A San Jose State University sophomore, called ``beautiful inside and out'' by her sorority sisters, was found slain in rural Ventura County, her partially clad body left inside a drainage pipe.

Investigators have no suspects in the slaying of Valerie Zavala, an upbeat 19-year-old who had gone home for the holidays. Her body was found about 10 a.m. New Year's Day in a fairly deserted stretch of land across the road from an orange grove.

A member and officer of the Alpha Kappa Delta Phi sorority at SJSU, she was described by a friend as ``very outgoing, very carefree and mature for her age.''

``We're coping,'' said Anne Tampol, president of the sorority's local chapter and a confidant of Zavala's. ``We're going to have a candlelight vigil . . . and hopefully we'll get through this.''

Few details of the crime have been made public. Sheriff's investigators plan to release more information today. What is known is that Zavala had traveled to her parents' home in Ventura County, where she was raised and where she often spent school breaks. When classes were in session, she lived in San Jose with her grandparents.

Some time on New Year's Eve or early New Year's Day, detectives believe, she was killed and left in the region between Santa Paula and Fillmore, about three miles from her home.

By Thursday evening, Ventura County coroner's officials had not determined how she died.

Investigators have impounded a vehicle that was found abandoned in a parking lot near Fillmore's only grocery store, several miles from where Zavala's body was found, said sheriff's Sgt. Ron Nelson. The vehicle was registered to someone Zavala knew and may provide clues to the slaying.

The sheriff's office declined to release any more information about the person or the car. Investigators plan to talk to more relatives and friends today to find out more about Zavala's final days.

Her body was discovered by a local teenager who spotted her, stripped to her underwear, in the drainage pipe under a road that services farms. The pipe is not visible from the road, but the youth spotted the body while climbing a hill.

Investigators combed the hilly, rural area for clues, and residents nearby said they didn't hear or see anything unusual the night before.

On Thursday, deputies used bloodhounds to try to trace the killer's path. They said Zavala's relatives reported her missing a few hours after her body was found.

Officials said they believe Zavala was killed somewhere else, then left at the remote site.

The woman was the fundraising chair for her sorority. A liberal-studies major and former cheerleader at Fillmore High School, Zavala was contemplating a change of major, said her friend Tampol. They were close, and Zavala wanted to follow in her ``big sister's'' footsteps, perhaps becoming chapter president herself.

In San Jose, neighbors remember seeing the college student constructing class projects with her friends in the garage of her grandparents' McLaughlin Avenue home. Zavala had moved into Jay and Norma Wilson's home over a year ago, said neighbor Jeannette Garcia, who saw Zavala last week.

``She was polite, really friendly and always said `hi,' '' Garcia said.

The Web site for Zavala's sorority on Thursday included page after page of condolences from her friends and from chapters as far away as New York.

``I am still in shock . . . I cannot believe it . . . Valerie was such a wonderful person . . . She was beautiful inside and out and I am so glad to have met her,'' read one e-mail from ``kim.''