Monica Spear, former Miss Venezuela, was shot dead together with her husband in a botched robbery and injuring their daughter, according to NDTV.
The 29-year-old former Venezuelan beauty queen died together with her British-born husband, Thomas Henry Berry, 39, in what appeared to be a planned robbery that took place on a highway in northwestern Venezuela last Monday, January 6. Their daughter Maya Berry Spear was wounded in the right, but was out of danger after receiving medical attention.
The recent killing of Monica Spear and her husband dismayed even further the already crime-plagued nation of Venezuela. The death of Monica Spear highlighted the nation's soaring murder rate, the report said.
According to Miguel Rodriguez, Interior Minister, five people already have been detained and interrogated in connection to the killings. Rodriguez met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who, in a televised meeting, vowed to enforce an "iron hand" to curb crime.
"This is a massacre," the Venezuelan president said, referring to the killing of Monica Spear and Thomas Henry Berry. "This violence is a sickness that we have. I take my responsibility to the maximum. Whoever wants to kill will see an iron hand."
Maduro called all mayors and governors to an urgent meeting on Wednesday, January 8, to discuss plans and coordinate their action against crime.
The Spears family was on a scenic part of a northwestern Venezuelan highway when their car hit a blunt object. According Jose Gregorio Serralta, forensic police director, the object had been intentionally placed on the road that forced the Spears to pull their car over. Spear waved down a tow truck to ask for help between Puerto Cabello and Valencia in the state of Carabobo.
Five armed men appeared in the scene where the two tow truck workers and the Spears were. The truck operators fled to the nearest police station that was a mile away, but the Spears were left behind.
The family went back into their car desperately shielding themselves from the killers, but the Spears' vehicle was fired at multiple times, Sierralta said.
Monica Spear was a quarter-finalist in the 2005 Miss Universe pageant. She appeared in the Miami-based Telemundo series "Pasion Prohibida" ("Forbidden Passion") and "Flor Salvaje" ("Savage Flower"), the report said.
