MIAMI: A Puerto Rican ex-beauty queen was found guilty Wednesday of hiring a hitman to kill her wealthy Canadian husband.
Aurea Vazquez Rijos — who spent several years in Europe as a fugitive — was convicted of hiring Alex Pabon Colon to kill Adam Anhang in September 2005.
The victim’s father, an emotional Abraham Anhang, told reporters at the courthouse doors: “I’m very happy, this has been almost 14 years of agony. And I believe justice has been done.”
Sentencing was set for January 31, 2019.
Prosecutors said the former Miss Puerto Rico Petite paid $3 million for the hit.
She had signed a prenuptial agreement six months before ordering the murder of Anhang, a Canadian real estate developer with properties in Puerto Rico, the indictment added.
According to court documents, at the time of his death he had a net worth of $24 million.
Shortly after getting married, Anhang began mentioning the possibility of divorce, court records showed, but under the terms of their agreement, Vazquez Rijos would receive much more as a widow.
The ex-beauty queen allegedly summoned her husband to Old San Juan for dinner to make it easier for the hit man to do his job.
The hitman later confessed to killing Anhang when the couple left the restaurant.
He also hit Vazquez Rijos so that the attack would look like a robbery. She fled to Italy before the prosecution issued the first indictment in 2008.
She was finally arrested in Spain in 2013 and then extradited.