Erin Corwin, 19yrs - 3mo Pregnant Missing Twenty Nine Palms CA 6/28/14

[texasmom]

 

http://www.kesq.com/news/vigil-to-honor-erin-corwin-on-monday/27704902



Vigil to honor Erin Corwin on Monday

Candlelight vigil from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Luckie Park in Twentynine Palms

Laura Yanez, KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2 Reporter, Laura.Yanez@cbslocal2.com

POSTED: 09:38 AM PDT Aug 24, 2014  UPDATED: 09:41 AM PDT Aug 24, 2014

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -

A community candlelight vigil will be held Monday evening to honor and celebrate the life of 19-year-old Erin Corwin.

Corwin's family said women who live on the Twentynine Palms Marine Base are planning the vigil from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Luckie Park, 5885 Luckie Ave, Twentynine Palms.

The community is invited to celebrate Erin and support the search and rescue crews who spent nearly eight weeks and 5,000 volunteer hours looking for her since she disappeared June 28.

Corwin's family encourages people to wear purple in her memory and continue to wear a purple ribbon until there is justice in her murder, according to DeeAnna Heavilin, Corwin's sister-in-law.

 

Heavilin said Corwin's family is finalizing plans for a memorial in Tennessee, but they are waiting for Erin's body to be released and brought home to them.

[texasmom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewdtAuOmcRQ

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ewdtAuOmcRQ?hl" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ewdtAuOmcRQ?hl</a>

[texasmom]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/26/erin-corwin-husband-jon--closure/14606791/

Erin Corwin: Marine husband Jon Corwin has 'closure'
Brett Kelman, The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun 1:59 a.m. EDT August 26, 2014

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — As the search dragged on and on, Jonathan Corwin clung to a dark kind of hope.

His wife, Erin, had been missing for weeks. She had vanished without explanation, launching a mystery in the High Desert, where vast empty spaces remain wild and dangerous.

And while Jonathan never lost hope that Erin would be found, he admitted to himself that she would not be found alive. Answers were the best he could hope for. When her body was finally discovered, crumpled in an abandoned mineshaft, Jonathan felt more relief than loss.

"I had some hope, but overall, I expected the worst. It's basically the only thing you can do after so much time," Jonathan Corwin said Monday, during an exclusive interview with The Desert Sun. "I have closure now. I know she is in heaven, now. She is in a better place, in no more pain."

 

Jonathan Corwin, a 21-year-old Marine corporal, sat down with The Desert Sun to discuss his wife's death on Monday afternoon, shortly before a vigil was held in Twentynine Palms. As many as 100 mourners, both friends and strangers, trickled through the vigil at Luckie Park, offering condolences to Erin's family and their thanks to the search teams that found her.

Many mourners wore purple, Erin's favorite color. Others tied small purple ribbons to a fence on the southeast corner of the park.

Jonathan has previously declined all interview requests, insisting he was not emotionally unprepared to talk about Erin. On Monday, the mourning husband said he believed finally speaking publicly — coupled with the vigil — would help him heal and move on.

The Corwins first met in middle school, and started dating a few years later. They were married in November 2012, and Erin moved to the high desert last September, while Jonathan was deployed in Okinawa.

Jonathan said Erin was a quiet young woman who loved animals — especially horses — and dreamed of raising children. She was also extremely shy, and would have been terrified by the media spotlight that was drawn to the mystery of her disappearance.

On the day Erin disappeared, she woke about 7 a.m., then prepared for a trip into the desert. Erin told him she was headed to nearby Joshua Tree National Park to take pictures. Jonathan was still in bed.

"I said 'OK. I love you,' " Jonathan said Monday. "She gave me a kiss. And then she left."

The next morning, Erin had not returned. Jonathan called 911, launching a search that would span about 300 square miles and more than 100 mine shafts.

In the days after Erin vanished, high desert law enforcement questioned and re-questioned Jonathan about his wife, scrutinizing whether he might be behind her disappearance. Jonathan said Monday he held no ill will toward these detectives, who were simply following the most likely leads.

 

Lee has been charged with first-degree murder, but could face an additional murder charge if an autopsy confirms that Erin was pregnant at the time of her death.

On Monday, Jonathan said he had once called Lee a friend.

The Lees had been neighbors of the Corwins since last fall, when Jonathan and Erin moved into an apartment building on the Twentynine Palms base. Jonathan and Lee shared a passion for off-roading and recreational shooting, and their wives both volunteered at the same horse ranch, so the neighbors became fast friends. They hung out "almost every day," Jonathan said.

In March, Jonathan discovered Chris and Erin had a brief affair. However, Jonathan believed the fling was over, and so he had made amends with his wife and tried to forgive his neighbor. Jonathan didn't discover the affair had continued until after Erin had disappeared.

Even now, Jonathan tries to forgive.

"Obviously, I hate the actions that he did. But I feel like, if I let him bring hatred to my mind every time I see him, he is just going to pull me down," Jonathan said Monday. "When I first figured out about the affair, and everything, he was still my next-door neighbor. There was a part of me that wanted to go take care of him. But if I did that, I would be in the same boat as him — I would be a bad guy. And that is just not me."

More pictures at the link:

[texasmom]

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/article/20140825/NEWS06/308250032/Former-Marine-suspected-Erin-Corwin-murder-returned-California

Former Marine suspected in Erin Corwin murder returned to California
Aug. 25, 2014 - 06:00AM

By Colin Atagi
The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun

Christopher Lee, who is the suspect in the death of Marine wife Erin Corwin, has returned to California and is scheduled to appear in San Bernardino County Superior Court Tuesday, jail records show.

He was taken into custody at 12:03 a.m. Monday and his court appearance is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Joshua Tree courthouse, 6527 White Feather Road.

Lee was arrested in Alaska on Aug. 17 shortly after a body found in a 140-feet deep mine shaft near Joshua Tree was positively identified as Corwin.

He now faces a charge of first-degree murder with special circumstance allegation of “lying in wait” and is eligible for the death penalty.

 

[texasmom]

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2014/08/26/erin-corwin-christopher-lee-court-plea/14646713/

Erin Corwin death: Christopher Lee pleads not guilty

Brett Kelman, The Desert Sun 6:07 p.m. PDT August 26, 2014

An former High Desert Marine who is accused of killing his neighbor's wife, Erin Corwin, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

Christopher Lee, 24, made his first appearance in a California courtroom on Tuesday after being extradited from Alaska. He wore a gray prisoner's jumpsuit and had full beard and finely combed hair. The hearing lasted only a few minutes, and Lee barely spoke.

Lee's attorney, David Kaloyanides pleaded not guilty on his client's behalf. During a brief interview outside the courthouse, Kaloyanides said he expected Lee's court case to last "a long time."

"It's going to take a while, in a case of this magnitude, to get any information from the DA's office, so we can evaluate the evidence is," Kaloyanides said. "There are a lot of different angles to investigate, and (we need) to see what they have."

Lee's wife, Nichole, did not attend the arraignment hearing. Erin's husband, Marine Cpl. Jonathan Corwin, sat quietly in the back of the room with his father Tom.

Lee is schedule to return to court for another hearing on Sept. 16.

 

Erin's cause of death has not been released.

In addition to murder, Lee has been charged with a special circumstance of "lying in wait." This allegation, which argues that Lee planned Erin's death and then lured her into a trap, makes the suspect eligible for the death penalty, if convicted.

 

[texasmom]

http://www.people.com/article/erin-corwin-murder-how-detectives-located-her-body

Erin Corwin Murder Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

By Johnny Dodd
@Johnny_Dodd

updated 08/26/2014 at 08:30 PM EDT

•originally published 08/26/2014 06:55PM

 

The cave specialist instrumental in locating Corwin's body is still scratching his head over the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department's success in finding the teenage murder victim.

"I kept telling them, 'She's not in a mine shaft. Who's going to dump a body in a mineshaft in 2014? This isn't a movie,' " says Doug Billings, who was called in to assist in the search when detectives learned of his extensive knowledge of the hundreds of old mines near the rugged national park.

"They just kept saying, 'She's in a shaft somewhere and you're going to find her,' " says Billings, who started exploring the 130-year-old mines around the park as a teenager. "She just happened to go missing in an area that I'd spent 30 years searching. I knew every canyon, trail, mine shaft and road in that area."

Working with evidence provided by detectives, Billings went through his old notes, studied satellite photos and put together a list of possible locations where Corwin's body might be found.

For the next six weeks, dozens of volunteers from caving clubs throughout southern California looked alongside search and rescue crews and braved 117-degree heat while searching 85 different shafts identified by Billings.

Corwin's body was eventually found in a 140-foot deep mine.

"This particular mine was number two on my list," recalls Billings. "I was standing 50 feet from it on our second day out, but the temperatures were so bad that we had to leave because the dogs couldn't handle the heat."

 

[texasmom]

http://www.kesq.com/news/erin-corwin-remembered-at-candlelight-vigil/27729316

Erin Corwin remembered at candlelight vigil

Natalie Brunell, KESQ News Channel 3 & CBS Local 2 Reporter, Natalie.Brunell@kesq.com

POSTED: 12:46 AM PDT Aug 26, 2014  UPDATED: 12:30 AM PDT Aug 26, 2014

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -

A candlelight vigil served as a tribute to Erin Corwin and the mark she left in her short time in Twentynine Palms.

Friends, family and strangers touched by her story offered prayers, lit candles and tied purple ribbons, Erin's favorite color, in her memory.

"Tonight is about celebrating Erin and celebrating Jon's love for Erin," said Michelle Doute, Erin Corwin's close friend and neighbor at the Marine base.

"It's a way to show we care about her and we miss her, and our way of saying goodbye since she'll be going home to Tennessee," said Aisling Malakie, another of Erin's friends and neighbors.

 

Those close to Erin want people who followed her story to now focus on her life, rather than speculations and negativity.

"She's a person first: a daughter, a wife, a friend and so much more to so many people. And that's what she needs to be remembered as," Doute said.

"She was a good girl, she was a good friend and I wish people would have a little more compassion," Malakie said.

For her husband, Marine Cpl. Jonathan Corwin, tonight was one step closer to getting closure.

He didn't want to speak on camera, but shared with News Channel 3 his most cherished memory of Erin:

He said he'll never forget their high school prom; the first night he saw her all dressed up.  And even though they had known each other since middle school, he remembers there was just something about the way she looked that night.

He said he believes she's now in a better place.

"They loved each other and you looked at them and knew they loved each other," Doute said.

Cpl. Corwin said a funeral service will be held for Erin in Tennessee in September.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/28/erin-corwin-marine-wife-murder-gold-mine/14741271/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories
Untapped gold mine was site of Erin Corwin body
August 28, 2014

A cave rescue team said the gold mine where Erin Corwin was found is little more than "an anonymous hole in the desert" that has not been worked for decades and is not marked on any maps.

The mine, a 100-foot vertical shaft, drops abruptly from an open desert plain. It sits on federal land southeast of Twentynine Palms, in the desert outside Palm Springs, Calif., surrounded by hundreds of other mines. Toxic air fills the shaft.

If not for the relentless searching of the San Bernardino County Cave and Technical Rescue team, Corwin's body would have lain at the bottom of this mine until there was nothing left to find. Instead, the rescue team discovered her body on Aug. 16, seven weeks after she vanished in the high desert.
"There was a sense of relief that we had found something," Sonny Lawrence, a member of the rescue team, said Monday. "But we knew we were not done."

Specialized firefighters were called in the following day to recover Corwin's body. The recovery of her body allowed authorities to arrest Christopher Lee, who has now been charged with murder.
 
The Desert Sun spoke to several members of the cave rescue team on Monday evening, during a vigil held for Erin in Twentynine Palms. Many mourners tied purple ribbons to a fence in the corner of Luckie Park, saying goodbye to Erin, then shook the hands of the cave team members, thanking the men who found her.
The cave team was assisted by Doug Billings, a cave and mine specialist, who cataloged mines to assist in the search for Erin. Billings said Monday that detectives showed him an area where they believed Erin may be found, then he drafted a map of the mines in the region, highlighting the mines that were most likely places to try to hide a body.

"There was so much evidence pointing in so many directions, I decided I was going to catalog every mine within a reasonable area," Billings said. "It ended up being 600, and still climbing, and these were just the large and modern mines. … But really, even with blind sight, we hit it almost dead on right in the beginning."

More than 100 mines were explored as part of the search for Erin, but many of these mines were searched before detectives showed the cave team where to prioritize. The sheriff's department used some form of electronic tracking — likely pings from a cell phone — to zero in on the area of the Rose of Peru Mining District, the Brooklyn Mining District and the Los Angeles Mining District.

Some mines were searched with dogs, who sniffed for the scent of human remains, and others were searched with customized camera rigs, lowered into the dark on cables. A few mines were short or shallow, and could be explored by a single team member in a matter of minutes. Other mines were large, requiring a spelunker to climb or rappel into the depths, combing every inch for clues.

In the end, Billings' theory turned out to be correct. Erin's body was found in one of the highlighted mines in the highest prioritized area. It was a gold mine, dug sometime in the '70s, last worked in the '80s, Billings said. The mine is not on any mine map because the map was drawn up in the late '60s.

"It's just an anonymous hole in the desert, with no name," said John Norman, one cave team member. "It requires four-wheel drive just to get into that area."

"And on the way to getting there, there were a dozen mines just like it," Lawrence added. "It is like a table, perfectly flat, and then all of the sudden, there is a hole in the ground 100 feet deep."
 

[Tamikosmom]

IMO they need to consider his wife as well.

RIP Erin 

Could it be that investigators made an immunity plea deal with Nicole Lee ... an immunity plea deal for the truth regarding her knowledge of the happenings encompassing the disappearance of Erin Corwin and ... the location of Erin's body?

Janet

+++++

Neighbor Says Body of Missing Marine Wife Will Never Be Found: Court Documents
July 22, 2014

<snipped>

While interviewing Isabella Megli, the owner of a ranch where Corwin and Lee volunteered, authorities learned that Lee’s wife Nicole had made several comments to her about the investigation, the affidavit stated.

“Nicole told Isabella that without a body the detectives did not have a case against them and the detectives would never find the body,” the affidavit stated.

Nicole also said investigators had searched her residence but missed something because they didn’t go through the garage.

She also “berated Lee in front of Isabella about not being able to keep his lies straight when he was interviewed by detectives because he was dumb.”

<snipped>

http://ktla.com/2014/07/22/missing-marine-wife-planned-to-see-man-she-was-having-an-affair-with-the-day-she-went-missing-court-documents/


Gold miner shows mine shaft where Erin Corwin's body was found
Aug 21, 2014

Tom Koch drives nearly two dozen miles from his home in Twentynine Palms to the Dale Group Mining District near Joshua Tree to look for gold.

He took us along for the nearly two-hour, slow, bumpy and often dangerous ride through the Mojave Desert to the Rose of Peru mine Thursday. It's a mine that's southeast of Twentynine Palms, one Koch hadn't visited in almost seven years.

"This last mile is really nasty," said Koch. "It's out here in the middle of nowhere. We're in no man's land."

<snipped>

"I'm surprised they found her. I really am," said Koch.

The gold mine operated from 1939 to 1941. There are thousands of abandoned ones like it throughout the desert. It's about 20 miles from the Cottonwood south entrance and Oasis entrance of the Joshua Tree National Park.

"I think he did his homework. How do you find a place like this in the middle of nowhere? I think he checked it really good before he decided on this one," said Koch.

<snipped>

http://www.kesq.com/news/gold-miner-shows-deep-mine-shaft-where-erin-corwins-body-was-found/27674404

[Tamikosmom]

Untapped gold mine was site of Erin Corwin body
2:56 p.m. EDT August 28, 2014

<snipped>

The cave team was assisted by Doug Billings, a cave and mine specialist, who cataloged mines to assist in the search for Erin. Billings said Monday that detectives showed him an area where they believed Erin may be found, then he drafted a map of the mines in the region, highlighting the mines that were most likely places to try to hide a body.

<snipped>

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/28/erin-corwin-marine-wife-murder-gold-mine/14741271/

[MuffyBee]

 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/31/erin-corwin-search-checks-stolen/14914321/
Checks to Erin Corwin's rescue team stolen from mailbox
August 31, 2014


PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Two checks made out to the search and rescue team who discovered Erin Corwin's body in an unmarked gold mine north of Joshua Tree National Park have been found in a dumpster in a San Bernardino park.

The checks had been stolen from a mailbox in Redlands days after the funds were given to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Cave and Technical Rescue Teamduring a vigil for Corwin on Monday at Luckie Park in Twentynine Palms.
 

Harold Stallberg stumbled across the stolen checks when he visited the park at the corner of Wier Road and Harwick Drive early Thursday morning.
Sonny Lawrence, a member of the search and rescue team, had mailed the checks to the group's treasurer from his home in Redlands. Lawrence put the envelope in the mailbox in front of his house and pulled the red flag up to alert the carrier there was outgoing mail.

"The next day, the red flag was still up and I thought, 'That's odd, why didn't the mail carrier put the flag down?'" Lawrence said.

On Thursday, he received a call from Stallberg, who had retrieved the trash about eight miles from Lawrence's home in Redlands.
"He had the checks with him, so I drove over there and he gave me the checks and explained the story," Lawrence said.

"It seems he rides his bike a lot — every day — and he goes to this one park quite a few miles from his house," Lawrence said Friday. "And he was sitting there early in the morning, like 7, 7:30 and this black SUV pulls up and the fellow gets out and dumps a bunch of mail in the trashcan. Then, as this fellow is pulling out of the parking lot, he throws more trash out of his window onto the pavement."

Stallberg told The Desert Sun he was sitting on a park bench when the SUV pulled up and as soon as it drove away, he walked over to pick up the litter and throw it in the trashcan.

"I saw all of this mail to all of these different people," Stallberg said. "My heart sunk. I feel for them ...I'd had my ID stolen before."

"I thought, 'Harry, do you want to get involved?' I thought, 'I'll just reach down and grab one letter' and that's the one I called on," Stallberg said.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Cave and Technical Rescue Team operates under the umbrella of the sheriff's department, but is responsible for providing its own equipment and is a strictly volunteer organization. The group is not paid for its missions.

[texasmom]

https://www.facebook.com/LocateErin/photos/a.1527425760819427.1073741827.1527424624152874/1567905170104819/?type=1


Locate Erin
2 hrs ·

Erin Renae (Heavilin) Corwin of Twentynine Palms, CA went to be with the Lord on August 16, 2014. Erin, originally from Oak Ridge, was a doting wife, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, niece, cousin and friend. Erin’s friends remember her as being a great confidant who was always willing to go above and beyond to help anyone she knew. Erin’s love for animals, especially horses, will live on in the memories of those closest to her. Erin’s nurturing soul led her to become the mother of dozens of animals in her short life. Her “children” ranged from fish and guinea pigs to cats and dogs. Before her husband Jon’s career in the United States Marine Corps took them to California, Erin worked at Tractor Supply in Oak Ridge and spent most of her free time with her horse or checking out the latest yard sales with her mom and brother. Though Erin enjoyed being in California, she and Jon were looking forward to being able to move back to East Tennessee next year.

Erin is preceded in death by her youngest sister Trisha Heavilin and father-in-law Michael Braden. Erin will be greatly missed by her loving husband USMC CPL Jonathan Corwin, parents William and Lore Heavilin of Oak Ridge, mother-in-law Sheila Braden of Oak Ridge, parents-in-law Tommy and Patricia Corwin of Sevierville, sisters Kristy and Taylor, brothers Keith, Jon, and Alex, multiple grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the search teams that assisted in the search and location of Erin. www.caverescue.net or checks made payable to: Inland Empire Search and Rescue Counsel, 655 E. 3rd Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415 ATTN: Volunteer Forces.

There will be a candlelight vigil in Erin’s memory on Friday, September 19, 2014 at 7:30PM at the East Tennessee Riding Club in Oak Ridge: 470 Tuskegee Dr.

[grace-land]

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2014/09/16/christopher-lee-erin-corwin/15723159/

Erin Corwin case: Christopher Lee hearing rescheduled
12:19 p.m. PDT September 16, 2014

A court appearance was rescheduled Tuesday so an attorney could review hundreds of pages of evidence involving his client, a former High Desert Marine suspected of killing another Marine's wife and dumping her body into a mine shaft.

Christopher Lee appeared in San Bernardino County Superior Court in Joshua Tree as a formality in advance of a preliminary hearing, but discussions were pushed back to Oct. 29.
 
Sean Dougherty, a San Bernardino County deputy district attorney, told Judge Rod Cortez that the delay was necessary because he had just provided the defense with 1,494 pages of documents.

The prosecutor declined to comment further following the hearing, which was attended by Lee's family, including his wife, Nichole. They also declined to comment to the media.

Lee, who sat silently during the brief hearing in a green jumpsuit, was extradited from Alaska last month and pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2014/10/29/christopher-lee-erin-corwin/18107327/

Christopher Lee hearing rescheduled in Erin Corwin case
12:16 p.m. PDT October 29, 2014

Isabel Megli was in San Bernardino County Superior Court on Wednesday to deal with a livestock citation when she noticed a shackled Christopher Lee sitting just a few feet away in the jury box.

It was the first time the Yucca Valley woman saw her former tenant since he was arrested two months ago on suspicion of killing Erin Corwin, whose disappearance sparked a massive search that ended when her body was found in a mine shaft.

"This was very difficult for me to see him," said Megli, who rented a home to Lee and his wife, Nichole. "When you see someone like that in court, you reflect on good times. It's a conflict."

She wanted to hug Lee as she sat in the Joshua Tree courtroom, but she couldn't even say hello since it's against court rules for audience members to communicate with defendants in custody.

Megli, who owns White Rock Horse Rescue Ranch, was cited on July 7 for letting five horses run loose. She said they escaped through a broken fence and she's fighting the citation.

Her hearing lasted a minute and she exited the room shortly before Lee's hearing, which also was brief.

He was in court for a formal appearance that precedes a preliminary hearing. However, it was rescheduled to Dec. 2 so the defense could review evidence.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.kesq.com/news/body-of-erin-corwin-to-be-released-to-her-family/30021934

Body of Erin Corwin to be released to her family
POSTED: 01:01 PM PST Dec 02, 2014
UPDATED: 04:48 PM PST Dec 02, 2014

JOSHUA TREE, Calif. -
The body of Erin Corwin will now be released to her family after a judge in Joshua Tree rescinded an earlier order to keep the body for testing, according to court records.

Judge Rod Cortez made the decision at Tuesday morning's court hearing.
 
He's due back in court on January 6, 2015. There's still no word if the prosecution will seek the death penalty.

[grace-land]

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2014/12/02/erin-corwin-christopher-lee-hearing/19786821/

Trial of Chris Lee may move out of High Desert
5:08 p.m. PST December 2, 2014

An attorney for homicide suspect Christopher Lee said Tuesday he may try to move his client's trial out of the High Desert because the jury pool has been saturated by widespread media coverage of Erin Corwin's death.

David Kaloyanides said details of the case released by law enforcement and publicized by journalists during the search for Corwin irreversibly tainted potential jurors.

However, moving a trial can be "very difficult," Kaloyanides said. To do so, he must convince a judge that Lee simply cannot get a fair trial in the High Desert.

"We are considering that because of the pre-trial publicity that is already out there," Kaloyanides said. "But I haven't made that decision, yet."
 
During the court hearing Tuesday, Judge Rod Cortez approved a request to release Corwin's body, which has been held for months for an independent forensic examination. The body will now be returned to Corwin's mourning family.

Lee made a brief appearance during the hearing, but said nothing. He wore the orange jumpsuit of a prisoner, was unshaven and had longer hair than when he was arrested.

Lee has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Prosecutors have yet to decide if they will pursue the death penalty. The court case is likely to go to a preliminary hearing in March. Lee's next appearance is scheduled for Jan. 6.

Although Corwin's body was found over three months ago, authorities have still yet to reveal her cause of death, and have refused to say if she was pregnant. Corwin told friends she was pregnant shortly before her disappearance.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2015/01/06/christopher-lee-erin-corwin/21326885/

Christopher Lee to return to court in March
12:14 p.m. PST January 6, 2015

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for a former Marine accused of killing Erin Corwin, a woman whose 2014 disappearance sparked a massive search that ended when her body was found in a mine shaft.

Christopher Lee's hearing is scheduled to take place March 4 in San Bernardino County Superior Court in Joshua Tree.

Superior Court Judge Rod Cortez set the date Tuesday during a routine court appearance that Lee attended. Lee's attorney had requested the preliminary hearing take place the first week in March.

"That'll work for me," said Lee's attorney, David Kaloyanides.

Lee, whose hair has grown longer and beard is thicker, sat silently during the brief hearing. He only said "yes" when Cortez asked if he understood what had been discussed.

A motion hearing also is scheduled for March 4. The details of what will be discussed wasn't shared during Tuesday's brief hearing, and Kaloyanides was not immediately available after the appearance.

Sean Dougherty, a San Bernardino County deputy district attorney, told The Desert Sun he anticipated two motions could be presented, one to suppress evidence and another to move Lee's trial out of the high desert.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2015/04/02/chris-lee-erin-corwin-hearing/70822386/

Erin Corwin expected proposal the day she disappeared
4:20 p.m. PDT April 2, 2015

Erin Corwin thought she was being taken into the desert for a marriage proposal. Excited, she texted a friend in Tennessee, eager to share the big news.

"The location is only half the surprise," Corwin texted. "He said he's honestly not sure how I'm going to react … Seriously, I don't know why he would drag me to a very special place … for a big dumb surprise."

Corwin's texts about Chris Lee were happy, sprinkled with emoticons and "LOLs."

She was oblivious to the fact that she was about to die.
 
New details about Corwin's death, including her oblivious text messages, were revealed during a lengthy court hearing on Thursday at the courthouse in Joshua Tree. The "preliminary hearing" determined that the case against Lee was strong enough to proceed towards trial.

Testimony included the first-ever information about Corwin's cause of death and the physical evidence against Lee.

Corwin's text messages were read aloud during the testimony of Jessica Trentham, a close friend who spoke with her shortly before her disappearance. When Corwin told her about the desert trip, Trentham asked Corwin if she was expecting Lee to give her an engagement ring.

"She said maybe," Trentham. "With lots of exclamation points."
 
Corwin's texts included one more foreboding detail. According to Trentham's testimony, Corwin said that Lee had planned the desert trip as a romantic getaway, but he also expected to do some hunting, so he would bring a gun, and he might have to pull it out "for a few minutes."

Lee has pleaded not guilty to all charges. During the hearing on Thursday, he sat shackled at the defendant's table, but did not speak.
 
Jonathan Woods, a homicide detective with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, testified that an autopsy revealed that Corwin had likely been strangled with a homemade garrote. The garrote, which was made from rebar and nylon rope, was found in the mine shaft with her body.

Woods said police found a similar garrote in Lee's Jeep. Police also found colorful climbing rope in both the mine shaft and Lee's Jeep, further linking the suspect to the crime scene.

Due to decomposition, the autopsy was unable to confirm whether or not Corwin was pregnant, despite the fact that Corwin believed she was pregnant when she went missing. If Corwin had been confirmed pregnant, Lee would likely face a second murder charge.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.wbir.com/story/news/local/2015/05/26/former-marine-charged-with-murdering-erin-corwin-due-in-court/27949851/

Man charged with murdering Erin Corwin makes court appearance
3:42 p.m. EDT May 26, 2015

WBIR) The man charged with murdering an Oak Ridge woman and dumping her body in an abandoned mine shaft in California appeared in a California court Tuesday morning.

Christopher Brandon Lee, 25, previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the death of Erin Corwin.

According to the San Bernadino County online court docket, Lee had a pre-trial hearing.

Court minutes show they continued the hearing to June 30, 2015.
 

[texasmom]

From months ago, but a good interview imo.

Video at the link:

http://wate.com/2015/04/24/mother-of-oak-ridge-woman-murdered-in-california-opens-up/

Mother of Oak Ridge woman murdered in California opens up
WATE 6 On Your Side Staff
Published: April 24, 2015, 6:11 pm  Updated: April 24, 2015, 11:37 pm

OAK RIDGE (WATE) – The mother of a young woman, originally from Oak Ridge and murdered in California, is sharing her feelings openly for the first time.

Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was a young military wife who went missing last year. Weeks later, searchers found her remains in a mine shaft in a California desert. The man accused in her death, Christopher Lee, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer is hoping the trial will be moved to another town.

Corwin’s family still lives in East Tennessee and her mother Lore Heavilin is now sharing her ordeal.

“She was happiest on the back of a horse,” said Heavilin.

Heavilin said Erin’s second home was the East Tennessee Riding Club in Oak Ridge. It’s now become a place of comfort for her as she copes with her daughter’s death.

“She was sweet, kind, very naive. She would get upset if I killed a spider in the house,” Heavilin said.

The 19-year-old moved across the country to be with her husband Jonathan Corwin, who lived at the Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms, California. Jonathan Corwin reported his wife missing last June after she didn’t come home from Joshua Tree National Park.

Days before search teams found Erin, her mother received a message from her.

“I had a dream and she walked up to me in that dream and said, ‘Mom, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. I had so many plans for my life,’ and she walked away.”

Erin Corwin’s body was found in a desolate part of the Mojave Desert weeks after she was reported missing

“I felt like she was probably in a mine shaft somewhere. I really kind of felt like we might be waiting years to find her,” said Heavilin.

What some don’t know is that this isn’t the first time the Heavilins have lost a child. Their 3-year-old daughter Trisha passed away in 2003 from sepsis, or blood poisoning.

“Losing one is hard enough. Having to lose the second one is even harder and with the way she was taken from us, it makes it much harder because it just doesn’t make sense,” Heavilin said.

 

Just this month in court, text messages between Corwin and a friend revealed she thought Lee was going to propose during a planned trip to the desert.

“In a way, it helped me know deep down in my mom’s heart what I knew that he had manipulated her and lured her,” said Heavilin.

Corwin’s mother is hoping to piece together every part of the story. A purple horse tattoo on her forearm along with purple ribbon stickers on cars are a daily reminder to get justice for Erin.

“There she is. That’s my girl,” she said, looking at the tattoo.

Lee’s recent not guilty plea was not a surprise to Heavilin, but rather a message that there’s a long road ahead before she can get the answers she needs.

“Not only did the emotional scab get ripped off, but somebody was rubbing salt in that wound, but then I start thinking about salt is healing, so I can heal from this.”

Heavilin says Corwin’s husband moved back to Oak Ridge and is going to school for welding.