A former Miss Venezuela and her British ex-husband were shot dead and their five-year-old daughter wounded during a robbery.
The attack happened after the family's tyres were punctured, stranding them on an isolated stretch of road between Puerto Cabello and the provincial capital of Valencia, police said.
Police reports confirmed that Monica Spear, 29, and her husband Thomas Henry Berry, 39, were shot and killed by unknown assailants while the couple’s 5-year-old daughter, Maya Veliz, was injured by a bullet in her leg.
The family was on vacation for the holidays and was traveling in a grey 2002 Corolla Toyota toward the city of Valencia at the time of the attack. Mónica was currently living in Miami and was expected to return to the United States this week.
President Nicolas Maduro mourned "the loss of a very spiritual young woman" actively involved in various charities.
He said the attackers "fired with viciousness."
In an interview with HuffPost Voices, the star confessed she left her native Venezuela due to the insecurity.
Spear won the title of Miss Venezuela in 2004 and participated in Miss Universe 2005 in Thailand. Her career in television began in Venezuelan soap operas and the actress broke into the U.S. market by starring in Telemundo’s “Flor Salvaje” in 2011. Her last telenovela was opposite Jencarlos Canela in "Pasión Prohibida” in 2013.