Page 31 - Eric Bechler News Today

Hit her so hard, she didnt feel a thing. i said, what do you mean you hit her so hard? he said, i hit her with a weight. >> he told her there was blood everywhere. then tina says, eric bechler told her how he got rid of his wife. >> a knot he knows. he did her wrists and her ankles together so she was completely bent in half. he took the two trash bags he had and put her body in it, and put the weights and tied it down to the rope and threw her in. >> two years after pegye vanished, a stunning c...

Im afraid of you. >> all im asking -- you dont have to -- nobody knows anything but you. you dont have to tell anybody anything. >> eric pulled over and got out. and tina hopped in the drivers seat. and just like that, tina new drove away from her old life. >> in the end, you got enough. >> oh, absolutely, yeah. >> you understand youre under arrest? >> eric was arrested and charged with pegyes murder. what was it like to get the call that eric had been arrested? >> well, i just couldnt really be...

There was no problems with it. >> you didnt take his word for it? >> no. in our game we dont take anybodys word for it. we look into it. and thats what we did. >> they met with the improbably named kobi laker, erics best friend, and kobi backed upper rick. >> they had a terrific marriage, there was no problems whatsoever. >> but if the marriage seemed solid, there were questions about pegye. at least according to linda bechler, erics mother. linda said pegye told her something in confidence just...

This? >> then she turned to eric. >> and i looked at him. his face turned white. like he literally lost the color in his face and he said to me, how did you get that? and i said, i dont know. >> his reaction troubled her. but she hit play, and it just got worse. the news report did not match the story eric had told her about pegyes disappearance. >> he said there were three to four-foot waves, that it was really choppy out there. >> but on the report they said on the day pegye went missing, ther...

Youre going to get him. >> why would you turn on a guy who had basically taken you from a terrible life and given you a great life? >> because i couldnt live with myself. i mean, no way. >> police planted microphones in her car, in her purse, and on her body. and tina arranged a meeting. she told eric that after the domestic violence call, sheriffs homicide detectives came in to ask questions about eric. this dinner date, tina told eric, was to get their story straight in case the cops questione...

Them. >> when they took the kids to visit pegyes parents -- >> there was a lot of animosity towards me. i understood why. >> all they saw was this hot young woman who had been brought in to replace their missing daughter. >> right. exactly three months to the day. i cant even imagine what they were thinking. >> pegyes family wasnt alone. detective sean murphy had also noticed the new woman in eric bechlers life. >> just ostentatious. i mean, she was a hot number, as they say. and she was cohabit...

Welcome back to "dateline extra," im tamron hall. tina new was granted a new lease on life when she met eric bechler. so when he opened the door to telling her the truth about his wifes disappearance, she had a decision to make, walk through that door and the good life she had come to know could be gone forever. heres josh mankiewicz again with "troubled waters." >> tina new thought she had found happiness with eric bechler. until he changed his story about what happened the day his wife disappe...

Growing volatile. >> we were excited about it in a morbid kind of way. we knew it was going to go sideways. >> when relationships go sideways, sometimes people start talking. >> thats right. >> and thats what happened two weeks after erics apparent confession. a neighbor called 911 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 p...

Who did it is behind bars, but nobody wins in this situation. nobody. the children now have no mother and no father. so there is no winner. >> but the jury did not believe eric killed pegye for the money. he was found not guilty of murder for financial gain. at his sentencing, eric bechler addressed the judge. once again denying he killed pegye. >> the accident was a horrible tragedy that has befallen both of our families. and as much as the plashmarshale hurting my family is hurting because i d...

And friends tried to remain hopeful, reality was slowly 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 could she, you know, that length of time. >> unless, of course, what appeared to be an accident was not. the coast guard conducted a reenactment at sea to try to understand how pegye could have fallen off the boat. and they couldnt do it. >> they said it just -- it doesnt appear to be feasible to them, given the ...