Hondura’s representative to Miss World 2014 and her sister were found dead on Wednesday, November 19.
According to Leandro Osorio, head of the criminal investigation unit, The bodies of María José Alvarado Muñoz (19), reigning Miss World Honduras, and her sister, Sofia Trinidad Alvarado, were found buried near a river in the mountainous region of Santa Barbara, about 180 km (110 miles) from the capital Tegucigalpa.
“I can confirm that the Alvarado sisters were found. We also have the murder weapon and the vehicle in which they were transported to the site where they were buried,” Osorio said in an interview with local television network.
Police also said that Sofia’s boyfriend Plutarco Antonio Ruiz Rodriguez confessed to shooting the women, jealous that his girlfriend had danced with another man. Ruiz and another man Aris Valentin Maldonado Mejia are now in police custody.
Alvarado and her sister disappeared last Thursday after going to a spa for a birthday party for Ruiz in Santa Barbara, northwest of the capital of Tegucigalpa.
Meanwhile, organizers of the Miss World pageant sent their condolences and announced a tribute this weekend in honor of the slain sisters.
“We are devastated by this terrible loss of two young women, who were so full of life,” Julia Morley, the pageant’s chairwoman, said in a statement.
“We will be holding a special service with all of the Miss World contestants on Sunday, where we will be honoring the lives of Maria Jose Alvarado and Sofia Trinidad, and say prayers for them and their family.”
Alvarado was supposed to leave for London soon to participate in the Miss World pageant.