Rossanna's body was found the next day on the Mexican side of the river. In a daze, Alfredo identified his daughter and returned to his home in Guatemala. Her body was returned to her family several weeks later. Widman's was found on the US side and returned four months later, after much bureaucratic wrangling.

Now Alfredo — who faces years of debt to work off the cost of the doomed trip to the US — works on a farm in San Juan La Laguna. He has a 5-year-old son, Hageo, who he helps dress in the morning. Hageo will grow up to know his older sister only from her photo — smiling and dressed in colorful local clothing — that hangs in the family home.

In Widman's home, the frame that holds his photo on the mantelpiece is turned backward, a frame around blank cardboard. His mother is not yet able to face it. It brings her too much pain.

Agencies via Xinhua