By NBC News and news services
TODAY
Bruce Beresford-Redman, the reality television-show producer accused of murdering his wife, Monica, in Cancun in 2010, has been extradited to Mexico, NBC News reported Wednesday.
The one-time "Survivor"producer?s attorney, Richard Hirsch, confirmed that Beresford-Redman's extradition process began Tuesday?and he was extradited to Cancun, where he must face the magistrate within six days.
Hirsh told NBC News that Beresford-Redman has retained an attorney in Mexico.
In December, officials said Beresford-Redman was dropping his extradition fight, but a "delivery date" had not been set.
NBC News reported that Beresford-Redman arrived in Cancun at 12:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. ET) and was taken to the attorney-general's office. The Associated Press said that he was wearing a bulletproof vest and was escorted by nearly a dozen agents.
Monica (Burgos) Beresford-Redman, 42, disappeared from a Cancun resort where the couple was vacationing with their two children. Her body was found stuffed in a sewer cistern at a swank resort.
The Burgos family, in a prepared statement issued by attorney Alison Triessl and obtained by NBC News, hailed Bruce Beresford-Redman's return to Mexico.
"This day marks a major milestone in our journey to ensure justice for Monica," the family said. "It is our hope that Mexico will pursue his prosecution zealously and that once convicted, Bruce Beresford-Redman will be sentenced to the maximum term allowable by Mexican law."
In December, Hirsch said of the producer, "He is innocent and it is his hope that the court in Mexico will assure that he receives a fair trial in which, he is confident, he will be exonerated."
The family of Monica Beresford-Redman has said the couple went to Cancun to try to save their marriage. They claim Bruce Beresford-Redman, who is also the co-creator of the series "Pimp My Ride," was having a long-term affair with another woman. His wife, originally from Brazil, owned and operated a restaurant in Los Angeles.
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez upheld an extradition order in December, saying that there are many pages of competent evidence supporting prosecution claims that the producer killed his wife.
From December 27, 2011: Carla Burgos, the sister of slain Monica Beresford-Redman, and family attorney Alison Triessl talk about Bruce Beresford-Redman's decision to not appeal a judge's ruling to extradite him to Mexico to face murder charges in his wife's death.
"All of this evidence points to homicide committed by the fugitive," said the judge's ruling.
Prosecutors presented statements from hotel guests who said they heard loud arguing and cries of distress coming from the couple's room on the night Monica Beresford-Redman went missing.
The producer's attorneys have claimed the noises came from Beresford-Redman and his children playing loud games throughout the night. They introduced statements from the couple's 6-year-old daughter to corroborate the claim, but judges who have reviewed the case were not swayed.
Beresford-Redman had been ordered to stay in Mexico after his wife's body was found but he left and returned to his home in Los Angeles. He voluntarily surrendered to U.S. authorities after a warrant was issued in Mexico for his arrest.
Mexican courts do not have juries, and the producer will be tried by the same judge who issued the warrant for his arrest, Hirsch had said.
If he is convicted of aggravated homicide in Mexico, Beresford-Redman?faces 12 years to 30 years in a Mexican prison.
His two small children have been placed in the custody of Beresford-Redman's parents with visitation by their mother's sisters.
NBC News correspondent Miguel Almaguer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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