The murder trial for former Marine Christopher Brandon Lee is underway in the San Bernardino Criminal Courthouse. Sean Daugherty, the Deputy District Attorney trying the case, called the case simple, stating all of the evidence points to Lee.
Lee is accused of murdering Erin Corwin, a 19-year-old woman he was having an affair with. Jonathan Corwin reported his wife Erin missing on June 28, 2014. Her abandoned car was found two days later. Erin’s body was retrieved from a mine shaft near the Twentynine Palms Marine Base, adjacent to Lee’s residence. Her neck was wrapped with a garrote and her body badly decomposed. A propane tank wrapped with blue rope was also pulled from the mine shaft and released into evidence.
Susan Jaquez, a crime scene investigator for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department testified on behalf of the state based on evidence she had collected. According to Jaquez, bits of twine that matched the twine of a torch found with Erin’s body were located in Lee’s jeep. Additionally, she said that tire tracks located near Erin’s abandoned car matched the jeep.
Lee, who went to Alaska after being discharged from the military, was pulled over in a Chevy Suburban by an Anchorage police officer. The officer found out that Lee had a warrant and had the vehicle impounded. The Suburban was registered to Lee’s mother and a garrote similar to the one found wrapped around Erin’s neck was found inside. The garrote was fashioned out of braided parachute cord, PVC pipe and electrical tape. The vehicle also contained a piece of blue rock climbing rope which matched the rope tied around the propane tank.
In other testimony, FBI Agent Kevin Boles testified that Erin’s and Lee’s cell phones placed both of them in the area where her body was found on the morning of her disappearance.