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By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on Aug 07, 2019
He went on the run after his wife turned up murdered. For four years, he evaded prosecution — but just a few days ago, he was finally apprehended after hiding out in Mexico for far too long. Who is Peter Chadwick?
Let's look at what we know about this "Most Wanted Millionaire."
1. The crime first happened in 2012.
According to The Newport Beach Indy, Peter Chadwick's journey from millionaire to murderer began in 2012, when his wife Quee Choo (known to her friends as QC) failed to pick up the couple's three children from school. The children were waiting for their parents for more than an hour before a kind neighbor took them home. Later, when a wellness check was requested, the Newport Beach Police Department went to the Chadwick home, where they noted that there were "signs of a struggle" and blood everywhere.
2. There was a $100,000 reward for tips that led to the arrest and capture of Peter Chadwick.
According to The BBC, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies put a $100,000 bounty on Peter Chadwick's head. Anyone that came out with tips that led to the arrest and capture of Peter Chadwick would have 100,000 reasons why he should be turned in. And it was precisely this type of tip that led to his ultimate arrest and capture.
3. But it still took four years to find him.
According to The New York Post, even though there were 100,000 reasons why Peter Chadwick should have been turned into authorities — to say nothing of the fact that it's the right thing to do — it still took four years for him to get apprehended. He evaded capture by spending huge sums of money in luxury hotels, and stayed under aliases. He was able to live from hotel to hotel until the hotels in Mexico started requiring passports to check-in for the stay.
4. Initially, Peter Chadwick blamed a handyman for his wife's death.
According to CBS Los Angeles, Peter Chadwick — who called 911 from San Diego the day after Newport Beach Police discovered the blood and struggle in his house — claimed that his wife had been killed by a handyman. He made up a story that seemed impossible to investigators (because it was), and he was quickly arrested. However, when he failed to show up for an arraignment, a bench warrant for his arrest was issued, and that's when he went on the run for four years.
5. The Chadwicks were looking to divorce before QC Chadwick turned up dead.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Peter Chadwick was looking to divorce his wife before she'd turned up dead. Investigators discovered that Peter Chadwick cheated on his wife frequently, and a forensic search of his computer turned up searches for everything from divorce attorneys to abortions (!!!!). He also looked up "ways to torture someone," which is perhaps the most chilling search of all.
6. Investigators credit a podcast for their assistance in capturing Peter Chadwick.
"Though Peter Chadwick had been missing since January 2015, the case received renewed attention last fall after the Newport Beach Police Department took the unusual step of releasing a true-crime podcast, “Countdown to Capture,” in hopes of generating new leads. Each of the podcast’s six episodes, which documented how police had linked the fugitive to his wife’s death, ended with a request for listeners to contact the department if they had any information to share," reported The Washington Post.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. For more information about Bernadette Giacomazzo, click here.