Page 36 - Eric Bechler News Today

Thats what we did. >> reporter: they met with the improbably named kobe laker. erics best friend. and kobe backed up eric. >> they had a terrific marriage and there was no problems whatsoever. >> reporter: but if the marriage seemed solid, there were questions about pegye. at least according to linda bechler, erics mother. linda says pegye told her something in confidence just before she disappeared. >> she stopped me on the stairway as i was leaving and said, came up and said i have to talk to ...

Accident that left pegye bechler missing, her friends and family had high hopes that she would be found alive. they all knew something about pegye that made it impossible to think she could be lost at sea. here again is josh mankiewicz with "troubled waters." >> reporter: its said theres nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline. this was supposed to be something like that. a romantic outing. an anniversary and birthday gift eric bechler planned for his ...

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

Welcome back to "dateline" extra. im tamron hall. when eric bechler confessed to his girlfriend that he tossed his wife into the ocean, he may have sunk himself. the prosecutions case against him hinges on tinas testimony and recordings she made. as the trial loomed, tinas determination wavered. would she take the stand? heres josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of troubled waters. >> beach volleyball is a kids game played by grownups. murder for profit is played only by adults and its for keeps...

Wasnt over. tina left the restaurant with eric, still wired up. >> this is where it gets really scary. were walking out to the car and he says to me let me drive. >> reporter: that was not part of the plan. >> we lose sight of them. >> reporter: in a movie this is where you hear the sound of a gunshot. >> that would not have been good. >> reporter: in the car, with eric now behind the wheel, tina cranked up her acting skills and the tension. [ shouting ] >> i havent talked about it for over a ye...

Missing daughter. >> right. right. exactly three months to the day. i cant even imagine what they were thinking. >> reporter: pegyes family wasnt alone. detective sean murphy had also noticed the new woman in eric bechlers life. >> she was ostentatious. she was just a hot number as they say. she was cohabitating with him right after this horrible boating accident with his wife. >> reporter: so murphy arranged to bump into tina. >> said hey, if you have any information about this boating accident...

Day in 1997 when the unimaginable happened. >> male, kind of distraught, said that his wife fell overboard. >> reporter: it was a boating accident, said eric, and the coast guard agreed. something they see all too often. but soon, secrets emerged that would make some people wonder. what really happened to pegye bechler? >> coming up -- >> i absolutely thought they would find her. >> reporter: maybe alive? >> i did. she was a fabulous swimmer. >> where was pegye? and what had gone wrong on that b...

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: tina was moved by erics story. >> he said to me that his wife died in a tragic boat accident and that they were never able to find her. >> reporter: she couldnt help noticin...

You from a terrible life and given you a great life? >> because i couldnt live with myself. no way. >> reporter: 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 stories straight in case the cops questioned her again. tina, wired up, picked up eric from his home and drove to a res...

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. >> guilty that she had helped jail man she once thought shed marry. >> he called me from the jail and told me he had tried to hang himself with his sheet. >> it was erics frantic behavior from the lock-up, that was enough to make ...