(Image source from: Miss Venezuela)

In a high-profile crime reported in Venezuela, former Miss Venezuela Monica Spear, 29 and her ex-husband Thomas Henry Berry, 39, were killed and their 5-year-old daughter wounded after they were attacked by a band of robbers on an isolated stretch of highway in Caracas.

Apparently, the couple locked themselves up inside the car after the tires went flat to resist the robbers. Interestingly, killings and rampant kidnapping are common in armed robberies in this part of the world.

“Spear and Berry were slain at about 10:30 p.m. between Puerto Cabello, the country's main port, and the provincial capital of Valencia. They were returning from vacation to Caracas on a badly maintained stretch of highway that is lightly traveled at that hour,” ABC 15 reported.

Their four-door sedan hit "a sharp object that had been placed on the highway" and went flat. Seeing the assailants approach, they locked themselves inside and were killed by six shots.

The daughter, Maya is stable now and is with relatives in Caracas.

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury