yeah, i did. but, she always believed he was guilty. in 2000, eric went on trial, the star witness, tina new. a witness who was compromised. not because of her waffling about his guilt and her checkered past, but the detail in the story eric told her. something john barnett said is critical. you expect if her head was caved in by 35 pound dumbbells, there would be blood. quite a lot of it. everywhere. and there wasn t. on the stand, tina tried to defend herself. i m a horrible witness when it comes to looking at me on pab. did you think anybody would believe you? no. i told exactly what he said to me and i knew i was doing the right thing. i honestly didn t care what anybody thought.
there was a lot of animosity towards me. i understood why. all they saw was this hot young woman who had been brought in to replace their missing daughter. right. exactly three months to the day. i can t even imagine what they were thinking. pegye s family wasn t alone. detective sean murphy had also noticed the new woman in eric bechler s life. she was just a hot number as they say. and she was cohabitating with him right after this horrible boating accident with his wife. so murphy arranged to bump into tina. i said, hey, if you have any information about this boating accident involving eric, your boyfriend, just give us a call. and i gave her my card, with my number on it. nothing came of it. tina didn t call. but someone else did. coming up, the best friend has second thoughts and goes under cover. proi tected you. i basically made you look like a saint.
police planted microphones in her car, in her purse, and on her body. and tina arranged a meeting. she told eric that after the domestic violence call, sheriff s homicide detectives came in to ask questions about eric. this dinner date, tina told eric, was to get their story straight in case the cops questioned her again. tina wired up, picked up eric from his home and drove to a restaurant called el torido. i was worried i wouldn t get him to confess again. i have two stories in my head. i don t want to screw up at all. there s no story to tell. you weren t there. it was an accident. once inside the restaurant, tina tried to get eric to repeat the details of pegye s death. eric wouldn t go there. details are not important. so tina tried to get him to say why he did it? why would you go to that
the tv show baywatch nights. but that turned out to be the peak of her career. soon tina found herself slipping into the darker side of showbiz. she started doing drugs, and lost custody of her two young children because of it. and fell for a succession of guys who did not treat her kindly. i had an ex-boyfriend put a gun to my head, play russian roulette between me and him. i was held over the balcony by my neck. tina who was broke and near rock bottom was desperate. i got down on my knees, literally begging, and i said, i ll do whatever you want, lord, just help me. i can t do this anything. just show me a sign. the universe sent you eric bechler. the next day i meet him. and all my problems are gone. she had taken a modeling gig, eye candy at a trade show. eric was there promoting his new business. it was three months to the day since pegye had disappeared. i just thought he was really handsome. there was some serious chemistry from the beginning.
death? no, i do not think that. you think she died accidentally and her body hasn t been found? right. they argue peggy s death was eric s doing. he had 3 million reasons to kill her. and, the circumstantial evidence was compelling. he had a weight tree that appeared to be incomplete. they believed he used the missing weights to kill peggy, then sink her body. what about the blood? a test indicated there might have been a lot of blood in the boat, but it was cleaned up, matching tina s testimony about blood everywhere. of course, there was tina, herself. despite her past and criminal record and drug use, she rang true to you? yes. absolutely. who would the jury believe and would tina s past make a