Peter Chadwick.
A California millionaire on the US Marshal Service’s most-wanted list for allegedly slaying his wife was nabbed in Mexico following a years-long manhunt, authorities and reports said Monday.
Peter Chadwick, 54, had been on the run since January 2015, when he failed to make a pre-trial court hearing on charges he killed his wife in their Newport Beach home, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said.
The real estate investor was placed on the US Marshal Service’s 15 Most Wanted Fugitives list last year. The case was also the subject of a 2018 true-crime podcast series called “Countdown to Capture.”
Prosecutors say the UK-native killed Quee Choo “Q.C.” Chadwick, 46, on Oct. 10, 2012 after the pair had a fight over money and possibly getting divorced.
When the couple’s children didn’t get picked up from school that afternoon, another parent drove the kids home and called the Newport Beach Police Department.
Inside the house, cops said they found blood and signs of a struggle.
Officers found Chadwick driving in San Diego near Mexico the next day and he claimed a handyman killed his wife and forced him to drive to the border.
His wife’s body was found a week later in a dumpster in rural San Diego County, authorities said.
Chadwick pleaded not guilty and was released on $1 million bail on Dec. 21, 2012. He surrendered his British and American passports and agreed to live with his father in Santa Barbara as he awaited trial.
When he didn’t show up to the 2015 court hearing, a fugitive task force uncovered that Chadwick had allegedly cleaned out millions of dollars from his bank accounts and that he’d been reading up on how to change identities and live on the run.
Late Sunday, he was captured in Mexico and placed in the hands of US authorities, sources told NBC San Diego, which first reported his arrest.
Video recorded by CBS Los Angeles on Monday morning shows US Marshals escorting a bearded and handcuffed Chadwick into a car at Los Angeles International Airport.
An Orange County DA spokeswoman said she believes Chadwick will be taken to Orange County Jail.
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