This is horrible. According to NBC News, Venezuelan actress and beauty queen Monica Spear was murdered during an attempted robbery, while she and her ex-husband were on vacation with their five-year-old daughter. Her ex-husband, Thomas Henry Berry, was killed as well, but the couple's young daughter is reported to have survived.
Details of the incident are gruesome, to say the least. According to news sources, Berry and Spear — who separated, but remained close and often vacationed together with their daughter — were driving on a highway in their vehicle between the cities of Valencia and Puerto Cabello in Venezuela when they were involved in a small accident with another car. When they stopped, armed robbers exited the other vehicle and began heading towards Spear and Berry's car, prompting the couple to lock themselves and their daughter inside the car. The gunmen then opened fire, killing the couple.
Spear was a popular soap opera actress and model in the country, and she won the title of Miss Venezuela in 2004. She also participated in the Miss Universe competition in 2005 to represent Venezuela. Berry, who was born in London but raised in Venezuela, ran a successful adventure tour company.
Since the start of 2014 last week, reportedly over 70 people have been killed in Venezuela, and the country is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. According to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory, there were approximately 24,763 murders in Venezuela in 2013, making the homicide rate 79 per every 100,000 inhabitants.
Spear was 29, and Berry was 39.
Image: monicaspear/Instagram
