Page 18 - Eric Bechler News Today

Welcome back to "dateline when eric bechler told police his wife, pegye, was swallowed by the ocean in a freak accident, he seemed inconsolable. but detectives question his story, wondering if erics tears were genuine. heres josh mankiewicz again with "troubled waters." >> a brilliant pacific ocean sunset, closed out day three of the search for pegye bechler. and even though pegyes family and friends tried to remain hopeful, reality was slowly starting to set in. and it was painful. at this poin...

Its super fast and you can control every device in the house. [ child offscreen ] hey! lets basement. and thanks to these xfi pods, the signal reaches down here, too. so sophie, i have an xfi password, and its "daditude". simple. easy. awesome. xfinity. the future of awesome. welcome back to "dateline". when eric bechler confessed to his girlfriend that he tossed his wife into the ocean, he may have sunk himself. as the trial moved, his determination wavered. would she take the stand? heres jo...

Of 2000, eric bechler went on trial. the star witness, tina, a witness was, to be fair, compromised, not just by her waffling by erics guilt and her own checkered past but the one detail and story tina says eric told her something the defense attorney says is critical. >> youd expect, if pegyes head was caved in by 35 pound dumb bells, thered be blood. >> quite a lot of it. >> everywhere. and there wasnt. >> on the stand, tina tried to defend herself. >> im a horrible witness when it comes to lo...

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 the kids had lost their mom and now going to probably lose their dad for a very long time. so i felt guilty. >> guilty that she had helped jail ma...

It was three months to the day since pegye had disappeared. >> i just thought he was really handsome. >> so there was some serious chemistry from the beginning. >> yes. we went out that night actually. he asked me out that night. and then i moved in the next day. really fast. >> 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. >> id never been spoiled like that....

And he goes, "tina, i hit her so hard she didnt feel a thing." and im just like, "what do you mean you hit her so hard?" and he goes, "i hit her over the head with the weight." >> reporter: she said he told her there was blood everywhere. then, tina says eric bechler told her how he got rid of his wife. >> he did some knot that he knows, and he-- he did her wrists and her ankles together so she was completely bent in half. he said he took the two trash bags that he had and put her body in it, an...

You know? what i did with myself has nothing to do with what he did. >> after seven days, the verdict. guilty of first degree murder. >> youre thrilled that the man who did it is behind bars, but nobody wins in this situation. nobody. the children now have no mother and no father. >> but the jury did not believe eric killed peggy for the money. he was found not guilty of murder for financial gain. at his sentencing, eric bechler addressed the judge, once again denying that he killed peggy. >> th...

Erics best friend, what exactly did he know and how far would he go to get proof. lets return to troubled waters. >> reporter: to detective sean murphy, it sounded more than suspicious. eric bechler taking up with a gorgeous redhead just three months after his wife was lost at sea. but murphy didnt have much more than a gnawing in his gut until his phone rang. >> we got a call from -- kobis lawyer said he wanted to arrange an interview again with kobi. >> reporter: kobi laker, erics best friend ...

Morbid kind of way, because we knew it was going to go sideways. >> because when relationships go sideways, sometimes people start talking? >> thats right. >> reporter: and thats what happened two weeks after erics apparent confession. a neighbor called 9-1-1 after hearing yelling coming from tinas apartment. when police arrived, eric was gone. but tina was angry. and she still had the business card detective murphy had given her almost two years earlier. >> i grabbed my partner. and we went out...

>> what did you take with you on the boat? >> we had a couple bags and a cooler. >> we wanted to see catalina, but it was so hazy. i told pegye that it was, you know, it was too hazy, we shouldnt go too far out. >> reporter: eric told the coast guard he tried to body board on their way out and said there was a "pretty good swell" in the ocean. >> was it as high as the side of the boat? >> probably. >> it was, you know, big enough to notice. >> reporter: eric said they stopped out here on the wat...