Police Report Reveals Theory of Wife’s Murder at Sea

A man charged with murdering his wife off the coast two years ago hit her with a dumbbell and weighed her body down before throwing her in the ocean, according to a police report unsealed Friday.

The report is the most detailed view yet in the case of Eric Christopher Bechler, 32, who pleaded not guilty Friday to killing his wife, Pegye, a triathlete, during an anniversary cruise off Newport Bay.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig E. Robison made the document public after The Times challenged a court policy of sealing some police reports in criminal cases. The report says the break in the case came Oct. 29, when investigators “received new information . . . which indicates that she was murdered by her husband.”

It does not say what that information was, but Oct. 29 was the day Bechler’s ex-girlfriend wore a recording device for sheriff’s deputies when meeting with him.

Prosecutors charged the Newport Beach man early last month with killing his wife for financial gain, a crime that carries a possible death penalty. His wife had a multimillion-dollar life insurance policy.

According to the police report, Pegye Bechler was lying on the boat when she was fatally struck with a dumbbell about 4 p.m. and then thrown overboard.

A Coast Guard probe into her disappearance acknowledged that the couple behaved recklessly while boating, drinking margaritas and taking the craft farther out than their rental agreement allowed. But investigators concluded Bechler’s story could not be true.

Shortly after the June 6 incident, Coast Guard officers and sheriff’s deputies tested the Seaswirl Striper 2000 that the couple had rented, performing high-speed stunts to replicate the suspect’s account.

“Based on sea trials with the vessel, it remains very unlikely Pegye Bechler was ejected from the vessel, never to resurface,” wrote Coast Guard Lt. Kathy Moore in a July 1997 letter to her supervisor.

People on another boat reportedly saw Bechler in the water on a boogie board, waving and wailing hoarsely. The Coast Guard report said that close by, the Seaswirl was circling with no one aboard.

They offered Bechler a life jacket, but he refused to wear it, the report said, adding: “He was not taken aboard . . . as his behavior gave them concern for their safety.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Debbie Lloyd said her office will decide whether to seek execution after the preliminary hearing Dec. 17.