Family HandoutUPDATE: Beresford-Redman was released from custody a little after midnight Friday. He remains under investigation and is not allowed to leave Mexico while authorities work the case.
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Here's hoping this story doesn't get any worse.
A three-time Emmy-nominated TV producer who worked on Survivor and is credited with cocreating Pimp My Ride has been detained in Mexico after the search for his missing wife reached a grisly conclusion.
Bruce Beresford-Redman was taken into police custody this morning after the body of his wife, Monica, whom he reported missing Tuesday, was found in a sewer near their Cancun resort around 9 a.m.
A regional police spokesman confirmed the detainment but offered no immediate information on Monica's cause of death, though media reports out of Mexico have cited strangulation. Here's what we know for sure:
A Mexican official confirmed to reporters today that a security guard at the luxurious Moon Palace resort last saw the couple arguing at the hotel on Sunday, and that the argument turned physical, with Bruce trying to hit his wife. Bruce was later seen with scratches on his body, and Monica's sister, Carla Burgos, has admitted that the couple was "having some troubles."
She was not specific as to the nature of their problems, but police are currently conducting toxicology tests on Beresford-Redman to determine whether there are currently any drugs in his system.
It was on Monday, according to Bruce, that Monica left the resort alone, without her cell phone, to go shopping while he remained with their children. She never returned.
He did not report her missing until the following day, though it's unclear why he waited so long.
Monica's family, on the other hand, wasted no time in filing a missing persons report with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and told authorities almost immediately that they suspected foul play.
Bruce, who last worked for Survivor on its 2004 All-Stars season, spoke to Los Angeles' local CBS news affiliate yesterday, saying that he remained "hopeful" that his wife would be found.
"I'm expecting other calls coming in, and I'm very hopeful someone will find my wife very soon," he said. "She still hasn't been located and we're looking."
The Beresford-Redmans were supposed to return to Los Angeles today, which, incidentally, would also have been Monica's 42nd birthday.
(Originally published April 8, 2010, at 12:50 p.m.)
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