Caracas: Miss Venezuela 2005 Monica Spear Mootz was shot dead during a Highway Robbery Incident in Caracas Venezuela on January 6. Her Husband Thomas Henry Berry was also succumbed to the gunfire, while her 5 year old Daughter was wounded in leg. Reports suggest that they resisted robbers by locking themselves inside their car after tire punctures disabled it on an isolated stretch of highway.
Monica Spear was crowned Miss Venezuela in 2005
The 29 year old Monica Spear was crowned Miss Miss Venezuela in 2004 and 2005′; she represented Venezuela in Miss Universe 2005 and secured Fourth Position. She later started her career as a soap-opera actress.
Her Husband Thomas Henry Berry was a 39-year-old British Businessman and they recided in Miami Florida.
As per reports, their four-door sedan hit “a sharp object that had been placed on the highway” that punctured at least two of its tires. Two tow trucks arrived almost immediately afterward and the attack occurred after the car had been lifted onto one of the trucks.
Seeing the assailants coming, the travelers locked themselves inside and the assailants fired at least six shots.
Police in Puerto Cabello arrested five suspects, some under age 18, Sierralta added. It could not immediately be determined if Spear and Berry had called the tow trucks, or if any of the drivers were among those arrested for suspected involvement in the killings.
The daughter, Maya, was in stable condition after treatment for a leg wound and was with relatives in Caracas, said Sierralta.
The family had spent New Year’s in the mountains of the western state of Merida then traveled to the plains, said Luis Carlos Dominguez, a longtime friend and former business associate of Berry, who he said was raised in Venezuela and ran a travel agency.
“He knew Venezuela a lot better than many Venezuelans,” said Dominguez, describing the slain couple as people “who really loved the country,” had a good relationship despite their divorce and made it a point to vacation together.
“They weren’t together,” he said. “But they were very attached for the benefit of their daughter.”
He said Venezuelans can only hope that their deaths bring “a bit more strength to the fight against crime.”
Violent crime soared during the 14-year rule of Hugo Chavez, who died of cancer last March. Venezuelans list crime as their most pressing worry.
The country has one of the world’s highest murder rates – the United Nations has ranked it 5th globally – and violent crime is so rampant that Venezuelans tend to stay home after dark.
Spear’s death triggered a wave of anger on social media directed at the government’s poor record on crime.