Millionaire charged with wife's death arrested in Mexico

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A millionaire fugitive charged with killing his wife in California spent the past four years in Mexico until intense media coverage led to hundreds of tips and eventually his capture, officials said Tuesday.

Peter Chadwick, 54, was detained by Mexican authorities Sunday and flown to California on Monday, Newport Beach police Chief Jon Lewis told a press conference.

"We believe Peter Chadwick has been in Mexico since his disappearance," Lewis said.

Lewis said the real estate investor charged with strangling his wife in 2012 stayed in high-end resorts and hotels until they required a passport. Chadwick, who had several fake IDs, then moved to more modest hostels and worked odd jobs to generate cash, he said.

Chadwick left leads for law enforcement to make it look like he fled to Canada after he skipped a court appearance in 2015 while he was out on $1 million bail, said U.S. Marshal David Singer.

Newport Beach police wrote and produced a six-episode "true crime" podcast last year about the case in the hopes of intensifying the search for Chadwick.

Authorities have said Chadwick called 911 a day after his wife Quee Choo Chadwick disappeared from their home and said she was killed by a handyman who kidnapped him. He quickly became the suspect, however, and her body was found a week later in a trash bin in suburban San Diego.

Chadwick was born in the United Kingdom and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1991. Authorities said both his U.S. and U.K. passports were seized when he was released on bail.

When he went missing, authorities learned he had emptied millions from bank accounts and said they discovered books he had allegedly read about changing one's identity.

Chadwick was expected to appear in court in Santa Ana on Wednesday. Orange County prosecutors are asking that he be held without bail.