Sister of RPV woman slain in Mexico reportedly meets with L.A. DA

From City News Service:

The family of local woman slain in Mexico has asked for advice from Los Angeles County prosecutors about how her apparent murder will be handled, a District Attorney's spokeswoman said today.

Sandi Gibbons said her boss, District Attorney Steve Cooley, met briefly with a sister to Monica Beresford-Redman and introduced her to members of her staff Monday.

"We did meet with one of the victim's sister and her attorney, and they talked with a couple of people on our staff," Gibbons said. "But this is a Mexican murder investigation, and we have no role in the case."

Bruce Beresford-Redman reportedly is in the custody of the U.S. consulate in Merida, the capital of Mexico's Quintana Roo state, about 200 miles west of Cancun on the mainland.

Mexican news agencies report that the former "Survivor" producer is effectively under house arrest and has been told not to leave the nation. He has hired a prominent defense attorney, Eduardo Amerena.

Prosecutors in Cancun say they are awaiting pathology tests and a coroner's report for Monica Beresford-Redman, who owned of a Brazilian restaurant in West Los Angeles. Her corpse was found dumped in a septic tank at the Hotel Moon Palace in Cancun a week ago, on what would have been her 42nd birthday.

Internet gossip sites have reported that the couple had gone with their two small children to Cancun to reconcile after a fight over a six-month affair the TV producer was supposedly having with a casting director.

The slain woman's sisters, Carla and Jeane Burgos, referred to the victim by her maiden name when they issued a statement through an attorney.

"We have asked the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office to assist in any way
that they can in the ongoing investigation into the murder of Monica Burgos," the family stated in a release from an attorney that was quoted by the Los Angeles Times.

Monica Beresford-Redman was a native of Brazil.

According to Cancun police, the couple was heard having a fight, with furniture possibly being thrown, on the morning of April 5. The next day, Bruce told police Monica had disappeared on a shopping trip.

Her body was found on April 8, three days later in a cesspool several hundred feet from the room where they were staying at the swanky resort area.

The restaurant owner's sisters reportedly made a statement in Cancun to state prosecutors on Friday, a move that under Mexican law is called filing a charge. But police have not formally informed the producer of any charges, and have not read yet him a formal statement of his rights, according to Mexican news reports.