A state attorney general in Mexico has filed murder charges against TV producer Bruce Beresford-Redman for allegedly killing his wife in Cancun.
The charges were filed by state prosecutors in Quintana Roo, and a Mexican judge Monday evening issued an arrest warrant for Beresford-Redman. The prosecutor's office said it would would use diplomatic efforts, international police treaties and other channels to have him arrested and extradited back to Mexico.
He is a suspect in the April 5 murder of Monica Beresford-Redman at a swanky resort on the Caribbean coast.
Early Tuesday, Beresford-Redman proclaimed his innocence in a statement released by his attorney, Robert Hirsch. He referred to his wife as the "axis around which our whole family revolved."
"I am devastated at her loss, and I am incensed at the suggestion that I could have had anything to do with her death," the statement said. "I am innocent. My children have had one parent taken from them by a senseless act of violence. I implore the Mexican authorities not to take their remaining parent by a miscarriage of justice and to do what is right, not just what is expedient."
The TV producer had been ordered by Mexican police not to leave the Yucatan peninsula, but returned to his Ranchos Palos Verdes home last week. Beresford-Redman was seen Monday playing with the children in the backyard of his Rancho Palos Verdes home.
The wife's body was found beaten and strangled in a septic tank at a Cancun luxury resort on April 8. The husband had reported that she had never returned from a shopping trip.
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The victim's family released a statement after the arrest warrant was issued.
"If in fact he is innocent then he should have no problem waiving extradition proceedings and returning to Mexico to defend himself," the family said in the statement. "However, if he is guilty, then shame on him for exploiting his children, he should have considered them before committing this senseless and brutal act of domestic violence upon their mother."
The couple had taken their children to Cancun in an attempt to reconcile, but were heard loudly fighting just before she disappeared. The former producer of "Survivor" and "Pimp My Ride" returned to Los Angeles last week.
Memorial services for Monica Beresford-Redman were held Sunday in Culver City. The couple's children, 5-year-old Camila and 3-year-old Alec, did not attend the service based on a therapist's recommendation enforced by a ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff.
Bruce Beresford-Redman's parents were given temporary custody of the children in April, and Beckloff extended that guardianship Friday pending a June 17 court hearing. Both Bruce Beresford-Redman and the murdered woman's sisters seek permanent custody of the children.
His attorney, Hirsch, has suggested Monica Beresford-Redman's death might be connected to several killings that have occurred in the Cancun resort area.
Last Friday, Hirsch faced reporters to address the then-imminent filing of charges in Quintana Roo.
