PUBLIC SAFETY AND COURTS Police still investigating...

PUBLIC SAFETY AND COURTS

Police still investigating

Corona del Mar crash

A 35-year-old Laguna beach man died Tuesday night after the pickup

truck he was driving veered off the Corona del Mar freeway and

crashed into a steel guard rail.

Russell Wayne Bridge was trapped in the vehicle and had to be

extricated by firefighters. The crash occurred on the southbound

Corona del Mar Freeway near Bison Avenue.

Investigators have not yet determined what caused Bridge to lose

control of his vehicle. The overturned Chevrolet truck blocked the

No. 3 lane and part of the guard rail was protruding into the

roadway.

* Eric Bechler, a 36-year-old former Newport Heights resident and

father of three, found guilty of murdering his wife and dumping her

body in the ocean, lost his bid for a new trial last week after an

appellate court denied his petition.

Bechler was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of

parole after he was convicted in March 2001 of killing his 38-year-old wife, Pegye, during a boating trip off the Newport Beach

coast in July 1997. Bechler was 31 at the time of the murder.

Prosecutors said he killed his wife to get more than $2 million in

life insurance. Her body was never found.

Bechler’s attorney, William Kopeny, said his client will file for

a rehearing at the appellate court failing which he will appeal to

the state Supreme Court.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.