'Survivor' producer Bruce Beresford-Redman flew back to Los Angeles from Cancun following the death of his wife, Monica Beresford-Redman, who had been on vacation in the Mexican resort city with the couple's young sons, according to reports. A Mexican official said the woman had been strangled.

The man apparently dropped the kids off in L.A. then returned to Cancun to report that the 41-year-old woman went missing after having gone shopping, according to an account of the investigation told to journalists in Mexico by Veronica Acacio Trujillo, a Quintana Roo state police investigator.

Monica Beresford-Redman's body was found Thursday morning in a sewer pipe about 70 or 80 meters from from the family's room at the Moon Palace Hotel, according reports out of Mexico. Quintana Roo State Attorney Francisco Alor said the producer, who was being detained in Mexico, is a suspect.

Alor said that witnesses heard the couple arguing Monday night in their room at the hotel, and that possible blows were also heard. The woman's death, he said, “appears” to be strangulation. Cancun news outlets also reported that Bruce Beresford-Redman's face appeared to be scratched up.

News crews gathered outside Zabumba Bikini Bar & Restaurant in Palms Thursday. Monica Beresford-Redman owned the popular Brazilian eatery and, as such, was a fixture in L.A.'s Brazilian community.

-With reporting from Weekly wire services. Got news? Email us.

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