Newport Beach Fugitive Peter Chadwick, Suspected In Wife's 2012 Murder, Captured In Mexico
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A Newport Beach man suspected of killing his wife back in 2012 has been captured in Mexico after being on the run for more than four years.
The 55-year-old Chadwick, a multimillionaire real estate investor, was apprehended in Mexico and brought to Los Angeles Monday morning, law enforcement sources told CBS2.
CBS News cameras caught footage of him being escorted by authorities after being flown to L.A. International Airport and then driven to Newport Beach Police Department headquarters.
He is accused of killing his wife of 21 years, 46-year-old Quee Chadwick, on Oct. 10, 2012, following an argument, and then dumping her body in a dumpster in rural San Diego County.
He was arrested after calling police near the U.S.-Mexico border the following day. Her body was not discovered until about eight days after the murder, on Oct. 18, 2012.
However, Chadwick was charged with her murder before her body was even found because Newport Beach police detectives found injuries on his body showing signs that he had been involved in a fight. Investigators found blood and signs of a struggle inside the couples' upscale home.
Chadwick and his wife had been discussing the possibility of divorce at the time of her murder, officials said. Police were alerted to her disappearance after she failed to pick her three children up from school.
While awaiting trial, Chadwick was released on $1.5 million bail and ordered to live with his father in Santa Barbara. However, in January 2015, he withdrew millions of dollars from his bank accounts and disappeared. Since that time, he has been on the US Marshals 15 Most Wanted list.
Chadwick has pleaded not guilty to murder charges and claims his wife was kidnapped and killed by a house painter, according to the US Marshals Office.
"Peter Chadwick needs to answer for what he's done, it's time," Karen Thorp, a longtime friend and former neighbor of Quee, told CBSLA Monday. "It's just absolutely wrong that he got away with this for so long...Sometimes people are never caught and Peter Chadwick is now having to come to terms with what he did. It's a blessing for QC, her family and the rest of us who really care. I want him to get justice and I believe justice is for him to serve the rest of his life in prison."