “She died in my arms,” he said.

Letty reportedly ran away from home twice to be with the trafficker.

"She wanted to be with him, but she also didn't want to hurt her family," her father added.

It was only in May that Letty celebrated quinceañera, her 15th birthday, with a lavish party replete with bouquets of roses and a dessert bar and wore a ruby-red princess ballgown.

Rivera believes that Letty's vulnerabilities made her easy prey. "[She was] quiet, kind of a loner, and her brother had just passed. She was a perfect target for them."

The family is devasted by the loss and are expecting exemplary punishment for her captors.

"I want to see him in court," Serrano told FOX 26. "I want to tell him it’s his fault my daughter is dead."