The body of the missing wife of a real estate mogul wanted for murder has been positively identified after being discovered in a trash dumpster in east San Diego County.
The body of Quee Chadwick, 46, wife of Orange County real estate mogul Peter Gregory Chadwick, was positively identified Friday afternoon by the San Diego County coroner following an autopsy, KABC-TV reports.
The cause of death has not yet been determined.
Newport Beach police detectives made the discovery on Thursday afternoon after receiving a tip that a body was inside a dumpster in Lakeside, Calif., a suburb of San Diego.
Police charged Chadwick's husband, Peter Gregory Chadwick, 48, with a single felony count of murder for financial gain. He pleaded not guilty.
Chadwick was arrested last week in San Diego County at the U.S.-Mexico border, after he reportedly left his upscale home in Newport Beach the previous day. Authorities said Quee Chadwick disappeared around the same time.
The suspect told police another man killed his wife and forced him to load the body into a truck and then drive his own vehicle toward the Mexican border, a source close to the investigation told the Daily Pilot newspaper.
Another source threw water on that alibi, telling the Los Angeles Times that no one else was seen in his car. A CHP officer had even tailed his car at one point.
Yulianna Nikulina, a neighbor of the couple, told reporters she was at home on the day of the alleged murder and didn't hear anything. But, she said that earlier in the week, she had heard a woman's scream coming from the Chadwick home.
"It appears that the relationship had been on the rocks for a period of time," prosecutor Matt Murphy told KABC-TV. Officials suspect Chadwick killed his wife over a dispute about financial issues and a possible divorce.
For background on the story, view the report by KABC-TV featured above.
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