Man Found Guilty of Killing Wife, Dumping Body

A Newport Beach man accused of killing his wife and dumping her body during a birthday cruise was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder, ending a riveting courtroom drama complete with tales of fast living and a confession secretly taped by his model girlfriend.

Eric Christopher Bechler, 33, sat quietly without reacting as the guilty verdict touched off a wave of emotion behind him. In the packed courtroom, the mother of victim Pegye Bechler threw her head forward and sobbed as her relatives held each other.

The verdict came after seven agonizing days of deliberations and heated arguments among jurors that left some in tears.

With no physical evidence to guide them--not even a body--members of the seven-woman, five-man panel said the verdict was “the most difficult decision of our lives,” the forewoman said in a statement. The panel reached the decision despite harboring doubts about some aspects of the prosecutors’ case, said juror Cesar Moran.

“People didn’t sleep at night because it was so intense,” said Moran, 22, of Santa Ana. “The whole trial was like a soap opera. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Prosecutors argued that Bechler bludgeoned his wife to cash in a $2-million life insurance policy. But the jury appeared not to believe that was the motive, rejecting a “special circumstance” allegation of murder for financial gain. The district attorney’s office had earlier decided not to seek the death penalty, so Bechler faces a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

Both prosecutors and Pegye Bechler’s family welcomed the verdict with a mixture of tears and relief.

“It’s so overwhelming,” said Pegye’s mother, June Marshall, of New Mexico. “It’s been devastating for 3 1/2 years. We have to keep dealing with this.”

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Debora Lloyd said she was gratified that Bechler ultimately could not pull off what investigators once thought might be the perfect crime.

“I think of the possibility Eric would have gotten away with this,” Lloyd said outside the courtroom. “He would have gotten the insurance and the children. He’s not going to do that now. . . . He got the life insurance policy he deserves.”

The mystery over the 1997 disappearance of Pegye Bechler was the talk of Newport Beach and in the last two months drew overflow crowds to the Santa Ana courtroom.

Bechler steadfastly maintained that his 38-year-old wife, a strong swimmer and avid triathlete, disappeared while piloting a rented speedboat and towing him on a bodyboard.

He testified that he and Pegye were 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.

The defendant’s family said they were devastated by the conviction and accused jurors of deciding from the outset that Bechler was guilty.

“It’s tragic,” said Gail Bechler, the defendant’s aunt. “We think he’s innocent. It’s a tragic thing. Pegye’s gone and now three children have no mother or father.”

She asked how jurors could be swayed by prosecutors’ star witness, a former “Baywatch” actress and model who testified that Bechler admitted anchoring his wife’s body with 70 pounds and throwing her overboard.

“Who would believe her?” Gail Bechler said.

The six-week trial included testimony from more than 40 witnesses and 118 exhibits, including dozens of audiotapes and hundreds of pages of transcripts of secretly recorded conversation between Bechler and girlfriend Tina New.

Prosecutors portrayed Bechler as a man who loved the high life. He drove an expensive German sports car and lived in an exclusive Newport Beach neighborhood. But financial problems in 1997 seemed to endanger that lifestyle, prosecutors argued. And, they said, an affair Bechler had with a topless dancer had jeopardized the marriage.

A close friend testified that Bechler approached him three months before Pegye’s disappearance and confided that he was thinking about killing his wife. Kobi Laker testified that Bechler told him he planned to dump her body at sea.

In the end, however, the case hinged on a secretly recorded dinner date conversation between Bechler and New, who was wearing a body wire fitted by detectives.

After six days of heated debate, jurors were deadlocked. Nine leaned toward guilty and three had doubts, juror Moran said. Prosecutors had argued that Bechler bludgeoned his wife to death on the boat. But jurors were skeptical, Moran said. No blood matching Pegye’s was ever found there.

The panel asked to listen to the tapes of the conversation one last time.

During the recording, Bechler discussed his wife’s death with New, saying he was motivated “partly for the money, partly for the kids. . . . That’s how I justified it in my mind. I felt like I was backed in a corner. Like she was gonna steal the kids away and I’d never seem them again.”

The Bechlers’ children range in age from 3 to 7.

At trial, the defense team argued that he was simply trying to impress a woman he believed liked “bad boys.” But the statements--though hardly a full confession--helped swing three holdout jurors toward a conviction, Moran said. He said the panel was struck by how Bechler never in the conversation denied that he killed his wife.

“He has lots of opportunities to deny it, but he never does,” said juror Moran. “He was basically saying it, without saying it.”

Answering a question from the jury, Judge Frank F. Fasel had told the panelists they could find Bechler guilty even if they did not agree on how he killed his wife.

“I can’t really say what happened out there,” said Moran, referring to the boat trip. “[But] what really made me sure was the wiretap at the restaurant.”

Bechler is scheduled to be sentenced March 16.

In the meantime, friends of both Pegye and Eric said the conviction tore at their emotions. Laker, who testified against his friend, said he felt both relieved and grieved.

“I feel grieved because of Pegye’s murder and the emotional pain felt by all those who loved her and miss her,” he said. “And also because of the loss of someone I once thought of as a true friend.”

Pegye’s best friend, Glenda Mason, said the verdict provided a small but important measure of comfort as she continues to mourn.

“I want him to pay for what he did. I cry almost every night about this, and I don’t sleep through the night,” Mason said. “It gives me a little closure to a lot of sadness in my life.”

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Times staff writers Richard Marosi, David Reyes and Mai Tran contributed to this story.