LOS ANGELES (AP) - More than seven months after Monica Beresford-Redman’s body was found in the sewer of an upscale Mexican resort, federal authorities arrested her reality TV producer husband and plan to extradite him for trial.
Bruce Beresford-Redman was taken into custody without incident Tuesday at his Rancho Palos Verdes home and is expected to fight his return to Mexico, where he is charged with aggravated homicide.
An 11-page complaint unsealed after the arrest describes a contentious series of events that led to Monica Beresford-Redman’s death, including heated fights at a swank Cancun resort where her body was later found in a sewer. The complaint states she discovered her husband was having an affair before the trip and had been seeking a divorce; her sisters have said the couple traveled to Mexico in an attempt to reconcile.
Hotel workers and guests described seeing and hearing the couple fighting, according to the complaint. Hotel key logs showed someone entering and leaving the room numerous times in the early morning after one fight that rattled guests in a neighboring room, the filing states. It notes the sewer where Monica Beresford-Redman’s body was eventually found could be seen from the couple’s hotel room, which they shared with their young children.
Without elaborating, Bruce Beresford-Redman’s attorney said in a statement Tuesday evening that he believed the former “Survivor” producer was innocent and should not be returned to Mexico.
“Based upon our investigation, he is an innocent man being wrongfully accused by a foreign government,” attorney Richard G. Hirsch wrote. “We hope that after full consideration of both sides, a federal court will decide not to extradite him.”
Bruce Beresford-Redman is scheduled to make his first appearance Wednesday in a downtown Los Angeles federal courtroom.
The complaint states a forensic expert who examined the couple’s hotel room found traces of blood on sheets and a pillar and balcony railing in the room. It also includes a statement from an acquaintance of Bruce Beresford-Redman who received a call from the producer while his wife was considered missing. The man, who hadn’t spoken to the producer in a year, told authorities it sounded as if Bruce Beresford-Redman “was reading from a script” when he told him his wife was missing.
Monica Beresford-Redman’s sister, Jeane Burgos, said in a sworn statement that her sister told her about six weeks before she was killed that Bruce Beresford-Redman was having an affair, according to the complaint.
Monica Beresford-Redman confronted her husband and he apologized, but when she learned he still had contact with the mistress, she asked for a divorce, according to the complaint.
Burgos said her sister had the locks on the couple’s home changed before the vacation, and told their children’s schools her husband should not be allowed to pick them up.
The complaint states Bruce Beresford-Redman admitted the affair in e-mails, which were reviewed by authorities.
His arrest came after months of public pleas from Monica Beresford-Redman’s family for an arrest in the case.
“After seven months of tremendous agony, the Burgos family is relieved to learn tonight that Bruce Beresford-Redman has been taken into federal custody,” family attorney Alison Triessl said in a statement. “However, they know that this is not the end in their quest for justice for their sister Monica and are prepared to pursue this horrific tragedy to the end.”
The producer, whose is also credited as a co-creator of “Pimp My Ride,” somehow was able to leave Mexico before authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in May. He has appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom several times to deal with custody issues related to his daughter and son, and on issues related to his wife’s estate.
Bruce Beresford-Redman’s parents were granted permanent guardianship of the couple’s 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son last week, after a settlement with two of the children’s aunts.
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Associated Press writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this report.
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