9:08 p.m.Nov. 19, 2014
Forensic workers remove a body in the village of Cablotales, near Snata Barbara, Honduras, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. Two bodies, believed to belong to Miss Honduras 2014 and her sister, were found buried near the spa where they disappeared six days ago, according to the Honduras National Police Director Gen. Ramon Sabillon. Authorities were awaiting confirmation from forensic officials that the victims are Maria Jose Alvarado, 19, and her sister, Sofia, 23. (AP Photo)
In this April 26, 2014 photo, Maria Jose Alvarado is crowned the new Miss Honduras in San Pedro, Sula, Honduras. Alvarado, and her sister Sofia disappeared after attending a birthday party in Western Honduras on Thursday Nov. 13, but authorities were not notified until the weekend. The 19-year-old beauty queen was expected to attend the Miss World pageant in Britain this December. (AP Photo)
Plutarco Ruiz is taken away by police after his arrest in the city of Santa Barbara, Honduras, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. According to Honduras National Police Director Gen. Ramon Sabillon, Ruiz confessed to killing his girlfriend Sofia Alvarado, 23, and her sister Miss Honduras 2014 Maria Jose, 19. Sabillon said Ruiz led authorities to the bodies buried in a river bank in Santa Barbara. An alleged accomplice, Aris Maldonado, was also being held. (AP Photo)
Police and forensic workers inspect the site where two bodies were found in the village of Cablotales, near Santa Barbara, Honduras, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. The bodies, believed to belong to Miss Honduras 2014 and her sister, were found buried near the spa where they disappeared six days ago, according to the Honduras National Police Director Gen. Ramon Sabillon. Authorities were awaiting confirmation from forensic officials that the victims are Maria Jose Alvarado, 19, and her sister, Sofia, 23. (AP Photo)
SANTA BARBARA, Honduras (AP) — Tears and anger poured out for the dark-haired beauty who was to have flown to London on Wednesday to represent Honduras at the Miss World pageant, only to be found shot to death with her sister on a remote river bank.
After the bodies of the reigning Miss Honduras, 19-year-old Maria Jose Alvarado, and her sister Sofia, 23, were discovered early in the day, police announced that the sister's boyfriend had confessed to killing them last week in a fit of jealousy over his girlfriend dancing with another man.
Dozens of relatives and friends of the beauty queen gathered for a candlelight vigil at the college she attended, remembering a down-to-earth young woman who aspired to be a diplomat, went out without makeup and worked as a model to help support a humble family.
"She was simple, humble, a total innocent smiling and without malice," said Ludin Reyes, a fellow student at the Technical University of Honduras.
The Center for Women's Rights, based in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, issued a statement condemning the sisters' killing and noted 328 women have been slain in this Central American nation so far in 2014.
"The case of Mary Jose and Sofia show clearly the situation of generalized violence against women and the nonexistent response of the Honduran government to prevent, investigate or punish it," the statement said.
The bodies believed to be the sisters were found buried near the spa where they disappeared a week earlier while celebrating the birthday of the sister's boyfriend, Plutarco Ruiz.
At some point during the night of Nov. 13, a heated argument broke out over the sister dancing with another man and Ruiz pulled a gun, firing first at his girlfriend and then at Alvarado as she tried to flee, said the National Police director, Gen. Ramon Sabillon. Alvarado was hit twice in the back.
Claudio Cecilio Munoz, an uncle of the sisters, said Ruiz came to the family's modest house on a dirt road the day after the young women disappeared to invite them to lunch, and returned several days to help with the search. He described Ruiz not as a boyfriend, but as someone who was courting his niece.
"We didn't file a complaint right away because we were waiting for a telephone call asking for ransom," Munoz said. "On Saturday their mother and I went to put in a complaint and the killer was with us."
Ruiz led investigators to the gravesite where he and an alleged accomplice buried them in Santa Barbara, about 240 miles (400 kilometers) west of Tegucigalpa.
Alvarado's body, wrapped in brown plastic, was loaded into the back of a pickup truck just hours before she was to have boarded a flight to London to compete in the Miss World pageant. A winner will be crowned Dec. 14.
"We had her gown ready and her traditional dress costumes," said television personality Salvador Nasrallah, who employed Alvarado as a model on his TV game show, "X-O Da Dinero."
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