A sad update on the story of Erin Corwin, the pregnant California woman who’s been missing since June 28: Corwin’s body has been found in the bottom of a mine shaft near Twentynine Palms. Former Marine Christopher Brandon Lee, with whom Corwin was reportedly having an affair, has been arrested for her murder.
(Note: The photo above depicts Corwin with husband John Corwin, also a marine, and not with Lee.)
Via Hi-Desert Star:
Searchers on Saturday focused on the Rose of Peru, Los Angeles and Brooklyn mining districts, according to the Sheriff’s Department. About 5:30 p.m. Saturday, they saw human remains after sending a camera down a mine shaft on Bureau of Land Management property outside of Joshua Tree National Park, Sgt. Travis Newport, a homicide investigator with the Sheriff’s Department, said.
Due to weather conditions, they could not recover Corwin’s body Saturday. A specialized search-and-rescue team from the county Fire Department’s Fontana station went to the scene Sunday and made two descents into the mine.
“We made two entries, one to collect evidence and the next to rescue Erin Corwin’s body,” Fire Chief Mark Hartwig told the press.
Events moved quickly Sunday afternoon. The Fire Station team finished its recovery at 6:30 p.m. A forensic dentist confirmed the remains were Corwin’s at 9:30 p.m. and a federal task force was arrested Christpher Lee at 10 p.m. in Anchorage, Alaska, where Lee had returned after he left the Marine Corps.
According to court documents, Corwin and Lee had planned a “special day” to “celebrate Erin’s pregnancy and he was ‘going to take her hunting,’ approximately two hours away at an undisclosed location.” Lee claimed, to the contrary, that he had gone hunting alone in Joshua Tree and had no knowledge of Corwin’s whereabouts.
She was 19.
Massive condolences to her friends and family.