A mother and community are left devastated after two young women were shot and killed in Honduras last week.

Maria Jose Alvarado, a 19-year-old who was named Miss Honduras in April, and her sister Sofia Trinidad, 23, were found buried in a field near La Aguagua spa where they were celebrating the birthday of the latter's boyfriend.

Alvarado's death comes days before she was expected to fly out to London to compete in the Miss World Pageant on Wednesday.

The beauty queen was a student with hopes of one day becoming a diplomat in her country. She described herself as "dedicated" on the Miss World Pageant website and said she enjoyed cooking Honduran food, playing sports and performing a Garifuna dance called the Punta Dance.

Despite her success in beauty pageants, Alvarado was also humble and walked around town wearing jeans and no makeup, The Associated Press reported.

"We are devastated by this terrible loss of two young women, who were so full of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of María José Alvarado & Sofía Trinidad at this time of grief," said a statement on the Miss World website on Wednesday. "We will be holding a special service with all of the Miss World contestants on Sunday, where we will be honoring the lives of María José Alvarado and Sofía Trinidad, and say prayers for them and their family."

Alvarado's boyfriend, Plutarco Antonio Ruiz Rodriguez, 26, admitted to killing the women. Police General Ramon Sabillon said the boyfriend shot Trinidad during a violent argument which started after he saw her dancing with another man. He then killed Alvarado while she tried to get away.

"Honduras has been designated as the murder capital of the world. It has the highest murder rate per capita in the world," BBC's William Marquez said. "But even in a society imbued in such violence, I think this is going to come as a shock because the nation invests a lot in their beauty queens. Regardless of what you think about beauty pageants, there is a sense of national pride if the beauty queen does well in the pageants."

Alvarado and her sister were buried Thursday morning in the Gualjoco cemetery, NBC reported.

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