peggy for the money. he was found not guilty of murder for financial gain. at his sentencing, eric bechlered the judge, once again denying he killed peggy. >> the accident was a horrible tragedy for both of our families as much as the marshals are hurting, my family is also hurting because i did not commit this crime. >> the judge sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole. eric's mother, linda, thinks the verdict was wrong. >> is it possible you don't know your son as well as you think you do? >> oh, baloney. i know that kid like the back of my hand. >> i can understand a mother not wanting to believe her son committed a crime. >> listen, if my kid was a drugy, doper, never do well, thief, rapist -- >> murderer. >> well, yeah. but he isn't. he isn't. >> peggy bechler's body has never been found. >> you want to know what happened but you still don't want to hear murder. >> but at least now you know. >> that's still pretty hard to take. and even with all this information, we don't have a body. >> you all right? >> yeah. >> you discover you're stronger than you thought you were?

. >> you don't think peggy bechler faked her death, you think she's dead? >> no, i don't think she did. >> you think she died accidently and her body still hasn't been found. >> yes. >> arguing peggy's death was eric's doing. >> he had about 3 $1/2 million to gain and what he would gain if he had gotten away with it. >> reporter: the evidence was substantial and eric had a weight at home and the prosecutor argued eric used to weight to kill peggy and sink her body. what about the blood? a luminol test conducted on the boat indicated there might have been a lot of blood in the boat but then cleaned up matching tina's testimony about blood everywhere. then there was tina herself. >> despite her past and her criminal record and her drug use, she rang true to you? >> yes. absolutely. >> who would the jury believe and would tina's past make a difference? >> it doesn't matter what i did before or after i met him, you know, what i did with myself has nothing to do with what he did. >> after seven day, the verdict, guilty of first-degree murder. >> you're thrilled t

. >> was peggy bechler capable of committing white collar crime? medicare over-billing?t if you're wrong about that -- >> uh-huh. she faked her death to escape possible prosecution for that, maybe that's a little bit more plausible. >> but white collar crime and faking your death and leaving your children and your family are two really separate issues. >> reporter: glenda said pegye adored her children and would never abandon them. >> i will say that people who have never been in the inside of a courtroom or the inside of a jail cell -- >> uh-huh. >> --sometimes do pretty crazy things when they realize that might happen to them. >> i believe that, but not pegye. >> reporter: glenda did tell the detectives that pegye and eric were having some issues, like how pegye was busy with work and kids while eric seemed occupied on the volleyball court. >> she just confided in me that they were having some financial troubles because, you know, they had a pretty high lifestyle to keep up with. >> reporter: glenda said eric work everything out. but now pegye was gone, eric was a sing