Newport Beach Multimillionaire Pleads Guilty In Wife's Murder

SANTA ANA, CA — A multimillionaire who became a fugitive when he fled to Mexico after being charged in the 2012 murder of his wife at their Newport Beach house pleaded guilty Wednesday to the killing.

Peter Chadwick, 57, pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana. Judge Kimberly Menninger immediately sentenced Chadwick to 15 years to life in prison.

As part of his plea deal, Chadwick waived any credits he accumulated in custody, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said.

"I just want to express that I am truly sorry," Chadwick said in court. "I destroyed everything ... so I deserve whatever the court decides."

Chadwick will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being considered for parole, the district attorney's office said.

Chadwick admitted that he killed his wife, Quee Choo Chadwick, on the morning of Oct. 10, 2012, after the couple argued about financial problems and possibly divorcing, prosecutors said.

Officers with the Newport Beach Police Department conducted a welfare check on the Chadwicks' house after two of the couple's three sons were not picked up from school. Police found blood inside the home and signs of a struggle, the district attorney's office said.

Chadwick later called the San Diego Police Department, claiming a handyman killed his wife and forced him to drive to Mexico to dump her body, prosecutors said.

San Diego police later arrested Chadwick near the United States-Mexico border, and officers noticed he had scratches on his neck and dried blood on his hands, according to authorities.

Chadwick later led police to a dumpster in San Diego where Quee Choo Chadwick's body was found wrapped in a blanket, authorities said.

Chadwick told investigators he lied about a handyman killing his wife, prosecutors said.

He was released from jail on Dec. 21, 2012, after posting $1 million bail and agreeing to live with his father in Santa Barbara for the duration of his trial, prosecutors said.

Chadwick was still out on bail when he failed to show up for a pretrial hearing in January 2015.

Detectives went to Santa Barbara and found "strategically placed indicators" around Chadwick's father's house that suggested he was planning to flee the country, the district attorney's office said. The indicators included a book about living in Canada and receipts from the Seattle area.

Chadwick was subsequently placed on the U.S. Marshals Service's list of the 15 most-wanted fugitives in the country.

Police later discovered that family friends helped Chadwick escape to Mexico.

Mexican immigration authorities were able to track him outside the city of Puebla on Aug. 4, 2019, and he was arrested, prosecutors said.

"It took years of painstaking police work to track down this defendant in order to hold him accountable for the murder of his wife and the mother of his three sons," District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.

Patch Editor Ashely Ludwig and City News Service contributed to this report.