Page 10 - Eric Bechler News Today

>> he says we cant find pegye. and i said what do you mean, you cant find her? where is she? what are you trying to tell me? >> reporter: eric told june that pegye was driving the boat, towing him on a body board, when all of a sudden a wave wiped him out. when he came up from under the water, he said, he could no longer see pegye inside the boat. >> we thought they should be finding her because we really just thought she would swim out of it. >> reporter: you see, pegye was quite at home in the...

Some lucky tourists aboard an eight-passenger boat called "the green machine" were marveling at a school of dolphins playing in the water when they came across the unexpected. >> weve got a loose boat out here about five miles out of newport beach. >> reporter: the captain radioed the coast guard that a small speedboat was circling out of control n the water nearby was a man holding on to a body board. >> the husband apparently fell off the boat and the wife apparently fell off the boat. >> repo...

The news report did not match the story eric had told her about pegyes disappearance. >> he told me there was three to four foot waves, it was really choppy out there. >> reporter: on the report the day pegye went missing, there were only two foot waves and the weather was described as ideal. >> he lied. he lied all this time to me. he was just really quiet. >> reporter: hes sitting right next to you. how does eric look at that point? >> flushed and stressed. i yelled at him and said why is this...

As a successful physical therapist. she had almost everything she wanted. >> she did want to find a guy. >> reporter: the clock was ticking a little bit? >> it was. >> reporter: then one day on the beach, you found somebody for her. >> we did. so one afternoon on a weekend, pegye called me and said what are you doing? i said well, im going to go down and watch dave play some volleyball on the beach. >> reporter: dave was glendas husband. >> i asked pegye if she wanted to come down with me. she s...

Im innocent. you never said anything about anything. >> i have so. do i have to say it every week? >> reporter: kobe tried again. >> i protected you. i basically made you look like a saint in the interview i had with the detectives. >> reporter: a dead end. but detectives were now convinced that eric killed his wife. >> even though it didnt lead to anything, that conversation with kobe, that got you from suspicion to knowing? >> yeah, it moved it all the way over. we knew we had a homicide. >> r...

Smiling. >> reporter: and she says pegye was driven to establish herself as a successful physical therapist. she had almost everything she wanted. >> she did want to find a guy. >> reporter: the clock was ticking a little bit? >> it was. >> reporter: then one day on the beach, you found somebody for her. >> we did. so one afternoon on a weekend, pegye called me and said what are you doing? i said well, im going to go down and watch dave play some volleyball on the beach. >> reporter: dave was gl...

Then tina says eric bechler told her how he got rid of his wife. >> he just did her wrists and ankles together so she was completely bent in half. he said he took two trash bags he had, put her body in it and then he put the weights and tied it down to the rope and threw her in. >> reporter: two years after pegye vanished, a stunning confession. then you go to sleep next to a man that you believe is a killer? >> no, actually then we had sex. i felt like i had to do it because i think that made h...

Starting to set in and it was painful. >> at this point you didnt think she was alive anymore? >> i kept thinking that she was, but how could she, you know, that length of time. >> reporter: unless, of course, what appeared to be an accident was not. the coast guard conducted a re-enactment at sea to try to understand how pegye could have fallen off the boat and they couldnt do it. >> they said it doesnt appear to be feasible to them given the sea conditions. >> reporter: thats when the coast gu...

Murder for profit is played only by adults and its for keeps. prosecutors believed eric bechler was trying to be successful at both. detectives had put him in jail. but then two weeks after erics arrest came this head line in the local paper. witness in murder case doubts suspects guilt. tina, who had worn a wire and helped police nail eric now said maybe he didnt kill her. >> i knew she kids had lost their mom and now going to probably lose their dad for a very long time. so i felt guilty. >> g...

Handsome. >> reporter: there was some serious chemistry from the beginning? >> yes. we went out that night, actually. he asked me out that night. i moved in the next day. really fast. >> reporter: you dont wait, do you? >> no. not then. >> reporter: eric lived in a giant house and drove a porsche, and he was a gentleman in her life after a long string of men who were not gentle. >> i had never been spoiled like that. i remember thinking i was like julia roberts in "pretty woman." >> reporter: ti...