Deepa Bharath
SANTA ANA -- In her second day of testimony, the ex-girlfriend of
Newport Beach resident Eric Bechler, told jurors in the sensational
murder trial Tuesday how he described tying up his wife and tossing her
weighted body into the Pacific Ocean.
The day in court was also dominated by a taped conversation between
Bechler and ex-girlfriend Tina New -- important evidence that reveals
chilling facts, prosecutors say, about the death of Bechler's wife, who
disappeared during a boating trip three years ago.
Bechler, 33, is accused of murdering his 38-year-old wife, Pegye, by
bludgeoning her with a dumbbell during a boating trip on July 6, 1997,
and dumping her in the ocean. Her body has not been found.
Bechler has pleaded not guilty, saying that a giant wave knocked his
wife off the speedboat she was driving while towing him on a bodyboard.
During her testimony, New recalled the first time Bechler told her
about the incident in great detail. That day, they had both had drinks,
taken the drug Ecstasy and visited a couple of nightclubs, she said.
They started talking about Pegye after they got back to Bechler's
house, New said.
"We were laying on Eric's bed, and I suddenly asked him out of the
blue, 'You hit her, didn't you?"' she said. "He was surprised and asked
'How did you know?' and that's how it started."
Then, she said, Bechler went into great depth in describing how he had
planned the surprise trip.
New said Bechler told her that on the day of the trip they drove away
from the Newport Beach coast and picked up a bag, bodyboard and rope
because the boat rental company would not let them take those things on
the water.
"They had sex twice," New recalled Bechler telling her. "Then he said
she laid out on the boat, and he hit her on the head . . .. hit her so
hard she didn't feel a thing."
Bechler then said that he placed Pegye in a folded position, tied her
up with a rope, covered her with weighted trash bags and dumped her in
the ocean, New said.
"He said the blood was all over the boat, and he washed off the
blood," said New, who added that Bechler said the boat was 10 or 12 miles
out to sea.
When she asked him how he was sure Pegye's body wouldn't surface, New
said Bechler replied that his wife was a triathlete and had very low body
fat and that such people tend to sink easily. He also told her that he
used 70 pounds of weights to make sure she went down.
"In the beginning, when he talked about it, he was almost proud that
