Bruce Beresford-Redman: The Verdict — Full Episode

[00:00:00] Troy Roberts: Tonight, reality show producer Bruce Beresford Redman found guilty of killing his wife, Monica. 48 Hours has been covering the trial of Bruce Beresford Redman for more than three years. It's a journey Beresford Redman allowed us to follow from the inside. Watch and decide for yourself if you agree with the verdict. [00:00:30] Bruce Beresford Redman: My name is Bruce Beresford Redman. I am in a Mexican prison where I have been on trial now for more than two years and nine months. I am accused of the murder of my wife, Monica, for a crime that I did not commit. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her and miss her. [00:01:03] Speaker 3: Justice for Monica! Justice for Monica! I wish I could believe that it didn't have anything to do with my sister's murder. It's for the love that we have for her and all the memories that we have about her that we are here today demanding justice. [00:01:20] Bruce Beresford Redman: What you will see tonight is a glimpse into a Mexican prison. [00:01:25] Troy Roberts: We first told you the story of Bruce Beresford Redman in 2012. His wife was murdered at a Cancun hotel where the family was vacationed. Bruce returned to the United States to take care of his children, but when Mexico charged him with his wife's murder, he was extradited here to stand trial. Tonight we will show you an exclusive sit-down interview and an extraordinary video diary taken inside these walls. [00:01:50] Bruce Beresford Redman: I agreed to do these video diaries to give a sense of what life is like here in hell. Making these videos has really made me much more visible here, which is really not a great thing for me. My existence in here has become a very basic struggle to simply survive. For many years I worked in reality TV and the reality of reality television, even at its best, it's a world that is created. Being in here is real. It is real and it really sucks. It's noisy and it's smelly and it's sweaty and hot and cramped. It's extremely uncomfortable. This is not an easy place to be. I really don't have any, what you could call, real friends here. And it's impossible for me to really have anybody in here that I can trust. [00:02:50] Speaker 4: In the middle of the night, when the prison is asleep, I lay awake and I miss Monica. [00:03:01] Bruce Beresford Redman: I don't think that I could possibly convey what it feels like to have not seen my children, not held my children for nearly three years now. Everything that I worked my life to build is gone. [00:03:15] Speaker 5: Really angry, disgusted, and determined to fight this through until we get Bruce home. He is an innocent American citizen and he does not belong in a horrible Mexican jail and he is not guilty of murdering his wife. [00:03:29] Speaker 6: I feel relieved that he was convicted of murder. We were waiting for five years for this. Finally, my sister can rest in peace. [00:03:44] Troy Roberts: I'm Troy Roberts. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict, The Verdict. [00:04:05] Speaker ?: Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. Tonight on 48 Hours, Bruce Beresford Redman, The Verdict. [00:04:16] Bruce Beresford Redman: I installed this for use during riots. We cut this piece of wood to keep this locked. Maintain the integrity of our cell and stay in here. [00:04:40] Speaker 7: It's Friday. [00:04:45] Bruce Beresford Redman: I heard some pops, and then I could smell the tear gas. It's this really strong, itchy, burny, oh, God, it's awful. [00:04:55] Troy Roberts: Today, this is reality for Bruce Beresford Redman, as it has been since 48 Hours first met him back in February 2012. [00:05:04] Bruce Beresford Redman: This is not the United States. I really don't know this system. I don't know how it works. [00:05:10] Troy Roberts: Back then, Beresford Redman was housed in the high security wing of Cancun's Benito Juarez prison, a cell block full of drug traffickers and assassins responsible for countless murders around Mexico. Now, he's in general population, where he has more freedom. He agreed to make these prison diaries to document his day-to-day life. It is a rare glimpse inside a Mexican prison. [00:05:37] Bruce Beresford Redman: Being incarcerated anywhere, but I think maybe especially here, time just gets warped. It is almost impossible to live in the present, because the present is just absolutely miserable. I spent a lot of time in the past reliving times with Monica, with the kids, just times when I was free. [00:06:02] Troy Roberts: Images of Monica, lovely, vivacious, and headstrong, haunt Beresford Redman. [00:06:15] Bruce Beresford Redman: I've had a lot of time to think back on things and to remember things from the past. [00:06:24] Troy Roberts: For more than two years, we tried to get permission to do a sit-down interview in this prison. Finally, we got it, for better or worse. How did you meet Monica? [00:06:38] Bruce Beresford Redman: Monica owned a restaurant and a nightclub in West Los Angeles called Zabumba. [00:06:43] Speaker 8: Are you the owner of this place? Yes, I am. I'm proud to have a part of Brazil here, you know, the fun and the happiness. [00:06:53] Bruce Beresford Redman: I randomly went there one night for dinner, and this beautiful woman served me great food, and it was a fun place, and I went back to try and get her attention. And then I sort of never left. Monica was the most beautiful, engaging, she was great, she was so cool. And very quickly, I found that my relationship with her was different than any relationship I'd ever had before, and I was in love with her, and she was in love with me. It was terrific. [00:07:30] Troy Roberts: Monica's sisters, Carla and Gianni Burgos, say that when Bruce and Monica first met back in 1997, they seemed like a happy couple. The Burgos sisters spoke to us in 2012. [00:07:41] Speaker 3: "She had life. She was a very outgoing and self-confident person. Bruce was a very well-read person. He can be very eloquent, but not necessarily the emotion." [00:07:58] Troy Roberts: After marrying in 1999, the couple had two children, Camilla, now 10, and Alec, now 8. We agreed not to show the children's faces and recent pictures. [00:08:09] Speaker 9: "Woo! Daddy, he's playing cats!" [00:08:13] Troy Roberts: Monica had the restaurant, and Bruce had his career, which was taking off in a hurry. He was the top producer on the CBS program Survivor, and also worked on several hit reality shows for other networks and cable outlets. As the money poured in, the family moved to a $2 million house in Los Angeles. With a more lavish lifestyle came some unexpected challenges. When things became difficult? At times, sure. [00:08:44] Bruce Beresford Redman: Both Monica and I worked a great deal. I worked during the day, she worked at night. There was a long period of time when we were sort of passing one another. [00:08:52] Troy Roberts: If that sounds like a recipe for marital discord, it was. Beresford Redmond began an affair with his longtime casting director, Joy Pierce. At times, the two had trouble keeping their hands off each other, even in front of Monica's sister, Carla. [00:09:07] Speaker 6: I went with him to a party. As soon as we got there, she jumped on his lap, like here and here. And I was, you know. [00:09:20] Troy Roberts: You were stunned? Yeah. Bruce was struggling with the affair on an emotional level. He considered telling his parents, David and Juanita, and eventually confided in his mother. Did you encourage him to break off the affair? [00:09:34] Speaker 5: I did. I said, you know, that's the only smart thing to do. You will hurt yourself. You will hurt Monica. I got the impression that he had really fallen in love, and it was going to be very difficult for him to break it off. [00:09:45] Troy Roberts: After Monica angrily confronted her husband, Beresford Redmond wrote her a brutally frank email. It was written on March 4, 2010, only one month before the couple was to leave on their ill-fated Mexican vacation. In the email, Beresford Redmond laid bare the painful truth, writing, Joy and I were lovers. Monica was devastated. My relationship with Monica was good. You can't paint a rosy picture on this, right? I mean, you guys had problems. [00:10:19] Bruce Beresford Redman: Like any marriage, like any family, we had issues, certain issues. But we were happily married, and we were in love with each other. We were good. [00:10:29] Troy Roberts: Beresford Redmond wouldn't talk to 48 Hours about his affair, but in an email written to Joy Pierce in the spring of 2010, Bruce outlined the steps a furious Monica had taken against him, quote, "She denied me access to my children. She shut me out of my home and liquidated all my money." [00:10:48] Speaker 3: It was a point where she had decided to get divorced from him. [00:10:52] Troy Roberts: But Bruce did all he could to change Monica's mind. He promised he'd break off his affair with Joy, and told Monica he would change his ways. Monica agreed to go with him for the family vacation they took every year for her upcoming birthday. This time, they traveled to the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun, Mexico. How was the trip initially? It was good. It was really fun, you know? So you and Monica got along well during this trip? Yeah. We had a really good time. That's hardly the way Monica described the trip, according to her sister Gianni, who says she spoke to Monica by phone the day before she was murdered. Gianni says Monica was upset about Bruce's [00:11:34] Speaker 3: cheating. I told her, "Monica, don't worry. You know, come back here. Just move on with your life. You're just going to build up your life again, and you're going to be happy again." [00:11:44] Troy Roberts: The next day, April 5th, 2010, was to be the last day of Monica's life. [00:11:51] Bruce Beresford Redman: She was going to do some shopping, and then she was perhaps going to go to a spa. And when did you grow concerned? Probably 10:30 or 11 o'clock that night. Bruce's concerns were made all the worse, [00:12:07] Troy Roberts: because he says Monica had not taken her cell phone, so he could not call her. Police later discovered that she did not take her passport or a room key either. Is that surprising that she didn't take her cell phone when you were alone with the kids? No. No, not really. When Monica was off the grid, she was off the grid. Did you think it odd that she didn't take her cell phone with her that day? [00:12:29] Speaker 3: Of course. She didn't take her cell phone. She left the kids all day with him. She never does that. Ever. [00:12:40] Bruce Beresford Redman: One of the things that I remember from the night that Monica was first missing was my children sleeping. I had given them baths, and I had put them to bed. And then I thought, okay, I'm going to go outside, and I'm going to take a look, and I'm going to see Monica walking back towards the room. [00:13:00] Troy Roberts: But Monica did not come back to the room. Not that night. And not ever. The long, upward trajectory of Beresford-Redmond's one successful life and career was about to end abruptly. [00:13:29] Bruce Beresford Redman: In my dreams, I'm free. In my dreams, I'm home. I'm with my children. [00:13:35] Troy Roberts: When Bruce Beresford-Redmond left on his family vacation to Mexico back in 2010, he probably never thought home would turn out to be here, this prison where he has spent more than three years on trial for his wife's murder. It houses more than 1,800 men and women in a compound [00:13:53] Bruce Beresford Redman: originally built for 700. When I walk around the prison, no matter where I'm going or what's going on, I am constantly aware that this is just a hostile environment for me. I'm completely shut down. I am simply in survival mode. To make it here, you cannot indulge in human sentiments. You really have to deaden a part of yourself and just survive. My Spanish is still not very good, so I'm always paying attention and you never really are able to relax. [00:14:28] Troy Roberts: It's a pressure cooker of criminals and contraband that often boils over. [00:14:33] Bruce Beresford Redman: You're with people who have demonstrated poor impulse control and a number of them may have mental problems. It's not uncommon to have fist fights, screaming matches. It is a very dehumanizing situation. The cell that I'm in is a very small cell. It's designed for three men and there are 10 of us in here. There have been as many as 17. This is the bathroom of the cell. All of these buckets are full of water. The water here runs only for a couple hours a day. [00:15:06] Speaker 10: That is pretty much exactly what it looks like, which is an open sewer. And the smell is blinding. [00:15:24] Bruce Beresford Redman: And the whole country, it feels like it's just steaming. This is the bunk where I sleep. I've awakened probably seven or eight times now with a cockroach on me someplace. And up here, I've got vitamins and mouthwash and toothbrush. Keep my change in here. There is a picture of Camille and Alec that is one of my favorite pictures. This is breakfast this morning. Brown liquid with some beans at the bottom there, I think. I have gotten violently ill eating the prison food. It's got a nice thumbprint on it. Okay. Guards basically maintain a perimeter on the outside. And their concern primarily is making sure that nobody gets out. The prisoners discipline each other. And it's much more dangerous because there's really nobody to come to your help, to your aid, if you are in trouble in here. [00:16:27] Troy Roberts: Danger is all around, but he says Mexican prison also means a freedom that he never had in American prison, where we spent 18 months awaiting extradition. In many ways, this is like a very small village [00:16:41] Bruce Beresford Redman: that they just threw razor wire around. There's churches in here. There's a mechanic shop in here, [00:16:47] Troy Roberts: guys making hammocks. Some of the women prisoners are even allowed to have their children live with them. Three times a week, it's visiting day. [00:17:00] Bruce Beresford Redman: As you can see, this place is full today of families. On visit days from eight o'clock in the morning to three in the afternoon, the prison fills up with families and wives and kids. Family is extraordinarily highly valued here. Visit days have a tendency to make me a little sad, a little melancholy, and they certainly make me miss my family. There are no family visits for Bruce. I would not allow them. I don't want them to be confronted [00:17:33] Troy Roberts: with how I'm forced to exist in here. So he hasn't seen them in more than three years. Okay, another attempt to call home. His lifeline is phone calls to his children, Alec and Camilla. Hi, good morning. How are you doing, buddy? Who live with his parents in California. [00:17:55] Bruce Beresford Redman: To hear my kids' voice, to hear my parents' voices. Love you, sweetheart. All right. I love you, mom. Right. Bye-bye. It's the best, most human part of my day. All right. I love you, sweetheart. I'll talk to you later. I have not been able to be a father to Camilla and Alec for years now. It is devastating. It takes all of my energy just to keep going. [00:18:16] Troy Roberts: But there's no choice. Bruce, his family, and Monica's sisters all are navigating an unfamiliar landscape, justice in a foreign country. [00:18:28] Speaker 11: There's no question that the Mexican legal system is different from ours. [00:18:33] Troy Roberts: Sonia Siros is U.S. counsel general for the Cancun area. She says she is closely following the Beresford-Redmond case and that, by Mexican standards, it doesn't surprise her. Has Mr. Beresford-Redmond complained to you about the length of this trial? [00:18:49] Speaker 11: He has raised that issue, and we're following through on that. [00:18:54] Troy Roberts: Do you have any sense of what the prison conditions are like? [00:18:57] Speaker 11: I would say that the prison conditions are not up to what we would consider standards in the United States. [00:19:06] Troy Roberts: Bruce at least has a bed. We found another American, 38-year-old Johnny Mintu from Seattle, who incredibly sleeps on the floor under Beresford-Redmond's bunk. It's not uncommon in this prison. As the sun begins to set, [00:19:23] Speaker 7: another night here. Another night in paradise. [00:19:26] Troy Roberts: They're locked in for the night. [00:19:27] Bruce Beresford Redman: And then I just lay down and try to go to sleep. [00:19:30] Troy Roberts: A sleep, he says, that is haunted by the memory of his murdered wife. [00:19:36] Bruce Beresford Redman: I still miss her all the time, and I still think about her all the time. I never lose sight of the fact that this is really Monica's story. [00:19:46] Troy Roberts: Monica's story is a murder mystery. And for Bruce, it's a real whodunit. Why do you think Monica's family is convinced that you killed her? [00:20:06] Bruce Beresford Redman: This is the view from my cell at night. That spotlight shines in here pretty much all night long, and it never gets very dark. So, at night time, this is what I see. [00:20:18] Troy Roberts: With so much time on his hands, Bruce Beresford-Redmond says he thinks often of the day Monica disappeared. [00:20:25] Bruce Beresford Redman: As soon as I was awake, I called the hotel desk, I guess, and I said, you know, my wife didn't come back yesterday. Do you know where she is? [00:20:33] Troy Roberts: After reporting that she was missing, he called Gianni Burgos, Monica's sister. When Bruce called you to say that Monica was missing, what went through your minds? [00:20:43] Speaker 3: My sister missing Monica. Monica, it's not a person that gets lost. She doesn't get lost. She's a person that goes anywhere, and she makes friends, and she knows what she's doing. [00:20:57] Troy Roberts: A worried Gianni immediately flew to Cancun to help with the search. But the next day, hotel workers found Monica's body in that sewer, situated near the family's hotel room. [00:21:10] Speaker 3: How could someone can put a person in a sewage? Very, very, very horrible. [00:21:19] Bruce Beresford Redman: How did you learn that her body was discovered? I was at the hotel. I was sitting there waiting, and they brought me back to my room, and I had no idea what was going on. Finally, someone told me that they had found Monica's body. [00:21:35] Troy Roberts: It would have been her 42nd birthday. [00:21:37] Bruce Beresford Redman: I could not make sense of that. It just, it just, it didn't seem possible. [00:21:47] Troy Roberts: Bruce Beresford Redmond became a suspect almost immediately because investigators thought his story of Monica's disappearance defied logic. They didn't believe she would leave the children behind without taking her room key, her passport, or even her cell phone. What's more, Beresford Redmond had visible scratches on his body. He says the injuries to his hand occurred after a boat ride as he tried to carry his children up a steep incline. It was rocky and slippery, and I had to lift the [00:22:18] Bruce Beresford Redman: kids out and then climb out myself, and I scratched my hands a little bit. As for the scratches to the back of his neck. We were diving, and I surfaced, and there was a nylon rope, and it was just a rough nylon rope, and it abraded the back of my head a little bit, and that was it. Police also learned that [00:22:38] Troy Roberts: two English teenagers had reported hearing screams coming from Beresford Redmond's room very early on the morning Bruce said Monica went shopping. A female screamed crying for help. Jen Hager covered the [00:22:53] Speaker 12: story for Radar Online. The next morning the teenagers told their parents about what they had heard to the concierge. The concierge called the hotel room to see what was going on, and Bruce said that they, Bruce and Monica, were arguing about the children and that everything was fine. Beresford Redmond maintains [00:23:13] Troy Roberts: that he and the children were simply playing a loud boisterous game, but now his every move was coming under scrutiny. You had a do not disturb sign on the door all day? Yes. Why? I was in and [00:23:30] Bruce Beresford Redman: out all day with the kids. We were napping and doing stuff and didn't want to be disturbed. It's [00:23:37] Speaker 12: simple as that really. The Mexican authorities believed that Bruce wouldn't allow the maids to clean the room that day because there was a dead body inside, and that dead body belonged to his wife [00:23:47] Troy Roberts: Monica. The police theorized that Beresford Redmond had suffocated his wife and later that night went [00:23:54] Speaker 12: looking for a place to stash her body. We also know someone went in and out of the room nine times [00:24:02] Troy Roberts: in the middle of the night. Beresford Redmond says he was nervously checking to see if Monica was about [00:24:08] Bruce Beresford Redman: to return. I was in and out of the room many times to take a look to see if I could see her to walk down to where the footpath is visible and to take a look and to return to the room. Back in Los Angeles, Monica's [00:24:22] Troy Roberts: sister Carla thought back to the last time she had seen Bruce and how agitated he seemed to her. It was [00:24:28] Speaker 6: just two days before the family left for Cancun. I've seen him before they traveled and he was totally angry and crazy. I said don't be around him. Monica, please listen to me. Get out. [00:24:46] Troy Roberts: Why do you think Monica's family is convinced that you killed her? [00:24:51] Bruce Beresford Redman: I really don't know. I understand their pain. I understand their sense of loss. After my children and myself, their loss is the greatest. However, why they want to blame me, I don't know. That I don't [00:25:05] Troy Roberts: know. Monica also had life insurance. Bruce was not the beneficiary, but the children stood to inherit $500,000 each. All in all, investigators believe they had a strong circumstantial case, but there remained a huge question. How could Beresford Redmond kill his wife and then dump her body while taking care of two young children? [00:25:28] Speaker 12: They were in one hotel room and it was not a suite. It was one room. There was scant physical evidence against [00:25:36] Troy Roberts: Beresford Redmond except for a very small amount of blood investigators found on the bedroom pillow and a balcony railing. When people look at you with suspicion, how do you feel? I've been accused of a horrible, [00:25:50] Bruce Beresford Redman: abhorrent crime and I'm innocent. You did not kill Monica. I did not kill Monica. [00:25:57] Troy Roberts: But the police were convinced Bruce Beresford Redmond did kill Monica and they had no other suspects. The hotel, which says it kept written logs of everyone entering or leaving the grounds, reported it had no record of Monica leaving that day. And if there are security cameras at the [00:26:13] Bruce Beresford Redman: Moon Palace, no recordings have surfaced. My best guess would be that somewhere in the course of her day, she ran into some people that she should not have run across. I think perhaps she attracted the attention of someone who was very dangerous. While Beresford Redmond was cooperating with police, [00:26:33] Troy Roberts: his children were taken back to Los Angeles by a friend of Gianni Burgos. Have you spoken with Bruce? She also arranged for her sister's body to be brought back, even though Beresford Redmond had already paid for Monica to be cremated. Why do you think Bruce moved to have Monica cremated? [00:26:49] Speaker 3: I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Why do you think? [00:26:53] Troy Roberts: It's to get rid of any evidence. Beresford Redmond stayed in Mexico for about a week after Monica's body was found. Authorities took his passport and insist they ordered him to remain in the country. Bruce says his lawyer told him he was free to return to the United States. This is what I find a little difficult, is that they're investigating your wife's murder and you go home. [00:27:21] Speaker ?: Mm-hmm. [00:27:21] Bruce Beresford Redman: Why wouldn't you stay here? Well, because I have two small children who are at my home. They've just lost their mom. And I believed at the time that I had done all I could do to help the police. So I went home to be with my children. [00:27:38] Troy Roberts: Having no passport, Beresford Redmond got a ride to the Mexican border near Laredo, Texas, and simply walked across using his driver's license for identification. From there, he took a train rather than fly back to Los Angeles. His unorthodox journey raised suspicions. You didn't go back to the United States to escape possible arrest? [00:28:00] Bruce Beresford Redman: No, I went home to be with my children. I was at my home. I was not hiding. If I'd been trying to evade, I would have attempted to evade. I went back to the United States and went directly home. [00:28:12] Troy Roberts: Beresford Redmond cared for his children for seven months. But in November 2010, Mexico declared him a fugitive and issued a warrant for his arrest. He was taken to a federal jail in Los Angeles, where he stayed for more than a year, until he was finally extradited back to Cancun to stand trial for the murder of his wife. [00:28:34] Speaker 12: Bruce probably feels that he is trapped in the worst reality show he could ever imagine. [00:28:52] Troy Roberts: In February 2012, Bruce Beresford Redmond, outfitted in a bulletproof vest, was extradited back to Mexico in a scene straight out of a movie. [00:29:07] Bruce Beresford Redman: I was taken by U.S. Marshals to the airport. I was brought here in the middle of the night in a rainstorm. I hoped that my trial would end quickly when I got here. [00:29:22] Troy Roberts: That is not what happened. Essentially, the courts here move at their own pace. There are no juries, and in many courtrooms on any given day, there's more than one trial going on at the same time. [00:29:36] Bruce Beresford Redman: The courtroom that I'm being tried in looks like a very busy shipping office above a warehouse someplace. [00:29:42] Speaker 13: They just don't have the resources to do the things the way we do. [00:29:45] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Criminal defense lawyer Pat Fanning lives part-time in Mexico and has experience with the country's judicial system. [00:29:53] Speaker 13: Here, it's more like a municipal office in the United States where you'd go to get your driver's license, where you'd go to pick up a birth certificate or something. [00:30:00] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: U.S. Council General Sonia Siros says the differences are more than cosmetic. [00:30:05] Speaker 11: Sonia Siros: There's not a trial per se, in that there's one period of time in which a judge hears all of the evidence. It's done through a series of written presentations to the judge. It doesn't occur in the same fashion in the United States. [00:30:20] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: But as the trial has dragged on, what once seemed like a strong prosecution case appeared to evaporate in court. Testing revealed that the blood droplets found in the hotel room did not belong to Monica. That raised questions about where Monica had been killed because she had [00:30:39] Speaker 9: suffered a substantial head wound. GEOFF BENNETT: Our experts say it is not possible to kill someone and produce that type of injuries without leaving blood. [00:30:50] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Jaime Cancino is one of Bruce's lawyers in Mexico. [00:30:54] Speaker 9: JAIMI CANCINO: If that had happened there, it would produce a humongous quantity of blood. [00:31:01] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: In court, prosecutors could not even produce the Q-tips investigators used to collect the blood. Most everything else they took from the family's hotel room as potential evidence turned out to be contaminated by mold and water damage while in police custody. GEOFF BENNETT: And some of the physical evidence presented at trial actually helped Beresford Redmond. GEOFF BENNETT: Footprints found near the crime scene were not Bruce's. It also came to light that Monica's fingernails were not tested for the presence of DNA, because her body was so decomposed. GEOFF BENNETT: There isn't much direct evidence, and the evidence they do have has been contaminated largely. [00:31:40] Speaker 13: GEOFF BENNETT: Well, it has in large part, but you still have, for example, that they were having marital troubles, that he had a girlfriend, the life insurance policy on her for half a million dollars. [00:31:51] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: But in court, even the circumstantial case against Beresford Redmond appeared weaker than advertised. GEOFF BENNETT: It's clear to me that they have no idea what happened to my wife. GEOFF BENNETT: Some witnesses, like the English teenagers who reported overhearing screams coming from the Beresford Redmond room, did not appear in court. Bruce says other witnesses did not repeat the stories they had first told police. GEOFF BENNETT: There was a witness who was a housekeeper, I think, [00:32:17] Bruce Beresford Redman: and he came and they swore him in or did whatever they do. And before anyone asked the question, he said, "I wasn't there that day. I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything. I don't know anything. I'm not sure why I'm here as a witness." [00:32:27] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Another person not called to the stand or even part of the case was Emily Hamilton from Baltimore. She says she was nearly raped at the Moon Palace one month after Monica was murdered. And her attacker, Emily says, was a hotel worker delivering food to her room. [00:32:44] Speaker 14: EMILY HAMILTON: He threw me on the bed. He had his arms around me. I was trying to force him off. EMILY HAMILTON: I remember feeling pain because I thought I could fend for myself, but he was too strong and overbearing. And that's when I yelled for my friend Casey, and she came back in and that's when he was pulling up his pants. And that's when he ran out of the room. [00:33:08] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: So you must have frightened out of your mind. [00:33:10] Speaker 14: EMILY HAMILTON: Very much so. [00:33:11] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: That worker was fired. In the United States, it's likely he'd be a suspect in Monica's death, but that possibility was not raised in Bruce's trial. However, in 2013, an independent criminologist was appointed by the court to review all the evidence against Beresford Redman. [00:33:29] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: He reviewed the case. He visited the crime scene. He did all the things required to make his report. [00:33:35] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: After six months, the criminologist released a bombshell of a report. GEOFF BENNETT: His conclusion: Monica was not murdered in her Moon Palace hotel room, and there was no physical evidence linking Beresford Redman to her murder. [00:33:50] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: I naively assumed at that point that the prosecution would drop the charges and would focus their investigative efforts elsewhere. GEOFF BENNETT: I'm broken inside. I have lost my wife. I have lost my children. I've lost everything else. I'm on an emotional autopilot, just surviving every day in the hopes that I will finally, at some point, get out of here. But that is a diminishing hope. [00:34:16] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Of course, Bruce is not the only one who lost a loved one. [00:34:21] Speaker 8: GEOFF BENNETT: Everybody loved her. She was so awesome, so full of life. She was so fun, so smart. Everything. [00:34:31] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Each side hopes for justice, and that may soon be coming, because after nearly three years, the last witnesses will finally testify. [00:34:46] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: It's a Thursday afternoon. Tomorrow, I will be taken back to court, and I am told it will be the last hearing in my trial. [00:35:09] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: After years in Mexican prison and in legal limbo, Bruce Beresford Redmond's trial finally may be nearing an end. [00:35:17] Bruce Beresford Redman: BRUCE BERESFORD REDMOND: It's very difficult for me to get my hopes up, because there's -- I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and so often, it seems to drop on my head. [00:35:27] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: He says the trial so far hasn't made any sense. GEOFF BENNETT: Lost or contaminated evidence, missing witnesses, and agonizing delays. It's his first court date in about three months. And today, he's set to face the prosecutor's final two witnesses, hotel employees who may have witnessed Bruce and Monica arguing the day before her murder. GEOFF BENNETT: How many times have you appeared before this judge? [00:35:55] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: If I had to guess, I would say probably 40, maybe 45 appearances in court over two and a half years. GEOFF BENNETT: At many of those appearances, however, the witness doesn't show up, and we stand around for a little while. They reschedule the witness for another eight weeks or 10 weeks down the road, and we all go home again. [00:36:11] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: But these witnesses actually do show up. Today, it's the judge who does it. Like many of the other hearings, this one goes ahead anyway, with the judge's assistant presiding. [00:36:26] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: The witnesses arrived. GEOFF BENNETT: No one, including the prosecution, seemed to have any idea what they were going to say. [00:36:32] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Incredibly, the final two prosecution witnesses sound like part of the defense team. Both tell the court they never laid eyes on Beresford Redmond or his wife. GEOFF BENNETT: We didn't hear them arguing, he says. We didn't even see their faces. GEOFF BENNETT: With no more witnesses on either side, Mexican law requires the judge to conclude the evidence phase of the trial within five days. GEOFF BENNETT: But that doesn't happen. [00:37:00] Speaker 13: GEOFF BENNETT: Why don't we have a verdict? GEOFF BENNETT: Because we're in Mexico. That's how things are done here. Nobody gets excited about it. [00:37:06] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: For nearly three years, 48 Hours has asked Mexican authorities to go on the record about this case, but they refused. [00:37:14] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: You know, yesterday was a good day and you sort of take them as they come. [00:37:23] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Back in prison, it's hard not to hope. [00:37:26] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: I am absolutely confident that if there's a ruling according to the facts, that I will be exonerated. [00:37:32] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: And when will that happen? [00:37:33] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: Well, that I don't know. That's my problem. [00:37:36] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: But the Burgo sisters insist Bruce is right where he should be. GEOFF BENNETT: And Justice for Monica demands that he stay there. [00:37:45] Speaker 6: GEOFF BENNETT: If he really killed my sister, which it looks like he did, I want him in jail. But it doesn't make me happy. [00:37:56] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: I spend a lot of time in here looking over the barbed wire. GEOFF BENNETT: I can see birds and green trees and life outside of this hell. [00:38:12] Speaker 7: GEOFF BENNETT: It's really -- it's time for me to go home. It's time for me to be with Camilla and Alec. It's time for me to try and put back together some kind of a life for them and for myself. [00:38:27] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: His parents are trying to keep life in California as normal as possible for Alec and Camilla. But it's not easy. They're 82 and 76. [00:38:38] Speaker 5: ALIC AND CAMILLA: It's about 8:30 in the morning. The children have gone off to school. It's reasonably quiet at the moment. [00:38:46] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Juanita Beresford-Redmond has been keeping a video diary, too. [00:38:50] Speaker 5: GEOFF BENNETT: Camilla's birthday is coming up. And she asked me yesterday did I think Daddy might be able to be home for her birthday this year. And I told her, honestly, no, honey, he's not going to make it this year. [00:39:01] Troy Roberts: ALIC ANDERSON: Is your fear that this will go on indefinitely? [00:39:05] Speaker 5: GEOFF BENNETT: It is a fear. I mean, I can't -- I can't see why it's going on this long. [00:39:10] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Carla and Gianni Burgos tried and failed to get custody, but they have regular visitation with the children. [00:39:18] Speaker 3: GEOFF BENNETT: Really, we love those kids more than anything in this world. It's not that it's good, what is good, what is bad. It's what is the best for the kids. [00:39:27] Speaker 5: GEOFF BENNETT: We are a family, but we're not their father. You know, we're their grandparents. We love them, but it's not the same. [00:39:34] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: I will never make my peace with being incarcerated for something I didn't do. I will never rest or stop fighting. I may lose continually, but I'm never going to stop because this is crap. [00:39:47] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: But all Bruce Beresford-Redman can do is watch. Wait. [00:39:53] Bruce Beresford Redman: GEOFF BENNETT: Dad, happy Father's Day. Happy birthday, Mom. GEOFF BENNETT: I really wish that I was home to celebrate with her. GEOFF BENNETT: And wish his children well. GEOFF BENNETT: I love you guys. I miss you. GEOFF BENNETT: Be strong. And all I want is for you guys to have the best life you can. [00:40:21] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Thursday night, just past 6:00 p.m., an officer of the court went to the Benito Juarez prison to give Bruce Beresford-Redman the judge's verdict, guilty of homicide for killing his wife, Monica. [00:40:36] Speaker 5: GEOFF BENNETT: The case, the evidence, the witnesses have nothing to do with the verdict. GEOFF BENNETT: The verdict is somebody's desire to have Bruce guilty. [00:40:44] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: His sentence: 12 years. GEOFF BENNETT: Considerably less than the maximum 50 he could have received. GEOFF BENNETT: With time served, he will be in jail for eight years. GEOFF BENNETT: But Beresford-Redman, now 43, could get out even earlier for good behavior. GEOFF BENNETT: His lawyers, of course, plan an appeal. However, the prosecution is also appealing because they feel the sentence is too light. [00:41:10] Speaker 6: GEOFF BENNETT: It's been very difficult, very lonely. [00:41:12] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Monica's sisters greeted the verdict with mixed emotions, says family attorney Alison Trezle. [00:41:19] Speaker 3: GEOFF BENNETT: The sentence should be a lot longer than it is, but there is a sense of justice. [00:41:26] Speaker 6: GEOFF BENNETT: Bruce was labeled by this court now with this verdict, like he's the murder of my sister. [00:41:32] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Bruce's parents say they will do what they've been doing since Monica's death in 2010, caring for their grandchildren as best they can. [00:41:42] Speaker 5: GEOFF BENNETT: It's not difficult to keep things normal for them, really, because they are adaptable, they're so -- they deal with things well, they're bright, they're full of life. [00:41:53] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: Bruce's parents will retain custody of the children, and Monica's sisters have not said if they will challenge that. [00:42:01] Speaker 5: GEOFF BENNETT: I don't believe the custody status has changed at all. GEOFF BENNETT: We still have in place a visitation arrangement with the sisters. That will remain the same. There's no reason for that to change. [00:42:10] Troy Roberts: GEOFF BENNETT: As for Beresford Redmond, prison life had become much worse even before the verdict. GEOFF BENNETT: After our broadcast in November, he was stripped of most of his privileges and moved to a more restrictive cell block. GEOFF BENNETT: He now sleeps on a mattress on the floor, waiting for whatever will come next. GEOFF BENNETT: The court proceedings for now are over. What's left is a painful loss. [00:42:36] Speaker 6: GEOFF BENNETT: I think of her every day, because she was part of my life every day. I loved her. She was kind of part of me. I miss her every day. [00:43:06] Speaker ?: GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing, but I love her. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all. GEOFF BENNETT: I don't know what I'm doing at all.