Incline Village man indicted in wife’s death

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2000 | 9:59 a.m.

Peter Bergna, 47, an antique appraiser, told investigators he lost control of his pickup and the vehicle tore through a guardrail in the early hours of June 2, 1998.

Deputies found him 50 feet down the mountain after he used a cell phone to call for help. He said he was thrown clear of the wreck.

His wife, Rinette Riella-Bergna, 49, was found in the vehicle wearing her seat belt. It took officials several hours to retrieve her body in the steep terrain.

The victim was an international tour director and owned a pharmacological consulting business.

Investigators spent a year trying to reconstruct the accident before submitting their findings to the district attorney's office.

The grand jury handed up the murder indictment Wednesday. Washoe District Judge Connie Steinheimer issued a no-bail warrant for Bergna's arrest.

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