Police: Miss Honduras, sister found shot to death

SANTA BARBARA, Honduras (AP) — The dark-haired beauty was to have flown to London Wednesday to compete in the Miss World pageant — the high point of her reign as Miss Honduras. Instead, the beauty queen and her sister were found shot to death along a remote river bank.

Police said the sister's boyfriend confessed to shooting the women, jealous that his girlfriend had danced with another man.

Bodies believed to be 19-year-old Maria Jose Alvarado and her 23-year-old sister, Sofia, were discovered buried near the spa where they disappeared a week earlier while celebrating the boyfriend's birthday.

At some point during the night of Nov. 13, a heated argument broke out and Plutarco Ruiz pulled a gun, firing first at his girlfriend and then at Alvarado as she tried to flee, said National Police director, Gen. Ramon Sabillon. Alvarado was hit twice in the back.

Their bodies were discovered early Wednesday after Ruiz led investigators to the remote gravesite where he and an alleged accomplice buried them in a mountainous area of Santa Barbara, about 240 miles (400 kilometers) west of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. The accomplice, Aris Maldonado, was also in police custody and authorities were searching for other suspects.

Alvarado's body, wrapped in brown plastic, was loaded into the back of a pickup truck just hours before she was to have boarded a flight to London to compete in the Miss World pageant. A winner will be crowned Dec. 14.

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This recent undated file photo shows Maria Jose Alvarado, Miss Honduras World 2014, , who poli …

"We had her gown ready and her traditional dress costumes," said television personality Salvador Nasrallah, who employed Alvarado as a model on his TV game show, X-O Da Dinero.

"This is not a crime of passion; this is machismo," added Nasrallah, a former presidential candidate.

Honduras pageant organizer Eduardo Zablah said the country will not compete this year because of the tragic death of Alvarado, who according to her pageant profile played volleyball and soccer and wanted to be a diplomat after graduating university.

The sisters' mother, Teresa Munoz, told Televicentro that Ruiz called her the morning after her daughters disappeared, acting nervous and claiming the young women had left the party in a car with some other people.

She said her daughters were trusting and naive. "They were not very astute about assessing the people around them. They were just friendly," Munoz said. "They were going out with people they hadn't known very long."

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In this April 26, 2014 photo, Maria Jose Alvarado is crowned the new Miss Honduras in San Pedro, Sul …

Ruiz's brother met a violent end earlier this year, authorities said. David Ruiz Rodriguez was gunned down in a restaurant in San Pedro Sula in February by men carrying AK-47s, according to the police subcommander in charge of the Santa Barbara region, Jorge Rolando Casco.

The shooting deaths of Alvarado and her sister highlight what experts call an alarming trend of violence against women in Central America, fueled by poverty, domestic violence, street gangs, drug trafficking and a culture of chauvinism.

According to a report by the United Nations, murders of women and girls in Honduras increased by 263 percent between 2005 and 2013. The country 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.

"Violence against women is a huge problem in Honduras," said Adriana Beltran, a senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America.

"A lot of girls die this way, but because they're not famous, it doesn't get the attention and the crimes go unpunished," Nasrallah said.

Beauty pageants are popular in Latin America, where the winners are viewed as celebrities and often go on to become entertainers.

But those who knew Alvarado, who was crowned in April, said she was not caught up in the celebrity of her position. She would go around town in jeans with her hair up and without makeup, Nasrallah said, though she did face some unwanted harassment and had to change her cell number recently.

"When Maria Jose won the pageant, she didn't think it was that important. I just wanted her to be happy," her mother said.

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Associated Press writer Peter Orsi in Mexico City contributed to this report. Freddy Cuevas reported from Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

BY NATALIA ZINETS AND GABRIELA BACZYNSKA

KIEV/MOSCOW Wed Nov 19, 2014 6:18pm EST

Pro-Russian separatists pose with the picture of Joseph Stalin at checkpoint in the Spartak area near the Sergey Prokofiev International Airport in Donetsk November 18, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/ANTONIO BRONIC

(Reuters) - Russia urged Ukraine's leaders on Wednesday to talk directly to separatists to end the conflict in the east, but Kiev rejected the call and told Moscow to stop "playing games" aimed at legitimizing "terrorists".

Kiev and the West accuse Russia of destabilizing Ukraine by providing the rebels with money, arms and reinforcements. The West has imposed sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in which more than 4,000 people have been killed since mid-April.

Russia backs the separatists but denies it is directly involved in the conflict in the Donbass region.

"We are calling for the establishment of stable contacts between Kiev and Donbass representatives with the aim of reaching mutually acceptable agreements," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a policy address to the lower house of parliament in Moscow.

But Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk hit back, accusing Moscow of trying to push Ukraine into recognizing the pro-Russian rebels who are fighting government troops to split parts of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions from Kiev.

Speaking at a government meeting, he declared Kiev would not speak directly to the separatists and repeated the phrase slowly in Russian for emphasis, saying: "We will not hold direct talks with your mercenaries."

A ceasefire was agreed on Sept. 5 in the Belarussian capital of Minsk as part of a wider deal between Moscow, Kiev and the rebels under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - with a former president representing Kiev to avoid formal recognition of the rebels.

But the truce is under constant pressure, with deaths of government troops and civilians reported daily. Kiev and the West accuse Russia of sending tanks and troops to back the rebels but Moscow denies the charges.

Lavrov and president Vladimir Putin held talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Moscow on Tuesday but failed to overcome deep rifts over Ukraine.

Yatseniuk called on Moscow to "stop playing games aimed at legitimizing bandits and terrorists."

"If you (Russia) want peace - fulfill the Minsk agreement," he said.

Lavrov said in Moscow that the "party of war" - supporters of Kiev's military campaign against the rebels - had tried to exclude the separatists from peace moves and to "force the West to seek the consent of Russia to act as a side in the conflict."

"This is a completely counter-productive and provocative line that has no chance of succeeding," Lavrov said.

(Writing by Richard Balmforth, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

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Sharpton: Ferguson Situation Is 'Very Tense'

NEW YORK (AP) — Activists from across the country are gearing up for the highly anticipated announcement of a grand jury's decision over whether a white police officer should face criminal charges in the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Wednesday.

After months of heated protests over the death of Michael Brown, Sharpton called the situation in the St. Louis suburb "very tense."

Sharpton's National Action Network has plans in place for vigils and protests in at least two dozen cities no matter what decision is announced, he said. Demonstrators will gather outside U.S. government buildings to demand federal prosecutors take over the case.

"It is important that we have a fair and impartial proceeding," Sharpton said at a news conference at National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. "And it is clear that neither the family nor the community has confidence in the local prosecutor."

He added: "We are prepared to continue to mobilize. We are calling for everyone to act in a strategic, disciplined, non-violent way, but do not allow either decision to feel like the case is over."

There is no specific date for an announcement on whether Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson should face charges. The St. Louis County prosecutor has said he expects the grand jury to reach a decision in mid-to-late November.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a separate investigation, and it has not said when its work will be completed. It's looking into potential civil rights violations in Wilson's actions and the police department's overall practices, including whether officers used excessive force and engaged in discriminatory practices.

Sharpton said his group is on "high alert" over both the Brown case and the grand jury probe of the death of Eric Garner during an arrest in July on Staten Island. Evidence includes an amateur video a New York Police Department patrolmen wrapping his arm around the unarmed man's neck and medical examiner's finding that a chokehold contributed to the death.

Sharpton spent the bulk of the news conference responding to a report in The New York Times on Wednesday that there are more than $4.5 million in state and federal tax liens against him and his non-profit businesses. He called the front-page article misleading because it failed to emphasize that much of that figure stems from penalties and back taxes that are steadily being paid down as part of settlement with the Internal Revenue Services that was reported years ago.

"National Action Network and I owe no current taxes," he said. "We're talking about old taxes. We're not talking about anything new."

With a decision imminent on whether to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of the teenager, here’s a rundown on what the grand jury is doing, and how it works.

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State of Emergency: Inside the Grand Jury Room in Ferguson, Missouri

Whatever it decides, a grand jury in St. Louis County is about to make big news. It must weigh whether county prosecutors should charge police officer Darren Wilson with a crime in the shooting death ofMichael Brown three months ago.

The event prompted a tide of protest in Ferguson, Mo., as an alleged example of excessive use of force by police against a black teenager.

Now, with a grand jury decision imminent, Gov. Jay Nixon has called up the Missouri National Guard amid the possibility of chaos in the streets of Ferguson and other parts of the county.

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Here’s a rundown on what the grand jury is doing, and how it works.

What is a grand jury?

Unlike a traditional trial jury, tasked with weighing guilt or innocence, the role of grand juries is to decide whether a criminal charge should be brought to trial in the first place. The members of a grand jury often serve for months and render decisions on many cases. They hear evidence and can issue a “true bill” or indictment, saying there is probable cause to believe a crime has occurred and saying who should be charged. They can also decline a prosecutor’s request for indictment.

Who is on the grand jury in the Michael Brown case?

The grand jury is composed of 12 people “selected at random from a fair cross-section of the citizens,” according to Missouri law. The jury is 75 percent white: six white men, three white women, two black women, and one black man. St. Louis County overall is 70 percent white, but the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson is about two-thirds black.

What must they decide on?

They must weigh whether there is enough evidence to charge Wilson and, if so, what the criminal charge should be. Charges could range from second-degree involuntary manslaughter, which is defined as acting with criminal negligence to cause a death (punishable by up to four years in prison) to various degrees of murder, which have higher punishments.

What evidence have they heard?

What they hear is supposed to stay secret while they’re deliberating, so we don’t know the details. The people in the room are the jury, prosecutors, and witnesses. But some important information has leaked in this case, notably that Wilson took the unusual step (for a potential defendant) of testifying as a witness. Another witness was Dr. Michael Baden, who performed a private autopsy on Brown on behalf of his family.

In news reports, conflicting accounts have emerged. The basic narrative is that Wilson drove up alongside Brown and a colleague around noon on Aug. 9, and asked them to stop walking in the street. Wilson is said to have testified that he noticed that Brown’s friend matched the description of a convenience store robbery suspect. Wilson’s reported account is also that as he prepared to confront the pair, Brown began to assault him through the open car window. Brown began to flee after Wilson fired his gun at him.

Although that account lends itself to the argument that Wilson acted in self-defense, other witnesses have been quoted saying that, once he emerged from his car, Wilson shot at the fleeing Brown and then shot him multiple times when Brown had stopped fleeing.

Accounts differ on whether Brown put his hands up, asked Wilson to stop shooting, or was trying to move toward Wilson when he was killed. The phrase “hands up, don’t shoot” has become a rallying cry of protesters who are seeking both justice for Brown and wider police reforms.

Soon the public will learn more about the grand jury’s view of the chain of events on Aug. 9.

What information will the grand jurors make public?

An indictment will be made public if Wilson is charged, but the evidence will be kept secret for use at a trial. If Wilson is not indicted – a distinct possibility in the eyes of many legal experts – County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch has said he will take the unusual step of transparency by releasing transcripts and audio recordings of the grand jury investigation.

When will the grand jury make a decision?

There is no specific date. Prosecuting Attorney McCulloch has said he expects grand jurors to reach a decision in mid- to late November. But the timing ultimately is up to the grand jurors.

Do criminal charges require a unanimous vote?

No. Consent from nine jurors is enough to file a charge in Missouri.

What’s the point of having a grand jury make this kind of decision?

Legal experts say the use of grand juries acts as a check against the untrammeled use of prosecutorial power by the state. In practice, grand juries typically issue an indictment when one is sought by prosecutors. But grand juries aren’t just rubber stamps. They can ask their own questions and call for more evidence.

In this case, some observers say the grand jury is also being tasked with a decision that might be even more volatile if made directly by prosecutors. (The county prosecutors aren’t making their own recommendations about a charge for Wilson, leaving it to the grand jurors.)

An alternative to grand juries is having an open preliminary hearing in court before going ahead with a trial. The secrecy (in most cases) of grand jury deliberations can help protect individuals from having their reputations damaged in cases where no charges are brought.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this story.