Mónica Spear

Mónica Spear Mootz was born to Rafael Spear Tudares and Ingeborg Mootz Gotera, with her maternal lineage tracing back to Germany and her paternal roots in England. In 2000, following her mother’s retirement from an oil company in Venezuela, the family relocated to Orlando, Florida. Mónica pursued her passion for the arts, earning a bachelor’s degree in theater from the University of Central Florida before returning to Venezuela to enter the Miss Venezuela pageant. Her intelligence and poise caught the public’s attention, particularly during a press event where she humorously cited Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez as her favorite playwright, despite the question's intent. In 2005, she crowned her successor, Jictzad Viña, solidifying her legacy in the pageant world.

In June 2008, Mónica married British businessman Thomas Henry Berry, with whom she welcomed a daughter later that year. The couple divorced in 2012 but maintained a cordial relationship, working towards reconciliation at the time of her untimely death. A naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Miami, Spear was fluent in Spanish, English, and French, and was known to be a supportive cousin to Venezuelan model Jossie Nikita Marques Spear.

Tragically, on January 6, 2014, during a family vacation in Venezuela, Mónica and her ex-husband were killed in an attempted robbery while waiting for roadside assistance, leaving their young daughter injured. This shocking incident highlighted the dangers present in the region and cut short the promising life of a beloved public figure.