Page 6 - Eric Bechler News Today

With "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 kobes lawyer, said he wanted to arrange an interview again with kobe. >> reporter: kobe laker, erics

Modeling gig, eye candy at a trade show. eric was there promoting his new business. it was three months to the day since pegye had disappeared. >> i just thought he was really handsome. >> reporter: there was some serious chemistry from the beginning? >> yes. we went out that night, actually.

Best friend and volleyball buddy. he told sheriffs detectives that the bechler marriage was great. now he had a different story. >> erics told me on several occasions that hes sick and tired of his wife. he would tell me that he just couldnt take it anymore. he was tired of it. >> reporter: about seven months before pegye vanished, kobe says he and eric had a conversation that kobe describes as haunting him ever since. >> eric asked me about what he thought -- what i thought of the idea of him k...

>> but she says she always felt he was guilty and in the winter 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...

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 restaurant called el torito. were you worried about this? >> not really. i was more worried that i wasnt going to get him to confess again. i have two stories in my head. i dont want to screw up at all. >> theres no story to tell. you werent there. it was an accident. >> reporter: once inside the restaurant, tina tried to get eric ...

Enjoy some margueritas pegye had made and later in the day they decided to try the body board again, this time on their way back to the harbor. pegye was driving. eric was being pulled on the board. >> all of a sudden, it just jerked out of my hands. >> reporter: and so pegye bechler was simply gone. maybe even within sight of the same beach that had spawned her marriage. eric seemed devastated, fearing his wife and business partner was dead. but erics mother linda saw things quite differently.

>> i thought it was good but i didnt think it was enough. >> reporter: remember, pegye had a life insurance policy worth more than $2 million. again, she tried to get him to give her a reason. >> what made you want to go -- >> she was going to steal the kids away and i was never going to see them again. >> reporter: eric reassured tina. >> all i know i would never, ever do anything to harm anybody ever again. >> she was good. she was really good. >> reporter: but the drama wasnt over. tina left ...

>> 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 -- what advil is... relief thats fast. strength that lasts. youll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels. do you want ready to wear clothing without all the hassle? you can, with bounce dryer sheets. we dried one shirt without bounce, and an identical shirt using bounce. ...

>> 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 said yes. she immediately spotted eric and said whos that? >> reporter: eri...

Hit her so hard. he said i hit her over the head with a 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 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.