beautiful girl, good-looking guy, drive nice cars, beautiful children. reporter: until that summer day in 1997 when the unimaginable happened. male, kind of distraught, said that his wife fell overboard. reporter: it was a boating accident, said eric, and the coast guard agreed. something they see all too often. but soon, secrets emerged that would make some people wonder. what really happened to pegye bechler? coming up i absolutely thought they would find her. reporter: maybe alive? i did. she was a fabulous swimmer. where was pegye? and what had gone wrong on that boat? he had been crying and his face was red. he looked upset. there would be a sea of questions to come. reporter: you thought what? pegye faked her death? when dateline extra continues. made historyhen itold r a recoco pce ost under $3million.