GUALJOCO, Honduras (AP) - Grieving family members laid to rest a Honduran beauty queen and her sister amid drenching rains Thursday, pleading for divine justice after the women were shot to death in what police say was a jealous rage by the sister's boyfriend.
Miss Honduras, 19-year-old Maria Jose Alvarado, and her sister Sofia, 23, were interred in two cement graves at a tiny cemetery in this hamlet north of their hometown of Santa Barbara. About 300 people including mourners and security forces trudged through the mud for the ceremony.
Their bodies had been delivered to the family home before dawn, but a sustained downpour prevented the graves from being dug for hours. Their mother wept as she kissed the two closed caskets.
'We are going to miss you; you will live in our hearts forever. You have gone to reunite with our father in heaven - He awaits you and will care for you there,' said 26-year-old Corina Alvarado, the victims' elder sister. 'Only God can punish those killers as they deserved.'
She remembered Maria Jose Alvarado, who was crowned in April and was supposed to be in London this week preparing for next month's Miss World beauty pageant, as a woman who represented the best of Honduras.
Those who knew Alvarado said she was not caught up in the celebrity of her crown, and would go around town in jeans with her hair up and without makeup.
Pageant organizers issued a statement saying they were devastated, and planned a special service Sunday to remember the sisters and pray for the family.
Four people have been arrested in the killings including Plutarco Ruiz, a man who family members said was courting Sofia, and a purported accomplice who allegedly helped bury the bodies along a remote river bank. The couple who owned the spa where the sisters disappeared the night of Nov. 13 were taken into custody Wednesday on suspicion of illegal detention and concealment.
Police say Ruiz confessed to killing the sisters during a heated argument with Sofia after she danced with another man. He allegedly shot her first, and then Maria Jose twice in the back as she tried to flee.
Lt. Col. Ramon Castillo, a top law enforcement officer in Santa Barbara, said eight more people were at the gathering at the spa that night, and more arrest warrants were expected.
'The two original detainees had help from other people,' Castillo said.
The mayor of Santa Barbara arranged for two plastic tents to shelter mourners from the rain outside the Alvarados' home, nestled along an unpaved road in western Honduras. TV cameras crowded around the house.
'This is going to put an end to the normal life of the town. It means the end of freedom for young people,' said Mayor Juan Alvarado, who is not related to the family. 'Parents are not going to let them leave home on their own anymore. The image of Santa Barbara and of Honduras has been stained forever by this horrible crime.'
Posted by Unknown on Thursday, November 20, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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