Miss Honduras Found Dead

Reigning Miss Honduras Maria Jose Alvarado and her older sister have been found dead in a small village almost a week after their disappearance.

The champion beauty queen was due to fly to London on Sunday to compete in the Miss World competition when she and her sister vanished after leaving a birthday party.

News the bodies of Miss Alvarado, 19, and her sister Sofia Trinidad, 23, have been discovered comes just hours after Sofia's boyfriend Plutarco Antonio Ruiz was arrested on suspicion on kidnapping.

The boyfriend of Sofia Trinidad Alvarado (left) has now been arrested after the sisters went missing on Thursday.

 

The reigning Honduras beauty queen Maria Jose Alvarado (pictured left and right) and her sister went missing just days before she was scheduled to fly to London for the Miss World competition.

National police agents arrest Plutarco Antonio Ruiz, the boyfriend of Miss Honduras Maria Jose Alvarado's sister. During the arrest they also seized two cars and a gun.

Police now suspect Plutarco (second from left) of being a central figure in the women's kidnapping.

The BBC reported Leandro Osorio, the head of the country's Bereau of Criminal Investigation, as saying the two women's bodies had been found in Cablotales Village, near the Aguagua River.

He said: 'We are 100 per cent sure that it's them', adding that police were given valuable information for their investigation from a 'protected witness'.

The two disappeared on Thursday outside Honduras' northern city of Santa Barbara after a birthday party at a local resort, only days before Alvarado was set fly to London to compete in the Miss World competition.

During Plutarco's arrest, police also seized a pistol and two vehicles in the hope they will provide some clues towards what happened.

The case has caused consternation in the notoriously violent central American country, home to the most dangerous city on the planet.

San Pedro Sula, just over 30 miles from Santa Barbara, is the murder capital of the world with more than 1,200 killings a year among its nearly one million inhabitants.

Miss Honduras Maria Jose Alvarado, 19, was last seen getting into a vehicle after a birthday party in her home town of Santa Barbara, west Honduras

Alvarado had been set to fly to London on Sunday for the Miss World competition.

Chief prosecutor Rolando Argueta said investigators were combing through the women's cell phone communications looking for clues. 

Sofia arrived at a party on Thursday in a champagne-colored private car with unidentified men to pick up her sister at 6pm.

Police say the women were last seen leaving the party in the champagne-colored car.

San Pedro Sula's murder rate of 169 per 100,000 people far surpasses anything in north America or much larger cities like Lagos or Sao Paulo.

Missing beauty: Miss Alvarado was due to fly to London to compete in the Miss World competition, scheduled for tomorrow

Maria Jose described herself on a Miss World website profile as an aspiring diplomat who enjoys playing volleyball and football in her spare time.

THE MURDER CAPITAL 

The Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, Honduras, tops the list of the world's most violent places on earth.

At least three murders are reported each day in the coffee-exporting nation, mostly at the hands of vicious gangs and drug cartels who operate freely in an area of lawlessness, poverty and a decaying justice system.

Gunmen have taken control of slums and villages, well aware that the police are ineffective and corrupt.

San Pedro Sula recorded 1,218 homicides in 2012 (a rate of 3.3 murders a day). It was followed by Acapulco, Mexico; Caracas, Venezuela and Distrito Central, Honduras.

The same year, it was reported that San Pedro Sula is saddled with one of South America's weakest economies - and nearly 70 per cent of the population live in poverty.

She beat 18 contestants to win the Miss Honduras crown in April.

She missed an appointment on Sunday evening to try on the dress she hopes to win Miss World with.

Earlier this week, the women's mother Teresa de Jesus pleaded: 'Open your hearts and understand my pain.

'There is an all-powerful God that sees everything and I hope you set them free.' Miss World is due to kick off tomorrow, with 120 contestants competing for the crown.

The grand finale takes place on December 14 at ExCel London in the heart of the capital's Royal Docks area.

Swiss-born medical student Carina Tyrrell, 24, a qualified ski instructor and competition level gymnast, is representing England. 

Scotland is represented by media and marketing student Ellie McKeating, 20, from Glasgow. Ireland's representative is business studies student Jessica Hayes, 20, from Cork.