A Closer Look -- The man with the answers

Greg Risling

NEWPORT BEACH -- Is Eric Bechler a misunderstood man with model looks or

a maniacal murderer who killed his wife to land a hefty life insurance

policy?

That is the questions prosecutors are preparing to answer in the case

that has shocked this community, which the couple called home.

Nearly three years have passed since Bechler, 32, and his wife, Pegye

were seen motoring from the Newport Harbor on a powerboat. The Bechlers

were celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. When the boat returned,

only Bechler was on board. His wife was nowhere to be found.

For the past three months since Bechler was arrested for allegedly

killing his wife, the Daily Pilot has interviewed people closest to the

couple. Most have declined to have their names and comments published,

but privately they have delved into the many questions that still shroud

Pegye’s disappearance and presumed death.

Did the ocean swallow her brawny, high-performance frame whole? Or, as

authorities allege, was her husband responsible for her demise, striking

her over the head with a dumbbell and then weighing her body so it would

sink to the sandy floor?

Armed with numerous interviews we’ve attempted to unravel the mystery.

But there is truly only one person who knows what happened four miles off

of the Newport Coast on July 6, 1997 and he’s behind bars.

His name Eric Bechler.

GROWING UP

If there was anyone who exhibited the laid-back, sun-worshiping lifestyle

of California, it is Eric Bechler.

Bechler grew up in Long Beach, not far from where his grandfather ran a

thriving business. His parents divorced when he was a toddler.

He attended Woodrow Wilson High School where he was involved in the

junior ROTC program and the naval Sea Cadets. While the military

organizations gave him direction and structure, they couldn’t tame his

wild spirit and thrill for adventure.

He enjoyed racing motorcycles, liked water skiing and pumped iron at the

gym. He tackled new challenges and knocked them down, friends said.

He took pride in the way he looked, almost in a “narcissistic” manner,

some said. He never had problems with the opposite sex, actively dating

attractive women.

Friends said Bechler was also gifted intellectually, although he liked to

keep to himself. He went to two universities outside California, but

never found his mark. That changed when he met Pegye Marshall.

THE MARRIED LIFE

David Mason regrets he ever introduced Bechler to the affable and

charming Pegye Marshall.

It’s been nearly a decade since Mason, a former University of New Mexico

football player, was playing two-man volleyball with Bechler on the

beach. The two men had become friends after bumping into each other on

the beach circuit. They canvassed the Newport shoreline entering

tournaments.

One afternoon, Mason saw Pegye Marshall during a break in a game and

shouted for her to come over. Mason knew her from his college days when

she worked as an athletic trainer who would tape his ankles. Mason

introduced Pegye to his partner, Eric Bechler and the two strangers

developed a bond.

Bechler showed moxie by pursing her. She raised eyebrows when she became

involved with a younger man. It wouldn’t be long before the two were

lovebirds.

Bechler was a good candidate for Pegye based on her previous dating

experience where many of the men she dated were handsome, outgoing and

extremely fit. The most noticeable difference was the nine-year age gap

between the two. Her family joked that it would take a younger man to

keep up with the overactive Pegye. The age gap didn’t bother most of the

couple’s friends and family, but it may have hung over the relationship

like a dark cloud.

Pegye got the wedding she dreamed about as a little girl when she and

Bechler were married in a majestic German castle in 1992. Only a handful

of people could afford the European excursion. For Pegye, it was a reward

of sorts after working long hours to start her own business. Now, not

only did she have a successful physical therapy company, she was also

married in her mid 30s and was ready to start a family.

For the five years they were married, everything seemed like Camelot. The

princess had found her prince.

The couple moved from an apartment on the Balboa Peninsula into a home on

Cliff Drive. Pegye gave birth to three healthy children -- two boys and a

girl. The business was thriving and both were working in unison to build

clientele and revenue.

Some friends said the pair was happily married -- Bechler was a doting

father, while Pegye was a caring mother who was put in long hours at

work. But others said they saw the strains of marriage and work

culminating in heated arguments.

Bechler may have felt slighted by his older wife because she ran the

business and even asked him to return to school. Bechler graduated from

UCI with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1994.

What may have hurt the Bechlers the most was their desire for financial

success. The ritzy and glamorous lifestyle of Newport Beach may have

rubbed off on them. Both of them came from households where there wasn’t

much money to go around. Pegye’s family wasn’t wealthy and relied on

farming to pay the bills. The Bechler’s were enamored with living

lavishly. Money was an object to them.

They believed their road to fortune would be paved by the sale of their

business to a health-care organization in late 1996. The Bechlers

expected a windfall of money from stock options and the promise that they

would be retained as employees for two years.

The company reneged on the $1.2 million deal and the Bechlers only

received half of the stock shares promised and were no longer considered

employees of the company.

With a stack of outstanding bills to pay and three children to feed, Eric

Bechler cashed in his portion of stock to support the family. The

problems were mounting and the pressure was building, friends said. When

the couple decided not to pursue litigation, Pegye wanted to start

another business calling it P.M. Physical Therapy.

The initials stood for her maiden name.

Several months later, the couple rented a powerboat for the afternoon. An

afternoon that changed their lives forever.

TROUBLE AT SEA

Some people said Bechler liked to do things his way. He respected Pegye,

but also was head strong and if friends or family didn’t want to do what

he wanted, he would do it by himself.

The couple took that fateful voyage July 6, 1997. Bechler told

authorities he was bodyboarding behind the 19-foot boat, while Pegye was

at the helm. He said a wave pitched him off the board and underneath the

water. When the waves settled and his head poked out from the water, his

wife was gone, he claims.

Bechler couldn’t really explain what happened, but he figured the same

wave had thrown his wife overboard. She may have hit her head on the side

of the boat, he told police.

Authorities searched the area for days, even employing a Navy submarine

that scoured the depths of the ocean.

A Coast Guard report filed months after Pegye’s disappearance said it was

unlikely she was ejected from the boat and never resurfaced. Bechler’s

account was suspect, authorities quietly thought.

So many questions arose after her disappearance. Was it possible she fell

and suddenly sank to the bottom? Did Bechler do everything he could to

look for his wife? Was Pegye unconscious somehow before she fell

overboard?

Prosecutors won’t talk publicly about the case, but they contend

privately that Bechler may have used a dumbbell weight to kill his wife

before dumping her body overboard. If that was the case, any stretch of

the Southern California coast may have been the site of the alleged

murder.

Since his wife’s death, Bechler has gone about his life, despite the

tragic events. Several months after Pegye disappeared, Bechler moved to a

Newport Coast apartment where he asked a new girlfriend to live with him.

The three children, the oldest who is now 6, were given to Pegye’s

parents and one of her sisters.

While Bechler looked for another job, he was also actively pursued the

$2.5 million of Pegye’s life insurance money that he believes he’s

entitled to. He asked the county to issue a death certificate, a

necessity for insurance companies, so he could collect. They never gave

him one.

Prosecutors believe it was the life insurance money that pushed Bechler

to murder his wife.

When Bechler was arrested in November, prosecutors said they had their

man and a strong case against him. The clincher is reportedly a taped

conversation between Bechler and his girlfriend in which he allegedly

makes incriminating statements about his wife’s death. However, the

girlfriend said she and Bechler were under the influence of drugs and she

may have coerced the statements from him.

Although an accusation of murder has been levied against one of their

children, both families have kept in contact. Bechler has called Pegye’s

parents from jail, but he has been unable to speak with the children.

Bechler has always maintained his innocence, claiming a mysterious wave

took Pegye’s life, not him.

And with another court date looming at the end of this month, it will

soon be up to him to prove that he’s right.

Till death do they part?

1990: Pegye Marshal and Eric Bechler are introduced1992: The couple are

married in Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany1996: The Bechlers decide to

sell Pegye’s physical therapy business to a Costa Mesa corporation. They

learn they won’t receive the agreed amount in their contract1997: The

Bechlers celebrates their fifth wedding anniversary with a boating trip

off the Newport coast. Only Eric Bechler returns from the trip. He claims

his wife must have been thrown overboard by a wave. Her body is never

found

1999: Eric Bechler is charged with his wife’s murder, more than two years

after she disappeared. Prosecutors say he was seeking a life insurance

policy in Pegye’s name