Husband Charged With Murder of O.C. Woman

Two years after a Newport Beach woman disappeared during a wedding-anniversary boat trip, prosecutors charged her husband with murdering her for financial gain and trying to make the death look like an accident.

The accusations mark a dramatic turn in a mystery that immediately raised suspicion among law enforcement officials because the victim, 38-year-old Pegye Bechler, was a triathlete and expert swimmer.

The case was put together by detectives and prosecutors who picked up the “cold case” in January. A 1997 investigation by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department did not result in charges being filed.

Tight-lipped officials said Tuesday that they recently uncovered new evidence linking the defendant to the crime but declined to reveal more because the investigation is ongoing. The police reports in the case were sealed by a judge.

The victim’s husband, Eric Christopher Bechler, has steadfastly maintained that his wife disappeared while piloting a rented speedboat towing him on a bodyboard. Bechler, now 32, said the couple were about four miles off Newport Beach when he was knocked off the board by a rogue wave. When he surfaced, he said, he saw the boat circling in the distance with his wife gone.

He was arrested Friday at a fast-food restaurant in Seal Beach and charged with murder Monday.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bechler appeared in court wearing an orange jailhouse jumpsuit, standing stiffly and without expression as his attorney successfully won a postponement of his arraignment. Bechler could face the death penalty if convicted, though prosecutors have not yet decided whether to push for the maximum punishment.

He did not enter a plea, and his attorney, John Yzurdiaga, declined to comment, saying, “It is too early to say anything.” Bechler has stated repeatedly in the past that his wife’s death was nothing more than a tragic accident.

The charges contain a “special circumstance” because prosecutors allege that Bechler killed his wife to gain access to her money.

The victim’s father said in an interview Tuesday that his daughter had sold her physical-therapy business for about $1.5 million shortly before she disappeared. Glenn Marshall also said that Pegye Bechler had a life insurance policy--which neighbors said was worth $2 million--but that her husband was unable to collect the proceeds because a death certificate was never issued by the coroner. Bechler had repeatedly requested the certificate, he added.

“It’s not a shock. My daughter was a triathlete and in extremely good condition and, all her life, a great swimmer,” Marshall, 71, said in an interview from his Dexter, N.M., home. “We would just like to see justice--whatever that might be.”

Now, Marshall said, he must somehow break the news to his daughter’s three young children, who live with his family in New Mexico.

Victim’s Body Never Recovered

The mystery began on July 6, 1997, when the Bechlers, celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary, ventured out on a rented 19-foot motorboat. Neither wore a life jacket, and their towing a bodyboard behind the boat, which can reach speeds of 40 mph, was in direct violation of the rental company’s policy.

Within 30 minutes of the incident, 11 rescue boats and helicopters were combing the waters. The hunt for Pegye Bechler’s body lasted 15 hours. Her body was never recovered.

Dave Levedag, an assistant manager at the Newport Beach rental shop where the Bechlers got their boat, said he frequently drives the 19-foot vessel, which is still in service. He said it is unlikely that someone could be thrown accidentally from the driver’s seat.

“I’ve opened it up full speed and twisted it around, but it’s so heavy that the motor keeps it in the water,” he said. “You don’t just get tossed out of the boat.”

A day after the incident, Marshall and his family made the trek from New Mexico to see where Pegye Bechler had disappeared. Meanwhile, their son-in-law spoke to reporters of his grief.

If there were any problems between the two, Marshall said, he didn’t know about them.

“She never told me, but that would be typical,” he said. “She would not tell me, her daddy. She’d figure that she should handle it herself.”

Neighbors recalled Pegye Bechler as a friendly mother who spent her last morning marching outside her house with her children in a mock parade. Neighbors said Eric Bechler kept to himself.

Bechler, who ran a company that designed Web pages, sold his Cliff Drive home in June 1998 to Don Watson Jr. for $735,000, Watson said.

Three months ago, Bechler was again in court, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor domestic-violence count. Bechler had repeatedly pushed his girlfriend, Tina New, during a fight in April over how he delivered orders to the woman’s two daughters, according to court documents.

New suffered a slight cut during the incident. In court papers, she said she met Bechler three months after his wife’s disappearance and moved in with him two days after their first meeting. She lived with Bechler off and on for 10 months, court papers said.

As part of a plea bargain, Bechler agreed to enroll in a yearlong treatment program for batterers.

One of the biggest challenges facing the district attorney’s office is the fact that a body has never been recovered. Prosecution of such cases is extremely rare, and proving guilt is difficult because the jury must be convinced that the alleged victim is indeed dead. Prosecutors also must rely on circumstantial evidence rather than physical evidence, such as blood, hair and DNA.

But prosecutors have won murder convictions without a corpse. Last year, Deputy Dist. Atty. Debbie Lloyd won a conviction against Raymond Anthony Frost of Costa Mesa in the death of his mother, whose body was never recovered.

Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.