Former 'Survivor' Producer Bruce Beresford-Redman Wanted Slain Wife Cremated

Monica Beresford-Redman's family said it suspects her Hollywood husband.

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

April 20, 2010— -- The former "Suvivor" producer who is a suspect in the death of his wife, who was slain on vacation in Mexico, requested she be cremated, according to Mexican authorities who say their investigation is nearly complete.

It was a revelation the family of Monica Beresford-Redman found "disturbing," according to a lawyer.

Beresford-Redman's sister told "Good Morning America" that the idea her brother-in-law might have been capable of such a horrific crime saddens her.

"I think everybody can be capable of murder. And I'm really sad if he did," Carla Burgos said. "She was a very, very pleasant person."

Her family has traveled to Mexico to tell authorities what they know about the couple's marital problems and to request they be allowed to bring her body back to the United States for a proper burial.

Hollywood producer Bruce Beresford-Redman is the chief suspect in his wife's death this month at a posh Cancun resort where they were reportedly working on their strained marriage. His resume includes stints as a producer on the TV shows "Survivor" and "Pimp My Ride."

An arrest in the case has been delayed, pending forensic testing, but Monica Beresford-Redman's family said it wants justice -- now.

"We want the person that murdered my sister," Jeane Burgos said. "I want this person in jail to pay for the rest of his life for what he did."

The justice the family is looking for may not come as swift as the family would like, criminal attorney Lisa Monet Wayne said.

"Mexico is very different in terms of how they investigate criminal cases, how the defendants are charged," she told "Good Morning America" Tuesday.

And the investigation, she said, could be a lengthy one. If Bruce Beresford-Redman, 38, is arrested, he would not be tried by a jury of his peers as is the American standard.

"Mexico is a country in which you are guilty until proven innocent," she said.

"It's great that they're going to Mexico -- whether that's going to have any impact on the Mexican authorities, who knows?" Wayne said.

Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found in the hotel sewer April 8 on what would have been her 42nd birthday. Mexican authorities have said she was strangled and suffered a blow to the head.

"My sister would never in 1 million years leave her kids a whole day with the father, without her cell phone," she said.

Burgos said she doesn't believe Beresford-Redman's story that his wife disappeared after she left by herself to go shopping.Police officials said there is no record of her having left the hotel grounds.

Security guards check all cars that come and go.

Her husband was initially arrested after authorities found scratch marks on his body, and witnesses said they heard the couple arguing the night she disappeared.

He has since been released but has been ordered to stay in Mexico until the investigation is completed.