Murder Charges Expected Against 'Survivor' Producer

Mexican attorney general expected to send arrest request to judge Monday.

ByABC News via logo
April 11, 2010, 6:06 PM

May 30, 2010— -- Murder charges against the former "Survivor" producer linked to the death of his wife in Cancun nearly two months ago could come Monday, Mexican authorities said today.

A recommendation to charge Bruce Beresford-Redman with the murder of his wife, Monica, will be presented to a Mexican judge Monday, likely to be followed by an arrest warrant, according to Mexican attorney general Francisco Alor.

Beresford-Redman's lawyer, Richard Hirsch, said he would fight extradition if his client is charged.

He also suggested Mexican authorities look into other violent incidents that have occurred at the same resort, including a Scottish woman who was found dead last year.

"We hope that the attorney general is not just trying to clear this case off his desk or in any case trying to protect the tourist industry of Cancun," Hirsch told "Good Morning America."

Monica Beresford-Redman's body was discovered in a hotel sewer in Cancun, Mexico on April 8. She had apparently been beaten and strangled.

The news of pending charges comes just days after ABC News confirmed Bruce Beresford-Redman took out two life insurance policies for his wife a week before her body was found.

Sources told ABC News last week that one of those life insurance policies paid out $50,000 in case of accidental death while traveling. The other would pay $500,000. The policies were also taken out on the couple's children.

Experts said news of the insurance policies only builds the case against Bruce Beresford-Redman, who Mexican authorities previously named as their sole person of interest in the death of Monica Beresford-Redman.

"It's going to poison the public perception of him, which is a real problem," California criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos said last week. "If charges are filed, this doesn't help his case."

The policies were purchased in late March, one from Worldwide Insurance, the other from InsureMyTrip.com.

"It adds to evidence of motive. They already have quite a bit of that," criminal defense attorney Roy Black told "Good Morning America." "More importantly, it tends to show premeditation."

Richard Hirsch, Beresford-Redman's attorney, confirmed the existence of the policies but said the beneficiaries are the children, not his client.

It's just the latest question mark for Beresford-Redman, who left Mexico last weekend without the knowledge of investigators there and returned to his Los Angeles home.

The attorney general in Mexico is calling the crime "first-degree homicide" and said Mexican authorities are willing to work with international authorities to make sure it doesn't go unpunished.

But Black said building a case against Beresford-Redman may not be as easy as some seem to think.

"I don't necessarily think it's a slam-dunk case, because where's the exact evidence of the killing?" he said. "Where is the piece of evidence that he strangled her, that he did this crime, something to connect him directly to this killing?"

Typical evidence, including the presence of DNA, will be harder to work with, because it would be common to find one spouse's DNA on the other, he said.

In Cancun, Monica Beresford-Redman's sister Jeane Burgos said her sister didn't sound happy when they last talked, about 24 hours before she died.

"She always had a positive attitude. She never let herself down," Burgos said. "And, at that moment when I spoke to her, I really felt that her hopes were running out."