More than 2 million Burmese, primarily ethnic minorities, have left since military leaders seized the impoverished country, now called Myanmar, in the 1980s, according to Human Rights Watch.

The Wah family are members of the Karen minority ethnic group. Karen villages were destroyed as part of the State Peace and Development Council's plan of "forcibly relocating" minorities, especially in areas with active insurgents or targeted for development, the international rights organization charges.

Utah has welcomed about 400 Burmese refugees, which include members of the Karen and Chin ethnic groups, since last year. Most have been in camps more than 10 years, according to Aden Batar with Catholic Community Services, one of Utah's resettlement agencies.

Camp conditions typically include limited schooling for children, no running water and primitive living conditions.

There are 10 Burmese families in the South Salt Lake apartment complex where Hser's family settled, said Leann Allen, an LDS service missionary assigned to the area Haven Ward. Most Burmese refugees in Utah live in West Valley City, she said.

Hser's mother gave birth three weeks ago to a boy. Hser, who had three older brothers, was the family's only daughter. Her father and two older brothers work at Deseret Industries.

"We came from Burma where we had a lot of trials in our past life," Hser's father, Cartoon Wah, said Tuesday, before the girl's body was found. "Then we come to America and it happens again."

Resettlement officials had checked with all the Burmese families after Hser's disappearance, Batar said.

"We've never had any refugees in this situation," Batar said earlier in the evening. "They're all shocked."

jlyon@sltrib.com