Police Arrest Bruce Beresford-Redman For Allegedly Murdering His Wife
LOS ANGELES (AP/CBS) — A TV producer whose wife was killed on avacation in Mexico was arrested as a fugitive in Southern California on Tuesday, six months after the Mexican government issued a warrant for his arrest.
Bruce Beresford-Redman was taken into custody at the request of the Mexican government by U.S. Marshals and FBI agents at the home he shares with his parents and kids in Rancho Palos Verdes, according to a written statement from U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek.
A U.S. magistrate judge signed a warrant for Beresford-Redman on Friday in conjunction with a complaint that outlines Mexico's case against the producer, Mrozek said.
The complaint said Beresford-Redman, 38, is charged with aggravated homicide in the death of his wife Monica Beresford-Redman, whose body was found in a sewer in Cancun in April while the two were on vacation.
The complaint, which was automatically unsealed on Beresford-Redman's arrest, alleges that on April 5, Beresford-Redman killed his wife by asphyxiating her at the Hotel Palace Nizuc in Cancun.
Mexican officials had issued a warrant for the former "Survivor" producer's arrest in May, but he had already returned to California.
Jeane Ferreira Burgos said in a sworn statement that her sister Monica Beresford-Redman told her about six weeks before she was killed that her husband was having an affair with another woman, according to the complaint.
She confronted her husband and he apologized, but when she learned that he still had contact with the mistress, she asked for a divorce, according to the complaint.
Burgos said her sister had the locks changed on the couple's home before the vacation, and told their children's schools that her husband should not be allowed to pick them up.
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.
Bruce Beresford-Redman was being taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, and was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday, Mrozek said.
Tuesday evening, Beresford-Redman's attorney issued a statement insisting his client was innocent and all would be proven. "Based upon our investigation, he is an innocent man beingwrongfully 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."
Meanwhile, Monica's family issued their own statement after the arrest: "After seven months of tremendous agony, the Burgos family is relieved to learn tonight that Bruce Beresford-Redman has been taken into federal custody. 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 family wishes to thank everyone for their continued support."
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