Aug. 7 (UPI) — Police in California arrested a millionaire who spent four years on the run after being suspected of killing his wife in 2012.
Peter Chadwick, 54, was arrested in Mexico on Sunday and taken into custody in Los Angeles after posting $1 million bail and failing to appear for a court hearing in January 2015 on a felony count of murder in the death of his wife, Quee Choo “Q.C.” Chadwick, the Orange County district attorney announced.
“We believe that Peter Chadwick has been in Mexico since his disappearance. He traveled the country, never taking up a steady residence,” Newport Beach police Chief Jon Lewis said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Chadwick had been on the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted fugitives list since 2018, with a $100,000 award for his arrest.
Lewis said police received a tip that led law enforcement to Chadwick’s location outside of Puebla, Mexico.
Chadwick was initially arrested in 2012 while apparently trying to enter Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego on allegations that he killed his wife “over a dispute regarding a possible divorce and related financial issues.”
Newport police began searching Chadwick’s home after neither he nor his wife showed up to pick up their children from school. Officers found blood and signs of a struggle.
Chadwick contacted police to say that his wife was killed by a handyman and her body was later found in a dumpster in San Diego.
Chadwick faces a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted on the felony murder charge.
