Bruce Beresford-Redman Back in Los Angeles After Wife Slain in Mexico
Bruce Beresford-Redman a free man; Mexico official calls it "suspicious."
May 24, 2010— -- The former "Survivor" producer whose wife was slain during the couple's vacation in Cancun, Mexico, left the country and returned to the U.S. without the knowledge of Mexican authorities, who had seized his passport in the days after his wife's body was found in a hotel sewer.
Bruce Beresford-Redman returned to Los Angeles this weekend despite Mexican authorities having named him as a person of interest in the killing of his wife, Monica Beresford-Redman.
In the eyes of the Mexican authorities and her family, he remains the prime suspect in the case.
Authorities said shortly after her death that he had been told not to leave Mexico pending the outcome of the investigation.
The attorney general in charge of the investigation in Mexico told ABC News that he found Beresford-Redman's return to Los Angeles "suspicious." He said the state received key DNA evidence Friday that could allow investigators to make an arrest in the case in a matter of days.
But Bruce Beresford-Redman's attorney told ABC News that his client was a free man.
He "has returned to Los Angeles County to be with his children and attend to family and personal matters," his lawyer said. "He has been informed he has no legal obligation to remain in Mexico pending an investigation into his wife's tragic death."
There's been no sight of him at the couple's upscale California home in Palas Verdes. But sources said he may be attending a custody hearing today regarding the couple's two young children. Monica Beresford-Redman's sisters are petitioning for guardianship.
Monica Beresford-Redman's body was turned over to her family last month. Her mother and sisters traveled back and forth from the United States to Mexico in the weeks after her death to pressure authorities to charge her husband with murder.
Fomer Los Angeles County prosecutor Robin Sax, who has no connection to the case, told "Good Morning America" today that she believed there was "ample probable cause" to charge Beresford-Redman, pointing to the couple's actions in the days before her death and the conflicting statements he gave to authorities, among other things.
"It is pretty atrocious that charges hasn't been found," she said.
But criminal defense attorney Roy Black, who is also not involved in the case, questioned what authorities might actually have on Beresford-Redman.
"What direct evidence is there that he committed the murder?" he asked. "There's still that missing link."
Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found April 8 in a sewer at the posh Cancun resort where she had been staying with her husband and their children.
E-mails Reveal a Troubled Marriage of Lies and Infidelity
Both Sax and Black agreed that Bruce Beresford-Redman's return to the United States will likely kick off a lengthy extradition battle should Mexican authorities charge him.
While Black said Beresford-Redman should have every opportunity to seek custody of his children, Sax said the mere naming of him as a person of interest could influence a judge to shift custody to another family member.
Mexican authorities said Monica Beresford-Redman had been strangled and hit hard in the head. Bruce Beresford-Redman had scratches on his arms and neck when questioned by police and investigators have said his account of his wife's disappearance in the days before her body was discovered don't match with witness statements.
The couple had traveled to Mexico, reportedly to work on their crumbling marriage. But Monica Beresford-Redman's sisters say they now wonder if they entire trip was planned so she could be killed on foreign soil.
A series of e-mails that surfaced last month between the couple and Bruce Beresford-Redman's alleged mistress Joy Pierce could show evidence of a motive in her death, according to Monica Beresford-Redman's family.
The e-mails, obtained by RadarOnline, were found on Monica Beresford-Redman's home computer after her death this month. Her family brought them to Mexican authorities.
In the e-mails, all written last month, Bruce Beresford-Redman wrote of wanting to be a better husband and father, but noted that his wife had denied him access to their children and home.
"She has gone even further than I thought she would," he wrote. "She has denied me access to my children. ... She has shut me out of my home, she has liquidated all my money and ... she has alleged at my daughter's school that I am abusive and unfit."
There is also an e-mail from Monica Beresford-Redman to her husband's apparent mistress, titled "Tiger Bruce Attacks Again," in which she talked about recording him in the car and called him a "liar" and "my embarrassing husband."
"I just want to expose him, so he can feel stupid," she wrote to Pierce. "That will help me? Probably not, but he has to grow up one day."