Community Corner
Ex-'Survivor' Producer Extradited to Mexico
Bruce Beresford-Redman, charged with killing his wife while on vacation in Mexico, has been extradited from the U.S. to await trial.
Former reality show producer Bruce Beresford-Redman was extradited to Mexico today to stand trial for the murder of his wife.
Beresford-Redman was returned to the Mexican state of Quintana Roo without appealing a decision by a federal judge in Los Angeles allowing his extradition, according to Stephen Jaffe, a spokesman for the defendant's family.
The former "Survivor" producer and Rancho Palos Verdes resident is charged in Mexico with aggravated homicide in the death of Monica Burgos, his wife of 11 years, who owned a Brazilian-themed restaurant on L.A.'s Westside.
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"This day marks a major milestone in our journey to ensure justice for Monica," said Alison Triessl, an attorney for the victim's sisters.
"It has been nearly two years since our beloved Monica was savagely murdered by her husband, Bruce," she alleged. "He tried to escape justice by fleeing Mexico and returning to the United States. ... After nearly 15 months in United States custody, Bruce will finally be returned to Mexico to stand trial for Monica's murder."
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Burgos' nude, beaten body was found at a Cancun resort on April 8, 2010, three days after her husband reported her missing. Beresford-Redman allegedly dumped his wife's body in a sewer near the room at the hotel where they were staying with their two young children.
In an order denying Beresford-Redman's habeas petition and confirming an earlier extradition order, U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez wrote in December that there are "pages upon pages of competent evidence" pointing to the defendant's guilt in the killing of the 41-year-old Burgos.
If convicted in Mexico, the Emmy-nominated producer and co-creator of "Pimp My Ride" faces between 12 and 30 years in prison, officials said.
In his ruling, Gutierrez summarized the evidence against Beresford-Redman as "infidelity, fighting, screaming from the hotel room, the fugitive's opportunity to dispose of the victim's body, the ultimate location of the victim's body (25 meters from the hotel room), the victim leaving her cell phone behind, scratches and abrasions upon the fugitive's body, and the fugitive's flight" from Mexico.
"All of this evidence points to homicide committed by the fugitive," the judge wrote.
The couple's two young children are in the custody of their paternal grandparents.
