Small Town Murder - #562 - Murder On Slide Mountain - Incline Village, Nevada

Episode Date: January 18, 2025

This week, in Incline Village, Nevada, a horrible scene awaits police, when a car plunges 800 feet off a cliff, mangling the woman inside. Meanwhile, a man hangs from a branch, nearly 100 feet below the road, seemingly lucky to be alive. But was this really a tragic accident, or a truly evil plot to make it all look like an accident, just so he could grope women, in hot tubs?Along the way, we find out that famous people seem to like to hang out, in the middle of nowhere, that you should have more than a sprained ankle, when being thrown from the window of a truck, and that you should always care more about your dead wife, than finding your fanny pack!!New episodes every Thursday!Donate at: patreon.com/crimeinsports or go to paypal.com and use our email: [e-mail] to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Small Town Murder & Crime In Sports!Follow us on...twitter.com/@murdersmallfacebook.com/smalltownpodinstagram.com/smalltownmurderAlso, check out James & Jimmie's other show, Crime In Sports! On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Wondery, Wondery+, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Small Town Murder early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay and Choo Choo. Oh yay indeed Jimmy. My name is James Petragallo, I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us all aboard the murder train pulling away from

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What do you say? Arms to the sky. Let's all shout. Shut up. Give me murder. Let's do this everybody. Let's go on a trip, shall we? We are going to Nevada this week. Been a while since we've been there.

Oh, absolutely. And, and desert and gambling and nuclear waste sites and you name it. Nevada's got it. This is Incline Village, Nevada. Incline Village, it's a Western Nevada, all the way over there by Tahoe near the California border. It's about 50 minutes to Reno. If you want to go lose your money in a depressing city, that's a place to do it. About four hours and 25 minutes to our last Nevada episode which was De Nio, Nevada

That was episode 499 hermit horrors. Remember the hermit guy was killing people out. That was crazy That guy was just killing anybody that came out there population of this town 9440 it is a wealthy little town. Let me tell you something median household income here median household income hundred thirty one thousand nine hundred fourteen dollars Oh, just pretty good and then the media doing the median home price is wild Median home price here one million three hundred ninety two thousand four hundred dollars I don't know this best kept this on the planet crazy

I don't know this is a and there's a lot of people like celebrities that had houses here This is like a little weird. What's that spot in Idaho where they all gather and they have in Jackson Hole in Wyoming There's another one in Idaho too. That's a ski place where they have a thing too. Yeah, there's Jackson Hole and there's this place There's a few of these spots throughout the West and their weird little celebrity enclaves. Strange. The motto here is information inspiration progress. Yeah well we don't know anything about what that means. I don't even know what that means inspiration progress. I don't know. History of this town established in 1882. So that's a bit older than I thought it was going to be here. The Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company was a logging company that operated on

the northeast side of Lake Tahoe at where Incline Village is now. So this used to just be like a lumber camp, lumber company, and it was named for the Incline Railway that served the area. That's why they call it the incline village there. The timber was required for the mines during the mining boom, because you had to put the big timber up to keep everything structured down there. And the timber around Lake Tahoe was

placed on an incline railway where it was taken up 1,400 feet, then dropped by a gravity flume down the western side of the mountain to a 3,000 foot tunnel to Carson City. That's cool as shit. Is that how log rides became? Yes, I was just going to say this is every six flags and everything has a log flume splash mountain all that shit. That's what this is from. Awesome. Yeah, that's what the log flume is a real thing apparently. Wow. Never heard of it till now, but I guess it is here. The company operated a number of other railroad lines that were in the area too.

So that's what they did. Now notable people that have had houses here, Warren Buffett had a house here in the 80s, I guess. The Stu Cook of Creedence Clearwater revival. Is that right? And then David Coverdale, deep purple and white snake there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is this love and all that shit with Tony Katane on the hood.

That's the guy there. The jackass from Girls Gone Wild, that idiot Joe Francis. Yeah. And John Force. Lost a house here. And John Force, the race car driver. John Force, how about that? So all sorts of famous people have gone there. Reviews of this town, not a lot of them and most of them are good.

So we'll get into it here. Five stars, here we go. Incline Village is that charming town by a beautiful lake. Alright. Lake Tahoe is one of America's gems. Calm down. Yeah, it's pretty. It's nice. It's nice. Incline Village sits on the North Shore of the Nevada side and boosts an abundance of activities for the locals and many tourists that wander that and tourists and wanderers that visit this lovely town. Having a population of about 9000 people, it's a pretty small town, but rapidly grows during the high

of the tourist seasons. The locals are friendly and welcoming to newcomers, as I was once the new person. Tahoe has so much to offer, from the lake to the endless hiking to the long bike rides taking in the beauty of this majestic lake. That's still all in the same category. Yeah. Outside, walking around, looking at the lake. Hiking, skiing, fuck with the lake. That's that's yeah hiking

Laking bike rides same shit four stars here. We lived here for about 15 years and love our town We wish we had Christmas lights around town more activities offseason more respect from tourists Well, you're never gonna get that never no piss No, they're pissing on everything you love. Yeah, I'm here to spend money, so you guys can have a town. And I get to behave any way I want because of it. Sweet my piss from the streets. That's how that works there.

Things to do here. Okay, Summerfest we have. Sure. That is the Incline Tahoe Foundation presents Summerfest, a family favorite event during Incline Village's Independence Day week of celebrations. So they go hard for this, but can't get a Christmas light downtown. Nice.

So they say that they have all sorts of food. Incline Spirits has organized beer tasting from 12 breweries featuring 24 craft beers, wine and soft beverages. Craft beers are always a disappointment. They're always just bitter. What is it? They just always advertise it. Oh, they love it.

There's like out of 100 people, two people like it and they aim for that guy. They aim for that guy, but yet 100 people go to it and two of the people enjoy it. And the rest of them are going, yeah, no, it's good, yeah. It's a little more bitter than I'd want. I mean, yeah, I don't know if I drink it every of my guy. Yeah, that's good. Yeah I mean, yeah, it's a bit bad wouldn't I drink it every day, but you know it's okay I can't even taste my fucking burger the

University of Nevada Reno at Lake Tahoe has a watermelon tent University, Nevada Reno at Lake Tahoe. That's a lot of different places. I was like that's a lot Nevada Reno at Lake Tahoe. That's a lot of different places. Yeah, I was like, that's a lot. That's qualifying it. They'll have long games, lawn games and fun for the whole family. Tickets by the way. This is fucking, no, then there's also, I'm sorry, Jacked Up will be performing. Oh yeah. Jacked Up. They just have pictures of football tackles on a screen behind them as it goes Some guy named Jack D UPP fucking jacked up Jacked up will be providing great music and what do you how much does all of this cost?

How much would you pay for all of this? 12 bucks $75 get the fuck out of here And that includes tasting glasses for your pissy craft beer $25 for children and designated drivers, so Even children $25 for your kid to come in walk around and watch jacked up performed and whined Do you about how boring this is and not get any beer? They say by the way, this was formerly beer and brats apparently

That's what it used to be now. They've changed it to this summer fest. I don't know that said let's talk about some murder Let's get one right into this yeah I'd want a murder if I paid seventy five dollars for that and got to taste some shitty craft beer I'd be very upset there would be a murder happening So I have to give credit to an article here that has a lot of very good details. SF Gate is the publication. They do a lot of different,

very good investigative pieces. And this is by Andrew Chamings. Or Chamings, either one. So good job, Andrew. Here we go, let's get right into this. Here we go. good job Andrew here. We go. Let's get right into this here. We go with a fella here Peter Matthew Bergna Berg na Bergna he's born

1953 He's apparently adopted He's an adopted kid when he was a baby. He was adopted so it never was like a weird You know didn't grow up in an orphanage or anything like that. His parents, his dad, I believe he grew up in North Carolina, because his dad, Lewis, is a district attorney in North Carolina. So yeah, he came up with a very decent upbringing

and that kind of thing. They have a lot of money, his parents both have a lot of money, and not bad, I mean, not a bad way to grow up here. That's a good couple of people to pick you up and bring you in. Not bad. He'll end up as a Lake Tahoe fine art appraiser. My old job. I had to give that up to do this. That was what it was. I said, you know what? You figure out what this shit's worth, huh?

I'm tired of it. I've seen too much and I'm gonna try stand up, and that's that's when I started comedy And you know it's a tough world the fine art appraisal world. It's just it's too much for me It was rough. You know what I mean got rough after what competitive is what it is you know people jumping each other Legs getting broken. It's too much He ends up finding a wife here Renette Riella he ends up finding a wife here, Renette Riella, he ends up marrying, Renette R-I-N-E-T-T-E, Renette. So, Renette Riella, and she becomes Renette Riella Bergner, she's like a year younger

than him but same basic age here. She very well educated, successful pharmacist. So fine art and pharmacist, that's going together here. You can take pills and look at pretty pictures. That sounds like a lot of fun. They're gonna have fun here. She is well-loved by everybody. People even call her a saint for her compassion for people,

which I've counted these pills for you. Here you are. That's a lot of compassion you can have here. So they have a very nice life together, these two. I mean, livin' it up. She can't have kids apparently, by the way. How did he hit such lottery with rich parents and then well off?

He was adopted. He could have been, you know what I mean? Oh God, yeah, he could have gone so bad. Everything could have gone bad. He could have got the wrong family Christy so bad everything could have gone bad He could have got the wrong family or whoever put him up for adoption Originally could have kept him in some trailer park or something somewhere. You know just on a bad situation or 16 year old mother or whatever the hell might be would be you know not as advantageous as the situation he fell into

Yeah, he would like to have kids is the thing. He'd like to have a family, but his wife can't have kids, so that's an issue. I think she would like to have a family too, but she can't. She can't do it. So they do have a very nice life. They live on the north shore of Lake Tahoe there in the Incline Village.

Oh, I'm sorry, his dad wasn't, it wasn't North Carolina. Apparently his dad was a county district attorney for Santa Clara County. Okay, Northern Carolina. That's why, I don't know why I thought it was North Carolina for some reason. So they, he also, Bergner, Peter, the son, worked at San Francisco Art Dealers Butterfields as well.

Yeah. So he works for them. His job as an appraiser means that he gets to live a fancy little life. Do you know how many parties appraisers get invited to? Oh man, the amount of wine this guy has to drink. Just going to say the amount of very expensive wine and champagne. Northern California delicious wine. Yeah, and this is a different circle.

There's like regular people, then there's rich people, then there's rich people who own expensive art, which is a whole other strata of... Yeah, it's totally different. They're richer, number one, and they're cultured and shit like that. It's totally different. We would stick out like sore thumbs at one of those parties. We could kick down 15 minutes. There's a lot of rich people that have plenty of money

and everything's well invested and they're planned for the future. These are people that have been planned for the future, six generations. That's what I mean. They're doing very, very well. We would get kicked out of one of these parties as soon as we asked where the keg was.

That would be the end of it. They'd know. As soon as I asked, why is it worth that? Wow, yeah. This fucking thing? Worth what, how much? Looks like squiggles to me, I don't get it. Get this guy out of here.

Feels like I could do that, right? I think I could do that. James, let's get an easel and see if we can do this. I think I can. I think we could do it. So they're doing very well. Yeah, he's visiting mansions to and galleries and I mean it's you know knows all the important people and they all want to kiss his ass Because he's a fucking painting a guy that sets the price. Yeah

So you want to give him a couple glasses a good wine first before he does anything She now renette has a distinguished career at the Novore Nevada Board of Pharmacy. And then she was on the board, then founded a consulting service in Incline Village, and then she took a job as an international travel director for Talk Tours, a job that would send her to Europe for like weeks at a time.

Wow. So these two have quite the jet-set and lifestyle here. Oh shit. Jesus Christ. Not a lot of Monday through Friday Yeah, you know the Louvre for Christ's sake. Oh, they go to Europe all the time. Yeah, like nothing They have a beautiful house a four-bedroom. It's called a mountain retreat by many different publications You know, and your place is called a retreat. You're doing great. It's called a mountain retreat by many different publications Your place is called a retreat you're doing great. It's fucking wild so they're married in about 1987 They get married so they're both in their 30s early 30s and so like even that's like responsible That's incredibly they don't get married when they're 22. They both get married when they're like, you know 35 and 34 Okay, like they're very you know both get married when they're like, you know, 35 and 34. Yeah, okay.

Like they're very, you know what I mean? They're very different lifestyle, man. Yeah. So he, Peter, is very knowledgeable about obviously antiques and art, because he appraises for Butterfield and Butterfield Auction Firm. Both the, Renette and Peter, both love children, by the way.

Really? both very into giving their time and money to children's events and especially athletics Peter gives a lot of money donates it to the school athletic programs and then Spends time as a volunteer coach for incline high school athletic teams as well. I don't know how you'd have time for this. I mean, you're in Europe one week ago. She can't have kids.

They want kids so bad and instead he does this kind of thing. Yet he was adopted. He's very well aware of the avenues they can take to have a child. Totally. That's the other thing too is I don't get why of all people, of all people why he doesn't go, you know, we could adopt. It worked out well for my parents, you know, but that never comes up, I guess. I'm appraising rich shit.

You know what I mean? Like we could, we could certainly raise one of these little bastards to do good things. There's a group of people, I don't know if it's a group, but there's a massive people out there though that don't want somebody else's kid They just don't they want their own kid or no kid at all And maybe that's who these people were just doesn't seem like it Subset of the population that believes that those children Are gonna murder them yeah based on studies or science or whatever because they've seen a couple scary movies. That's their science. Yeah

The main problem is you just don't know where they came from genetics wise. You don't know if their father is Freddy Krueger or not. But you don't, what about this guy? You have no idea. They believe, yeah you do. Yeah you do, absolutely. So and I guess if I don't know if you're donating your time and money already to strangers kids You might as well adopt one of them fucking take them home with you

So the principal of the school said we just all thought the war of the world of both of them. So Everybody loves them. They travel extensively together the burghness. They make four or five trips to Italy This is a 10 11 year make four or five trips to Italy. This is in a 10, 11 year period, three or four trips to England, they went to Switzerland as well. They paid for a 35 day vacation to Australia for Peter's parents. 35 days?

That is like, that's a payback. Thanks for the adoption. Yeah. Have a month. There's a month in Australia month a month plus in Australia Well, I hope they were retired or something. How the hell do you take 35 days off? So She earned about a hundred thousand dollars a year in her pharmacy consulting business And he made about that if not a little more in his in his thing too. So and this is in the 90s

200 grand a year for a couple in the early 90s is a fuckload of money. You're killing it, I mean, absolutely killing it. Early 90s, you made 100 grand a year. You were upper middle class, like that was doing very well. Then in about 1990, late 1997, Peter fully pays off the balance on their $500,000 home Wow

Hose it off. So yeah homeowner 1998 comes around they have a paid-off house And all of this wonderful nice things that's going on here. They're what a dream drinking wine doing all this shit. So She goes away in April. Renette goes to Italy for her new job, doing the international tours. And she does a six week trip to Italy. Wow.

She lands back at the Reno Tahoe International Airport on May 31st, 1998. Yeah, to go from like Florence to Reno has to be a real kick right in the fucking teeth, doesn't it? Not even, not even like, you know, a little bit at a time, like a decompression chamber, like bring you to, you're going to Boston or something. There's a right into Reno, right to the ground, 500 feet deep and then just shooting you straight to the surface.

That's it. Right to the brown fucking ground. Enjoy. Ugh, that is rough. That's a rough thing. So during her trip, apparently Peter had been telling some people that he planned to end their marriage. Oh my. And he'd also been known to, during that six week time, he'd been making advances on women while at work. Oh, really? That's a nice picture, but a better ass. Let me tell you something, sweetheart. that six week time he'd been making advances on women while at work. That's a nice picture but a better ass. Let me tell you something sweetheart, don't tell you something right now. Your tits are as pretty as this picture baby.

You bend over and look down at it, it's a better angle. Van Gogh ain't got nothing on your cleavage. Let me tell you one thing right now. So nice work of art. It's a work of art. Let me tell you, I got something else I could appraise I bet those are about 10 G's how you went to a good doctor for those bad boys then you say Say let me let me feel the weight. I gotta put my hand under now week. It's alright now. We'll find out

So and also while in Italy Renette had been looking at apartments in Italy. Oh And also while in Italy Renette had been looking at apartments in Italy. Oh Yeah, so this day May 31st 1998 he Peter attends an evening charity function at Incline High School Then he stopped at the AMPM gas station to fill up to five gallon plastic Jugs for a trip to Las Vegas with gasoline. So cans, gas cans, extras. I get, they were saying they were gonna be driving to Vegas, like the next day I guess. So they say there is not a lot of places to stop

between Reno and Vegas. So I guess if you wanna keep extra gas with you just in case or I don't know that's that's what he's saying. And it seems to be like logic that everyone accepts of like yeah you do that just in case. Okay. How does he drive? It's a Ford F-150 97. Yeah so that sucks gas. It's a Royal Blue 97 Ford F-150 and he put those two in the back and he picked her up from the airport around 11 p.m. She'd been traveling as a 25 hour trip. Yeah, she'd been traveling for 25 hours straight. This is her landing spots or fourth airport of the day.

Yeah, it's a long long trip. I think she had to go from Italy to New York from New York to Denver from Denver to Reno or some shit like that Like it was one of those real circuitous routes here. So he picks her up But instead of going home to incline village, he takes a turn off the Mount Rose Highway There's a very mountainous area, by the way. A lot of mountains, as you might imagine, from Incline Village here. So I guess this is like a scenic spot where you can see all the lights of the valley

and things like that. So this is one of their favorite spots, Peter said, and they enjoyed looking at the Reno lights. Now if I just got home from a 25-hour trip, we're not stopping anywhere. I don't even wanna see my bedroom light. I want this shit shut off. Take my ass home.

Period. I want my couch. I want my eye mask. Dude, six weeks on the road and 25 hours in a day, all I want is my couch at that point. Just give me my couch and my things and let me settle. Yeah, I mean the couch at minimum. I want the bed. I want you to leave. No, I want to like go in the fridge. I want the couch at minimum. I want the bed. Yeah, and I want you to leave

No, I want to like go in the fridge. I want to like do shit I haven't been able to do you know I'm saying like I want to lay diagonal in my own bed until that do the fuck out so He said that they discussed their marriage. I guess and how he was frustrated with her traveling Okay, apparently said you know that might be part of your job, but I'm home and I'm alone and I don't like it I like being home alone for six weeks at a time, which six weeks is a long fucking time You know, even if you're in the NBA you come home every week or so, you know You're on the road for a week or two you come home you there. It's that's this is crazy weeks

I just heard about the longest vacation I've ever heard of and it was still shorter than her business trip. That's so long. Yeah, 35 days But it blew me away So I guess that he says the it ended on a good note When she agreed to cut back on her travel to save their marriage, okay So they're heading back down the mountain road just after midnight is after this They went up there to the scenic spot to have this deep conversation about their existence or whatever the fuck so very serious conversation now I'm gonna cut to sergeant Jim Beltran oh he's a retard so he's good we make a hard cut from a from a couple talking about their

marriage to detective sergeant Jim Beltran. He said, quote, I got a call at home. There was an accident off Mount Rose Highway. He said, in all my years, I've never seen anything like it. Now, Peter Bergna, they pull up, the police pull up to they respond to a 911 call from Peter and they pull up to find him clinging from the rocks hanging off the side of a cliff. Oh wow. That's how they find him. His Ford F-150 apparently had plunged through the guardrail and that is 800 feet down below.

And he kept his cell phone cling to a rock and called for help. Called. So two Nevada Highway Patrol troopers found the broken guardrail and noticed a baseball cap with incline written on it lying in the road. Yeah. OK, they noticed that. And they were like, oh, this must be the spot, I guess.

No guardrail and a hat. So he was hanging on the rocks, like we and as he's rescued he told the troopers, my wife was in the truck. You got to find my wife. She's 800 feet that way. Probably, yeah. Down there. So they end up using the helicopter spotlight and they find this mangled, destroyed wreck

of a truck. I mean this is, it plunged down a 800 foot ravine. It's fucking, it's bad. So they find that lying in the road, or lying down there, the mangled wreck, and inside is Renette, and she is absolutely deceased. Yeah, she is, injury's too numerous to even chronicle. I mean, it's insane.

She's crushed in there so It crashed through this this was at the East Bowl of the Mount Rose ski Tahoe Resort It is basically what he shot down into so apparently She was seatbelted into the passenger seat. Yeah, and it plunged Nose first landed on the side of slide mountain that's what this is by the way slide mountain and inclined village you knew what was going to happen in the story coming down yeah so get this the Ontario liberals elected Bonnie Cromby as their new leader

Bonnie who I just sent you her profile check out her place in the Hamptons fancy she's a big carbon tax supporter yeah oh yeah check out her record as the Hamptons. Huh. Fancy. She's a big carbon tax supporter, yeah? Oh, yeah. Check out her record as mayor. Oh, get out of here. She even increased taxes in this economy. Yeah. Higher taxes, carbon taxes. She sounds expensive. Bonnie Cromby and the Ontario Liberals. They just don't get it. That'll cost you. A message from the Ontario PC Party.

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It basically first landed on the side of slide mountain a hundred feet below the road and then tumbled another 700 feet after that. Wow. Yeah. So that thing was moving. Moving. That's terrifying. So they're asking Peter, what the hell happened?

How are you here? What's going on? And he said the truck's brakes failed and he was, he didn't have his seatbelt on because he was, and he had the window open. It was 60 degrees outside, but he had the window open because he was smoking a cigar. Okay. Just kind of like hanging out the window, smoking the cigar, not hanging out, but his arm out the window or whatever.

So yeah, he said that the brakes totally failed. They found him by the way, about 80 feet below the road. Whoa. Which is about 20 feet above the truck's initial impact point, because it fell 100 feet, then another 700. OK. So it's like a picture, like a little platform.

Picture it fall and fall, landing on that, not having enough to stay on it, and then tumbling all the whole rest of the way down. He said, yeah, the brakes failed, and I must have been ejected from the vehicle here out the window as it tumbled. He said, I started to brake and it wasn't braking. I know I hit the guardrail and the next thing I'd wake up I'm on the dirt and I don't see the car and I'm yelling for my wife.

So he said he found himself hanging onto the side of the mountain about 80 feet below the guardrail and there he pulled a cell phone from his pocket and called 911. Thank God for that. Wow, thank God for good pockets, man. Yeah, some loose pockets. Those are rough. Yeah, that too. So he said, my car rolled down the hill.

My wife is in the car is what he said on the 911 call. I'm sliding down the hill and I can't hang on He was told to listen and for the sirens stay on the line. You can hear him yelling Renette Renette he's yelling yelling so he said yeah, they said that the The cap belongs to him by the way the incline cap in case you're wondering the hat That's his hat now one of the people here a care flight nurse Phyllis Taha Who attended to Peter on the mountainside? Said later on that he kept saying my wife my wife my wife. I think she's dead She said but he didn't have any tears or anything. He was just saying it like she thought that was a little weird

Very strange. She said that quote. He said he was ejected. She asked him if he lost consciousness and he said no. Now he said on 9-1-1 that he did. He said he was out and he woke up on the side of a mountain. So that's very interesting. And the thing he was really concerned about, concerned about two things, Renette, obviously, and his fanny pack. He's very upset that he can't find his fanny pack.

Very upset. One of the cops there said, I found it kind of odd, first of all, somebody would be asking for a fanny pack when a very short distance away his deceased wife is down there. Get my wife and my fanny pack. Get my wife, if you can find her alive, great. If not, I do have a fanny pack with a couple these cigars are good Like they're not bad They're Cubans and I don't want to lose them

This cup said he never there was no emotion. It was like he was just kind of had a blank stare That's what he said. Then there's an ER nurse because he goes to the ER, you know, it's hurt a little ankle injury That's what's hurt on him Is that right? It's the only injury has a little his ankles a little sore twisted it This is not a good story Well, no, he didn't have it on that's my point Yeah, you can be a little ankle twist and keep your seat belt dead as fuck plunge down But you died with the car you went down the ship, I think is the point there,

is what you're trying to do. So this woman from the ER said that Peter didn't seem distressed or distraught when he arrived at the emergency room. She said that thereafter, she heard Bergen on the phone having a horrible, heart-wrenching, sobbing conversation. But when she turned around, she was

astonished because she he sounded so horrendous but had no expression on his face whatsoever. She said he was just totally kicked back and just kind of looking around the room, but having this like, Oh my God, but like just, you know, cool. Interesting. So another cop said about the guardrail, He said the hole ripped through the guard rail. He said it wasn't a scrape and punch through the guard rail. It was a T-bone.

Someone blasted through it. Hit it front first. They didn't scrape a little and then shoot off of it. So he said that was a little bit weird. Then the cop said that his wife was right there lying in a bag. He didn't say boo about his wife. He's more interested in what happened to his travel bag.

And they said, you know, also she was wearing her seatbelt. Her airbag had been disabled. You know, those trucks you can disable. Yeah, with the key, you put the key in and pick it off. Can't do that anymore. No, they used to do that for, what, if you had like a car seat in the front or some shit. Yeah, and then they just basically said,

if you put a car seat in the front and your kid loses his head, it's on you, not us. Yeah. That's, that's your problem. You're an idiot to put your kid up there. So he was found, the suspicions start when they figure out he was found wearing a winter jacket and gloves. And they're like, that seems excessive for 60 degrees. 60 degrees. Yeah. Sounds like someone who expected to be on the side of a mountain for a while while Right. They said just a fractured foot is Inconsistent with being ejected from a truck as it careens over the rocks didn't even have a concussion or anything Yeah fractured foot. They said he was clean except for his backside

Yeah, didn't even look like he rolled or tumbled or anything. So it on his ass. That's it Yeah, that's what they're thinking down the hill One of the detectives said when you get pitched out of a vehicle, you're dirty you tumble the injections I've seen dead or alive. You're dirty. You're gonna look like pig pen Yeah, you're gonna be tumbling a hundred percent. Yeah, you're gonna have whatever speed you're going your body's going that too And you gotta you're gonna be all fucked up. He said there was no scuff. no skid, no brake fluids, no debris, no tire marks of any kind. If you knew you were headed to the edge, you'd be stomping all over those brakes, it's reflex.

So they said it also didn't make sense that the driver would have turned right directly toward the guard rail on the banked curve of the road, even if the brakes failed. Yeah, you turn away from the curb and then turn that thing off. This is very much like that Hawaii episode that we did, except that the lady was all upset.

Remember that one where she did the same, she turned into the guard rail? This, by the way, if someone can fucking help me out with this, this exact story, someone did blow for blow in a TV show. And I thought it was Monk, the TV show Monk that did it. Because I remember the exact thing. I remember they showed up, there was a hat lying in the road.

The guy was down there, he said he was smoking a cigar. It was the exact thing. Exact thing, but I can't fucking place what show it was. I thought it was Monk, but now I don't think it is. If anybody can tell me, holy shit, that would help a a lot hit me up on Instagram or something. Let me know so by the way Later on the next week at her funeral people are asking him how her how his foot felt He said to somebody it wasn't hurt that bad, and I wish I had been hurt worse

Which I I guess that you know a guilt feeling somebody would have maybe survivors guilt Yeah, maybe so the morning after the crash. This is you know the next late morning here, they sit down with Peter at the police station and He gives them the rundown. He said yep. She was in Italy for about six weeks. I was excited about seeing her picked her up That we talked often bond the phone the whole time. She was in Italy for about six weeks. I was excited about seeing her picked her up That we talked often bond the phone the whole time. She was gone He said I left my incline high school booster club function around 9 p.m To give me myself plenty of time to get to the airport because I knew I had to stop at the a.m p.m. To fill up some plastic gas containers in

Anticipation of our trip to LA a few days later. Oh, they're gonna go to LA now. Or not LA, Vegas. So, but a few days later, but he needs them on the way to the airport. Right now. He said Delta Flight 803 got on the ground and was at the gate by 10.15. He gave his wife a big hug,

then drove up the Mount Rose Highway toward their inclined village home. He said that he turned off State Road 878, an access road that dead ends into the parking lot of the Slide Mountain side of the Mount Rose Ski Tahoe Resort. They said skiers and hang gliders use the short isolated scenic road to do their thing. They jump off the fucking mountain. He said it was one of our favorite spots. He said they had a lot to talk about catching up chit chatting He said we've been discussing the idea of me having problems with her being gone because I'm lonely

I like being with people and there's a real problem. He said I'm a lonely guy You know you have a great time and it might be part of your job But I'm home and I'm alone and I don't like it," he told them. That's what he was saying. And I said that the end of the conversation was pretty exciting for me because she said she would cut back on her travel and she'd be home with me. So he said it was him who suggested going down the road to a spot overlooking the lights of Reno.

A parking bay was on the right side of the road with a guardrail separating the pullover from the mountain slope. So he said, I started to break and it wasn't breaking. It wasn't stopping. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't stopping. And the next thing you know, I hit the guardrail and the next thing I'd wake up, I'm on the dirt and I don't see the car and I'm yelling for my wife and I don't know where she is. And that's all I remember what happened. That's it. He said, it just kept going, it wouldn't stop. He said, I started panicking and I'm breaking and I'm breaking and I'm pushing as hard as I can

and nothing's happening, nothing's happening. I just kept going, it wouldn't stop. Hit the fucking E-brake, you idiot, do something. E-brake, throw it neutral, there's a lot of things you can do. I'm putting it in fucking park. We'll leave the transmission back there, but we're stopping.

You know what I'm saying? It's fucking happening right now. Brace yourself, I'm throwing in fucking park. We'll leave the transmission back there, but we're stopping You know what I'm saying? It's fucking happening right now Brace yourself. I'm throwing it in park. Don't give a shit. It's better than flying off a mountain, right? Yeah, we'll worry about the truck later So he said he when I finally figured out where I was it was on the sand. I was sliding down the hill I'm trying the best I could looked up to see if I could see the truck see a fire see something yelling for her So he said I had my phone on me luckily so I called 9-1-1 He said it took them so long to get to me They said when they arrived by the way he was he had his head resting on his phone because they was listening Yeah, he said I can't move my legs, but I'm okay find my wife

listening. He said I can't move my legs but I'm okay, find my wife. So they do, 795 feet below and the cop said it was lying on what had been its roof with the nose of the vehicle pointing back up the hill and it was pretty crumpled up from the tumbles that it took down the hill. Upside down, laying on its cap. That's crazy man. Oh my. And backwards, upside down and backwards is not good aiming uphill. Yeah Yeah, I think that all fucked up. I have a picture of it too. Oh, it's yeah Disturbing so The cop said there was some grief when he told us I tried to stop I tried to stop but it was nothing more than words He looked like he was hyperventilating, but he wasn't

He spontaneously said I don't cheat on my wife Out of nowhere. Okay. What's the lady's name? The cop said, it was like ding, ding, ding. No one asked you that. Yeah. If you're ever in an interrogation,

don't answer questions that aren't asked of you, first of all. That's number one. Don't anticipate what's coming. Answer the questions as concisely as you can, try not to ramble, and don't give extra information, because that sounds terrible for you. It's not good.

That is fucking wild. He spontaneously said, I don't cheat on my wife. So they take a little tactic here where they're like, let's give this a shot. It's legal to lie to people and they do. Yeah. Okay. They said they told him that a caretaker on the mountain was nearby at the time of your alleged conversation.

And he came, he's come forward to it with us to tell us what he heard that night. Oh, he, he overheard. We got an over her. Oh, he overheard, he got a knee strapper. He overheard, he was hanging out nearby. He heard yelling, there's a lot of yelling you guys were doing, right? He heard you guys, he wasn't even right by you when he heard you, so what's up with that? I thought it was a nice conversation.

And the cop said, we just threw it out there. It set him back. We watched his micro emotions, his face, his hands. It all looked like somebody had slapped him. The cop said he was told about the caretaker. The police told him about a caretaker that may have heard. At that point, his story changed completely. Really?

Yeah, the cop said. That's all it took? That's all it took. The cop said that's when he started admitting it was loud, that he was boisterous and he swore. Oh, this is like someone saying I've never even been in that lady's apartment. Well, is there any reason why your fingerprints would be there?

Actually I was there for like three hours that one day and that's what this is. Someone down the block saw you walk in the door. Oh, that's right. I did do that. Yeah, I was just bringing her her amway though, you know, that's it. So they said that, yeah, he was boisterous and swore Then he said we worked out our 11 or 10 years worth of marriage problems in an hour So, you know, of course it got heated at times

But so the prosecutors are thinking hmm, so they have marriage troubles she's very much insured he's getting some money off of this and She's very much insured. He's getting some money off of this. And yeah, they don't know. They say the police think that he's angry because his wife quit her high paying job as a pharmacist locally where she was home at five o'clock every night

to become an overseas travel tour guide, a career that would keep her away for months at a time. So that's what they're thinking. They're thinking he was just mad at her and rather than get a divorce and have to split all this up, it's easier just to kill her. So they said when, when Burgena couldn't answer the questions, his head would tilt a little.

He said, like when your child says something that's not true, oh no, that's his dad too, because they brought his dad in. Oh. Because he said he wanted his dad with him. Oh. His dad's an attorney. Yeah, yeah. So he said he wanted his dad with him. Oh. His dad's an attorney. Yeah, yeah.

So he said whenever Bergen couldn't answer the questions, his dad's head would tilt a little bit, like when your child says something. Yeah. So he told police, the one thing I did not want to be is alone, and now I'm alone. And the other cop says he admits going up there with his wife, he admitted having a peaceful discussion with his wife about problems in their marriage,

and that's what we got. They said, how about a polygraph? Maybe you'll do a polygraph. He said, sure, what the hell? Line me up, absolutely. So they said he looked full of angst. They said that while you're doing this, they said you don't have to remember the truth

because it is. You have to remember the lie. So that's easy for people to tell the truth. The test was eventually ruled inconclusive, which happens with a lot of them. Yeah, kind of a mess person. A lot of times if they're on any kind of medication or if their emotions are all over the place, it comes out all messy. So they, with doing some physical tests after this, they concluded that the vehicle was turned toward the guardrail at an angle of 60 to 90 degrees in order to bust through

it like that, which is straight at it basically. They also said it was doubtful that a one-year-old truck's brakes would just not work at all. Yeah, it's a new truck. Brand new truck. So they're like, that's weird. Then they said there was two unsealed cans of gasoline in the back, maybe to try to make sure there was a fire. Oh, right, right. They were thinking that's possible. So, yeah, they drive, the investigators drive similar trucks along the same route

to see how they would handle the turn and try to figure out, if I'm here I'd have to do this. The guard rails were tested at different angles of impact to try to recreate the hole made at the crash scene as well. One of the most consequential pieces of evidence was an asphalt mark found on his sneaker and the location of his baseball cap. His baseball cap was on the road. Yeah. And if you're tossed out of the truck, the asphalt wouldn't touch you because you would be off the road before you get tossed out.

That's what they're saying. Yes. A veteran accident investigator and reconstructionist said, I don't feel he came out of that driver's window or any other window, period. In my opinion, he came out of that car sometime before it went through the guardrail and in my opinion, I would have to say he came out of that car voluntarily. He said, I don't believe that the brakes went out. So yeah, they said the investigators said it was first investigated as an accident. They said when this thing

happened, we didn't even get called the crime scene people. They said there was a lot of investigating officers and people involved who felt this was a traffic accident. But then later on, they called them all in, all these investigators and said, no. They said, you can start with no skid marks on the roadway. But that's why I said his brakes didn't work. So the fact that he wasn't killed or seriously injured is suspicious there as well. It's interesting here. So they said that about his dad, Peter's dad,

they said he had lived this career. He knew exactly what we were going through. He knew we wouldn't charge this case unless we could prove it. He knew we believed he did it. Talking about the dad. So the investigator said, quote, this thing smelled bad. Yeah. It's such an old timey,

I tell you it smelled to high heaven. I'll tell you this thing stinks. It stinks. I tell you stinks. He said, we just didn't think we were going to ever have enough evidence here. So they said that other things, just to run down the evidence here, damage to his clothing was minimal, not what someone would expect for someone who tumbled 80 feet down a mountain.

Right, so they think he positioned that truck to be dead on with the guardrail and then jumped and landed on his feet and slid on his ass or some shit? Yeah, like just slid his ass down the whole way. Okay. Is what they're thinking here. So they said that His airbag deployed but there were no signs of bag impact on his face So didn't get hit with it

very small amount of injuries Obviously, there's no bruises or scrapes indicating he'd been thrown through the driver's side window They did find scrapes on the top side of the canvas shoe he'd been wearing. That could indicate it's scraped across an asphalt road. The road at that point curves and is steeply banked, much as true at like at an auto racetrack. It's that kind of thing. It goes elevated.

The vehicle traveling on that road would turn in the, turn toward the mountain, not outward through the guardrail down the side, because it curves to the left, not to the right, where you shoot off the mountain. They said that it would have to be steered through the guardrail. They said the wreckage of the truck, it had 23,452 miles on it, was airlifted out by helicopter. They said they found no reason for the brakes to go out. It had dual brake systems, meaning if the front brakes failed, the rear brakes should hold and vice versa.

Oh, how about that? He's got two sets of two different master cylinders in this thing. Yeah. And then no evidence of brake tampering. His driver's side window was in the down position. He said because he was smoking a cigar, he told police he didn't wear a seatbelt ever. A switch in the truck allowed him to shut off the airbag on the passenger side. Because his wife was short, about five feet, he was concerned about an airbag injuring

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He was hip-hop's biggest mogul the man who redefined fame fortune and the music industry. Did he built an empire and live the life most people only dream about everybody no no party like a did he party so yeah. But just as quickly as his empire rose it came crashing down. They're announcing the unsealing of a 3 count indictment charging Sean combs with racketeering conspiracy

sex trafficking interstate transportation for prostitution I was. I have brought bottom I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace, from law and crime, this is the rise and fall of Diddy. Listen to the rise and fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery+.

Megan Stoner was a young, passionate Republican and a self-proclaimed advocate for mental health, but behind her public persona, lurked a master of deception. I'm Tiffany Reese, host of Something Was Wrong. In season 22, we're diving into the twisted world of a con artist who's been allegedly scamming and making false claims for over a decade. From the U.S. to Canada, Megan Stoner has left a trail of devastation for her victims.

But after a brief period of incarceration, she's now back out on the streets. And although she's free now, we're actively working with law enforcement to further justice for the victims of her alleged crimes. This isn't just another true crime story. It's a wake-up call about trust, deception, and the power of community to fight back. Follow Something Was Wrong on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Something Was Wrong Season 22 ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Sure, yeah.

You can say that. They also said that when a vehicle strikes an object, the occupant would be thrown toward the object. So at the angle of the truck at the guardrail, they would have expected Peter to be thrown toward the passenger side windshield, not out the driver's side door. The force would have taken him that way, not the other way. He also told police he was looking for a fire after the accident, but rarely does a vehicle actually explode or burn on impact.

That's just in movies because it looks awesome. It looks so cool. So they said, yeah, that's something seen in movies. They said, perhaps three months after the accident as well, Bergman told Rick Riella, one of Renette's brothers, that perhaps he'd been hitting the brakes, that perhaps he hadn't been hitting the brakes after all, maybe accidentally hit the gas.

Oh, yeah. Which, you would imagine, 30 years of driving experience would keep you from doing that but I guess not so The police tested the guardrail pie piling up to see what force it would take to dislodge it from the mountainside They did everything they also have a guy named an engineer a mechanical engineer named Robert H Turner He says that in his opinion, it's not possible that Bergner had been in the truck when it went over the cliff.

He said that if Bergner had been ejected from the truck, he would have had about the same velocity as the truck and would have probably landed the same place the truck landed. Right. He would have went with it, because you're in the car, you're now a person that can travel 50 miles miles an hour because you're in a buck.

You're all you're traveling that fast. You feel still right. Exactly. Yeah. The truck disappeared. If it just fucking dematerialized, you'd be going, that's it. So now they do all this investigation. This takes months. Yeah. And then it takes two years. Oh boy.

And in the meantime, he got a $450,000 life insurance payout from his wife's insurance and started traveling the world. He also received $275,000 for her share in the family ranch where she grew up. Wow. As well. He sold it to her brothers, her share. So this was outside Mantica, California,

which her parents owned and now the kids all own it. So he made business trips or just hanging out. He went to London, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, all over the place here. So then here they start trying to put something together, the prosecutors here. They drove down the hill at 30 miles an hour, sharply turned into the guard rail,

and they were trying to figure out maybe if that was what he did. So they said there was a mark on the top of his head as he jumped out he hit the button of his cap on the door jams. If you've ever hit that little button on top of your hat, god damn it does that hurt. Crush your goddamn skull. And that's how the hat came off. That's how the hat came off. They said there was asphalt on his shoe where he twisted his ankle. That meant he was out on the road roadway his cap was found on the edge of the road it didn't blow off his head and land 30 feet above him yeah how did that happen

so they the prosecution here the district attorney is trying to put this together they said after jumping to safety they think he slid down the slope on his butt found a branch to hang on to and started sobbing before making the 911 call. They said that her body suffered so much trauma the coroner could not note a specific cause of death. Oh Jesus. And they said it was impossible to determine if she was dead before the car crashed through the guardrail or not. They don't know. She was so fucked up. They said dead or unconscious we couldn couldn't prove anything She was so messed up from the tumbling She's flown from Italy into New York to Salt Lake City to Reno and you're gonna pull over to the side of the road to Talk about your marriage. She was tired and could have felt comfortable falling asleep. He just pulls up there and does his deed

They think she might have been asleep in the passenger seat. Oh my god. Which would make sense after that day of travel. Right. Yeah, I'd pass out too. Yeah, a lot of times you get somewhere and you feel like you want to sleep on the way home. I do it after the road all the time. I've flown home from Columbus and driving home from the airport, I'm like, I should have just got an Uber.

I am going to fall asleep on this freeway. I always get like an hour nap in on my ride home from the airport, always. So So they said we don't have any statements from the victim, we don't have any eye witnesses, we don't have anything. They decide though through all of this science that they're going to arrest Peter. Okay. They said that yeah they think he steered the truck through the guard rail, jumped out, hit his head on the driver's side doorway, knocked his baseball cap over, dragged his right foot and shoe on the pavement as he steered the truck toward disaster.

They think he was, like, had his foot out the door and jumped out that way. So they said that, yeah, each time we got a report, it indicated a couple more tests to do. That's what they said. They said there were more interviews and more interviews and not being in a rush to judgment, it's a serious matter. So they said they took their time. They said his motive is he wants a wife to stay home with and he wants a wife will have

children with him. He takes her up on a cliff to argue with her about the marriage and he elects to kill her. So they do. At the same time, her brothers here, Richard and John and James, are suing Peter in Washoe County or Washoe District Court a wrongful death suit, claiming that he intentionally and deliberately caused the vehicle to leave the road and go off the mountainside for the purpose of causing injury and or death to his wife. And so, yeah, they cast him as a capable person for the felonious and

intentional death of their sister okay they want all the insurance money back they want all that shit back so 2001 they take him to trial been three years almost here so the they they one witness here who's known Peter about 10 years. He is name is, her name is Joan Dunkley, told the court here that she was a volunteer bartender at the function and that he started talking a lot about personal things that he'd never talked about before that night.

Oh. She said he was saying his wife was not at the function because she was on a trip to Europe as a guide, but she'd be coming home in a few days. He was really anxious to have his wife come home. All he really wanted was a wife and children. He wanted a wife who would stay home, be around, and he wanted to have kids. He had a similar conversation with two other women at the party.

Just going around complaining that my wife doesn't want to have kids with me, and she just goes off Gallivan. Is he trying to cheat on her tonight? Because if so, this is the wrong conversation to have to entice someone to come home with. I really want to love my wife and sit next to her on the couch. You want to fuck me? It's weird. It's very weird. So shortly before all this here, he also called a bank employee. He'd met through a professional appraisal function and asked her out as well. So he's been looking around. This woman, Janet Mello is

her name. She said he asked me if I'd be interested in going to see a movie with him on Friday night. I thought it was strange. I didn't understand it. I didn't like it. I said no. I knew he was married. Yeah. So I don't really, I don't blame her for saying that. That seems crazy. She said that another woman who worked at the bank, the trust officer for Seattle Bank, said that she met him at a social function. This woman he ends up being engaged to after his wife dies. Oh. Robin Russell. And they were scheduled to wed, and now he's having a murder trial instead.

Yeah. She said that she didn't think it was unusual for people associated with bank trust departments to be invited out by people in Peter Bergna's line of work. She said that was normal. The girl took it all wrong, is what she said. She said that, you know, I met him at a social function. She said it's not unusual for people working in those areas to be invited to concerts,

movies, the theater, lunches, dinners, whether they're married or not. Sounds like a fucking horny nice industry they got going on there. She said this is co-owner of the Christmas tree restaurant on Mount Rose Highway said Peter and Renette were getting a divorce She was through with him. This is a friend of Renette's So on her side, um, she said she knew Renette through the American Association of University Women And she said that they talked on the phone all the time and all that kind of thing. So there you go Um, she said she was buying things and

talking about her trip. She was very excited about her trip. She's delightful. She was charming. She seemed like a very bright lady. So they bring in that they bring in all the physical evidence we talked about and the jury comes back hung jury mistrial Three jurors chose nine to three in favor of conviction Three jurors held out one did not like policemen at all This is a quote from the prosecutor one did not like policemen at all one didn't like the evidence and one said it should be in God's hands. Oh for fuck's sake. That's you're missing the whole point of everything sir or ma'am that So now they're gonna try him again, but he gets bail he gets released from custody on bail in between the two murder trials Yeah, he gets they talk them into that

So I don't know friends of his he's trying to get all of people on his side friends of his said he had a Great marriage one of his friends Gary Espinoza said said he had a great marriage. One of his friends, Gary Espinoza, said, it was just a beautiful marriage. This is just ridiculous. So June 2002, trial number two. Fuck. Here we go. Now the first time, they mainly said

his main motivation was financial. So he had financial gain. But they kind of had that shot down a little bit because not only is he financially secure He's also in line to inherit because his dad died during the first trial He's in in line his mother says to inherit his her six million dollar estate as well And this house is paid off and he's very old and he lives in a pay She's very old and he lives in a paid off house. So money isn't really a big motivator here

tough sell to people on a jury. Monetarily, this isn't changing his lifestyle, basically. Right. So this trial now, now it's a little bit different here. They bring in a neighbor of theirs who testifies to seeing Peter aim a snowblower with full force at Ronette a few months before she left for Italy.

She said that one day she watched Renette bringing baggage to her car and that Peter Bergner tracked her down with the snowblower and aimed it at her as she and shot it at her at close range and followed her, blowing snow on her as she walked from the front of the house to the car and aimed it into the car as she opened the door. That is the funniest domestic abuse I've ever heard in my life. Domestic violence, never funny, that one's kind of funny.

If it was a joke, it'd be hilarious. Yeah, but even if it's aggressive, it's pretty funny. It's just weird. It's snow. It's a strange fucking thing. But that snow comes out fast out of those snow blowers. That shit can hurt. Oh God, it can knock you over.

That's what I mean. It's a little much, but they said that Renette looked extremely upset and fearful. Yeah, she's trying to get in the car covered in snow. He's drowning her with the salt. So the neighbor said that she continued watching because she wondered if the situation would escalate and she might have to call 911 to help. They heard from multiple women, the jury does,

who testified that Burgna was hitting on them in the weeks leading up to his wife's death, including the night before she flew back from Europe. Six weeks after the tragedy, leading up to his wife's death, including the night before she flew back from Europe. Six weeks after the tragedy, Burgna invited a woman to his hot tub. She said that he showed no sadness about his wife's death and that he snapped after she rejected him and he grabbed her breast. And grabbed a titty.

Want to come to my hot tub? No I don't. Fuck you and grab a tit? This guy is weird. Between this and the snow blower he just has real weird reactions to shit. They heard from his first wife, who's been married before, who said she feared for her life while married to him. She described that he went absolutely berserk and screamed at her after she made hash browns

incorrectly. Oh, she, oh, he's a real petty fucker. Wow. Just burn them and they're correct. They're hard to fuck up. It's a hash brown. This guy's a little crazy. I mean, if you burn them, they're better.

Yeah. That's what I mean. Just burn them and they're good. That's all you have to do to them. This guy's a picky asshole. This is Rebecca Tillery, his first wife. She said that he portrayed himself to friends and family as outgoing, gregarious and a really nice guy and that privately he was extremely volatile and angry toward her. She said that she constantly walked on eggshells around

her husband and lived in fear. She said that money was pretty much everything to him and that she felt he gained his self-worth through money. Hmm. Well, I mean, yeah, that's not hard to do there. That's most people, too. Yeah. Then they get a cellmate in here, Darrell Corsi. He testified that he and Peter had been housed at the Wausau County Jail and were in a Bible study group together. He testifies that Peter told him he had killed his wife because of financial issues and because she did not want to have children. There's alternating things whether she didn't want to have kids or couldn't

have kids. So we're not sure which it is. Well if you can't have kids you can still have kids. And he knows that so maybe she didn't want kids. So he testifies also that Peter told him that Renette was unconscious when he drove the truck off the road and that he had jumped out the window. He said that Peter told him that he did not think he would be convicted because he had a really good attorney. Next up they bring in an expert Dewey, who does not sound like an expert in anything except maybe had a tap a keg, possibly. That's it. So, one of the two.

So he's the equipment mechanic fleet supervisor for the Nevada Highway Patrol. He said part of his job is to inspect fatal vehicular crashes and then he inspected about 230 fatal vehicular crashes in six years. He inspected the truck including brakes, tires, suspension and steering and stated he found no unusual mechanical failure whatsoever. The seatbelt on the passenger side had been cut to get Renette out of the car. The passenger side airbag was turned off and the driver's side seatbelt was intact and

fully retracted. It was not in use at the time of the incident, which he said he didn't have a seatbelt on. The windows on both sides were broken. The driver's side window regulator indicated the window was down and the passenger side window regulator indicated that that window was up. The emergency brake was not engaged. They said no trail of brake fluid found on the roadway, no other evidence of an actual rupture of the complete brake hydraulic system was found. He testified that any tests conducted on the vehicle

three or four years later, like now, would be problematic because any car sitting in storage for two years or more would suffer dry rot of the rubber components of the braking system. For sure, yeah. So he testified also that he did not attempt to measure the amount of brake fluid that was in the brake system when he performed his inspection. He testified he was unable to ascertain whether the left rear drum brake worked because it

was gone, but that the condition of the right rear drum brake shoes was good. He also said he visually inspected the master cylinder and vacuum booster but conducted no other testing on them. He said he did not conduct further tests because there was no recall notice from Ford Motor Company for the braking system and because this particular truck had not had brake problems prior to this crash. Ever. Ever.

The defense arguments include here detailing physics here. They try to detail physics to show how Burgna could have been thrown clean through the driver's window as the truck tumbled. And they also introduced evidence that there were 1997 Ford F-150 trucks that had known brake issues. That was a thing, a known thing. They also questioned why would a 45 year old man choose this method of murder which would

be so dangerous to him. Suppose he fucked it up at all, he'd be dead. They said betting the guard rail would break and that he could jump from the vehicle and do it all in pitch darkness. They said apparently Mr. Burgna has better vision than someone with 2010 wearing a night vision helmet, better reflexes than a cat and is more psychic than John Edward or Sylvia Brown which is possible because I think anyone listening right now, you're probably more psychic than those fucking hacks charlatans fucking full of shit assholes

So they also the defense also questioned why their client being horny was relevant to his urge to kill So what if he's horny? Literally they said that. So what if he's horny? Oh that's so horny. What's the difference? That doesn't mean he's a murderer. They bring in a friend here. One of the guys here said that Peter took a long time to come out of this. They said it took a lot of spirit out of Pete. And he also, this friend said he believed the hot tub incident never happened. Oh, it didn't happen at all. Didn't happen.

He said it was common for Bergman and other male appraisers to socialize with potential business contacts, including single women. They said it's probably one of the most important things for any appraiser. Yeah. These bank people, because then they need ref, they can refer people to him that need this service, I guess is what it is. So, uh, he said that they did have some disagreements about travel schedule, but he said, by God, they were going to work that out. Okay. Wow. Another witness testified that Peter was grief, grief, grief stricken after his wife's death. They said inside he was devastated.

His mother testifies here. She said that she was her son was in shock, near shock at the funeral of his wife. And she said that he's not angry with his wife all the time. She never saw them fight during multiple vacations abroad and other outings. She said they always wanted to do everything and see everything. And yeah, she said that I was very close to her net. She was a bundle of energy. It was such a hard time for everyone after she died. And by the way, he stands to inherit part of her $6 million estate. So he's shouldn't be real worried about money. Prosecution closing they said that Bergnick cared as much about the person he sent over

the cliff as he did about his truck. Both are replaceable. So after this prosecutor who's a female prosecutor finishes her closing argument he loudly calls her a bitch which is not great for your case at all and the detective watching it said you couldn't have stabbed yourself harder than doing that that was dumb it's a verdict the verdict comes in it's a jury of eight women and four men you really fucked this one up man. And he is found guilty of first degree murder this time. Wow. Guilty. Absolutely. Mother held her hands there, head in her hands, all

sad. Sentencing comes around. You, sir, may fuck off 20 years to life. Okay. No parole for 20 years. Got him. Got got him apparently so the prosecutor said that uh Said that he's only out for himself Prosecutors said pompous is a good word after deliberating how to describe him He was very smug throughout the whole thing. I think he thought some expensive attorneys could get him off Justice was a long time coming but we got there in the end They said he was just one of approximately 4 000 convicted convicted felons will be sentenced in Washoe County this year. All the glamour is gone now. Burgener created the glamour. To us he was

always the same as every other defendant. And the defense said this they he was turned into a celebrity target by the prosecutors and... Oh come on. Fuck off. So I think that one of the things that endangered or engendered so much zealousness was the thought of who Peter Bergna was. It was almost a joke with the defense. His first name was no longer Peter. It was wealthy art appraiser. I've met dozens and dozens of professional prosecutors and talking about the one of the prosecutors he is probably the least professional I've ever met. My sense of things is he had whipped up

the public fervor over this case. Wow. Peter said that the media portrayed him as being guilty, guilty, guilty, and that the public, quote, hates people with money. I mean. That's why every famous person's super rich. Oh, they do, they hate people with money

That's true, but they hate you fail, but they also they hate me like crazy They hate people they don't particularly agree with about things that have money if they like the person who thought they stand for they love That they make well, that's the thing it depends suck their cock harder. No, it's wild. It could be it's it's there It's how they say they're right about everything. Well, he's super rich. How could he be dumb? Real easy. So he's great. Yeah. It's lots of people are rich and dumb. It happens. So they said that, uh, will there be appeals? The prosecutor said right now the way this case stands, there should be no issues,

but Hey, you never know. Basically. Um, so the appeals do come in and there's he appeals a bunch of times. One says that he could have that he would have to have been suicidal or schizophrenic to pull off such a stunt that he was neither. Which I don't know how you'd get like legally prove that here. They said the state's theory is that Peter could or murder his wife by staging a vehicle accident which by design placed him in mortal danger is weird. So they said the prosecution's theory was quote weird.

That's how they dealt with it. It's happened a million times. Yeah, right. They also said that he was wearing sneakers, blue jeans and a windbreaker, not an astronaut jumpsuit worn by stunt car drivers just because he wasn't dressed like evil Knievel doesn't mean that he didn't do it Yeah, you love to stunt leathers at home. This couldn't have done it. Couldn't have done it. The theory that this design stage accident featured him driving his truck straight into a guard rail and pitch darkness on a steep pitched mountain road is even weirder. A person who would do that would have to either be suicidally depressed or schizophrenic.

They also claim that the guardrail was missing eight or nine bolts and that's why it failed too. They said, get the fuck back to prison, stupid. Go praise the fine art that people were doing poop on the walls. It's going to be excellent. Tell us what those are worth. Go praise Gacy's work. There you go.

He is next up for parole in 2025 this year. Oh. He is up for parole. Oh. He's had one or two already and now he's got another one coming up in 2025 and he thinks he might get out this time. It's possible, yeah. Keep an eye out everybody.

So there you go. Oh my God. Peter Bergnar, Renette Bergner crazy-ass fucking story Someone tell me where that came from on TV by the way, please someone tell me what show that was on because it's driving me fucking bananas Number one and I got no I got no I got no remorse for him being at the first sure did it, right? Yeah, he did for sale. That's crazy. Yeah, he didn't fall out Especially the episode of whatever I saw it on. He seemed really guilty in that one.

So I'm gonna go with yes. I don't know. Head over to shutupandgivememurder.com. February 7th in Pittsburgh, February 8th in Columbus. Get your tickets right now for the whole rest of the year. Those ones at the end of the year are selling fast. Seattle, Portland, DC, Philly. Get those right fucking now.

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