Mónica Spear

One of the most beautiful women in the world, Mónica Spear was a former Miss Venezuela titleholder and popular telenovela actress. Spear was born Mónica Spear Mootz the daughter of Rafael Spear Tudares and Ingeborg Mootz Gotera. When she was just sixteen, she and her family moved to Orlando, Florida in 2000. While in Florida, she became a naturalized United States citizen and studied theater at the University of Central Florida, where she earned her bachelor's degree. Shortly after graduating from college, Spear entered the 2004 Miss Venezuela Pageant. With her beauty, grace, and wit, Spear claimed the Miss Venezuela crown and moved on to represent her native country in the following year's Miss Universe Pageant. Although in the end she wasn't the one wearing the coveted bejeweled tiara, Spear continued Venezuela's continued dominance in the beauty competition by finishing as that year's fourth runner-up. Her success at the pageant circuit allowed Spear to transition into Venezuelan television. Her first acting appearance was in the telenovela "El Desprecio" (2006), where she played one of the antagonists. She continued to gain popularity in other telenovelas. Her first lead role was in "La Mujer Perfecta" (Venevisión 2010-14), where she played a beautiful woman who cannot fall in love. "Pasión Prohibida" (Telemundo 2013) cast Spear in another lead role as Bianca Santillana de Piamonte, for which she was nominated for Protagonista Favorita (Favorite Lead Actress) in the 2013 Premios tu mundo Awards. In January 2014, Spear was on vacation in her homeland of Venezuela with her ex-husband Thomas Henry Berry and their five-year-old daughter. In a tragic turn of events, Spear and Berry were gunned down during an attempted robbery while they waited inside their car for assistance after it had broken down on a highway in Carabobo, Venezuela; their daughter survived. Spear's violent end became an international story as Latin America mourned the death of a beautiful rising star.