Warrant for Newport man accused of killing wife hiked to $5 million

An Orange County judge has increased an arrest warrant to $5 million for a missing businessman accused of killing his wife at their Newport Coast home.

Peter Gregory Chadwick, 50, disappeared last month while free on $1-million bail.

Prosecutors said they believe that Chadwick is either on the run or killed himself. If Chadwick is found alive, he would have to pay $5 million to avoid arrest for missing court dates.

Chadwick’s lawyer, Robert Sanger, said that he hasn’t spoken to his client since before a Jan. 28 hearing in which a judge issued the original $1-million warrant.

According to prosecutors, Chadwick killed Quee “Q.C.� Chadwick, 46, and dumped her body in a trash bin in San Diego County.

Officials arrested him near the Mexico border in October 2012, a day after police found signs of a struggle at the Chadwick home in Newport Coast. A neighbor had called police after nobody picked up the couple’s children after school.

Chadwick claimed that someone else killed his wife and forced him to load the body into a car and drive to the border.

On Wednesday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert Gannon left open the option of boosting the warrant to $10 million, as prosecutors requested.

“We will continue to seek the defendant,� Sanger told the judge.

Authorities also are searching for Chadwick.

Chadwick originally was held without bail, but he was allowed to go free on $1-million bond after prosecutors dropped an allegation that the killing was for financial gain.

Dobruck writes for Times Community News.

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