#562 - Murder On Slide Mountain - Incline Village, Nevada

Summary

Summary of Podcast Episode #562 - "Murder On Slide Mountain - Incline Village, Nevada"

Podcast Title: Small Town Murder
Hosts: James Pietragallo, Jimmie Whisman
Episode Number: #562
Release Date: January 18, 2025

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Introduction

In episode #562 of Small Town Murder, hosts James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman delve into a perplexing case from Incline Village, Nevada, titled "Murder On Slide Mountain." This episode combines in-depth research with the hosts' signature comedic flair to explore the circumstances surrounding a tragic event that shook this affluent small town.

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Setting the Scene: Incline Village, Nevada

Incline Village is portrayed as a picturesque and wealthy enclave nestled near Lake Tahoe, boasting a median household income of $131,914 and a median home price of $1,392,400. The town, with a population of approximately 9,440, is a haven for celebrities and affluent individuals seeking privacy and luxury. Hosts highlight its scenic beauty, recreational activities, and the juxtaposition of its serene environment against the backdrop of a heinous crime.

James (06:28): "Information, Inspiration, Progress."
(Timestamp: 06:56)

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The Bergner Family: Background and Lifestyle

Peter Bergner, born in 1953 and adopted as a baby, grew up in a prosperous environment with wealthy parents—his father serving as a district attorney in Santa Clara County. Peter established himself as a fine art appraiser, working for prestigious firms like Butterfields in San Francisco. His wife, Renette Riella Bergner, a successful pharmacist, complemented his affluent lifestyle. Together, they enjoyed extensive travel, philanthropy, and a high-society existence.

Jimmie (14:05): "I've seen too much and I'm going to try stand up. And that's when I started comedy."

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The Fateful Night: May 31, 1998

On May 31, 1998, after a six-week period of Renette's international travel, Peter picked her up from the Reno-Tahoe International Airport in his 1997 Ford F150. Instead of heading home, Peter decided to take a detour onto a secluded mountainous road near Slide Mountain, a favorite scenic spot for the couple to discuss personal matters. During this stop, tensions arose as Peter expressed frustration over Renette's extensive travel and their inability to start a family, leading to a heated conversation about their marriage.

Peter (33:48): "I don't cheat on my wife."

Shortly after, Peter claimed that his truck's brakes failed, causing the vehicle to crash through a guardrail and plunge 800 feet down the mountainside. He survived the fall, allegedly clinging to the rocks, while Renette was found deceased in the mangled wreckage.

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Investigation: From Accident to Suspicion

Sergeant Jim Beltran of the Nevada Highway Patrol responded to the 911 call from a distressed Peter. Upon investigation, several anomalies raised suspicions:

1. Inconsistent Statements: Peter reported that his wife was in the truck, but exhibited a lack of emotional distress when informing officers of her likely death.
2. Physical Evidence Discrepancies:
   • Minimal injuries inconsistent with a traumatic fall.
   • Peter was excessively dressed for the 60-degree weather.
   • Absence of skid marks or brake fluid near the crash site.
   • The truck was relatively new with dual brake systems, making brake failure unlikely.
3. Behavioral Concerns:
   • Peter's demeanor was detached despite the severity of the situation.
   • His focus on retrieving a "fanny pack" rather than his wife raised eyebrows.

Jimmie (35:50): "Get my wife and my fanny pack."

Experts and investigators noted inconsistencies in Peter's account, leading to mounting suspicions that the crash might have been orchestrated.

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Trial: Prosecution vs. Defense

First Trial: Hung Jury

In 2001, Peter Bergner faced his first trial for the murder of Renette. The prosecution argued that Peter, frustrated by his wife's inability to settle down and have children, deliberately caused the accident to eliminate her and secure financial benefits, including life insurance payouts and inheritance.

Key Prosecution Points:

• Peter’s motive centered around marital discord and financial gain.
• Witness testimonies highlighted Peter’s inappropriate advances toward other women and previous instances of domestic volatility.

Defense Arguments:

• Presented evidence suggesting Peter's brakes were operational and the crash was purely accidental.
• Challenged the prosecution's interpretation of physical evidence and Peter’s behavior.

The jury was deadlocked with a 9-3 split in favor of conviction, resulting in a mistrial due to the inability to reach a unanimous decision.

James (75:25): "He loudly calls her a bitch."

Second Trial: Conviction and Sentencing

In 2002, a second trial was held. This time, the prosecution expanded its case by introducing additional witnesses, including neighbors who testified about Peter's aggressive behavior and prior domestic issues. The defense continued to assert that the accident was genuine, pointing to the lack of concrete evidence linking Peter to foul play.

Key Developments:

• Testimonies from Peter’s first wife and a cellmate corroborated his volatile nature.
• An expert accident investigator concluded that Peter’s statements about the crash were implausible.
• Physical and forensic evidence continued to support the theory of a deliberate act rather than an accident.

Ultimately, the jury found Peter Bergner guilty of first-degree murder, sentencing him to 20 years to life with no possibility of parole for the first 20 years.

Jimmie (75:49): "Guilty, Absolutely."

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Appeals and Aftermath

Peter Bergner appealed his conviction multiple times, contending that the evidence was circumstantial and that he was neither suicidal nor schizophrenic—traits he claimed would have been necessary to commit such a premeditated act. Despite his appeals, the conviction stood, and prospects of parole remained uncertain as of 2025.

Throughout the legal proceedings, the community of Incline Village remained divided, with some viewing Peter as a victim of circumstance and others convinced of his guilt.

James (73:31): "You don't do that."

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Conclusion

"Murder On Slide Mountain" serves as a compelling exploration of a seemingly straightforward vehicular accident that unravels into a complex murder case. The Small Town Murder hosts effectively blend investigative storytelling with their comedic insights, presenting listeners with a multifaceted narrative that questions the nature of truth, motive, and justice in a wealthy small town setting.

James (79:56): "Peter Bergner, Renette Bergner. Crazy ass fucking story."

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Notable Quotes

• James Pietragallo (14:05): "I've seen too much and I'm going to try stand up. And that's when I started comedy."

• Jimmie Whisman (35:50): "Get my wife and my fanny pack."

• James Pietragallo (75:25): "He loudly calls her a bitch."

• Jimmie Whisman (75:49): "Guilty, Absolutely."

• James Pietragallo (73:31): "You don't do that."

• James Pietragallo (79:56): "Peter Bergner, Renette Bergner. Crazy ass fucking story."

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This episode not only recounts the tragic story of Peter and Renette Bergner but also invites listeners to ponder the complexities of marital relationships, the facade of affluence, and the elusive nature of truth within the confines of a small community. Through meticulous research and engaging narration, Small Town Murder offers a thought-provoking listen that resonates long after the episode concludes.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a little bit about Shutterfly. If you're like us, you take a lot of pictures because you have a camera right in your hand all the time. How would you not take a lot of pictures? And we're taking all these pictures, more than we've ever taken in the history of the world.

[B]

But it's.

[A]

That's the thing. You used to get a solid picture and then you'd look through them and you could enjoy them. Now they're like back on your camera roll. You can't even find them. You don't want that. That's why the cool thing you need to do and what I did, and I think it's pretty cool, is create a shutter photo book. Oh, what I did. And you're gonna enjoy this, Jimmy, because I haven't showed this to you yet, but took all of our pictures from being on tour this year. All live show pictures, us backstage, us on doing all that stuff and like some of the just the venues and things and made a little photo book out of that. Also, they have free 24 hour designer service as well. With their 24 hour designer service, a professional designer is gonna lay out the book for you for free in just a day. Make something that means something with Shutterfly. Enjoy. 40% off orders over $29 with promo code Small town C site for promotional details.

[B]

And now back to the show.

[A]

Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show and tell you a little bit about Rocket Money. You want to save money?

[B]

Always.

[A]

This is what it's about. They found a subscription of mine that I paid for for years. You know how angry I was. I was equally as angry at that as I was happy that Rocket Money found it. Like, thank you for saving me. It's excellent. And that's what Rocket Money, it's awesome. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. You can't beat it. See all of your subscriptions in one place. You know where all your money's going. Create a personalized budget you can do too. It tracks all your expenses. You get a alerts if bills increase in price. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all the app's premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket money. Go to Rocketmoney.com Smalltown Murder today that's Rocketmoney.com Smalltown Murder Rocketmoney.com Smalltown Murder now.

[B]

Back to the show.

[A]

Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express. Yay.

[B]

And choo choo.

[A]

Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petregallo. I'm here with my co host.

[B]

I'm Jimmy Whisman.

[A]

Thank you folks so much for joining us. All aboard the murder train pulling away from the station. Let's get on board and do this. We have of course, a wild case for you as always on small town Murder and small Town Murder Express. But if we only have an hour, oh man, we gotta pack it in there. So it's a lot of murder in a little amount of time and we're gonna pull it off first. Before we do that very quickly. Shutupandgivemerder.com is the website go there for your tickets to live shows. That is where you go. For sale for 2025 right now, February 7th, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You are on deck. You're up first. Let's lead off this tour, right? And let's get pack this bad boy out. Let's do that. Next night we're in Columbus also at the Davidson, which is a very nice theater too. So get your tickets for those. We're excited. Shut. Shut up and give me murder.com. get on in there and come out and see us. So excited for that. Also patreon.com crimeinsports which is the name of our other show you should be listening to if you don't already listen to it. But that is where you get all of the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you're going to get just a gigantic back catalog. Hundreds of bonus episodes you've never heard before. Then new ones every other week, including this week where you get one crime in sports, one small town murder and you get it all, baby, every bit. That's right. This week, which you're going to get for crime and sports, we're going to talk about Travis Rudolph who is a recent NFL player for a couple of years and just finished up a murder trial. So we'll talk all about him. He had some guidance, a little bit of trouble there. Then for small town murder we're going to do The West Memphis Three Part 2. Find out how the hell we even got to the point of needing an HBO camera crew to come down and check this bad boy out. So we'll figure all that out and more. Patreon.com/CrimeInSports. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show, too. You can't beat it. Best $5 you'll ever spend a month. So that said, I think it's time, everybody.

[B]

Here we go.

[A]

It's time to sit back. Let's all clear the lungs. What do you say? Arms to the sky. Let's all shout. Shut up. Give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. Hey, let's go on a trip, shall we?

[B]

We have to.

[A]

We are going to Nevada this week. Been a while since we've been there.

[B]

Milk and honey.

[A]

Oh, absolutely. And. And desert and gambling and nuclear waste sites and you name it, Nevada's got it. This is Incline Village, Nevada. Incline Village. It's western Nevada all the way over there by Tahoe, near the California border. It's about 50 minutes to Reno. If you want to go lose your money in a depressing city, that's a place to do it. About 4 hours and 25 minutes to our last Nevada episode, which was Denial, Nevada. That was episode 499, Hermit Horrors. Remember the hermit guy who was killing people out in the dead? That was crazy. That guy was just killing anybody that came out there. Population of this town, 9440. It is a wealthy little town. Let me tell you something. Median household income here. Median household income, $131,914. Holy. Which is pretty good. And then the median.

[B]

What are you doing?

[A]

Well, the median home price is wild. Median home price here. $1,392,400. What is this?

[B]

Best kept secret on the planet.

[A]

Crazy. I don't know. This is a. And there's a lot of people, like celebrities that had houses here. This is like a little weird. What's that spot in Idaho where they all gather and they have you in.

[B]

Jackson Hole in Wyoming?

[A]

There's another one in Idaho, too. That's a ski place where they have a thing too. Yeah. There's Jackson Hole and there's this place. There's a few of these spots throughout the west that are weird little celebrity enclaves. Strange. The motto here is Information, Inspiration, Progress.

[B]

Yeah, well, we don't know anything about what that means.

[A]

I don't even know what that means. Inspiration, progress. I don't know. History of this town. Established in 1882. So that's a. Older than I thought it was going to be here. The Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company was a logging company that operated on the northeast side of Lake Tahoe at where Incline Village is now. So this used to Just be like a lumber camp. Lumber company. And it was named for the incline railway that served the area. That's what they call it. Incline village there. The timber was required for the mines during the mining boom because you had to put, you know, the big timber up to keep everything structured down there. And the timber around Lake Tahoe was placed on an incline railway where it was taken up 1400ft. Then dropped by a gravity flume down the western side of the mountain to a 3,000 foot tunnel to Carson City. That's cool as shit. Yeah. I was just gonna say this is. Every Six Flags and Everything is a Log flume. Splash Mountain. All that shit. That's what this is from.

[B]

Awesome.

[A]

Yeah. Log Flume is a real thing. Apparently. Wow. Never heard of it till now, but I guess it is here. The company operated a number of other railroad lines that were in the area too. So that's what they did. Now. Notable people that have had houses here. Warren Buffett had a house here in the 80s, I guess. Yeah. The Stu Cook of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

[B]

Is that right?

[A]

And then David Coverdale, Deep Purple and White Snake. There is this Love and all that shit with Tony Kitain on the hood. That's the guy there. The jackass from Girls Gone Wild. That idiot. Joe Francis. And John Force here. And John Force, the race car driver.

[B]

John Force. How about that?

[A]

So all sorts of famous people have gone there. Reviews of this town. Not a lot of them. And most of them are good. So we'll get into it here. Five stars. Here we go. Inclined Village is that charming town by a beautiful lake. All right. Lake Tahoe is one of America's gems. Calm down. Yeah, it's pretty.

[B]

It's nice.

[A]

It's nice. Incline Village sits on the north shore of the. On the Nevada side and boosts an abundance of activities for the locals and many tourists that wander. Tourists and wanderers that visit this lovely town. Having a population of about 9,000 people. It's a pretty small town. But rapidly grows during the high of the tourist seasons. The locals are friendly and welcoming to newcomers as I was once the new person. Tahoe has so much to offer. From the lake to the endless hiking to the long bike rides. Taking in the beauty of this majestic lake. That's still all in the same category.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Outside walking around, looking at the lake.

[B]

So hiking, skiing. Fuck with the lake. That's. That's it.

[A]

Yeah. Hiking, laking, bike rides. Same shit. Four stars here. We lived here for about 15 years and love our town. We wish we had Christmas lights. Around town, more activities off season, more respect from tourists. Well, you're never going to get that.

[B]

Never pissing on everything you love.

[A]

Yeah, I. I'm here to spend money so you guys can have a town.

[B]

So I get to behave any way I want because of it.

[A]

Sweep my piss from the streets. That's how that works. There things to do here. Okay. Summer Fest we have.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

That is. The Incline Tahoe foundation presents Summer Fest, A family favorite event during Incline Village's Independence Day week of celebrations. They go hard for this, but I can't get a Christmas light downtown. Nice. So they say that they have all sorts of food. Incline Spirits has organized beer tasting from 12 breweries featuring 24 craft beers, wine and soft beverages. Craft beers are always a disappointment. They're always just.

[B]

What is it? They just always advertise it.

[A]

Oh, they love it.

[B]

There's like out of 100 people, two people like it. And they aim for that guy.

[A]

They aim for that guy. But yet 100 people go to it. And two of the people enjoy it. And the rest of them are going, yeah, no, it's good. Yeah.

[B]

A little more bitter than I'd want.

[A]

I mean, yeah, it's. I wouldn't. I don't know if I drink it every day, but, you know, it's okay.

[B]

I can't even taste my fucking burger.

[A]

The University of Nevada Reno at Lake Tahoe has a watermelon tent.

[B]

University Nevada Reno at Tahoe at Lake Tahoe.

[A]

That's a lot of different places. Yeah, that's a lot.

[B]

That's qualifying it.

[A]

They'll have long game, lawn games.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And fun for the whole family. Tickets, by the way. This is fucking. Then there's also. I'm sorry. Jacked up will be performing.

[B]

Oh, yeah, Jack Jacked Up.

[A]

They have pictures of football tackles on a screen behind them as it goes.

[B]

Some guy named Jack Dupp.

[A]

Fucking Jack Dup. Jack Dupp will be providing great music. And how much does all of this cost? How much would you pay for all of this?

[B]

12 bucks.

[A]

$75.

[B]

Get the fuck out of here.

[A]

And that includes tasting glasses for your hissy. Craft beer. $25 for children and designated drivers. So even children. $25 for your kid to come in, walk around and watch Jacked up perform.

[B]

And whine to you about how boring.

[A]

This is and not get any beer. They say, by the way, this was formerly beer and brats. Apparently that's what it used to be. Now they've changed it to this Summer Fest. I don't know. That said, let's talk about some murder. Boy, let's get murder into this. Yeah, I'd want a murder. If I paid $75 for that and got to taste some shitty craft beer, I'd be very upset. There would be a murder happening. So I have to give credit to an article here that has a lot of very good details. SF Gate is the publication. They do a lot of. Yeah, they do a lot of different, very good investigative pieces. And this is by Andrew Chammings or Chamings, either one. So good job, Andrew. Here we go. Let's get right into this. Here we go with a fella here, Peter Matthew Bergner. B E R G N A bergna. He's born 1953. He was apparently adopted. He's an adopted kid. When he was a baby, he was adopted. So it never was like a weird, you know, didn't grow up in an orphanage or anything like that. His parents, his dad, I believe he grew up in North Carolina because his dad, Louis is a district attorney in North Carolina. So, yeah, he came up with a very decent upbringing and that kind of thing. They have a lot of money. His parents both have a lot of money. And not bad. I mean, not a bad way to grow up here.

[B]

That's a good couple of people to pick you up and bring you in.

[A]

He'll end up as a Lake Tahoe fine art appraiser. My old job, I had to give that up to do this. That was what it was. I had to.

[B]

I said, you know what this shit's worth, huh?

[A]

I'm tired of it. I've seen too much and I'm going to try stand up. And that's when I started comedy. And, you know, it's a tough world, the fine art appraisal world. It's just. It's too much for me. It was rough, you know what I mean? Got rough after a while. Competitive is what it is. You know, people jumping each other, legs getting broken. It's too much. He ends up finding a wife here, Renette Riella. He ends up marrying Renette. R I N N or R I N E T T E Renette. So Renette Riella and she becomes Renette Riella Bergner. She's like a year younger than him, but same basic age here. She very well educated, successful pharmacist. So fine art and pharmacist, that's going together here. You can take pills and look at pretty pictures. That sounds like a lot of fun. They're going to have fun here. She is well loved by everybody. People Even call her a saint for her compassion for people, which. I've counted these pills for you. Here you are. That's a lot of compassion you're going to have here. So they have a very nice life together, these two. I mean, living it up. She can't have kids apparently. By the way, how did he hit.

[B]

Such lottery with rich parents and then, well off.

[A]

He was adopted. He could have been, you know what I mean? Christ. So bad everything could have gone bad. He could have got the wrong family or whoever put him up for adoption originally could have kept him in some trailer park or something somewhere, you know, just in a bad situation or, you know, 16 year old mother or whatever the hell the deal might be would be, you know, not as advantageous as the situation he fell into.

[B]

It's just all coming up Burgna. Good for him.

[A]

Yeah, he would like to have kids is the thing. He'd like to have a family, but his wife can't have kids, so that's, that's an issue. I think she would like to have a family too, but she can't do it. So they do have a very nice life. They live on the north shore of Lake Tahoe there in the incline village. And he. Oh, I'm sorry, his dad wasn't. It wasn't North Carolina, apparently. His dad was a county district attorney for Santa Clara County.

[B]

Okay, North Carolina.

[A]

I don't know why I thought it was North Carolina for some reason. So Bergna. Peter, the son worked at San Francisco art dealers Butterfields as well. So he works for them. His job as an appraiser means that he gets to live a fancy little life.

[B]

You bet.

[A]

Do you know how many parties appraisers get invited to?

[B]

Oh man, the amount of wine this guy has to drink.

[A]

Just gonna say the amount of very expensive wine and champagne and Northern California delicious wine. Yeah, it's. I mean, and living it. This is a different circle. There's like regular people, then there's rich people, then there's rich people who own expensive art, which is a whole other strata. Yeah, yeah, it's totally different. They're richer, number one, and they're cultured and shit like that. It's totally different. We would stick out like sore thumbs at one of those parties we get kids, 15 minutes.

[B]

Yeah, there's a lot of rich people that have plenty of money and like everything's well invested. And they're planned for the future. These are people that have been planned for the future six generations.

[A]

That's what I mean. They're doing Very, very well. We would get kicked out of one of these parties as soon as we asked where the keg was. That would be the end of it.

[B]

They'd know as soon as I asked where the. Why is it worth that?

[A]

Wow. Yeah. This fucking thing looks like squiggles to me. I don't get it.

[B]

Feels like I could do that, right?

[A]

I think I could do that. James, let's get an easel and see if we can do this.

[B]

I think I can.

[A]

I think we can do it. So they're doing very well. Yeah, he's visiting mansions and galleries and I mean, it's, you know, knows all the important people and they all want to kiss his ass because he's a fucking painting apprentice.

[B]

The guy that sets the price.

[A]

Fuck.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you want to give him a couple glasses of good wine first before he does anything. She now Renet has a distinguished career at the Nevada Board of Pharmacy. And then she was on the board, then founded a consulting service in Incline Village. And then she took a job as an international travel director who. For Talk Tours. A job that would send her to Europe for like weeks at a time.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So these two have quite the jet set and lifestyle here.

[B]

Oh, shit.

[A]

Jesus Christ. Not a lot of Monday through Friday.

[B]

Yeah, he's gone to the Louvre, for Christ's sake.

[A]

Oh, they go to Europe all the time. Yeah, like nothing. They have a beautiful house, a four bedroom. It's called a mountain retreat by many different publications.

[B]

When your place is called a retreat, you're doing great.

[A]

It's fucking wild. So they're married in about 1987. They get married. So they're both in their 30s, early 30s. And so like even that's like responsible.

[B]

That's incredibly like.

[A]

They don't get married when they're 22. They both get married when they're like, you know, 35 and 34.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Like they're very. You know what I mean? They're very different lifestyle man.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So he. Peter is very knowledgeable about obviously antiques and art because he appraises for Butterfield and Butterfield auction firm. Both Renette and Peter both love children, by the way. Really both very into giving their time and money to children's events and especially athletics. Peter gives a lot of money, donates it to the school athletic programs and then spends time as a volunteer coach for Incline High school athletic teams as well. I don't know how you'd have time for this.

[B]

You're in Europe one week, they want kids so bad. And instead he does this kind of thing yet he was adopted. He's very well aware of the avenues they could take to have a child.

[A]

Totally. That's the other thing too is I don't get why of all people, of all people, why he doesn't go, you know, we could adopt. It worked out well for my parents, you know, but that never comes up.

[B]

I guess I'm appraising rich shit, you know what I mean? Like we could, we could certainly raise one of these little bastards to do good things.

[A]

There's a group of people, I don't know if it's a group, but there's a mass of people out there though that don't want somebody else's kid. They just don't. They want their own kid or no kid at all. And maybe that's who these people were. It just doesn't seem like it.

[B]

Yeah. There's also a subset of the population that believes that those children are going to murder them. Yeah. Based on studies or science or whatever. Because they've seen a couple scary movies. That's their science.

[A]

Yeah. The main problem is you just don't know where they came from. Genetics wise. You don't know. You don't know if their. Yeah, you do father is Freddy Krueger or not. Yeah. But you don't. You. What about this guy? You don't.

[B]

You have no idea, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you believe. Yeah, you do.

[A]

Yeah, you do. Absolutely. So. And I guess if, I don't know if you're donating your time and money already to strangers kids, you might as well adopt one of them. Fucking take them home with you. So the principal of the school said, we just all thought the war, the world of both of them. So everybody loves them. They travel extensively together. The bergna's, they make four or five trips to Italy. This is in a 10, 11 year period. Three or four trips to England. They went to Switzerland as well. They paid for a 35 day vacation to Australia for Peter's parents. 35 days, that is like, that's a payback. Thanks for the adoption.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Have a month. A month plus in Australia. Wow. I hope they were retired or something. How the hell do you take 35 days off? So she earned about $100,000 a year in her pharmacy consulting business. And he made about that, if not a little more in his thing too. And this is in the 90s. 200 grand a year for a couple in the early 90s is a fuckload of money. You're killing it. I mean absolutely killing it. Early 90s, you made 100 grand a year. You were upper middle class, like that was doing very well. Then in about late 1997, Peter fully pays off the balance on their $500,000 home.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Pays it off. So yeah, 1998 comes around. They have a paid off house. And all of this wonderful nice things that's going on here.

[B]

What a dream.

[A]

Drinking wine, doing all this shit. So she goes away in April. Renette goes to Italy for her new job doing the international tours. And she does a six week trip to Italy.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

She lands back at the Reno Tahoe International Airport on May 31, 1998. Yeah. To go from like Florence to Reno has to be a real kick right in the fucking teeth, doesn't it? Not even like, you know, a little bit at a time. Like a decompression chamber. Like bring you to bring you to Boston or something. Or right into Reno.

[B]

Right to the brown feet deep. And then just shooting you straight to the side.

[A]

That's it. Right to the brown fucking ground. Enjoy. Oh, that is rough. That's a rough thing. So during her trip, apparently Peter had been telling some people that he planned to end their marriage.

[B]

Oh my.

[A]

And he'd also been known to during that six week time. He'd been making advances on women while at work.

[B]

Oh, really?

[A]

That's a nice picture, but a better ass. Let me tell you something, sweetheart. I'll tell you something right now. Your tits are as pretty as this picture.

[B]

You bend over and look down at it, it's a better angle.

[A]

Van Gogh ain't got nothing on your cleavage. Let me tell you one thing right now.

[B]

It's seen a nice work of art.

[A]

It's a work of art, let me tell you. I got something else I could appraise. I bet Those are about 10 GS, huh? You went to a good doctor for those bad boys, didn't you?

[B]

See, sometimes I gotta touch them.

[A]

I was gonna say, let me feel the weight. I gotta put my hand under them now. It's all right. Now we'll find out. So. And also while in Italy, Rene had been looking at apartments in Italy.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

So yeah. So this day, May 31, 1998, Peter attends an evening charity function at Incline High School. Then he stopped at the AMPM gas station to fill up two 5 gallon plastic jugs for a trip to Las Vegas. With gasoline. So cans, gas cans, extras I get. They were saying they were going to be driving to Vegas like the next day, I guess so. They say there is not a lot of places to stop between Reno and Vegas, really? So I guess if you want to keep extra gas with you just in case or I don't know that's what he's saying. And it seems to be like logic that everyone accepts of, like, yeah, you do that just in case. Okay.

[B]

The hell does he drive?

[A]

It's a Ford F150 97.

[B]

So that sucks gas.

[A]

It's a royal blue 97 Ford F150. And he put those two in the back and he picked her up from the airport around 11pm she'd been traveling as a 25 hour trip. Yeah, she'd been traveling for 25 hours straight. This is her landing spots, her fourth airport of the day. Yeah, it's a long, long trip because I think she had to go from Italy to New York, from New York to Denver, from Denver to Reno or some shit like that. Like, it was one of those real circuitous routes here. So he picks her up, but instead of going home to Incline Village, he takes a turn off the Mount Rose Highway. This is a very mountainous area, by the way. A lot of mountains, as you might imagine from Incline Village here. So I guess this is like a scenic spot where you can see all the lights of the valley and things like that. So this is one of their favorite spots, Peter said, and they enjoyed looking at the Reno lights. Now, if I just got home from a 25 hour trip, we're not stopping anywhere.

[B]

I don't even want to see my bedroom light.

[A]

I want to shift my ass home, period. I want my couch, dude. Six weeks on the road and 25 hours in a day. All I want is my couch. At that point. Just give me my couch and my things.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, the couch. At minimum, I want the bed.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I want you to leave.

[A]

No, I want to, like, go in the fridge. I want to, like, do shit I haven't been able to do, you know, saying, like, I want to lay diagonal.

[B]

In my own bed and tell everybody the fuck out.

[A]

So he said that they discussed their marriage, I guess, and how he was frustrated with her traveling.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Apparently said, you know, that might be part of your job, but I'm home and I'm alone and I don't like it. I like being home alone for six weeks at a time. Which six weeks is a long fucking time.

[B]

That's a long time.

[A]

You know, even if you're in the NBA, you come home every week or, you know, you're on the road for a week or two, you come home, you're there. This is crazy.

[B]

I just heard about the longest vacation I've ever heard of. And it was still shorter than her business trip.

[A]

That's so long. Yeah, 35 days. Blew me away. So I guess he says the. It ended on a good note when she agreed to cut back on her travel to save their marriage. Okay, so they're heading back down the mountain road. Just after midnight is after this. They went up there to the scenic spot to have this deep conversation about their existence or whatever the fuck.

[B]

So very serious conversation.

[A]

Now I'm gonna cut to Sergeant Jim Beltran. Oh, he's a retired. It's always good when we make a hard cut from a. From a couple talking about their marriage to Detective Sergeant Jim Beltran. He said, quote, I got a call at home, there was an accident off Mount Rose Highway. He said, in all my years, I've never seen anything like it. Now, Peter Bergner. They pull up, the police pull up. They respond to a 911 call from Peter and they pull up to find him clinging from the rocks hanging off the side of a cliff. That's how they find him. His Ford F150 apparently had plunged through the guardrail and that is 800ft down below.

[B]

And he kept his cell phone cling to a rock and called for help.

[A]

Called. So two Nevada Highway Patrol troopers found the broken guardrail and noticed a baseball cap with incline written on it lying in the road. Yeah, okay. They noticed that and they were like, oh, this must be the spot, I guess. No guardrail and a hat. So he was hanging on the rocks like we said. And as he's rescued, he told the troopers, my wife was in the truck. You got to find my wife. She's 800ft that way probably. Yeah, down there. So they end up using the helicopter spotlight and they find this mangled, destroyed wreck of a truck. I mean, this is it plunged down a 800 foot ravine. It's fucking. It's bad. So they find that lying in the road are lying down there. The mangled wreck and inside is Renette and she is absolutely deceased. Yeah, she is injuries too numerous to even chronicle. I mean, it's insane. She's crushed in there. So they crashed through this. This was at the east bowl of the Mount Rose Ski Tahoe Resort. It is basically what he shot down into. So apparently she was seat belted into the passenger seat.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it plunged nose first landed on the side of Slide Mountain. That's what this is, by the way. Slide Mountain and Inclined Village. You knew what was going to happen in the story coming down.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

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Oh, simplysafe.com S I M P L.

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[B]

Now back to the show.

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[B]

Okay.

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[B]

So that thing was moving.

[A]

Moving. That's terrifying. So they're asking, Peter, what the hell happened? How are you here? What's going on? And he said the truck's brakes failed, and he was. He didn't have his seatbelt on because he was. And he had the window open. It was 60 degrees outside, but he had the window open because he was smoking a cigar. Just kind of, like, hanging out the window, smoking the cigar, not hanging out, but his arm out the window or whatever. So, yeah, he said that the brakes totally failed. They found him, by the way, about 80ft below the road.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

Which is about 20ft above the truck's initial impact point because it fell 100ft, then another 700. Okay, so it's like a picture. Like a little. Little kind of a little platform picture. Falling, fall, landing on that, not having enough to stay on it, and then tumbling all the whole rest of the way down. He said, yeah, the brakes failed, and I must have been ejected from the vehicle here out the window as the. As it tumbled.

[B]

Right.

[A]

He said, I started to break, and it wasn't breaking. I know I hit the guardrail. The next thing I'd wake up, I'm on the dirt, and I don't see the car, and I'm y for my wife. So he said he found himself hanging onto the side of the mountain about 80ft below the guardrail. And there he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and called 911.

[B]

Thank God for that.

[A]

Wow. Thank God for good pockets, man. Yeah, some loose pockets. Those are rough. Yeah, that too. So he said, my car rolled down the hill. My wife is in the car is what he said on the 911 call. I'm sliding down the hill, and I can't hang on. He was told to listen for the sirens, stay on the line. You can hear him yelling. Renette. Renette. He's yelling, yelling. So he said, yeah, they said that the cap belongs to him, by the way, the incline cap. In case you're wondering. The hat. That's his hat. Now, one of the people here, a care flight nurse, Phyllis Tejada, who attended to Peter on the mountainside, said later on that he kept saying, my wife, my wife, my wife. I think she's Dead, she said. But he didn't have any tears or anything. He was just saying it. Like she thought that was a little weird. Very strange. She said that he said he was ejected. She asked him if he lost consciousness and he said no. Now, he said on 911 that he did. He said he was out and he woke up on the side of a mountain. So that's very interesting. And the thing he was really concerned about, concerned about two things. Renet, obviously, and his fanny pack. He's very upset that he can't find his fanny pack. Very upset. One of the cops there said, I found it kind of odd. First of all, somebody would be asking for a fanny pack when a very short distance away, his deceased wife is down there.

[B]

Get my wife and my fanny pack.

[A]

Get my wife. If you can find her alive, great. If not, I do have a fanny pack with a couple. These cigars are good. Like, they're not bad. They're Cubans and I don't want to lose them.

[B]

I paid a lot. Yeah.

[A]

This cop said he never. There was no emotion. It was like he was just kind of had a blank stare. That's what he said. Then there's an ER nurse because he goes to the er. You know, it's hurt. A little ankle injury. That's what's hurt on him.

[B]

That's it, right.

[A]

That's the only injury he has. His ankle's a little sore. Twisted it.

[B]

This is not a good story for seatbelts.

[A]

No. Well, no, he didn't have it on.

[B]

That's my point.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. You can be ejected.

[B]

Keep your seatbelt, a little ankle twist. Keep your seatbelt. Dead as fuck.

[A]

Plunged down. But you died with the car. You went down with the ship, I think is the point there, is what you're trying to do. So this woman from the ER said that Peter didn't seem distressed or distraught when he arrived at the emergency room. She said that thereafter she heard Bergna on the phone having a horrible, heart wrenching sobbing conversation. But when she turned around, she was astonished because she. He sounded so horrendous but had no expression on his face whatsoever. She said he was just totally kicked back and just kind of looking around the room, but having this like, oh, my God. But like, just, you know, cool. Interesting. So another cop said about the guardrail. He said the hole ripped through the guardrail. He said it wasn't a scrape and punch through the guardrail. It was a T bone blasted through it, hit it front first. They didn't scrape a little, then shoot off of it. So he said that was a little bit weird. Then the cop said that his wife was right there lying in a bag. He didn't say boo about his wife. He's more interested in what happened to his travel bag. And they said also she was wearing her seatbelt. Her airbag had been disabled. Oh, yeah, with the key. You put the key in, Took it off anymore? No, they used to do that for. What if you had, like, a car seat in the front or some shit? Yeah.

[B]

Then they just basically said, if you put a car seat in the front and your kid loses his head, it's on you, not us.

[A]

Yeah, that's. That's your problem. That's a you problem. So he was found. The suspicions start when they figure out he was found wearing a winter jacket and gloves. And they're like, that seems excessive for 60 degrees.

[B]

60 degrees, yeah.

[A]

Sounds like someone who expected to be on the side of a mountain for a while, right? They said just a fractured foot is inconsistent with being ejected from a truck as it careens over the rocks. Didn't even have a concussion or anything. Yeah. Fractured foot. They said he was clean except for his backside. Didn't even look like he rolled or tumbled or anything. So.

[B]

Slid on his ass.

[A]

That's it. Yeah, that's what they're thinking down the hill. One of the detectives said when you get pitched out of a vehicle, you're dirty. You tumble. The ejections I've seen, dead or alive, you're dirty. You're going to look like Pig Pen.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You're going to be tumbling 100%.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You're going to have to. Whatever speed you're going, your body's going. That too. And you gotta. You're going to be all fucked up. He said there was no scuff, no skid, no brake fluids, no debris, no tire marks of any kind. If you knew you were headed to the edge, you'd be stomping all over those brakes. It's reflex. Yeah, so they said. It also didn't make sense that the driver would have turned right directly toward the guardrail on the banked curve of the road. Even if the brakes failed.

[B]

Yeah. You turn away from the curb and then turn that thing off.

[A]

That's. This is very much like that Hawaii episode that we did, except that they. The lady was all upset. Remember that one where she did the same. She turned into the guardrail. This, by the way, if someone can fucking help me out with this. This exact story. Someone did blow for blow in a TV show. And I thought it was Monk, the TV show Monk that did it. Because I remember the exact thing. I remember they showed up, there was a hat lying in the road. The guy was down there. He said he was smoking a cigar. It was the exact thing, Exact thing. But I can't fucking place what show it was. I thought it was Monk, but now I don't think it is. If anybody can tell me, Holy shit, that would help a lot. Hit me up on Instagram or something, let me know. So, by the way, later on the next week, at her funeral, people are asking him how his foot felt. He said to somebody, it wasn't hurt that bad. And I wish I had been hurt worse. Okay, fascinating wish, which I guess that, you know, a guilt feeling somebody would have.

[B]

Maybe survivor's guilt.

[A]

Yeah, maybe. So the morning after the crash, this is, you know, the next late morning here. They sit down with Peter at the police station and he gives them the rundown. He said, yep, she was in Italy for about six weeks. I was excited about seeing her, picked her up. We talked often on the phone the whole time she was gone. He said, I left my Incline High School booster club function around 9pm to give me myself plenty of time to get to the airport because I knew I had to stop at the a.m. p.m. To fill up some plastic gas containers in anticipation of our trip to LA a few days later. Oh, they're gonna go to la, not LA Vegas. So a few days later. But he needs them on the way to the airport right now. He said Delta Flight 803 got on the ground and was at the gate by 10:15. He gave his wife a big hug, then drove up the Mount Rose highway toward their Incline Village home. He said that he turned off State Road 878, an access road that dead ends into the parking lot of the Slide Mountain side of the Mount Rose Ski Tahoe Resort. They said skiers and hang gliders use the short, isolated scenic road to do their thing. They jump off the fucking mountain. He said it was one of our favorite spots. He said they had a lot to talk about, catching up, chit chatting. He said, we've been discussing the idea of me having problems with her being gone because I'm lonely. I like being with people and there's a real problem. He said, I'm a lonely guy. You know, you have a great time and it might be part of your job, but I'm home and I'm alone and I don't like it. He told them that's what he was saying. And I said that the end of the conversation was pretty exciting for me because she said she would cut back on her travel and she'd be home with me. So he said it was him who suggested going down the road to a spot overlooking the lights of Reno. A parking bay was on the right side of the road with a guardrail separating the pullover from the mountain slope. So he said, I started to brake, and it wasn't braking. It wasn't stopping. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't stopping. And the next thing you know, I hit the guardrail. And the next thing, I'd wake up, I'm on the dirt and I don't see the car, and I'm yelling for my wife and I don't know where she is. And that's all I remember what happened. That's it. He said it just kept going. It wouldn't stop. He said, I started panicking and I'm breaking and I'm breaking and I'm pushing as hard as I can, and nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. I just kept going. It wouldn't stop. Hit the fucking E brake, you idiot. Do something.

[B]

E brake. Throw it in neutral. There's a lot of things you can do.

[A]

I'm putting in fucking park. We'll leave the transmission back there, but we're stopping. You know what I'm saying? It's fucking happening right now.

[B]

Brace yourself. I'm throwing it in park.

[A]

Don't give a shit. It's better than flying off a mountain, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We'll worry about the truck later. So he said when I finally figured out where I was, it was on the sand. I was sliding down the hill. I'm trying the best I could. Looked up to see if I could see the truck, see a fire, see something yelling for her. So he said, I had my phone on me, luckily, so I called 91 1. He said it took them so long to get to me. They said when they arrived, by the way, he was. He had his head resting on his phone because they was listening. He said, I can't move my legs, but I'm okay. Find my wife. So they do. 795ft below. And the cop said it was lying on what had been its roof with the nose of the vehicle pointing back up the hill. And it was pretty crumpled up from the tumbles that it took down the hill.

[B]

Upside down, laying on its cap.

[A]

That's crazy, man.

[B]

Oh, my.

[A]

And backwards. Upside down and backwards is not good.

[B]

Aiming uphill.

[A]

Shit.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That thing got all fucked up. I have a picture of it, too. It's disturbing. So the cop said there was some grief when he told us. I tried to stop. I tried to stop, but it was nothing more than words. He looked like he was hyperventilating, but he wasn't. He spontaneously said, I don't cheat on my wife, out of nowhere.

[B]

Okay, what's the lady's name?

[A]

The cop said it was like, ding, ding, ding. No one asked you that. Yeah. If you're ever in an interrogation, don't answer questions that aren't asked of you. First of all, that's number one.

[B]

Don't anticipate what's coming.

[A]

Answer the questions as concisely as you can. Try not to ramble. And don't give extra information because that sounds terrible for you. It's not good. That is fucking wild. He spontaneously said, I don't cheat on my wife. So they take a little tactic here where they're like, let's give this a shot. It's legal to lie to people. And they do.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

They said they told him that a caretaker on the mountain was nearby at the time of your alleged conversation. And he came, he's come forward to it with us, to tell us what he heard that night. Oh, he.

[B]

He overheard.

[A]

He overheard. Yeah, he overheard. He was hanging out nearby. Yeah, he heard yelling. There's a lot of yelling you guys were doing. Right? He heard you guys. He wasn't even right by you when he heard you. So what's up with that? I thought it was a nice conversation. And the cop said, we just threw it out there. It set him back. We watched his micro emotions, his face, his hands. It all looked like somebody had slapped him. The cop said he was told about the caretaker. The police told him about a caretaker that may have heard. At that point, his story changed completely. Really? Yeah. The cops said that's all it took. That's all it took. The cop said that's when he started admitting it was loud, that he was boisterous, and he swore. Oh, this is like someone saying, I've never even been in that lady's apartment. Well, is there any reason why your fingerprints would be there? Actually, I was there for, like, three hours that one day. And that's what this is.

[B]

Someone on the block saw you walk in the door? Oh, that's right. I can do that.

[A]

Yeah. I was just bringing her her Amway, though, you know, that's it. So they said that. Yeah, he was boisterous and swore. Then he said, we worked out our 11 or 10 years worth of marriage problems in an hour. So, you know, of course it got heated at times, but so the prosecutors are thinking. So they have marriage troubles. She's very much insured. He's getting some money off of this and yeah, they don't know. They say the police think that he's angry because his wife quit her high paying job as a pharmacist locally where she was home at 5 o'clock every night to become an overseas travel tour guide. A career that would keep her away for months at a time. So that's what they're thinking. They're thinking he was just mad at her and rather than get a divorce and have to split all this up, it's easier just to kill her. So they said when, when Bergna couldn't answer the questions, his head would tilt a little. He said, like when your child says something that's not true. Oh no, that's his dad too, because they brought his dad in.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

Because he said he wanted his dad with him. His dad's an attorney. So he said whenever Bergner couldn't answer the questions, his dad's head would tilt a little bit. Like. Like when your child says something. Yeah. So he told police, the one thing I did not want to be is alone. And now I'm alone. And the other cop says he admits going up there with his wife. He admitted having a peaceful discussion with his wife about problems in their marriage. And that's what we got. They said, how about a polygraph? Maybe he'll do a polygraph. He said, sure, what the hell, Line me up. Absolutely. So they said he looked full of angst. They said that while you're doing this, they said you don't have to remember the truth because it is. You have to remember the lie. So. Right. That's easy for people to tell the truth. The test was eventually ruled inconclusive, which happens with a lot of them. Yeah, kind of a mess person a lot of times if they're on any kind of medication or if their emotions are all over the place, it comes out all messy. So they with doing some physical tests after this, they concluded that the vehicle was turned toward the guardrail at an angle of 60 to 90 degrees in order to bust through it like that, which is straight at it, basically. They also said it was doubtful that a one year old truck's brakes would just not work at all. Yeah, it's a new truck, brand new truck. So they're like, that's weird. Then they said there was two unsealed cans of gasoline in the back, maybe to try to make sure there was a fire.

[B]

Oh, right.

[A]

They were thinking, that's possible. So, yeah, they drive. The investigators drive similar trucks along the same route to see how they would handle the turn and try to figure out, okay, if I'm here, I'd have to do this. The guardrails were tested at different angles of impact to try to recreate the hole made at the crash scene as well. One of the most consequential pieces of evidence was an asphalt mark found on his sneaker and the location of his baseball cap. This is. Baseball cap was on the road. Yeah.

[B]

And if you're tossed well above him, the asphalt wouldn't touch you because you would be off the road before you get tossed.

[A]

That's what they're saying. Yes. A veteran accident investigator and reconstruction has said, I don't feel he came out of that driver's window or any other window, period. In my opinion, he came out of that car sometimes before it went through the guardrail. And in my opinion, I would have to say he came out of that car voluntarily. He said, I don't believe that the brakes went out. So, yeah, they said. The investigator said it was first investigated as an accident. They said when this thing happened, we didn't even get called the crime scene people. They said there was a lot of investigating officers and people involved who felt this was a traffic accident. But then later on, they called them all in, all these investigators, and said, no. They said, you can start with no skid marks on the roadway. But that's why I said his brakes didn't work. So the fact that he wasn't killed or seriously injured was suspicious there as well. It's interesting here. So they said that about his dad, Peter's dad. They said he had lived this career. He knew exactly what we were going through. He knew we wouldn't charge this case unless we could prove it. He knew we believed he did it. Talking about the dad. So the investigator said, quote, this thing smelled bad. Yeah, it's such a like old timey. I tell you, it smelled to high heaven. I'll tell you, this thing stinks. It stinks, I tell you. Stinks. He said, we just didn't think we were going to ever have enough evidence here. So they said that other things, just to run down the evidence here. Damage to his clothing was minimal. Not what someone would expect for someone who tumbled 80ft down a mountain.

[B]

Right. So they think he positioned that truck to be dead on with the guardrail and then jumped and Landed on his feet and slid on his ass or some shit.

[A]

Yeah. Like, just slid his ass down the whole way.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Is what they're thinking here. So they said that his airbag deployed, but there were no signs of bag impact on his face. So you didn't get hit with it. Very small amount of injuries, obviously. There's no bruises or scrapes indicating he'd been thrown through the driver's side window. They did find scrapes on the top side of the canvas shoe he'd been wearing that could indicate it scraped across an asphalt road. The road at that point curves and is steeply banked, much as true, like at an auto racetrack. It's that kind of thing. It goes elevated. The vehicle traveling on that road wouldn't turn, would turn toward the mountain, not outward through the guardrail, down the side because it curves to the left, not to the right where you shoot off the mountain. They said that it would have to be steered through the guardrail. They said the wreckage of the truck, it had 23,452 miles on it was airlifted out by helicopter. They said they found no reason for the brakes to go out. It had dual brake systems, meaning if the front brakes failed, the rear brakes should hold and vice versa.

[B]

Oh, how about that? He's got two sets of different master cylinders in this thing.

[A]

Yeah. And then a. No evidence of brake tampering. His driver's side window was in the down position, he said, because he was smoking a cigar. He told police he didn't wear a seatbelt ever. A switch in the truck allowed him to shut off the airbag on the passenger side. Because his wife was short about 5ft, 5ft, he was concerned about an airbag.

[C]

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[E]

May apply Being an actual royal is never about finding your happy ending. But the worst part is if they step out of line or fall in love with the wrong person, it changes.

[D]

The course of history.

[E]

I'm Arisha Skidmore Williams.

[D]

And I'm Brooke Zifrin.

[E]

We've been telling the stories of the rich and famous on the hit Wondery Show. Even the Rich. And talking about the latest celebrity news, I on Rich and Daily. We're going all over the world on our new show, Even the Royals.

[D]

We'll be diving headfirst into the lives of the world's kings, queens and all the wannabes in their orbit throughout history. Think succession meets the crown meets real life.

[E]

We're going to pull back the gilded curtain and show how royal status might be bright and shiny, but it comes at the expense of, well, everything else, like your freedom, your privacy, and sometimes even your head. Follow even the royals on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to even the royals early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus.

[A]

Sure you can say that they also said that when a vehicle strikes an object, the occupant would be thrown toward the object. So at the angle the truck at the guardrail, they would have expected Peter to be thrown toward. Thrown toward the passenger side windshield, not out the driver's side door.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

He would have. The force would have taken him that way, not the other way. He also told police he was looking for a fire after the accident. But rarely does a vehicle actually explode or burn on impact. It's just in movies because it looks awesome. It looks so cool. So they said, yeah, that's something seen in, you know, movies. They said perhaps three months after the accident as well, Bergman told Rick Riella, one of Renette's brothers, that perhaps he'd been hitting the brakes, that perhaps he hadn't been hitting the brakes after all. Maybe accidentally hit the gas.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Which you would imagine 30 years of driving experience would keep you from doing that, but I guess not. So the police tested the guardrail piling up to see what force it would take to dislodge it from the mountainside. They did everything. They also have a guy named. An engineer, a mechanical engineer named Robert H. Turner. He says that in his opinion, it's not possible that Bergner had been in the truck when it went over the cliff. He said that if Bergner had been ejected from the truck, he would have had about the same velocity as the truck and would have probably landed the same place the truck landed.

[B]

Right.

[A]

He would have went with it. Because you're both. You're in the car. You're now a person that can travel 50 miles an hour because you're in a fucking set. You're all. You're traveling.

[B]

You're moving that fast, no matter. You're still truck or not, Right?

[A]

Exactly. Yeah. The truck disappeared. If it just fucking dematerialized, you'd be going out.

[B]

The truck was going.

[A]

Yeah, that's it. So now they do all this investigation. This takes months, and then it takes two years.

[B]

Oh, boy.

[A]

And in the meantime, he got a $450,000 life insurance payout from his wife's insurance and started traveling the world. He also received $275,000 for her share in the family ranch where she grew up.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

As well. He sold it to her brothers, her share. So this was outside Manteca, California, which her parents owned. And now the kids all own it. So he made business trips or just hanging out. He went to London, Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, all over the place here. So then here they start the. Start trying to put something together. The prosecutors here, they drove down the hill at 30 miles an hour, sharply turned into the guardrail, and they were trying to figure out maybe if that was what he did so they said there was a mark on the top of his head as he jumped out. He hit the button of his cap on the door jamb. If you've ever hit that little button on top of your hat. God damn it. Does that hurt? Crush your goddamn skull.

[B]

And that's how the hat came off.

[A]

That's how the hat came off. They said there was asphalt on his shoe where he twisted his ankle. That meant he was out on the roadway. His cap was found on the edge of the road. It didn't blow off his head and land 30ft above him.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How did that happen? So the prosecution here, the district attorney, is trying to put this together. They said after jumping to safety, they think he slid down the slope on his butt, found a branch to hang onto, and started sobbing before making the 911 call. They said that her body suffered so much trauma, the coroner could not note a specific cause of death.

[B]

Oh, Jesus.

[A]

And they said it was impossible to determine if she was dead before the car crashed through the guardrail or not. They don't know. She was so fucked up, they said, dead or unconscious. We couldn't prove anything. She was so messed up from the tumbling. She's flown from Italy to New York to Salt Lake City to Reno, and you're gonna pull over on the side of the road to talk about your marriage? She was tired and could have felt comfortable falling asleep. He just pulls up there and does his deed. They think she might have been asleep in the passenger seat.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Which would make sense after that day of travel, right?

[B]

Yeah. I'd pass out, too.

[A]

Yeah. A lot of times you get somewhere and you're. You know, you feel like you want to sleep on the way home. I do it after the road all the time.

[B]

I've flown home from Columbus and driving home from the airport, I'm like, I should have just got an Uber. I am going to fall asleep on this freeway.

[A]

I always get, like, an hour nap in on my ride home from the airport. Always. So they said, we don't have any statements from the victim. We don't have any eyewitnesses. We don't have anything. They decide, though, through all of this science that they're going to arrest Peter.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

They said that? Yeah. They think he steered the truck through the guardrail, jumped out, hit his head on the driver's side doorway, knocked his baseball cap over, dragged his right foot and shoe on the pavement as he steered the truck toward disaster. They think he was, like, had his foot out the door and jumped out that way. So they said that, yeah, each time we got a report, it indicated a couple more tests to do. That's what they said. They said there were more interviews and more interviews and not being in a rush to judgment, it's a serious matter. So they said they took their time. They said his motive is he wants a wife to stay home with and he wants a wife who will have children with him. He takes her up on a cliff to argue with her about the marriage, and he elects to kill her. So they do. At the same time, her brothers here, Richard, John and James, are suing Peter in Washoe District Court. A wrongful death suit. Claiming that he intentionally and deliberately caused the vehicle to leave the road and go off the mountainside for the purpose of causing injury and or death to his wife. And so, yeah, they cast him as a capable person for the felonious and intentional death of their sister. Okay, they want all the insurance money back. They want all that shit back. So 2001, they take him to trial. Been three years almost here. So the they. One witness here who's known Peter about 10 years, he is named. Her name is Joan Dunkley. Told the court here that she was a volunteer bartender at the function and that he started talking a lot about personal things that he'd never talked about before that night. Oh, she said he was saying his wife was not at the function because she was on a trip to Europe as a guide, but she'd be coming home in a few days. He was really anxious to have his wife come home. All he really wanted was a wife and children. He wanted a wife who would stay home, be around, and he wanted to have kids. He had a similar conversation with two other women at the party. Just going around complaining that my wife doesn't want to have kids with me. And she just goes off gallivant.

[B]

Is he trying to cheat on her tonight? Because if so, this is the wrong conversation to have to entice someone to come home with you.

[A]

I really want to love my wife and sit next to her on the couch. You want to fuck me? It's weird. It's very weird. So shortly before all this here, he also called a bank employee he'd met through a professional appraisal function and asked her out as well. So he's been looking around this woman. Janet Mello is her name. She said, he asked me if I'd be interested in going to see a movie with him on Friday night. I thought it was strange. I didn't understand it. I didn't like it? I said no. I knew he was married.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. So I don't really. I don't blame her for saying that. That seems crazy. She said that another woman who worked at the bank, a trust officer for Seattle bank, said that she met him at a social function. This woman he ends up being engaged to after his wife dies. Oh, Robin Russell. And they were scheduled to wed and now he's having a murder trial instead. She said that she didn't think it was unusual for people associated with bank trust departments to be invited out by people in Peter Bergman's line of work. She said that was normal. The girl took it all wrong is what she said. She said that I met him at a social function. She said it's not unusual for people working in those areas to be invited to concerts, movies, the theater, lunches, dinners, whether they're married or not. Sounds like a fucking horny. Nice industry they got going on there. She said this is co owner of the Christmas Tree restaurant on Mount Rose Highway. Said Peter and Renette were getting a divorce. She was through with him. This is a friend of Renet's. So on her side. She said she knew Rene through the American association of University Women. And she said that they talked on the phone all the time and all that kind of thing. So there you go. She said she was buying things and talking about her trip. She was very excited about her trip. She's delightful. She was charming. She seemed like a very bright lady. So they bring in that. They bring in all the physical evidence we talked about and the jury comes back. The hung jury mistrial. Three jurors show it was nine to three in favor of conviction. Three jurors held out. One did not like policemen at all. This is a quote from the prosecutor. One did not like policemen at all. One didn't like the evidence. And one said it should be in God's hands.

[B]

Oh, for fuck's sake.

[A]

That's. You're missing the whole point of everything, sir. You don't do that. So now they're going to try him again, but he gets bail. He gets released from custody on bail in between the two murder trials. Yeah, he gets. They talk them into that. So, I don't know, friends of his, he's trying to get all of people on his side. Friends of his said he had a great marriage. One of his friends, Gary Espinosa, said it was just a beautiful marriage. This is just ridiculous. So June 2002, trial number two. Here we go. Now, the first time, they mainly said his main motivation was Financial. So he had financial gain, but they kind of had that shot down a little bit because not only is he financially secure, he's also in line to inherit because his dad died during the first trial. He's in line, his mother says, to inherit her $6 million estate as well.

[B]

And his house is paid off, and.

[A]

He'S very old, and he lives in a paid. She's very old, and he lives in a paid off house. So money isn't really a big motivator here.

[B]

It's a tough sell to people on a jury monetarily.

[A]

This isn't changing his lifestyle, basically.

[B]

Right.

[A]

So this trial now, now it's a little bit different here. They bring in a neighbor of theirs who testifies to seeing Peter Aim, a snowblower with full force at Renet a few months before she left for Italy. She said that one day she watched Renette bringing baggage to her car and that Peter Bergner tracked her down with the snowblower and aimed it at her and shot it at her at close range and followed her blowing snow on her as she walked from the front of the house to the car and aimed it into the car as she opened the door. That is the funniest domestic abuse I've ever heard in my life. Domestic violence. Never funny. That one's kind of funny. If it was a joke, it'd be hilarious.

[B]

Yeah, but even if it's. Even if it's aggressive, it's pretty funny.

[A]

It's just weird. It's snow. It's a strange fucking thing, but that snow comes out fast out of those snowblowers. That shit could hurt.

[B]

Oh, God. It could knock you over.

[A]

That's what I mean. It's a little much. But they said that Renette looked extremely upset and fearful. Yeah, she's trying to get in the car covered in snow.

[B]

He's drowning her with a solid.

[A]

So the neighbors said that she continued watching because she wondered if the situation would escalate and she might have to call 911 to help. They heard from multiple women, the jury does, who testified that Bergner was hitting on them in the weeks leading up to his wife's death, including the night before she flew back from Europe. Six weeks after the tragedy, Bergna invited a woman to his hot tub. She said that he showed no sadness about his wife's death and that he snapped after she rejected him and he grabbed her breast and grabbed a titty. Want to come to my hot tub? No, I don't. Fuck you and grab a tit. What a weird this guy's weird.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Between this and the Snowblower, he just has real weird reactions to shit. They heard from his first wife, who's been married before, who said she feared for her life while married to him. She described that he went absolutely berserk and screamed at her after she made hash browns incorrectly.

[B]

Oh, she. Oh, he's a real petty fucker.

[A]

Wow. Just burn them and they're correct. They're hard to fuck up. It's a hash brown. This guy's a little crazy.

[B]

I mean, if you burn them, they're better.

[A]

Yeah, that's what I mean. Just burn them and they're good. That's all you have to do to him. This guy's a picky asshole. This is Rebecca Tillery, his first wife. She said that he portrayed himself to friends and family as outgoing, gregarious, and a really nice guy, and that privately he was extremely volatile and angry toward her. She said that she constantly walked on eggshells around her husband and lived in fear. She said that money was pretty much everything to him and that she felt he gained his self worth through money. Well, I mean, yeah, that's not hard to do there. It's.

[B]

That's most people, too.

[A]

Yeah. Then they get a cellmate in here. Darrell Corsi. He testified that he and Peter had been housed at the Washoe County Jail and were in a Bible study group together. He testifies that Peter told him he had killed his wife because of financial issues and because she did not want to have children. There's alternating things whether she didn't want to have kids or couldn't have kids. So we're not sure which it is.

[B]

Well, if you can't have kids, you can still have kids. And he didn't want kids.

[A]

Yeah. So he testifies also that Peter told him that Rene was unconscious when he drove the truck off the road and that he had jumped out the window. He said that Peter told him that he did not think he would be convicted because he had a really good attorney. Next up, they bring in an expert, Dewey Willie, who does not sound like an expert in anything except maybe how to tap a keg, possibly. Yeah, that's it.

[B]

So that thing a lot.

[A]

One of the two. So he's the equipment mechanic, fleet supervisor for the Nevada Highway Patrol. He said part of his job is to inspect fatal vehicular crashes and that he inspected about 230 fatal vehicular crashes in six years. He inspected the truck, including brakes, tires, suspension and steering, and stated he found no unusual mechanical failure whatsoever. The seat belt on the passenger side had been cut to get Renette out of the car. The passenger side airbag bag was turned off and the driver's side seatbelt was intact and fully retracted. It was not in use at the time of the incident, which he said he didn't have a seatbelt on. The windows on both sides were broken. The driver side window regulator indicated the window was down. The passenger side window regulator indicated that that window was up. The emergency brake was not engaged. They said no trail of brake fluid found in the roadway. No other evidence of an actual rupture of the complete brake hydraulic system was found. He testified that any test conducted on the vehicle three or four years later, like now would be problematic because any car sitting in storage for two years or more would suffer dry rot of the rubber components of the braking system for sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So. He testified also that he did not attempt to measure the amount of brake fluid that was in the brake system when he performed his inspection. He testified he was unable to ascertain whether the left rear drum brake worked because it was gone, but that the condition of the right rear drum brake shoes was good. He also said he visually inspected the master cylinder and vacuum booster but conducted no other testing on them. He said he did not conduct further tests because there was no recall notice from Ford Motor Company for the braking system and because this particular truck had not had brake problems prior to this crash.

[B]

Ever.

[A]

Yeah, ever. The defense arguments include here detailing physics. Here they try to detail physics to show how Bergner could have been thrown clean through the driver's window as the truck tumbled. And they also introduced evidence that there were 1997 Ford F150 trucks that had known brake issues. That was a thing. A known thing. They also questioned why would a 45 year old man choose this method of murder which would be so dangerous to him. Suppose he fucked it up at all? He'd be dead, they said, betting the guardrail would break and that he could jump from the vehicle and do it all in pitch darkness. They said apparently Mr. Bergna has better vision than someone with 2010 wearing a night vision helmet, better reflexes than a cat, and is more psychic than John Edward or Sylvia Brown, which is possible because I think anyone listening right now, you're probably more psychic than those fucking hack charlatans fucking full of shit assholes. So they also. The defense also questioned why their client being horny was relevant to his urge to kill. So what if he's horny? Literally, they said that. So what if he's Horny.

[B]

Oh, that's so funny.

[A]

What's the difference? That doesn't mean he's a murderer. They bring in a friend here. Here. One of the guys here said that Peter took a long time to come out of this. They said it took a lot of spirit out of Pete. And he also, this friend said he believed the hot tub incident never happened.

[B]

Oh, it didn't happen at all.

[A]

Didn't happen. He said it was common for Bergman and other male appraisers to socialize with potential business contacts, including single women. They said it's probably one of the most important things for any appraiser, these bank people, because then they can refer people to him that need this service, I guess is what it is. So he said that they did have some disagreements about travel schedule, but he said, by God, they were going to work that out. Another witness testified that Peter was grief stricken after his wife's death. They said inside he was devastated. His mother testifies here. She said that her son was in shock, near shock at the funeral of his wife. And she said that he's not angry with his wife all the time. She never saw them fight. During multiple vacations abroad and other outings. She said they always wanted to do everything and see everything. And yeah, she said that I was very close to Renette. She was a bundle of energy. It was such a hard time for everyone after she died. And by the way, he stands to inherit part of her $6 million estate. So he shouldn't be real worried about money. Prosecution closing. They said that Bergna cared as much about the person he sent over the cliff as he did about his truck. Both are replaceable. Wow. So after this prosecutor, who's a female prosecutor, finishes her closing argument, he loudly calls her a bitch.

[B]

Nice.

[A]

Which is not great for your case at all. And the detective watching it said, you couldn't have stabbed yourself harder than doing that. That was dumb. The verdict comes in. It's a jury of eight women and four men. You really fucked this one up, man. And he is found guilty of first degree murder this time.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Guilty, Absolutely. Mother held her hands there heading her hands all sad. Sentencing comes around. You, sir, may fuck off. 20 years to life.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

No parole for 20 years.

[B]

Got him?

[A]

Got him. Apparently so. The prosecutor said that he's only out for himself. Prosecutor said pompous is a good word. After deliberating. How to describe him? He was very smug throughout the whole thing. I think he thought some expensive attorneys could get him off. Justice was a long time coming. But we got There in the end, they said he was just one of approximately 4,000 convicted felons who'll be sentenced in Washoe county this year. All the glamour is gone now. Bergner created the glamour to us. He was always the same as every other defendant. And the defense said he was turned into a celebrity target by the prosecutors. And.

[B]

Oh, come on.

[A]

Off said, I think that one of the things that endangered or engendered so much zealousness was the thought of who Peter Bergner was. It was almost a joke with the defense. His first name was no longer Peter. It was Wealthy Art Appraiser. I've met dozens and dozens of professional prosecutors. And talking about the. One of the prosecutors, he is probably the least professional I've ever met. My sense of things is he had whipped up the public fervor over this case. Wow. Peter said that the media portrayed him as being guilty, guilty, guilty, and that the public, quote, hates people with money. I mean, that's why every famous person's super rich. Oh, they do. They hate people with money. That's true.

[B]

But they hate. But they also. They hate you like crazy.

[A]

They hate people they don't particularly agree with about things that have money. If they like the person, what they stand for, they love that they make money. That's the thing. It depends.

[B]

Suck their cock harder.

[A]

No, it's wild. It could be. It's how they say they're right about everything. Yeah, well, he's super rich. How could he be dumb? Real easy.

[B]

So he's great.

[A]

Yeah, lots of people are rich and dumb. It happens. So they said that. Will there be appeals? The prosecutor said, right now, the way this case stands, there should be no issues. But, hey, you never know, basically. So the appeals do come in, and he appeals a bunch of times. One says that he could have. That he would have to have been suicidal or schizophrenic to pull off such a stunt and that he was neither, which I don't know how you'd get. Like, legally prove that here. They said the state's theory is that Peter could or murder his wife by staging a vehicle accident, which by design placed him in mortal danger. Is weird. So they said the prosecution's theory was, quote, weird. That's how they dealt with it.

[B]

It's happened a million times.

[A]

Yeah, right. They also said that he was wearing sneakers, blue jeans and a windbreaker, not an astronaut jumpsuit worn by stunt car drivers. Just because he wasn't dressed like Evel Knievel doesn't mean that he didn't do It.

[B]

Yeah, he said the stunt leathers at home couldn't have done it.

[A]

Couldn't have done it. The theory that this design stage accident featured him driving his truck straight into a guardrail in pitch darkness on a steep pitched moun is even weirder. A person who would do that would have to either be suicidally depressed or schizophrenic. They also claim that the guardrail was missing eight or nine bolts and that's why it failed to. They said, get the fuck back to prison, stupid. Go appraise the fine art that people do and poop on the walls. It's going to be excellent. Tell us what those are worth.

[B]

Go, go. Praise Gacy's work.

[A]

There you go. He is next up for parole in 2025 this year. Oh, he is up for parole. Oh, he's had a. He's had one or two already and now he's got another one coming up in 2025 and he thinks he might get out this time, so.

[B]

Possible. Yeah.

[A]

Keep an eye out, everybody. So there you go. Peter Bergner, Renette Bergner. Crazy ass fucking story. Someone tell me where that came from on tv, by the way. Please someone tell me what show that was on because it's driving me fucking bananas. Number one.

[B]

And I got, I got no, I got no remorse for him being it for sure did it. Right.

[A]

Yeah, he didn't fall. That's crazy. Yeah, he didn't fall out. Especially the episode of whatever I saw it on. He seemed really guilty in that one. So I'm going to go with yes. Now. I don't know. Head over to shut up and give me murder dot com. February 7th in Pittsburgh, February 8th in Columbus. Get your tickets right now for the whole rest of the year. Those ones at the end of the year selling fast. Seattle, Portland, D.C. philly. Get those right fucking now because you're going to. You're going to miss them if you don't. So get those. We thank you for doing that. Shutupandgivemerder.com, patreon.com CrimeInSports gets you all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above this week for crime and sports. You got a football player who just finished up a murder trial for small town murder. West Memphis three part two. You know you want to hear that shit. We got wild stuff coming up. Get in, do that. You also get a shout out at the end of the show there. Patreon.com crimeinsports hang out with us. Shutupandgivemer.com is the website keep hanging out with us. And until next week, everybody, it's been our pleasure. Bye. If you like small town murder, you can listen early and ad free now by joining Wondery in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen early and ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey he was hip hop's biggest mogul. The man who redefined fame, fortune and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Combs. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about. Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party.

[B]

So, yeah, that's what's up.

[A]

But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down. Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three count indictment charging Sean Combs with racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was up and I hit rock bottom.

[B]

But I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real.

[A]

From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace from law and crime, this is the rise and fall of Diddy. Listen to the rise and fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus.