Page 26 - Eric Bechler News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Therapy business and eric, a computer whiz, managed the technical side of their venture which quickly became very profitable. >> her business was doin' good. and she was happily married. >> reporter: and the happy couple was also happily spending a lot of money. on a german sports car, italian clothing and a spectacular bluffside home in newport beach. >> they were the little dream story. beautiful girl, good-looking guy, drive nice cars, beautiful children. >> reporter: until that summer day in 1997, when the unimaginable happened. >> male, kind of distraught, said that his wife fell overboar...

>> we were excited about in a morbid kind of way, because we knew it was going to go sideways. >> because when relationships go sideways, sometimes people start talking? >> that's right. >> reporter: and that's what happened two weeks after eric's apparent confession. a neighbor called 9-1-1 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. and we went out there in the middle of the night. and we met up with tina. >> rep...

Were listening in. even so, he stuck to his story that pegye's death was a terrible accident. >> i was there i know what happened, and i -- it's so hard for me to understand you know that there could be another -- people could think anything else. >> you never said, "hey look man, i don't know what the -- you guys are talking about, but i'm innocent." you never said anything about anything. >> i have so. do i have to say it every week? >> kobi tried again. >> i protected you. i basically made you look like a saint in the interview i had with the detectives. >> i am. >> reporter: a dead end. bu...

Myself, has nothing to do with what he did. >> reporter: after seven days, the verdict. guilty of first degree murder. >> you're 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. so there is no winner. >> reporter: 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 he killed pegye. >> the accident was a horrible tragedy that has befallen both of our families. as much as t...

>> he said his marriage was good. there was no problems with it. >> you didn't take his word for it? >> no. in our game, we don't take anyone's word for anything. we look into it. and that's what we did. >> reporter: they met with the improbably-named kobi laker, eric's best friend. and kobi 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, eric's mother. linda says pegye told her something in confidence just before she disappeared. >> she s...