Mónica Spear

Biography

Mónica Spear Mootz (1 October 1984 – 6 January 2014) was a Venezuelan actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Venezuela 2004. She represented Venezuela at Miss Universe 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand and finished as 4th runner-up. After her modeling career, she became a successful actress in Venezuelan telenovelas, and in the United States. Spear was murdered on 6 January 2014 along with her ex-husband, Thomas Berry, during a highway robbery while they vacationed in Venezuela with their five-year-old daughter, who survived the shooting. Spear's murder sparked a wave of anti-government protests in Venezuela over rising crime in Venezuela.

== Personal life == Mónica Spear Mootz was born to Rafael Spear Tudares and Ingeborg Mootz Gotera. Her maternal family emigrated from Germany, and her paternal family has English ancestry. Her father, Rafael, was a project engineer at Siemens Westinghouse. The family moved to Orlando, Florida in 2000 after her mother, Ingeborg, retired from her job with an oil company in Venezuela. She was a naturalized United States citizen, resident in Miami, Florida. Spear began her studies in Florida as a chemical engineering major, before switching to theater on her father's advice. She was fluent in Spanish, English and French. Spear married British businessman Thomas Henry Berry (whose nationality was later misidentified as Irish) in June 2008 and they had a daughter later that year. The couple divorced in 2012, but remained friendly, and at the time of their death in 2014, they were attempting to reconcile.

== Pageantry ==

=== Miss Venezuela 2004 === During the Miss Venezuela 2004 pageant, Spear won the national crown and represented Venezuela at Miss Universe 2005 in Thailand.

=== Miss Universe 2005 === Prior to being named the fourth runner-up in the Miss Universe 2004 pageant, Spear completed a bachelor's degree in theater from the University of Central Florida before returning to Venezuela to compete in the national pageant. Her participation in Miss Venezuela garnered notoriety when she was asked during the traditional "breakfast with press" the day after the pageant, because of her degree, which Venezuelan playwright she liked the most, to which she answered, "Gabriel García Márquez", a Colombian writer.

== Professional life == After modeling, Mother Agency Mariela Centeno, Spear became one of the most successful actresses in Venezuela for her main roles in telenovelas. Her first role as a protagonist was in the RCTV telenovela Mi Prima Ciela (My Cousin Ciela), in which she played a high-school student battling leukemia. The show was a success in Venezuela and other parts of South America, and it was televised in the US by TeleFutura. Spear held the starring role in Venevisión's telenovela La Mujer Perfecta in 2010, and later had a lead role in Flor Salvaje, a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the Miami-based television network Telemundo and RTI Producciones. She had lived in Miami since she began working for Telemundo. Venezuelan channel Venevisión broadcast La Mujer Perfecta in honor of Spear and a foundation aid for people with Asperger syndrome. Same television special will Mónica Spear, led by the former Miss Venezuela, cheerleader and actress Mariangel Ruiz.

== Death == On 6 January 2014, Spear was in her native Venezuela on vacation with her ex-husband and their five-year-old daughter. While inside their car waiting for assistance after the vehicle had broken down on a highway in central Carabobo, Spear and her ex-husband were killed during an attempted robbery and their daughter shot and wounded in the leg. The police reported that the incident occurred around 9 or 10 p.m. It has been theorized that the couple resisted the robbery attempt. On the initial suggestion that her former husband was Irish, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs was investigating the incident. However, local police said he was travelling on a British passport. Spear's daughter has been in the care of her grandparents since her parents' death.

=== Protests ===