Maria Jose Alvarado, a 19-year-old Honduran beauty queen, and her 23-year-old sister, Sofia Trinidad, were found dead a week after they were reported missing. Honduras authorities say that they have arrested two men in connection with their deaths.
Alvaredo and Trinidad disappeared Thursday after they left a party in the country’s capital city, Santa Barbara. Police said that they were both shot and their bodies were buried in a field, reports The BBC.
Deputy Police Commissioner Rolando Casco told the local media that police have Plutarco Antonio Ruiz and Aris Maldonado Mejia in custody, reports CNN. However, Ruiz is the one who is suspected of killing the two sisters, Leandro Osorio, chief of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, confirmed, and he did reportedly confess to the police.
Alvarado was scheduled to take part in early rounds of the Miss World competition in London this week, ahead of the competition's final round next month. The pageant’s organizers sent their condolences to the family and said they will have a service in Alvaredo and Trinidad’s honor with other contestants.
“We are devastated by this terrible loss of two young women, who were so full of life,” Julia Morley, the chairman of the Miss World pageant, said Wednesday.
The UN reported that Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world, with 90.4 homicides reported per 100,000 people in 2012.