To die or...to be found dead?
-an editing exercise

Jennifer's parents abandoned her when she was ten. A streetkid, she lived amongst the ruins in the south bronx with other wild orphans. They herded together for survival, preying on unsuspecting victims who pitied them and thus fell into their trap. Jennifer could have been a star on account of her beauty, but her life was wasted. She was found dead at the age of 12.

I shall comment on my choice of final sentence. I chose the passive form over "they found her dead when she was only 12" or "she died at the age of 12" because the former emphasised an unknown identity that nobody cares about (who are "they?") and the latter sounded melodramatic. There is something heroic about dying as if you had a choice (i.e dying in the active mode). To be found dead on the streets, an afterthought of the final sentence in a paragraph about your life, is unredeemed tragedy.