Bruce Beresford-Redman is the co-creator and executive producer of MTV's Pimp My Ride and a former producer of Survivor. In 2015, he was convicted in Mexico of the murder of his wife, Mónica.
Beresford-Redman was a reality TV producer and a producer of the television franchise Survivor. He was also involved in producing Pimp My Ride, a popular car makeover show on MTV. His career has since been eclipsed by an investigation surrounding his asserted involvement into his wife's death early in 2010, when the naked body of his wife was found near their hotel while holidaying in Mexico.
Personal life
Beresford-Redman married a Brazilian national, Mónica Burgos, on April 8, 1999 in Rio de Janeiro; the couple had two children, who now live with their paternal grandparents.
Murder of Mónica Beresford-Redman
On April 8, 2010, Beresford-Redman's wife Mónica was found dead while they were vacationing in Cancun, Mexico. Mónica had been strangled and her body dumped in a sewer nearby the Moon Palace resort where the family had been staying. Later on the day of the murder, Beresford-Redman was detained and questioned by police as a person of interest in his wife's death. He was released by police during the early morning hours of April 8 on condition that he not leave Mexico while the investigation into his wife's death remained ongoing. Two young English tourists staying at the hotel had claimed to have heard the couple arguing in their room on April 4. Beresford-Redman was also reportedly seen with scratches on his hands and the back of his neck. Mónica's cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation. Since his passport had been retained by the Mexican government when he was arrested, Beresford-Redman illegally left Mexico by crossing the border using his driver's license as identification and taking a train to Los Angeles. On May 31, 2010, Mexico issued an arrest warrant on Beresford-Redman for the murder of his wife while Mexican prosecutors initiated extradition proceedings to return Beresford-Redman back to Mexico to be tried.
Arrest
On November 16, 2010, CNN reported that Beresford-Redman had been arrested by U.S. marshals in Los Angeles on a warrant from Mexico. On November 29, 2010, a Los Angeles federal judge denied Beresford-Redman's request for bail.
Extradition
On July 12, 2011, US magistrate Jacqueline Chooljian determined that Beresford-Redman should be sent to Mexico because there was enough circumstantial evidence to show probable cause he may have murdered his wife. US prosecutors had reviewed the case made by Mexican authorities and deemed sufficient evidence to show possible motives for Beresford-Redman to have killed his wife including collecting insurance money; getting sole custody of their children; and continuing an extramarital affair. Beresford-Redman waived further appeals and was extradited to Mexico on February 8, 2012. A judge found sufficient evidence that Beresford-Redman murdered his wife and on February 15 2012 ordered that he remain in custody pending adjudication.
Conviction
On March 12 2015, Beresford-Redman was convicted of murdering his wife, and sentenced to 12 years in prison by Judge Víctor Manuel Echeverría Tun. Beresford-Redman has appealed. The prosecution has said the sentence is unduly lenient, and left open the possibility of also appealing. Since November 2014, Beresford-Redman remains in a jail in Cancún. Other witnesses either did not appear or supported the defense. In a video diary made during his containment, Beresford-Redman has claimed that much of the evidence against him was reportedly contaminated in police custody, and minute amounts of blood in the hotel room where the family stayed did not belong to Mónica Beresford-Redman per DNA testing. As of September 2015, he has not seen his children in almost four years.
Release
Beresford-Redman was released from prison in September 2019 after serving 4 years out of 12.
Media
The then on-going investigation of Beresford-Redman by the Mexican authorities was covered in an episode of the television series48 Hours - Fatal Episode: The Producer's Story - Season 25, Episode 17.
