Millionaire Ex-Fugitive Denied Bail Over Wife's Killing

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — It has been four years and one elaborate podcast story since Peter Chadwick, multimillionaire on the lam, has set foot in Orange County. Chadwick, accused of murdering his wife inside their Newport Beach home and dumping her body in San Diego County, was denied bail on Wednesday by Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Zelter.

This week, the Newport Beach Police and the U.S. Marshals announced that the thousands of tips generated by a $100,000 reward ended with a lead that resulted in the arrest.

Chadwick, 55, was located and captured Sunday, near Pueblo, Mexico in a community of "American expatriates," according to police.

"We had leads that looked promising. Only one panned out," Newport Beach police Chief Jon Lewis said at a news conference Tuesday.

According to David Singer, the U.S. Marshal for the Central District of California, Chadwick had "numerous" fake I.D.s on him when arrested.

According to officials, Chadwick left a trail of breadcrumbs indicating he fled to Canada to throw investigators off course.

"(A fugitive has) to keep moving," he said. "You feel the heat, always looking over your shoulder and having to outdo who you think is following you. That's when you make mistakes."

Chadwick initially used a vast sum of money he took with him in his flight to stay at "high-end" resorts and hotels, according to Lewis. At some point, hotel clerks began asking for passports and other identification.

Feeling the pressure from authorities, he was forced to adjust his penchant for luxury, according to Singer. Next, he stayed in more modest inns and hostels until his ultimate capture.

He used multiple aliases while on the run, including Paul Cook, Paul Craig, and John Franklin.

According to Lewis, Chadwick never intended to return from Mexico to raise his three boys.

Singer alleged that Chadwick received "assistance" from family members.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is still considering whether any aiding or abetting charges could be filed.

Chadwick was placed on the U.S. Marshals Service's 15 Most Wanted fugitive list in September 2018. He now faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison if convicted of his wife's murder.

“We apprehended a fugitive on Americas most wanted list…..but let’s not forget there’s a victim, a lovely lady married for 21 years with three kids who was murdered by her husband, who then mercilessly wrapped her up in a blanket and discarded her body in a dumpster,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “It is now our job as prosecutors to tell her real life story. To make her come alive. And to explain the legacy of what she left behind.”

The Podcast That Led To Arrest
Chadwick's wife, 46-year-old wife, Quee Choo Lim Chadwick, was known as Q.C. to her friends and family.

He is suspected of murdering her in their Newport Beach home over a dispute regarding a possible divorce and related financial issues.

Neither Chadwick nor his wife arrived to pick up their sons, then 8, 10 and 14 years old, from school that afternoon. Another parent drove the children home and then requested that Newport Beach police conduct a welfare check when the Chadwicks could not be found. A subsequent search of the home revealed blood and signs of a struggle inside, according to police.

Over the next 24 hours, Chadwick drove to San Diego and called police. He told them that a handyman killed his wife and then kidnapped him and forced him to drive to Mexico to dump her body, according to authorities.

San Diego police arrested Chadwick four miles north of the Mexico border that day. Upon his booking, they noticed he had "scratches on his neck and dried blood on his hands," the Marshals Service said.

Chadwick allegedly admitted to investigators that he made up the story about the handyman being the culprit. After questioning him, detectives found the victim's body in a gas station trash bin in San Diego County.

Upon his release on Dec. 21, 2012, after posting $1 million bail, he surrendered his British and American passports and agreed to live with his father in Santa Barbara, according to a federal arrest warrant.

Weeks later, Chadwick skipped a January 2015 court date. Newport Beach detectives arrived at his father's home and were told Chadwick was not living there.
No one knew where he was, according to the Marshals Service.

Later, Chadwick's family told investigators that Chadwick left for Seattle in a taxi.
Reports say Chadwick called a cab at 11 a.m. on Jan. 9, 2015, and was taken to the Santa Barbara airport. Video footage showed him leaving the airport in a different cab six hours later wearing different clothing, according to the Marshals Service. His cellphone was turned off the same day and was later found in a trash dump.

Bank records showed he withdrew $600,000 from an account in mid- January 2015, according to the Marshals Service.

In February 2015, one of his three sons told investigators that Chadwick had been planning his flight since Nov. 28, 2014.

The son stated Chadwick had a "large sum of money at his disposal and would establish himself in a foreign country by obtaining a place to live and getting a menial job," the federal arrest warrant affidavit stated.

Chadwick's attorney, Robert M. Sanger, has reserved the right to make a motion for bail "if circumstances change."