Survivor Exec Guilty of Wife's Mexico Murder

Judge sentences Bruce Beresford-Redman to 12 years
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2015 6:37 AM CDT
Survivor Exec Guilty of Wife's Mexico Murder
In this December 2009 file photo, Monica Burgos is shown at her Zabumba Brazilian restaurant in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Courtesy Mariza Alyrio)

Five years after Monica Burgos was found murdered in Mexico, her husband has been found guilty of the crime. Prosecutors maintained former Survivor producer Bruce Beresford-Redman killed his wife on April 5, 2010, in a room at Cancun's Moon Palace resort, then dumped her body in a cistern, and a judge yesterday sentenced Beresford-Redman to 12 years in prison. He'll be credited for four years already served, TMZ reports. A lawyer for Beresford-Redman, who must also pay a $2,791 fine, says he'll appeal the decision as it is based on circumstantial evidence, CBS News reports. A state prosecutor, who had asked for a 50-year sentence, says he may appeal the decision in an attempt to secure a lengthier prison term, the AP reports.

Beresford-Redman and his lawyers maintain he is innocent and that the prosecution had no forensic evidence that pointed to him as the killer; the Hollywood Reporter notes that witnesses "backed out" or gave testimony that supported his story (read more on the doubts that clouded the trial). "Over an exhausting three-and-a-half-year period, this trial has done nothing but prove Bruce's innocence beyond any doubt," said his parents. "We are appalled and disgusted with this gross miscarriage of justice." Beresford-Redman's mom, who has custody of the couple's two children, says she has "told them that it's a farce." A lawyer for Burgos' family says, per the AP, "Not a day goes by that they don't miss her terribly and nothing will bring her back, but they can finally say that she has received the justice she deserved." Click for more on the case. (More Bruce Beresford-Redman stories.)

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