Beneath the Surface
On Wednesday, October 10, 2012, Q.C. Chadwick, a wife and doting mother of three boys, was murdered in her home. Eight days later, her body was discovered in a dumpster 100 miles away. In this episode, we’ll dig a little deeper into some facts about the case.
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Chapter 1: Victims
In Newport Beach, California, back in 2013, two people walking along the beach at 6 a.m. found a corpse lying face down in the sand. It was the body of a young Asian woman, washed up on the shore. For two nights, there were candle-light vigils for the unidentified girl. People had theories about who she was; the most popular guess was a student from the local university. Strangers, heartbroken over such a senseless death, said prayers for her and for her loved ones.
On day three, her autopsy was completed. Tina Hoang, 20-year-old prostitute and new mother, was the victim of homicide. Her mourners seemed to vanish overnight, leaving only her mother, her two-month-old baby, and a handful of friends in their place.
To the world, Tina’s profession seemed to change everything; it minimized the tragedy of her death and all but erased the interest in her murder. Inside the NBPD, Tina’s profession was seen only as a way to narrow our search for her killer.
Justice doesn’t need a sympathetic victim. Detective Sergeant Court Depweg, whose voice you’ll hear in this podcast, has been known to paraphrase Voltaire: “To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe the truth.”
And we owe no less to Tina Hoang, regardless of the life she led.
(Intro)
Welcome to “Countdown to Capture”. I’m Jennifer Manzella, your host for this podcast and the spokesperson for the Newport Beach Police Department. On Wednesday, October 10, 2012, Q.C. Chadwick, a wife and doting mother of three boys, was murdered in her home. Eight days later, her body was discovered in a dumpster 100 miles away.
Her sons, who have already had their mom ripped from their young lives, are now facing the unfathomable development that their own father is responsible.
In this episode, I’ll dig a little deeper into some facts about the case.
In this episode, you’ll also hear the voice of Lieutenant Bryan Moore, who was a detective assigned to this case back in 2012.
Chapter 2: Trouble at Home
During a homicide investigation, detectives learn all they can about the victim, and the suspect. As in the Tina Hoang case, they don’t do this judge the individuals or their relationships; they do it because all victims deserve justice. And justice is easier to find when you know everything there is to know about the people involved.
In the Chadwick case, their home became the most fruitful ground for research. Investigators find notes posted strategically around the house, reminders to pick up clothes and keep doors closed – supporting the comments they’ve heard about Q.C.’s desire for order and organization.
Q.C. has also been described as an incredibly devoted mother, even as having “excessive” love for her children. And everywhere investigators turn, they see the smiling faces of the boys staring back at them from framed photos, collages, and artwork. Even Q.C.’s password file shows her unabashed affection for the boys; it is full of passwords like “4my3sons” and “3sons4ever”.
Q.C.’s home has been her castle. Here, she has everything that she needed: her family. Tragically, it is also where she died, where she was taken away from her boys forever.
Peter, it seems, was not so satisfied with his home life. Friends recall passing comments about divorce, Q.C. crying because she didn’t receive any affection from her husband. There are clues that he was directing his affection elsewhere. And clues that Q.C. knew about it.
Mixed in with the sensible clothes in Q.C.’s wardrobe, detectives find a handwritten note titled “From Pete’s Computer”. It is a neatly numbered list, showing 35 headings from her husband’s internet search history. They include “abortion cost in California”, “Chinese massage girls escort”, “team Tijuana escort girls”, “divorce Vicki Tran California”, and – chillingly – “how to torture”. In their interviews, they find that Peter has been unfaithful for a long time. And that Q.C. has suffered the consequences, both emotionally and physically. When asked why she hasn’t left Peter, Q.C. has simply stated that she wants the best life possible for her boys.
Chapter 3: What about Juan?
Peter Chadwick’s explanation of Q.C.’s death has always been problematic. The story changes often, and the details are bizarre. For example, when asked to describe the knife that Juan used to threaten him during their 16-hour long ordeal, Peter describes a small Swiss Army utility knife, with a blade about 2” long. And he points out that the knife blade was very dull.
His demeanor is also peculiar, as recorded in a detective’s report:
[Lt. Moore’s voice shown in italics] I noticed that Peter appeared unemotional and almost sleepy throughout our contact. He spoke very quietly and with a British accent. Peter was very slow to answer my questions and would take frequent long pauses during his answers. He frequently put his hands over his face as if he was going to cry, but when he removed his hands he did not appear emotional (his eyes were not red and/or watery).
In one of version of the Juan Story, the killer sits on Peter’s chest for a solid five minutes, so that he can’t attempt CPR on his dying wife. In another, Juan forces Peter to disrobe after Q.C. is dead. Peter then tries to charge at Juan, but Juan grabs his testicles and squeezes them to subdue him.
Investigators must be shocked that Peter remembers so little about the killer he brought into his home. Initially, the only facts he can recall are Juan’s name and haircut. During subsequent interviews, Peter is able to share more details…
[Lt. Moore’s voice shown in italics] He described Juan as 5’10” or 5’11”, late 30s to early 40s, muscular, clean shaven, brown eyes, thin nose, wearing a long-sleeve black shirt with a low collar, blue jeans, and white sneakers.
During that same interview, Peter mentions that he was contacted by an officer on the 73 Freeway on Wednesday morning, while returning home from his job site.
Now… that would mean that Juan was in the car, right? Because Peter picked him up at the job site and drove him back to the Chadwick home. So the officer would have seen Juan? And probably the guard stationed at the entrance to his gated community, too, right?
Maybe. Peter is quick to point out that Juan sat in the back seat, you see… so maybe… but maybe no one saw him.
No one did see Juan. No one at the job site, no one at the guard shack, none of Peter’s neighbors, and no one at the Arco gas station in San Diego. There’s only one more person to interview: the unnamed officer from the 73 Freeway. It is a bit of a challenge to track him down, but NBPD detectives are persistent.
It would be easier if there was a citation or warning to document the interaction on the freeway, but there was not. Peter had pulled on to the side of the highway to call Q.C. about their lunch plans, and an officer had contacted him to let him know that there was no stopping allowed, and that he had to move along.
Odds are that the mystery officer is a member of the California Highway Patrol. Now, there are two CHP subdivisions that patrol this stretch of the 73 Freeway: San Juan Capistrano CHP and Santa Ana CHP. When asked, the Watch Commander of the San Juan Capistrano office scours their logs, but finds no sign of Peter Chadwick’s license plate number. He promises to ask around at briefing to see if anyone remembers the silver SUV.
A similar call is made to the Santa Ana office. The Watch Commander there pores over his logs, with better luck. Hours after Peter mentions the officer, NBPD detectives interview him over the phone. Yes, he remembers seeing the silver Lexus parked on the shoulder of the southbound 73 Freeway, right before the MacArthur Boulevard exit. It was Wednesday, October 10, just before noon. He pulled up behind the SUV, and approached it on the passenger side. After advising the driver that he could not stop on the shoulder of the highway, the office made a note of the license plate number. The driver, he remembers as a white male, about 40 years old with dark blond hair.
He also remembers that, as a practical matter for officer safety, he scanned the passenger areas of the car for other occupants. There were none.
Chapter 4: Stranger than Fiction
Every detective can tell you a story of an investigation where they just couldn’t catch a break. Surveillance cameras run out of battery right as the suspect enters the frame, nosy neighbors happen to be out of town when something suspicious happens, witnesses have a change of heart and won’t testify.
Most detectives also have tales of incredible happenstance. In this case, that tale would involve the dumpster on Muth Valley Road.
Strangely enough, this is not the first time that a body has been found at the end of this particular driveway. Another corpse was discovered there the previous year, and the owners were completely exonerated from any connection to the crime. The owners moved away in June of 2012, and had just moved back again at the end of September. And now, the body of Q.C. Chadwick has been found in their dumpster.
Truth can be far, far stranger than fiction.
Interviews with the property owners made it clear that they have nothing to do with Q.C.’s murder. But, oddly enough, they are very much responsible for the discovery of her body.
Typically, their dumpster is emptied on a weekly basis, on Thursday mornings around 6:30 a.m.
Q.C. Chadwick disappeared from her Newport Beach home on Wednesday, October 10. By the next morning at 5:30, Peter Chadwick has surfaced in San Diego with a strange tale about Juan the Body Thief. An hour later, while Peter is still explaining his version of events to officers in a gas station parking lot, the waste removal truck is making its rounds. But it does not stop at this driveway on Muth Valley Road. Q.C.’s body, which should have been unceremoniously picked up and taken to a land fill, lays undisturbed.
The property owners, the people renting that dumpster, happen to be in an ongoing dispute with the waste removal company, and have not paid their bill. A week later, the dispute is still not settled, and the truck passes by again. Later that same afternoon, an NBPD detective stands in front of the blue dumpster, and discovers Q.C.’s body.
In the midst of this horrible tragedy, it is one small mercy for Q.C.’s memory, and for her poor sons.
Northern California is keeping an eye out for this dirt bag criminal…but i’m guessing from his search list he’s in Tijuana. What’s the significance with “vicky tran”?
Thank you for keeping an eye out! The list of search terms is just the information that Peter typed in to his computer. It appears that Vicky Tran is a divorce lawyer.