A body buried under a ton of trash in a remote San Diego County dumpster is that of a missing Newport Beach woman whose husband was charged earlier this week with her murder, authorities said.

Quee "Q.C"  Chadwick's body was found Thursday inside the dumpster off a highway in rural Lakeside beneath mounds of trash. A coroner's examiner in San Diego County made the positive identification on Friday, prosecutors said. The location is about 100 miles south of the tony Orange County coastal community where she lived with her husband, Peter Chadwick. A cause of death is still being determined.

Peter Chadwick, 48, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder for financial gain after prosecutors alleged he killed his wife on Oct. 10 inside their Newport Coast mansion after arguments over money and a divorce.

Chadwick was arrested last week in San Diego County near the  U.S.-Mexico border after he called police saying he needed assistance. 

According to a source familiar with the case, Chadwick told investigators a man killed his wife at the home, then forced him to load the body into a truck and drive to the border.

Detectives, however, retraced his movements and viewed freeway camera images of his Lexus SUV but saw no one else with him in the vehicle. A CHP officer who briefly followed Chadwick also did not see anyone else.

Quee Chadwick, 46, vanished last week. A fight between the couple reportedly occurred the day she vanished, prosecutors said, and a neighbor noticed something seemed wrong when no one picked up the couple's children from school. The neighbor called police, who found evidence of a bloody struggle inside a bathroom at the home, prosecutors said.

Police are asking anyone with information to call (800) 550-NBPD or (949) 644-3764.

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-- Richard Winton