Monica Beresford-Redman Update: Parents of Ex-"Survivor" Producer Given Custody of Couple's Children
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) - The parents of Bruce Beresford-Redman, the TV producer whose wife Monica Beresford-Redman was murdered during a Mexican vacation, will get permanent guardianship of the couple's two children under an agreement reached Wednesday.
PICTURES: Monica Beresford-Redman Found Dead
The agreement means that a custody trial for the couple's 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son has been avoided.
Prior to the hearing, two of the Monica's sisters, Carla Van Bastelaar and Jeane Burgos, had sought custody of the children, but have since agreed to let David and Juanita Beresford-Redman, who have been serving as the temporary guardians of Camila and Alex, continue to care for the children.
The new agreement allows the children to remain with their father who lives with his parents and the kids in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., south of Los Angeles.
"The settlement is in the best interests of the children and on behalf of my clients I'm thrilled that we were able to do something cooperatively," said Patricia Phillips, attorney for the aunts. The aunts did include a provision to the agreement saying Bruce Beresford-Redman must wait a year before he can ask that his parental rights be restored.
Bruce Beresford-Redman, 38,said the agreement unfairly judged him because of the circumstances in Mexico.
"It strikes me as punitive," Bruce Beresford-Redman said according to City News Service. "It seems to me I'm being punished for something I can't control."
Bruce Beresford-Redman has denied killing his wife since Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found in a sewer at the Moon Palace Hotel resort in Cancun where the couple was vacationing. He told investigators that he last saw his wife after she left the resort to go shopping and never returned.
Mexican authorities issued an arrest warrant in May for Bruce Beresford-Redman and were attempting to extradite him. He returned to Los Angeles before the warrant was issued.