Cold Case Files - REOPENED: Trouble In Paradise

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

When Pegye Bechler goes missing in a mysterious boating accident, all signs point towards her husband Eric. Without a body, the case goes cold until Eric’s new girlfriend teams up with investigators to bring the correct criminal to justice.  This Reopened episode of Cold Case Files has been previously published.

This episode contains descriptions of violence. Use your best judgment. In 1997, Peggy Beckler and her husband Eric had been married for five years. To celebrate, they took a vacation to Newport Beach in California. Peggy had been a champion swimmer when she was younger, and at 37, she was still athletic. The couple rented a speedboat and planned to do some boogie boarding, but it didn't quite turn out as they had planned. On July 6, 1997, the couple's rental boat was discovered empty, moving in circles in the water. Eric Beckler was spotted floating in his life jacket, drifting nearby.

The Coast Guard was alerted immediately. The Coast Guard couldn't see Peggy anywhere. No one could. Peggy Beckler was never seen again. From A&E, this is Cold Case Files. The Orange County Sheriff's Office was notified about Peggy's disappearance, and Deputy Gary Goff was the first to arrive at the scene. When we arrived on scene, we saw the Good Samaritan boat standing by,

and there was a person in the water later identified as Eric Beckler. Deputy Goff took his patrol boat to where Eric was floating in the water and pulled him on board. He had a few questions for Eric and was trying to understand how the current situation came to be. He told us that he was boogie boarding behind a boat being driven by his wife. And they had hit a wave or a wake. He got knocked off the boogie board. And when he came to the surface of the water, he looked into the distance and saw the boat going around in circles, and he didn't see his wife again. The Coast Guard began its search for Peggy at once.

Yeah, this is the area that we think she fell off. The boat has drifted down there. There's no one aboard that boat. Deputy Goff felt like Eric Beckler was acting strange during the search. No, he wasn't actively helping us search. He would keep his attention focused inside of the boat. He would look outside of the boat when we went over and investigated some potential sighting. At one point toward the end of the search, he actually closed his eyes and appeared to be going to sleep. People react to traumatic events in a lot of different ways.

While Eric's behaviors could have been interpreted as disinterest or lack of concern, they could have also been signs of shock. The search for Peggy continued for five hours until the sunset. The boats, including the one with Eric, headed to the shore where the media was waiting for an update. Deputy Goff made another observation about Eric's behavior. Eric began blubbering again, and he needed our assistance to actually physically help him up the ramp until we got inside of our office, and when no media was present,

he quit blubbering, he didn't need our assistance, and he walked just fine. Three days after Eric had been pulled from the water, Agent Danny Motley from the Coast Guard's investigative service took his official statement. It was just the same thing. I was trying to get by my knees. I'm sure you get out of pain. He got hit by something like a freak wave or a wave that was out of pattern from the similar direction that all the other waves were coming from that knocked him off the boogie board forward.

I did a search about Newport Beach just to see if it was possible for a wave with that kind of force to be in that location. It is. But Agent Motley found another aspect of Eric's statement troubling. Agent Motley had reviewed the evidence before taking Eric's statement and noticed there was a pair of sunglasses neatly folded and resting on one of the seats in the boat. That was odd because if a wave would have hit the boat with enough to cause somebody to fall over the side, then the sunglasses shouldn't have been sitting in the same spot on the seat

that they were where Mr. Beckler claimed that he left them. They would have probably been on the deck and been bounced around on the seat that they were where Mr. Beckler claimed that he left them, they would have probably been on the deck and been bounced around on the inside of the boat. Is it possible the sunglasses could have stayed in place during a big wave? I don't know. And neither did Agent Motley. So he decided to test his theory.

On two separate occasions, the investigators rented the same speedboat as the Becklers and tried to recreate his theory. On two separate occasions, the investigators rented the same speedboat as the Becklers and tried to recreate the accident. With identical weather and sea conditions, they located the coordinates where Peggy Beckler had disappeared. We did the circles and then we changed the speeds and we tried to do figure eights and zigzags and we held on and we didn't hold on and we did everything that I could think of to try to get us ejected from the boat. And we didn't get ejected from the boat. The investigators even asked a female deputy of comparable size to Peggy Beckler to help them with their experiment.

But they were unable to create a scenario where she was knocked into the water. Deputy Goff was not surprised by the results. The results confirmed for me exactly what I had suspected all along. It wouldn't have happened the way Eric described it. The Coast Guard wasn't sure how Peggy had disappeared, but they were certain that it couldn't have happened the way Eric had described. They decided to turn the case over to the homicide squad for Orange County, California. Detective Roger Neumeister became the lead in the investigation.

Well, there's actually kind of three roads. There's accident as a possibility. There's that this is some sort of fraud, some sort of scam, that she's gone waiting on the beach in Costa Rica or something, waiting for the insurance money to come in, and then there's the homicide or the murder possibility. The detective started his task of determining whether Peggy's disappearance was an accident, fraud, or murder by speaking with her family. They were doubtful that someone with Peggy's disappearance was an accident, fraud, or murder by speaking with her family. They were

doubtful that someone with Peggy's swimming experience could have fallen out of a boat and drowned. This is Peggy's father, Glenn Marshall. Absolutely, that didn't sound right immediately. I mean, here's a kid that's been a top swimmer for years and years and so comfortable in the water. Peggy's best friend, Glenda Mason, did not believe that Peggy could have drowned. My first reaction was disbelief. I thought there's no way this could possibly have happened. Peggy was somebody who was an incredible swimmer, incredible triathlete. I've always said, you know, she could have swum to shore with one arm.

Glenda also shared some information about Peggy and Eric Beckler's marriage. They were constantly fighting. Peggy was concerned that he was having an affair. The last six months, I mean, Peggy called me crying, you know, almost weekly. She was very unhappy in the end An unhappy marriage could have been a motive for murder So the investigators looked further into the relationship between Eric and Peggy They started with their finances and found another possible motive We had done insurance together Peggy and Eric and I, I'd written policies for them. There were three policies, one for $100,000, one for $500,000, and one for $2 million. And Eric was the primary beneficiary

on part of the policies. Children were primary beneficiaries on part of the policies. That was Larry Marshall, Peggy's brother, and also an insurance agent. There was a total of $2.6 million in life insurance on Peggy that would go to Eric if she were to die. The investigators believed that amount of money would be a plausible motive for murder. But without a body, they couldn't be positive that a murder had even been committed. This is Detective Neumeister again. You don't have a cause of death. You don't have the body itself to say that the person's dead. So it does create a lot of problems.

Without a body, the case went cold. But Detective Neumeister believed that it would eventually be solved. The early stage of the case, I said, there's going to be a woman that comes forward and breaks this case for us. A scorned woman is going to break this case. A year after Peggy Beckler had gone missing at sea, cold case detective Sean Murphy was on the case. We were convinced that Eric had murdered his wife Peggy. But as far as the evidence was concerned, it was all circumstantial, and we had no body, so those are the most difficult cases to prove.

Eric met Tina New three months after Peggy had disappeared. Tina was a model and an actress. The couple had been instantly attracted to each other, but their relationship was unstable. It was a very volatile relationship. They were abusing drugs and domestic violence incidences. It was just very volatile. The detectives hoped that eventually Tina would leave the relationship and come to them with Eric's secrets. And a year later, in October of 1999, she did just that. Tina and Eric shared an apartment in the Beach Creek community.

The couple had loud arguments regularly, but during one particularly bad night, the neighbors called the police around 3 a.m. When the police arrived, Tina was alone in the apartment. She told the officers that she and Eric had been fighting over a broken breast implant. My implant was a size, normally I was a D, and I was a size A on one side, and it just terrified me. I was, I had been leaking, I guess, for 24 hours, and I called him panicking and I screamed and said, Eric, you need to take him to the hospital. And I needed to go. I was terrified. Before the police took her to the hospital, Tina asked to speak to the investigators in charge of Peggy's disappearance. And it wasn't like I was mad at Eric. It wasn't like I was

trying to get back at him to tell his secret. I just couldn't handle it anymore. I knew he killed her, and I couldn't functionally live my life to protect him, knowing that he did that. Detective Sean Murphy took Tina's statement. She basically told us, I know Eric murdered his wife. I've talked to him about it. And we'd say, what kind of conversations did you have with him about it? And she would say, well, one night we were laying in bed after partying in Los Angeles, and I asked him about how he'd done it. Tina talked to the detectives for three hours in the living room of her apartment,

sharing what she knew about Eric Beckler and Peggy's disappearance. And he goes, as soon as she started to lay out on the boat, she was tanning. He goes, Tina, I walked up behind her and I hit her so hard she didn't feel a thing. And I'm like, you know, I'm like trying to act like this is okay for me to handle because I'm laying on a bed next to him, you know, right next to him while he's telling me he killed his wife. Tina was frightened but continued to ask for details about how and why Eric had killed his wife. Tina was frightened, but continued to ask for details about how and why Eric had killed his wife.

He goes, I folded her torso down towards her legs, and he tied all that together. And he goes, and I took two trash bags, I covered her up, and I dropped her down with weights. The cold case detectives had been waiting for a break like this But even with the information Tina provided

They needed evidence to corroborate her statement This is Detective Gary Jones We could not file a case just based on her information alone We needed to corroborate it from him And I don't mean by her going in there and saying You killed your wife and this is how you killed her. We needed him to tell us how he killed her, why he killed her. Detective Sean Murphy asked Tina if she'd be willing to help out the investigation further.

And that's when we told her, you know, you need to take the next step here and help us with making some phone calls. Tina agreed to call Eric to see if she could get him to make a confession on the phone. Her phone was tapped within an hour, and she made this call to Eric. Eric, I think you need to be worried. I think, I mean, look. I already know. Stop being so naive. You know, I know you're sticking to your story, but think about what happened.

Think about whatever evidence they have from before with Peggy. You don't know. Why don't you talk about that over the phone? Why? Because. Why don't you talk about that over the phone? Talk about that over the phone. What you're alluding to.

You have a cell phone, Eric. Yeah, I know, but you don't. Don't be dumb. Stop playing dumb. I hate it when you do this. Don't. You and your lawyer. Does your lawyer know?

Whatever. Because we're not going to talk about it on the phone. Does your lawyer know the truth or not? Whatever the truth is, does he know? No. Are you sure? Yes. Okay, well maybe you should tell your lawyer the truth because you need someone to know.

Stop. We stop. No, we're not going to stop. Do you understand how serious this is? And I don't want to be in the middle of it. Eric wouldn't talk about Peggy's disappearance over the phone, which made Detective Jones even more suspicious. He makes statements to her, let's don't discuss this on the phone. I'm not saying nothing on the phone. And then he even says, you know, the police can wiretap your phone. They can, it's very easy to wiretap your phone. So these are all, if a person is truly innocent of any crime,

I mean, that should be the furthest thing in the back of your mind is to talk on the phone. If you're not talking anything criminal, why would you be concerned about a wiretap on the phone? Realizing that the phone tap wasn't going to get them the confession they needed, the detectives asked Tina to wear a wire. She and Eric went to dinner at a restaurant where two undercover officers were eating nearby. Tina was comforted that she would not be alone. And the cops told me that there was going to be a first team in the restaurant. It could be your waiter. It could be somebody else.

So I was just, I didn't know where they were. I never saw them the whole night. But I knew they were there. Tina didn't waste time after they were seated before asking Eric about Peggy. She said, well, what insurance is that you won't ever do that to me? And he tells her, I will never, ever, ever hurt anybody ever again. You know, we were all happy about that statement. It was great. He didn't deny that he did something to his wife. And at the same time, he said that he'd hurt someone. Detective Jones and Murphy believe they finally had enough

evidence to arrest and charge Eric Beckler. Later on the same evening, Eric Beckler was arrested and charged with murder. At around midnight, he was interviewed by Detectives Murphy and Jones at the Sheriff's Department. You have the right to remain silent. Do you understand that, Eric? Can we talk about what happened? About what?

About the other night being over Tina's house. I couldn't be better if the attorney was here. Okay. Is it you... What is it you're saying? That I'm not going to say anything until my attorney's present. Okay. Great. Eric thought he was being arrested for the disturbance at Tina's house, until Detective Murphy informed him of the additional charge, murder. You understand you're under arrest, Eric,

and you're under arrest for the homicide of your wife, Peggy Butler. Night clear. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. I'm glad. I'm sorry, what? Glad? Yeah, because I'm innocent.

I'll get this hat cleared out of the way. Huh? That's right. What's right? I'll get this cleared out of the way. Well, that's the whole idea, isn't it? Yeah. If you're innocent, you may be on your way.

But if you're not, you gotta face your problems. Eric Beckler maintained his innocence throughout his trial. His attorney, John Barnett, emphasized the lack of a body in his closing argument. I think he's factually innocent because I don't think there was a crime. There's no evidence there was a crime. There's no evidence that foul play contributed to the death in this case.

It was the wiretaps that were collected by Tina and New that ultimately swung the jury. On February 1, 2001, the jury found Eric Beckler guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced him to life without parole. Eric Beckler is now 52 years old and serving out his sentence in a California state prison. Peggy and Eric's children were raised by Peggy's family. Her life insurance money was put into a trust for them. Eric didn't get a dime.

Cold Case Files, the podcast, is hosted by Brooke Giddings, produced by McKamey Lynn and Steve Delamater. Our associate producer is Julie McCruder. Our executive producer is Ted Butler. Our music was created by Blake Maples. This podcast is distributed by Podcast One. The Cold Case Files TV series was produced by Curtis Productions and is hosted by Bill Curtis. You can find me at Brooke Giddings on Twitter and at Brooke the Podcaster on Instagram. I'm also active in the Facebook group Podcast for Justice. Check out more Cold Case Files at AETV.com or learn more about cases like this one by visiting the A&E Real Crime blog at AETV.com slash real crime.