Page 16 - Eric Bechler News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

California. pegye had been missing almost 24 hours. >> of course, the ocean is just bigger, bigger than you think about if you're in new mexico. >> reporter: pegye's friend glenda tried to stay optimistic. >> i absolutely thought they would find her. >> reporter: maybe alive? >> i did. because she was a fabulous swimmer. >> reporter: glenda went to the bechler house to see eric. how did he look? >> hysterical. he had been crying and his face was red and you know, all of those things. he looked upset. as he should be. one would expect. >> she's the best person. >> reporter: this video from loca...

Are you thinking to yourself at that's it, i got him? >> i thought it was good but i didn't 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. >> reporter: eric reassured tina. >> she was good. she was really good. >> reporter: but the drama wasn't over. tina left the restaurant with eric, still wired up. >> this is where it gets really scary. we're walking out to the car and he says to me let me drive.

Happened two weeks after eric's apparent confession. a neighbor called 911 after hearing yelling coming from tina's 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 partner, we went out there in the middle of the night and we met up with tina. >> reporter: she told detective murphy and his partner, gary jones, what eric had said. a big break, yes, but not nearly enough for an arrest. remember, tina was pretty far from an ideal witness. detectives knew they would need mor...

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 pegye's murder. what was it like to get the call that eric had been arrested? >> well, i just trembled all over. i couldn't really believe it. >> reporter: but two weeks after eric's arrest made headlines, tina made some headlines of her own. that put the whole case in jeopardy. >> coming up, eric bechler on trial and tina's credibility is on trial, too. >> you think anybody would believe you? >> no. >> without that statement they don't have an...

I told pegye it was too hazy. >> reporter: eric told the coast guard he tried to body board on the way out and said there was a pretty good swell in the ocean. >> was it as high as the side of the boat? >> big enough to notice. >> reporter: eric said they stopped out here on the water to 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.