Updated at 3:50 p.m. Oct. 19, 2012
A body found in a trash bin near Lakeside was identified today as the wife of a Newport Beach man charged with her murder.
The body, which was found around 3 p.m. Thursday in the 12000 block of Wildcat Canyon Road, is that of 46-year-old Quee Chadwick, Orange County Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy said.
An autopsy was being conducted to determine the cause of death, Murphy said.
The victim's husband, Peter G. Chadwick, 48, was arrested Oct. 11 near the U.S.-Mexico border in his Lexus sport utility vehicle and later charged with killing his wife.
Murphy said Chadwick is believed to be a real estate investor, but it's still unclear how he earned a living.
"I know he was not working a 9-to-5 job," Murphy said.
"He owned an apartment complex at one point, and he's worth millions," Murphy said, adding investigators were still researching the defendant's background.
Newport Beach police were alerted Oct. 10 when the woman failed to pick up her three children from school. About 5:30 a.m. the next day, Peter Chadwick called San Diego police as he was driving along Interstate 905 and was later arrested.
Chadwick was later charged with murder, including a special circumstance allegation of killing for financial gain, which makes him eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Investigators have not determined a motive for the killing, but Murphy said the couple were discussing a divorce.
Chadwick remains jailed in Orange County without bail pending an Oct. 26 pretrial hearing.
Murphy said investigators found blood and signs of a struggle in the Chadwicks' Newport Coast home.
Original story
A passer-by found a body in a remote East County locale Thursday afternoon, a sheriff's official said.
The discovery off Wildcat Canyon Road in Lakeside was reported about 3 p.m., according to Lt. Paul Robbins.
The lieutenant declined to release further details about the death, though he did say homicide detectives were called in to investigate.
The sheriff's department told Patch that homicide units were investigating on Muth Valley Road, which branches out near the south end of Wildcat Canyon Road.
—City News Service
