Bechler to stand trial for murder

Andrew Glazer

NEWPORT BEACH -- Eric Bechler told his best friend a year before his

wife’s disappearance in 1997 that he had considered murdering her, a

detective testified Friday at Harbor Justice Center.

The sworn statement of Sean Murphy, a detective from the Orange County

Sheriff’s Department who investigated the case, was part of a pretrial

hearing.

“They were walking down the beach after playing volleyball,” Murphy said,

who interviewed Bechler’s friend, Kobi Laker, in October. “Laker said,

‘What do you think?’ and then asked Bechler if he was prepared to go

through with it. He mentioned something about dumping her in a barrel out

at sea. Laker said, ‘This is crazy. Why don’t you get a divorce?”’

Bechler, 32, of Newport Beach, was ordered to stand trial on charges of

murdering Pegye Bechler, his wife, for financial gain.

Bechler still maintains his innocence, saying his wife was thrown

overboard by a wave. His attorney, John D. Barnett, argued that

prosecutors did not present any evidence that an actual crime had been

committed.

“She can’t show [Pegye Bechler] died at the hands of another,” said

Barnett.

Bechler told police that he and his wife rented a 19-foot speedboat on

July 6, 1997, to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. He said the

two drank margaritas before Pegye Bechler, then 38, began towing her

husband behind the boat on a body board. Eric Bechler said a large wave

threw him off the board and must have knocked his wife overboard and into

the 1,000-foot-deep waters. He said the boat was empty when he came up to

the surface.

Pegye Bechler’s body was never found.

But Superior Court Judge John W. McOwen said Friday that Deputy Dist.

Atty. Debbie Lloyd presented enough evidence against Bechler for him to

stand trial for murder.

Murphy also testified that Bechler bought his wife a $2-million life

insurance policy a year before her disappearance. Gary Gough, a Sheriff’s

Harbor Patrol officer who was working the day of Pegye Bechler’s

disappearance, said ocean waves that day were too weak to have thrown her

from the boat. And Harbor Patrol officer Dawn Arthur, who was on the boat

with Eric Bechler after rescuers scooped him out of the water, said his

demeanor was suspicious.

“He was crying without tears,” she said.

She testified that Bechler eventually calmed down, but “all of a sudden

became weak and started sobbing again” when he saw camera crews on the

shore.

During the testimony, Bechler stared ahead, occasionally clenching his

well-defined jaw. His hair was combed neatly and he wore a yellow Orange

County Jail jumpsuit and white sneakers.

Lloyd’s biggest gun was the transcript of a taped Oct. 29, 1999

conversation between Bechler and his ex-girlfriend, Tina New. New agreed

to wear a recording device for the Sheriff’s Department, which had been

investigating Bechler as a suspect in the case for more than two years.

Bechler’s conversation with New contained incriminating statements,

Murphy said. Copies of the transcript were unavailable and neither

attorney quoted the text extensively during the hearing.

Bechler is scheduled to be arraigned March 21 at 9 a.m. at the Harbor

Justice Center.