Beauty queen Monica Spear was killed in a car with her ex-husband Monday, Jan. 6, in front of the couple's young daughter.

The 29-year-old former Miss Venezuela and Thomas Henry Berry, 39, were killed by armed robbers on an isolated stretch of highway in Venezuela after experiencing car trouble, ABC News reported. Their daughter, 5-year-old Maya, was in stable condition after treatment for a leg wound and was afterward with relatives in Caracas, authorities said.

Spear is a U.S. citizen and lived in Florida, but the couple was in Venezuela on vacation and to visit her sick grandmother.

Around 10:30 Monday night, the family was driving toward the city of Valencia in a gray Toyota Corolla when they got two flat tires. After their car was reportedly lifted onto a tow truck, they were approached by robbers. The family locked themselves inside the car. That is when police said the robbers fired at least six shots, killing Spear and Berry.

Police in Puerto Cabello arrested five suspects, The Associated Press reported citing Jose Gregorio Sierralta, the director of the country's investigative police.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed to pursue justice for the murders.

"There will be no tolerance for those who seek to carry out such actions, killing good men and women, killing men and women who have a right to life," he said Tuesday. "What is your excuse? I speak here to the criminals who killed this young woman: What excuse do you have for committing murder?"

After winning the Miss Venezuela crown in 2004, Spear was the fifth runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant the following year. She also acted in soap operas, most recently in Pasion Prohibida for the U.S.-based Telemundo network.