After Years On The Run, California Multi-Millionaire Sentenced For Murdering His Wife

A California multi-millionaire, who was a fugitive from justice for seven years, was sentenced to 15 years to life on Wednesday for the 2012 murder of his his wife.

Peter Chadwick, 54, pleaded guilty to the second degree murder of his wife, Quee Choo Lim Chadwick, known as Q.C. U.S. Marshals said in a press release that Chadwick strangled his wife during a dispute regarding a possible divorce and related financial matters and then disposed of her body in a dumpster. She was found eight days later.

Authorities were first alerted to the crime when the Chadwicks failed to pick up their sons, then 8, 10 and 14 years old, from school. Another parent at the school requested a welfare check be performed when the Chadwicks couldn’t be contacted. When police searched the home, they found blood and signs of a struggle inside. 

Chadwick was quickly located and charged with Q.C.’s murder, but after posting a $1.2 million bail, he emptied his bank accounts and fled the country, sparking an international manhunt. He was finally apprehended in Pueblo, Mexico by the U.S. Marshals in 2019. 

Due to the negotiated plea deal reached with the prosecutors, Chadwick has waived all his custody credit and will have to serve at least 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. 

The local NBC affiliate in San Diego reported that the victim’s sister wrote a statement that was read aloud in court on Wednesday. 

"Family was the most important thing to her. She would go to extraordinary lengths to do anything to help us,” she said of her sister, adding that she could, "never understand how after hurting her, Peter was so barbarically able to dump her body as if she was a worthless piece of trash."

Chadwick also spoke at the sentencing.

“I am sorry for what happened. I destroyed everything,” he said. ”So I deserve whatever the court decides."