Page 4 - Eric Bechler News Today

Mom, they need someone to step in and -- and id be their mom, but do things their mom would do for them. >> but when they took the kids to visit pegyes parents -- >> there was a lot of animosity towards me. and i understood why. >> all they saw was this hot young woman whod been brought in to replace their missing daughter. >> right. right. and 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 ne...

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. >> and he told me there was three to four foot waves. it was really choppy out there. >> but on the report they said on 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. you know, and he was just really quiet. >> he...

>> yeah, i did. >> but, she says, she always believed he was guilty. and in the winter of 2000, eric bechler went on trial. the star witness, tina new. a witness who was, to be fair, compromised. not just by her waffling about erics guilt and her own checkered past, but also by one detail in the story tina says eric told her, something defense attorney john barnett says is critical. >> youd expect if pegyes head was caved in by 35 pound dumbbells, thered be blood. >> quite a lot of it. >> everyw...

Relatives square off in court, with the victim's mother calling the Newport man 'a disgrace' and his mother denouncing a 'miscarriage of justice.'

Head." and he goes, "how did you know that? " >> the fact is, she hadnt known. call it intuition. or the effects of the drug. or a random guess. but it was an opening. and tina barreled through. >> i said, "you need to tell me the truth." hes calmly talking to me and he says, "i-- im going to tell you the truth." he goes, "we had this huge party, so everybody could see how happy we were together." >> all their friends were there. witnesses to the happy marriage. then a couple of days later she s...

Before or after i met him. 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 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...

>> now, you know, in a movie this is where you hear the sound of gunshots. >> that would not have been good. >> in the car - with eric now behind the wheel. tina cranked up her acting skills and the tension. >> i cant live with the lie. >> tell them just tell them -- i havent talked about it for over a year and half and you dont remember the details. >> you are making me lie and its not easy for me. >> im not making you do anything you can turn me in if you want to. >> turn you in for what? >> t...

Erics own words. the jury heard all of them. >> nobody knows anything but you! >> barnett offered his own explanation. >> i argued that the reason he said it is to shut her up, to calm her down. in any event, the defense said -- eric never said on tape that he hit pegye. the only person who heard him say that was tina. a drug user. a woman with a fraud conviction on her record. >> without that statement, they have a lot of circumstantial evidence and a lot of what ifs, but they dont have anythin...

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, and then he said he put the weights and tied it down to the rope and threw her in. >> two years after pegye vanished. a stunning confession. >> and then do you go to sleep next to a man that you believe is a killer. >> no. and-- no, actually then we have sex. and i felt like i had to do it because i think that made him feel like i wa...

>> it was not a problem for either one of them. pegye, you know, she -- when she sets her sight on something, shes going to make it happen. and it developed really quickly, really, really, quickly. >> within a year they were married. within four years they had three beautiful kids. pegye and eric went into business together. she opened up her own physical therapy business and eric, a ed computer whiz, managed the technical side of their venture which quickly became very profitable. >> her busine...