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NBC’s Dateline Season 25 Episode 9, titled The Last Day, follows the story of a 19-year-old woman, Erin Corwin, from Twentynine Palms, California. Corwin went missing on June 28, 2014, and her body was later discovered in one of the mines of the Joshua Tree National Park.
The synopsis of the Dateline episode states:
"On June 28, 2014, 19-year old Marine wife Erin Corwin tells her husband she is going out to scout hiking trails in Joshua Tree National Park. She then vanishes without a trace."
After the investigation, it was found that Corwin’s neighbor, Christopher Lee, was behind the murder of the 19-year-old woman who was pregnant at the time.
More on this in our story.
Dateline: The Last Day - Who was Erin Corwin, and what happened to her? Details explored
Erin Corwin grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, after being adopted by the Heavilin family. As per Dateline, Erin was described as having a reserved demeanor and loved horses.
She later moved to Twentynine Palms, California, with her highschool sweetheart and husband, Jon Corwin, a US Marine. However, their relationship started to develop cracks when Erin had a miscarriage and slipped into depression.
She then met Christopher Lee, their neighbor and another Marine, and became good friends with him and his wife, Nichole. Lee and Erin bonded with their shared struggles with depression and later started an affair.
After Erin disappeared on June 28, 2014, Lee became one of the initial suspects.
Erin had gone to the Joshua Tree National Park to look for hiking trails, so when her mother came to visit her, she would take her to one of those treks. However, she didn’t come back home, and Jon reported her missing. The police later found her car abandoned near her house in the Marine Corps base rather than near the national park.
Christopher Lee was brought in by the detectives of the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office for questioning after they learned about their affair, but Lee denied all allegations of being involved in this case. He told the detectives that he was hunting coyotes in the same park and didn’t meet Erin that day.
The police and volunteers searched for Erin in the harsh terrains for nearly two months before finding Erin’s body in August 2014, down a more than 100-feet deep mine shaft.
As per Dateline, Erin had texted her friend in Tennessee about going on a surprise date with Lee and was anticipating it as she wanted to start a new life with him. Later, Isabel Megli, the ranch owner where Corwins and Lees visited regularly, came forward with information about Lee going to the desert to look for undiscovered mines.
All these pieces of evidence and Erin’s body helped the police charge Christopher Lee with Corwin’s murder.
Dateline: The Last Day - Christopher Lee was found guilty of murdering Erin Corwin
Christopher Lee was arrested in 2014 at his Alaska home. He initially denied his crimes but later confessed in November 2016 to killing Erin Corwin by strangling her and pushing her body down the mine shaft.
Lee revealed that he killed her because he suspected Corwin of molesting his daughter. He was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
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