'Survivor' Producer's Mother Tells Children Their Mother Died in Car Crash, TMZ Reports

May 26, 2010— -- The mother of former "Survivor" producer Bruce Beresford-Redman has been telling his young children that their slain mother was killed in a car crash, infuriating the dead woman's family.

According to court filings obtained by TMZ, Monica Beresford-Redman's sister Carla Burgos claims the children were told gruesome details about an accident that never happened.

Bruce Beresford-Redman's mother Juanita told the children, TMZ says Burgos claimed in the legal documents, that "their mother had been hit by a car, fell, and hit her head."

"She further told the children that no one in Mexico knew their mother, so no one could find her until their father finally found her in the hospital," the filing said, according to TMZ, "and at the time she was already dead."

Monica Beresford-Redman" target="_blank">Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found beaten and strangled in a Cancun hotel sewer while on a family vacation last month. Mexican authorities have named Bruce Beresford-Redman as a person of interest, though no charges have been filed.

Bruce Beresford-Redman made headlines earlier this week when he returned to Los Angeles without his passport, a trip Mexican authorities said he made without their knowledge.

Though Mexican investigators have said they told Beresford-Redman not to leave the country, Jaime Cansino Leon, one of his Cancun-based lawyers told ABC News that "legally speaking he's a free man and he doesn't have any obligation whatsoever to stay in Cancun.

"Bruce has not been accused of any crime," Leon said. "Therefore, he's innocent."

An ABC News camera this week recorded Beresford-Redman driving into the garage of the home he once shared with his wife for the first time since she died.

When asked how he was holding up, Beresford-Redman replied, "I don't even know how to answer that question."

He was seen pitching a tent in the backyard while the couple's two young children watched.

Producer's Lawyers Defend Decision to Return to Los Angeles

His attorneys have said he left to avoid spending months, if not years, in jail while Mexican authorities build their case. He has yet to be charged with any crimes, but Mexican authorities have named him as a person of interest in his wife's death.

An attorney for Monica Beresford-Redman's sisters issued a statement saying, "the family is in shock."

"We plead that if he intends to run again that he not involve the children," the statement read.

Monica Beresford-Redman's sister, Jeane Burgos, now back in Los Angeles, told ABC News while she was in Cancun that "there is a part of me that was sorry I wasn't able to be there for her, to save her.

"But I want her to know," she said, "we are going to do everything, everything that it takes."

At a probate court hearing Monday for his wife's estate, Bruce Beresford-Redman's father, David, confirmed for the judge that his son was back in Los Angeles but said he didn't know precisely where.

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.

Beresford-Redman's Los Angeles attorney, Richard Hirsch, told ABC News earlier that his client "has returned to Los Angeles County to be with his children and attend to family and personal matters."

Cansino Leon echoed Hirsch's remarks. "Right now his main concerns are his two children. And they have been all this time," he said. "When these tragic events happened he preferred to send them to the States to be with his parents. And right now he's determined to get the custody of them and his main concern right now are...his two little children."

Mexican authorities also seized his passport in the days after his wife's body was found in a hotel sewer, but according to the Department of Homeland Security website, only U.S. citizens entering the United States by air must show a passport. Citizens entering by land and or sea can show several other types of documents, including an enhanced driver's license.

A source at Homeland Security added that a U.S. citizen traveling without any of those documents could still return to the country if they are able to prove through a secondary interview that they are a citizen.

Hollywood Producer's Return to U.S. Raises Eyebrows

Beresford-Redman did not turn up at a probate hearing for his wife's estate on Monday, though his father was acting as his power-of-attorney. The judge said that now that Beresford-Redman has returned to the United States, he will have to act on his own behalf or hire a lawyer to do so.

David wouldn't confirm whether he had seen or spoken to his son since his return.

The probate judge took up the matter of Monica's popular Latin restaurant, Zabumba, which she owned and ran in Los Angeles with her sisters. David Beresford-Redman argued that the restaurant, whose doors have been shuttered since Monica's death, should be closed down because it's a liability to her estate.

Meanwhile, Monica's sisters, Carla and Jeane, asked why David would try to close down a restaurant of which he and his son had no financial part.

The judge ruled that that if the insurance is current and the taxes are paid on the restaurant, the sisters should be in charge of it and allowed to keep it open for business.

The judge will continue the hearing on June 10 in Los Angeles, where it will be decided whether Monica's 2004 will is valid. There is also a will from 2008. Her family -- her maiden name was Burgos -- was asked to submit testimony from one of the witnesses that they actually saw Monica sign the will in 2004.

There is also a separate custody case to decide who will get ultimate custody of Bruce and Monica's children. The Burgos family is also fighting for custody. A source close to the family said at a closed-door hearing last week, Bruce asked to see the kids and was denied.