YAHUALICA. Mexico -- Four years after she left the dusty streets of Yahualica, Mexico for a better life in America, the body of teenager Yesenia Nungaray was laid to rest Thursday ending the tragic journey of Castro Valley's "Jane Doe".

Deputies from the Alameda County Sheriff's Department escorted the body back to Mexico and on Wednesday gave the girl's family an angel carved out of stone to adorn her gravesite.

The 16-year-old's body was found inside a green canvas bag behind a Carrows restaurant in Castro Valley on May 1, 2003. She had a rag stuffed down her throat and had died of asphyxiation about 10 days earlier.

Sgt. Scott Dudek said Nungaray had come to the U.S. in search of a better life shortly after her 16th birthday on March 14, 2003.

For years the identity of the teen remained a mystery as sheriff's officials and others within the community held a funeral service for Nungaray in September 2004. She was buried under the name "Jane Doe" at the Lone Tree Cemetery in Hayward.

But a break in the case late last year sent deputies to the village of Yahualica where they were able to track down her family. DNA testing confirmed the body was that of the teen.

Dudek said her mother Del Carmen "was devastated by the news that it (the body) was her daughter" but was appreciative that investigators worked on the case for so long.

He said former Carrows employee Miguel Angel Nunez Castaneda, 27, who's also originally from the Yahualica area, remains a "person of interest" in the case.

Castaneda is currently on the run in Mexico, according Dudek.

Nungaray came to the U.S. with another person but met up with Castaneda in Southern California and he brought her to Hayward, where they lived together briefly in a house at 320 Smalley Ave.

Dudek said he doesn't think that Nungaray and Castaneda were boyfriend and girlfriend but instead had more of a big brother-little sister type relationship.

Nungaray was the middle child of Del Carmen's three children.

Dudek said Del Carmen told investigators that her daughter didn't drink alcohol or use drugs and worked hard at her studies and as a taco salesperson and a babysitter.

Authorities issued a composite drawing of Nungaray before they knew who she was, but Dudek said photographs indicate that "she was more beautiful than anyone imagined."

People who want to contribute money to help pay for a burial service in Mexico can make checks out to "Yesenia Nungaray Memorial and Burial Fund" and send them to Yesenia Nungaray Memorial and Burial Fund, c/o Alameda County Sheriff's office, 15001 Foothill Blvd., San Leandro, CA 94578.