Millionaire fugitive Peter Chadwick sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to killing his wife

Millionaire fugitive Peter Chadwick, who spent four years evading U.S authorities, has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to killing his wife in 2012.

British-born Chadwick, 57, strangled and drowned his 46-year-old wife Quee Choo Chadwick in the bathroom of their Newport Beach ocean-view home in California on October 10, 2012 before dumping her body in a dumpster in San Diego, prosecutors said.

For over four years, Chadwick was hunted by the police after he fled the US while free on a $1.5 million bond on suspicion of his wife’s murder.

U.S. authorities, working closely with Mexican police, eventually found the international fugitive in 2019 in Puebla, near Mexico City and arrested him. 

When Chadwick was searched, it emerged that the wealthy real-estate investor had posed as a spy and a bogus ID card from the Marvel TV show Agents of Shield while on the run.

Now, nearly 10 years after Quee’s murder, Chadwick has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder under a plea agreement on Wednesday and was immediately  sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.  

Chadwick, who was facing a first-degree murder charge but accepted a plea deal on a lesser count, tearfully told an Orange County judge that he was sorry for killing Quee, calling her a loving and caring person, the Orange County Register reported. 

‘I wish I could take it back,’ Chadwick said. ‘I compounded that by running away from it. I destroyed everything, so I deserve whatever the court decides.’

‘She was a great person,’ Chadwick added. ‘So loving. She cared for everyone.’ 

As part of his plea deal, Chadwick was not allowed to take any time off his prison sentence for time he has already served in county prison whilst awaiting trial.  

Chadwick strangled his wife, who was originally from Malaysia, on October 10, 2012 at their Newport Beach home during an argument over a possible divorce and financial issues, prosecutors said.

That afternoon, two of the couple’s three sons were found abandoned at a school bus stop after their parents failed to pick them up from school. 

Another parent drove the children home and then requested a welfare check from the Newport Beach Police Department when neither Chadwick or Quee could be found.   

As a result, police went to the home to check on the Chadwicks and officers found blood stains in a bathtub and signs of a struggle in the master bedroom, including broken glass and a bloody towel, authorities said.  

Chadwick surfaced the next day and called San Diego police to tell him he was near the Mexican border. He was picked up that day in San Ysidro.

He initially claimed that a handyman killed his wife and then forced him to drive to Mexico to dispose of her body but officers were suspicious after they saw scratches on Chadwick’s neck and dried blood on his hands, according to court filings.  

Chadwick later led Newport Beach investigators to her body, which was found wrapped in a blanket and thrown in a dumpster in the San Diego suburb of Lakeside. He then admitted that his story about a handyman killing his wise was made up and was arrested and charged with Quee’s murder. 

While awaiting trial for murder, Chadwick was released on a $1.5 million bond, gave up his American and British passports and agreed to live with his father, a wealthy investor, in Santa Barbara on December 21, 2012 

But Chadwick vanished before he was supposed to appear at a pre-trial hearing on January 5, 2015. When police went to the home in Santa Barbara, family members told officers they did not know where Chadwick was. 

But when officers returned a month later, Chadwick’s father allegedly said he had left for Seattle.   

Chadwick became an international fugitive and was placed on a U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 most-wanted list and a $100,000 reward was offered for his capture. 

US authorities searched for Chadwick across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. 

Prosecutors said Chadwick had ‘strategically placed indicators’ such as receipts from the Seattle area and literature about living in Canada in his father’s home.    

Authorities learned that Chadwick was receiving assistance from people close to his family, and the investigation led to Mexico, where he was detained by Mexican immigration authorities on August 4, 2019 near Puebla, Mexico.

‘Three young boys lost their entire reality the day their mother was murdered by their father,’ said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer after Chadwick was sentenced for Quee’s murder. 

‘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. 

‘In making the decision to accept a guilty plea, we carefully considered the wishes of Q.C.’s family, especially her sons who have already suffered the loss not only of their mother but also of their father at such a young age. 

We are forever grateful for the partnership of the Newport Beach Police Department, the U.S. Marshals, and the Mexican authorities in capturing this killer and helping us ensure justice is done for Q.C.’ 

Quee’s brother and sister said in written statements read to the court described her as a ‘chatty, inquisitive and compassionate’ woman who was devoted to her family.

‘It is incomprehensible how anyone could do such a thing to another human, let alone his wife and (the) mother of three young children,’ her older sister wrote. ‘I will never understand how after hurting her, Peter was so barbarically able to dump her body as if she was a worthless piece of trash.’