08/01/2014 10:46
Venezuelan beauty queen gunned down
In one of her last Twitter posts, Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear wished her fans peace, health and love.
According to CNN, the 29-year-old soap opera star was gunned down by the side of a country road less than a week later.
Spear and her ex-husband, Thomas Henry Berry, were driving in Venezuela's Carabobo state Monday night when their car broke down, officials said. Armed robbers opened fire, killing both of them.
Their 5-year-old daughter survived Monday's shooting, authorities said, but was shot in the leg.
"It is presumed that the motive was robbery," Venezuelan Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said. "We are still investigating. There are five people detained who are being interrogated."
Spear was Miss Venezuela in 2004 and represented her country in the Miss Universe pageant the next year.
Her popularity opened the door to acting roles in soap operas that eventually made her an international star. She worked in Colombia and more recently in the United States, where she made her home in Miami.
She was vacationing in Venezuela with her family when she was killed. Hours before the shooting, she posted a video online showing scenic images of the countryside.
Spear, who studied theater at the University of Central Florida before winning the Miss Venezuela crown, appeared on the Telemundo soap operas "Flor Salvaje" (Savage Flower) and "Pasion Prohibida" (Forbidden Passion).
"We are deeply impacted and saddened by the horrible crime that the beloved actress Monica Spear and her family suffered," the network said in a statement. "Monica was not just a great professional, as she showed in the two soap operas that she worked on with us ... but also she was an excellent person, always enthusiastic and with great strength and determination."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the killing a massacre and said more needed to be done to put a stop to violence.
Venezuela is one of the world's most violent countries, according to a United Nations ranking.