Senseless murder of Miss Honduras is both a family tragedy and a national outrage
The senseless murder of Miss Honduras along with the older sister, Sofia, is both a family tragedy and a national outrage in a country that had seemed to be sleepwalking through a homicidal bloodbath.
After the brutal murder of her two daughters, Teresa de Jesus Muñoz, mother of Miss Honduras Maria Jose Alvarado and her sister Sofia, says she is planning to seek asylum in the United States, fearful that the alleged killer may send somebody after her next.
In an interview posted Monday by MailOnline, the British publication said that the beauty queen's mother and her only remaining daughter, Cory Corina, are planning to flee the country as soon as possible and that the U.S. will be their first try.
“We need to leave the country because we are uncertain what might happen to us if we stay,’ said Cory, 26. “We're no longer feel safe and we are now fearful for our own lives.”
Almost a week after they disappeared, the reigning Miss Honduras and her 23-year old sister were found dead in a remote village in the country’s western department of Santa Barbara, about 240 miles west of Tegucigalpa.
María José, 19, and Sofia, 23, had vanished after leaving a party at a spa, where they had gone to celebrate the birthday of Plutarco Ruiz, the elder sister’s boyfriend.
Honduras National Police director said last week that Ruiz confessed to killing the sisters and led authorities to the bodies buried near the spa.
“Everybody in town has known for a long time that Ruiz is a drug trafficker, but because of the publicity surrounding the murder of Miss Honduras he has now come onto the DEA's radar, too,” an unnamed source told MailOnline.
“They are already accompanying investigations by the DLN (Department for the Fight against Narcotrafficking) in Honduras into his activities.”
Santa Barbara is one of the main towns in a major trafficking corridor transporting drugs through Guatemala and Mexico to the United States.
According to MailOnline, it is even possible that Ruiz will be extradited to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S.
Honduras, overrun with streets gangs and drug trafficking, has the highest murder rate in the world for a country not at war, with an estimated 90 to 95 killings per 100,000 people. It is one of Latin America's poorest countries and earlier this year was the main source of a surge in unaccompanied minors migrating to the United States, many to escape the violence.
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