14 DAY TRIAL // The former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear Mootz was vacationing in South America along with her husband and their 5-year-old-daughter when they were shot in a failed attempted robbery. The attack killed both parents but their daughter, Maya, survived.
Mootz, 29, and Thomas Henry Berry, 49, were murdered on Monday night on the Puerto Cabello-Valencia highway by armed bandits.
The couple had stopped on the side of the road as their car broke down. It is believed that, at the moment of the attack, they were trying to fix their 2002 gray Toyota which had suffered a tire puncture.
Armed men approached the vehicle and the family resisted by locking themselves in the car. That's when the assailants opened fire. The gun battle left the parents dead but their daughter survived with just a leg wound.
She has been taken to the hospital in a stable condition, where she remains under police protection. She has been joined by her grandparents. Police say that the attackers fired at least six shots. Husband Berry was shot in the chest, while Mootz died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Mootz left the beauty pageant circuit after winning the title of Miss Venezuela in 2004 and went on to become a soap opera actress in her native country. She starred in numerous productions for Telemundo, including “Passion Prohibida.” She broke on the US market with her role in “Flor Salvaje” in 2011.
Her sudden demise sparked a wave of tributes on her Instagram account, where she had posted a video just hours prior to her death. Her co-stars took to Twitter to express their condolences and also wish Maya, the surviving daughter, all the best.
Venezuela remains one of the countries with the highest crime rate. Its capital city of Caracas has the sixth greatest homicide rate of any city in the world, with almost 100 homicides per 100,000 citizens in 2011.