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Welcome back to "dateline when eric bechler told police his wife, pegye, was swallowed by the ocean in a freak accident, he seemed inconsolable. but detectives question his story, wondering if eric's tears were genuine. here's josh mankiewicz again with "troubled waters." >> a brilliant pacific ocean sunset, closed out day three of the search for pegye bechler. and even though pegye's family and friends tried to remain hopeful, reality was slowly starting to set in. and it was painful. at this point you didn't think she was alive anymore? >> i kept thinking that she was. but could she, you kno...

It's super fast and you can control every device in the house. [ child offscreen ] hey! let's basement. and thanks to these xfi pods, the signal reaches down here, too. so sophie, i have an xfi password, and it's "daditude". simple. easy. awesome. xfinity. the future of awesome. welcome back to "dateline". when eric bechler confessed to his girlfriend that he tossed his wife into the ocean, he may have sunk himself. as the trial moved, his determination wavered. would she take the stand? here's josh mankiewicz with the conclusion of troubled waters. >> beach volleyball is a kid's game played...

Of 2000, eric bechler went on trial. the star witness, tina, a witness was, to be fair, compromised, not just by her waffling by eric's guilt and her own checkered past but the one detail and story tina says eric told her something the defense attorney says is critical. >> you'd expect, if pegye's head was caved in by 35 pound dumb bells, there'd be blood. >> quite a lot of it. >> everywhere. and there wasn't. >> on the stand, tina tried to defend herself. >> i'm a horrible witness when it comes to looking at me on paper? do you think anybody would believe you? >> no. i knew that i told exactl...

By adults and it's for keeps. prosecutors believed eric bechler was trying to be successful at both. detectives had put him in jail. but then two weeks after eric's arrest came this head line in the local paper. witness in murder case doubts suspect's guilt. tina, who had worn a wire and helped police nail eric now said maybe he didn't kill her. >> i knew the kids had lost their mom and now going to probably lose their dad for a very long time. so i felt guilty. >> guilty that she had helped jail man she once thought she'd marry. >> he called me from the jail and told me he had tried to hang h...

It was three months to the day since pegye had disappeared. >> i just thought he was really handsome. >> so there was some serious chemistry from the beginning. >> yes. we went out that night actually. he asked me out that night. and then i moved in the next day. really fast. >> you don't wait, do you? >> no. not then. >> reporter: eric lived in a giant house and drove a porsche. and he was a gentleman in her life after a long string of men who were not gentle. >> i'd never been spoiled like that. i remember thinking i was, like, julia roberts in "pretty woman." >> reporter: tina was moved by ...