Police: Body found in S.D. County might be Newport Beach woman’s

Authorities were trying to determine Friday if a woman’s body found in a Dumpster in San Diego County is that of a missing Newport Beach woman whose husband was charged this week with murder.

San Diego County sheriff’s investigators and medical examiners were working to identify the body, but it was unclear if it was that of Quee “Q.C.” Chadwick, according to a statement on the Newport Beach police website.

Peter Gregory Chadwick, 48, was charged Monday with a single felony count of murder for financial gain. He pleaded not guilty.

He was arrested last week in San Diego County at the U.S.-Mexico border, and detectives are now retracing his movements after he reportedly left his upscale home in Newport Beach the previous day. Quee Chadwick, 46, vanished around the same time, authorities said.

Peter Chadwick told police another man actually killed her and forced him to load the body into a truck and then drive his own vehicle toward the Mexican border, according to a source close to the investigation.

A fight between the couple reportedly took place the day Quee Chadwick vanished, prosecutors said, and a neighbor noticed something seemed wrong when no one picked up the couple’s children from school that afternoon. The neighbor called police, who found evidence of a struggle at the home, prosecutors said.

Police are asking anyone with information to call (800) 550-NBPD or (949) 644-3764.

This story was reported by Times Staff Writer Sam Quinones.