May 2010 Archives

Bruce Beresford-Redman's attorney spoke with the press on Wednesday, saying that Bruce insists that Monica's death was not the result of domestic violence, but, rather, another random murder at a Mexican resort with a history of violent crimes. Monica's body was found April 8 in a sewer at the Moon Palace resort in Cancun, Mexico and Bruce has been considered a suspect in her death and remains a person of interest.

Mexican authorities had ordered Bruce stay in Mexico while they completed their investigation, but he returned to Los Angeles recently. His attorney said that he did not have a legal obligation to stay in Mexico and had family matters to attend to and needed to be with his young children, who are currently caught in a child custody battle between Bruce's parents and Monica's sisters. 

Bruce Beresford-Redman has returned to L.A., despite a request by Mexican authorities that he stay in Mexico until the investigation into his wife's death is completed. Bruce Beresford-Redman's attorney said on his behalf that his client came home to be with his children and to attend to family and personal matters. He also said that Bruce was told he had no legal obligation to remain in Mexico while investigators are finishing their investigation. Mexican authorities confiscated his passport, but a passport is not necessarily needed to cross a border by land.

Beresford-Redman has not been charged in Monica's death. He has been called a suspect before and is now officially considered a "person of interest." On April 8, Monica was found dead in a sewer near where she was staying with her husband and their two young children in the fancy Moon Palace resort in Cancun, Mexico. Mexican authorities have been looking into whether Monica was killed by Bruce in an act of domestic violence. Witnesses had reported seeing and hearing them fighting while at the resort. Family members of Monica said that the couple had gone to Mexico to repair a marriage that had become strained because of an affair Bruce had been having.

The extended families of the Beresford-Redman children are going to court to determine permanent guardianship. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff granted temporary guardianship to the children's paternal grandparents while their father is detained in Mexico. A sister of Monica Beresford-Redman has challenged that arrangement and Judge Beckloff has set a court date for June 17 to determine permanent guardianship.

In April, Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found in a sewer in a resort in Cancun, Mexico. She had been staying at the resort while on vacation with her husband, TV producer Bruce Beresford-Redman, and their two children. Bruce Beresford-Redman is a suspect in his wife's death and has been barred from leaving Mexico until the investigation into her murder is completed, though he has not yet been arrested or charged.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Monday that a mother who relocated from Chile to Texas with her son and without her estranged husband's permission acted illegally. The majority justices believe that the Hague Convention, an international child custody treaty, says that the child should be returned to Chile. The treaty has been signed by more than 80 countries, including the U.S. Its purpose is to prevent one parent from taking a child to another country without the other parent's permission.

The father, Timothy Abbott, was given child visitation rights by a Chilean court and was also given the right to an equal part in any decision about whether his 10-year-old son could move to another country. The mother, Jacquelyn Abbott, knew about the court order, but took the boy with her when she relocated to Texas. Timothy Abbott accused his wife in U.S. courts of violating the Chilean court's order by taking their son to Texas without his permission. Jacquelyn Abbott and the lower U.S. courts believed that it was ultimately her right to choose her son's permanent residence because she was awarded primary custody of the boy.

U.S. lawmakers say they are running out of patience waiting for Japan to update its child custody policies. The lawmakers were joined by a few American fathers at a press conference last week in the Capitol announcing legislation that has been proposed to address the issue of international parental child abduction to Japan. The lawmakers say hundreds of children have been brought to Japan illegally by a Japanese parent in order to remove the non-Japanese parent's access to the child. The legislation will seek to force Japan to work to reunite these children with their foreign parents.  

Japan is the only major industrial nation that has still not signed the 1980 Hague Convention. In signing the international treaty, countries agree that they will return children brought to their country by a parent back to the child's country of habitual residence. One of the fathers at the press conference, Christopher Savoie, has had this issue at the center of his life for some time. His Japanese wife left their home in Tennessee and took his two children with her to Japan. Japanese courts almost never award child custody to foreign parents. They also almost never award joint custody, believing that a child should be with one parent if the parents divorce. Savoie was briefly detained in Japan on kidnapping charges last year after he snatched his children on their way to school and tried to get them into the U.S. Consulate, but was arrested before the doors were opened.

The family of Monica Beresford-Redman believes she was a victim of domestic violence and are asking investigators to not delay any further in arresting her husband, Bruce Beresford-Redman, for her murder. The body of the Southern California woman was found nearly a month ago in a sewer in Cancun, Mexico, near the room in the luxury resort where the couple had been staying with their two young children. Bruce Beresford-Redman, a former "Survivor" producer, has been told not to leave Mexico and remains the main suspect in the case, but he has not yet been arrested.

Authorities say they are still waiting for the results of forensic tests. They insist they want to be careful and methodical in their investigation and will not be swayed by outside pressure. Monica's mother says she is a mother and a lawyer and cannot understand the justice system in Mexico. Monica's mother and two sisters say they have been mostly kept in the dark regarding details of the investigation.

Denise Brown, sister of the late Nicole Brown Simpson, has launched a new speaker's bureau to combat domestic violence and other issues of community and family violence, such as sexual assault and child abuse. The Elite Speaker's Bureau, Inc. is based in Orange County, California, but Brown hopes that its speakers and their messages will reach communities across the country. She hopes the group's work will in turn help to create safer neighborhoods. 

The Monarch Beach for-profit group so far has 16 speakers in the business, including Denise Brown. Another speaker is Erin Runnion, whose daughter Samantha was abducted and killed in Orange County in 2002. The speakers include authors, advocates, therapists, celebrities, and others.

Sandra Bullock has announced that she has filed for divorce from Jesse James. The divorce comes after widespread tabloid reports of his marital infidelity. She also recently revealed that she secretly adopted a baby boy from New Orleans last January. She said she and James began the adoption process 4 years ago, but that she is completing the adoption as a single parent.

Bullock filed the divorce papers in a Texas court. She owns three businesses in Austin and has said before that she considers the city to be her true home. Another reason for filing in Texas is that Texas judges can consider several factors, including infidelity, in dividing the divorcing parties' property. If Bullock were filing closer to Hollywood, California laws regarding community property would call for the couple to split their estate 50-50. Bullock could be attempting to protect her high assets, an estimated $85 million fortune. Filing in Texas also means Bullock will not have to pay alimony to James.