Monica Spear Killer: 19-Year-Old Jean Carlos Colina Alcala Identified As Shooter

The brutal murder of former Venezuelan beauty queen turned actress, Monica Spear, and her ex-husband Thomas Henry Berry, has caused a major debate regarding violence in Venezuela. The 29-year-old actress was vacationing in her country and was driving on the isolated Puerto Cabello-Valencia highway with Berry, a 39-year-old British citizen, and their 5-year-old daughter when unknown assailants attempted to assault the family. Local media outlets reported that after being approached by the assailants, Spear and her family locked themselves inside the 2002 Toyota Corolla. Both Spear and Berry were shot, in close range, to death during the assault, which took place around 10:30 p.m., and the child was shot in the leg.

José Gregorio Sierralta, general director of the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Agency (Cicpc), confirmed on Thursday that seven individuals were detained for allegedly being involved in the robbery and murder of Spear and Berry. The individuals were also held accountable for the injuries that the couple’s daughter, Maya, sustained. Two of the assailants included minors, aged 15 and 17, but the shooter, now identified as Jean Carlos Colina Alcalá, is 19 years old. Authorities are currently in search of four other people presumably involved in the killings, one of them a 21-year-old man who ran away with the murder weapon.

The discovery of a digital camera stolen from the actress and her ex-husband was key to identifying the seven people arrested in their fatal shooting. According to Sierralta, the camera was found during a search of the home of one of the people arrested. It led police to a criminal band that preyed on motorists while they were driving along the Puerto Cabello-Valencia highway. Police say a sharp object in the road punctured two of the car’s tires, and that’s when the perpetrators approached the vehicle. The band was led by 32-year-old “Fat Danilo,” who recruited kids and supplied them with guns and drugs.