Kobe Laker 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

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...

Saint in the interview i had with the detectives. >> reporter: a dead end. but detectives were now convinced that eric killed his wife. >> even though it didnt lead to anything, that conversation with kobe, that got you from suspicion to knowing? >> yeah, it moved it all the way over. we knew we had a homicide. >> reporter: but knowing it and proving it were two very different things. you didnt get to process that

>> they said it doesnt appear to be feasible to them given the sea conditions. >> reporter: thats when the coast guard called the orange county sheriffs office. detective sean murphy was put on the case. >> they werent able to duplicate even close to what was alleged by eric bechler that his wife was tossed off by a rogue wave. >> reporter: if pegyes disappearance was no accident, murphys job was find out what did happen. detectives started by re-interviewing eric and asking him about his relati...

And i was pretty much shocked. i didnt know what to say. he told me that he was thinking of taking her out to the ocean and dumping her in a barrel. >> he said when he saw there was a boating accident and erics wife was missing, he knew right then and there, he saw it on tv, he knew that he had killed his wife. and he lied to us. he said because he panicked and was afraid and he didnt know what to do. >> reporter: detectives convinced kobe to wear a wire and to meet eric at a restaurant in orang...

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 you. she said im afraid im going to jail. >> reporter: according to court docum...

>> there was a lot of animosity towards me. i understood why. >> reporter: all they saw was this hot young woman who had been brought in to replace their 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 horrib...

Re-interviewing eric and asking him about his relationship with pegye. >> he said his marriage was good, there was no problems with it. >> reporter: you didnt take his word for it? >> no. in our game we dont take anyones word for anything. we look into it. 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, the...

Im innocent. you never said anything about anything. >> i have so. do i have to say it every week? >> reporter: kobe tried again. >> i protected you. i basically made you look like a saint in the interview i had with the detectives. >> reporter: a dead end. but detectives were now convinced that eric killed his wife. >> even though it didnt lead to anything, that conversation with kobe, that got you from suspicion to knowing? >> yeah, it moved it all the way over. we knew we had a homicide. >> r...

>> you never said hey, look, man, i dont know what the [ bleep ] you guys are talking about. im innocent. you never said anything about anything. >> i have so. do i have to say it every week? >> reporter: kobe tried again. >> i protected you. i basically made you look like a saint in the interview i had with the detectives. >> reporter: a dead end. but detectives were now convinced that eric killed his wife. >> even though it didnt lead to anything, that conversation with kobe, that got you from...