48 Hours: NCIS - Last Breath: 6

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Will Erin’s story end with justice? Prosecutor Sean Daugherty fights against Chris Lee’s defense with a powerful, unforgettable strategy. As the trial comes to a close, the people in Erin’s orbit—her family and friends, the NCIS agents, reporters—learn the painful truth about Erin’s tragic end.Listen early and ad-free by subscribing to 48 Hours+ on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4aEgENoSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A warning to listeners that this episode contains graphic depictions of violence. Just over two years since Erin left the Marine base and never came back, her family finally had the answer of what happened to her and who did it. Christopher Lee killed her. For the first time, they finally learned his story, why. According to Aaron's killer, she allegedly abused his daughter. The court was shocked by Chris Lee's testimony. It was hard to believe.

It kind of came out of left field. It kind of seemed like it was this last attempt to paint Aaron in a in a horrible light to make some type of excuse for his behavior and it was hard to watch. NCIS analyst Ashley DeChelfin kept up with the case thanks to reporter Beth Ford Roth's blog and the national news coverage. Since NCIS's official involvement in Erin's story had concluded. The NCIS agents had done their job. They helped find Erin and the person who killed her. But Special Agent Clifton Randolph Jr. said it was hard to move on from a case they had

worked on so intensely years before. It never goes away, especially when you had such a big role in it. In the news coverage, the agents remembered seeing a side of Chris Lee that chilled them. When I saw his testimony, I was surprised by what he said that he had done to Aaron Corwin. I was surprised that he admitted what he did in the detail that he did. I was surprised by his facial expressions, kind of like he was reading off... The script. Yeah, the script.

It was shocking and almost robotic. But was Chris Lee telling the truth? I'm CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales. This is 48 Hours NCIS. Episode 6, Last Breath. The air in the courtroom when he testified, I think initially, became very, very heavy. Prosecutor Sean Doherty was seated at the prosecution's table, the one closest to the jury when Chris testified. You could feel the emotions in the courtroom.

You could see it on the jurors' faces. Could've heard a pin drop, I think. Very quiet, very serious, very heavy. Prosecutor Doherty said the court was silent when Chris claimed that many months before he killed Aaron, his wife Nicole was giving their daughter a bath when she noticed something wrong. And that Nicole said, I think that maybe she's been molested. And I think Erin did it. Reporter Beth Ford Roth sat in her usual seat in the courtroom, right behind Erin's mother,

Lore. She had watched every second of the trial, making note of every piece of evidence. She didn't want to miss anything in her daily write-up for the blog. She knew the rest of Aaron's family would be following along, and this part would be especially difficult for them to read. Up to this point, the court knew that Aaron would sometimes babysit Chris and Nicole's daughter. So it might have seemed plausible to the jurors that something could have happened to the Lee's daughter, and that Erin could have done it. But the time came for prosecutor Dougherty to cross-examine Chris,

and Dougherty was prepared for something like this, Chris's last-ditch attempt to save himself. He spoke to Laura first to prepare her for this possibility. When Sean first told me I was just like him, there's just no way. Absolutely no way Aaron would do anything like that. Sean had actually asked him if they'd noticed any difference in their daughter's behavior once this supposedly all started. And Chris answered, no.

Like why in the world are you even asking me this, you know? Chris had made the allegation. Now he had to prove it. Beth watched how quickly the claim dissolved under pressure. Did they call military police? No. Did they go to a pediatrician who would have been required to call the police? No. There was no evidence entered in by anyone to say there's evidence this child was molested. Special Agent Randolph said the NCIS never received a report about the Lee's

daughter on the 29 Palms Marine Base. It was known protocol that anyone on base who has any sort of problem, any criminal matter, could and should report it to NCIS. There's at least one agent working 24 hours a day that can take any report of any wrongdoing, especially on a military installation, and we don't operate in secret. We interact with the commands and say, hey, we're here, we're here to assist.

So that's why I was shocked, being in that area that was never reported to us. Clearly, if Erin actually abused the Lee's daughter, her parents didn't appear to take it very seriously. To say, well, oh, we thought Erin did it like six months ago, but we kept letting her babysit. And you know, I was still having a romantic relationship with her. No, we didn't tell anyone.

We just sort of let it go. It didn't make any sense at all. But as for why this allegation came up now, that made perfect sense. Well, the reason to do this was to get the jury to vote for voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter is the crime of killing another person in circumstances that do not amount to murder. For example, killing without premeditation. That's what the defense attorney in his closing arguments said, that this was not premeditated

very last minute. He didn't think about it at all until he was actually doing it. He didn't really know what he was doing. And it was brought in by this incredible love for his daughter and protection for his daughter. And therefore he would not be guilty of first degree murder, not even second degree murder, but voluntary manslaughter.

When Chris Lee was arrested, he was charged with first-degree murder, killing with the full intention to kill. It's the most serious type of murder and punished accordingly. In California, if you are convicted of first-degree murder, you face 25 years to life in state prison. If you are convicted of voluntary manslaughter, it's a much lesser punishment. You face a sentence of up to 11 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000. So if prison was unavoidable, Chris wanted to do as little time as possible. I argued during the trial that he wasn't confessing out of some sense of remorse or sadness or

anything else. He couldn't care less about that or Aaron for that matter. He was telling them that story in the hopes that someone would buy the heat of passion argument. And in order for anyone to believe the heat of passion argument, his child abuse allegation against Aaron would have to be airtight. The jury would have to believe it to be true. It was horrifying because the only thing worse than a murderer is a child molester. And so Christopher Brandon Lee tried to make himself the second most terrible person in this story. And if Aaron was the worst person,

then he would have been justified for what he did. In the courtroom, Beth couldn't believe what she was hearing. My reaction was immediate emotion. I had to put my head down because I began to cry. This man not only broke this poor girl's heart, he murdered her, and now to save his own skin, he was going to try and ruin her name and turn her into some sort of monster. It was so horrific. And I have a flash of looking at the jury

and the jury's face reflected that. It sounded like an absolute complete and total lie. There was no evidence Aaron Corran was molesting his daughter other than from him. His story was ridiculous. Even from the basic fact of a 19-year-old girl being out in the middle of the desert with someone she loves and, according to him, confessing to a horrible crime,

just doesn't pass the smell test at all. In the very first row of the courtroom, Lore sat listening. She watched Chris Lee admit to killing her daughter. And then she had to watch him try to avoid responsibility in order to shave off a few years from a prison sentence. Chris was trying to cover all his bases, trying to do whatever he needed to do to make things less horrible for him. Prosecutor Doherty had one more thread to pull that he hadn't already. According to Chris's testimony, he found out about Erin allegedly abusing his daughter

from his wife, Nicole Lee. So Nicole was sort of this little insidious thread throughout the trial. The jury never saw her testify, but she was there and her name was mentioned and there was always a suspicion of what did she know, when did she know it. There were no charges against Nicole, and while she was kept on call as a witness for both sides at points in the trial, she was never called to testify. Spousal privilege means that wives don't have to testify against their husbands.

And the defense never did end up calling Nicole for reasons that are unclear. She told more than one person that she didn't care if Aaron had died, that if there's no body, there's no case and that they'll never find the body and that her husband needs to keep his story straight. So there's every indication that Nicole knew, in my opinion, but no charges have been brought against her.

It was only when the judge was questioning Chris's heat of passion argument that Nicole was called to court. After Christopher Brennan Lee testified that Aaron had abused his daughter, and that was the reason why he had killed her, the prosecutor asked that Nicole be brought into the courtroom. When Nicole arrived in court, she seemed at peace. She had a big smile on her face. She was wearing her husband's dog tags.

She was dressed, business suit, makeup. Just everything was great. Nicole stood in the middle of the court in front of prosecutor Daugherty and the judge. Daugherty said, if Nicole's daughter really was put in danger, if Aaron really was abusing her, he was prepared to call the child to the stand. As soon as the prosecutor said,

you need to have your daughter available to be brought in as a witness, she started to shake and got very, very angry. I think she was absolutely shocked that the prosecutor sort of called their bluff and said, okay, if you're going to use your daughter as a tool to try and get your husband off of murdering his mistress. We're going to ask her questions. If she was really abused, that we should want to find out what happened to her.

According to Beth, Nicole stormed out of the courtroom. Beth felt Nicole's emotional response wasn't out of concern for her daughter's well-being. It was almost like at that moment she realized that that lie wasn't going to work. And that her husband was going to get convicted of murder. So if Erin was innocent, why would Chris kill her? To prosecutor Dougherty, Chris' motive was clear. Chris Lee killed Erin Corwin because he didn't want the baggage of a child with another woman

and the fact that she was going to be a part of his life for the rest of his life. Chris, when he was on the stand, was talking about the fact that he joined the Marines because he wanted to protect our country. And he had several deployments, but none of them involved him being in action. And he was very disappointed

that he did not get to kill anybody. He actually said that. He said that. If that was painful for Lore to hear, the next bit was excruciating. A warning to listeners that what you're about to hear is graphic. I knew about the garrote before the trial.

It was still around her neck. As prosecutor Doherty cross-examined Chris on the stand, he felt Chris' story and the way he told it made murdering Erin sound sort of sterile and one-dimensional. Doherty needed to help the jury better visualize the crime. He had a strategy. He had prepared lore for it, as he knew she would be watching in the crime. He had a strategy. He had prepared lore for it, as he knew she would be watching in the courtroom. Sean warned me that he was gonna have Chris demonstrate

how he used the garrote, and I did not watch it. When I cross-examined Chris Lee, and we reached the point where I was bringing out the dummy and the garrote, I believe my question was, show me how you did it, show me how you killed her. Reporter Beth Ford Roth was seated near the front of the courtroom as usual, her eyes fixed on Chris.

She watched as he stepped down from the stand. The prosecutor had sort of a, looked like a giant rag doll, basically a human rag doll, basically a human-sized doll. And he asked Christopher Lee to demonstrate on the doll how he used the garrote on Aaron Corwin. I was absolutely shocked because he had no emotion about it. It was kind of like, oh, okay, yeah, I'll do that.

Chris Lee faced the court, his back to the judge. Beth couldn't look away. We can see his face. The doll is in front of him. He puts the garrot around the doll's neck. And then when he twists it, he turns around. And the doll went up. It flew up in the air.

Beth heard a gasp. The demonstration was violent. But Chris didn't seem aware of this. He continued. When he twisted it, he wasn't facing her anymore. She was back to back with him. He didn't have to look at her when he was doing this. The people in court didn't have to imagine Erin's shock or how her body responded.

Because she was so tiny, her feet would have flown up at the air. And they never did find her shoes when she was down there. They must have flown off her feet. Beth's eyes moved from Chris to Lor. I sat there and put my head down and closed my eyes while he was demonstrating what he had done to my daughter. And then the prosecutor timed what happened, just so that the jury could see how many moments, how many seconds, how many minutes he had to change his mind and stop doing what he was doing to save Aaron's life. Earlier in the trial, the medical examiner had testified that it would have taken 20 seconds for Aaron to black out,

which means that for 20 seconds she experienced pure conscious panic. And so the prosecutor timed out 20 seconds of what she must have experienced. And I would ask him every 20 seconds or so, could have stopped, you could have stopped, you could have stopped. The jurors' reactions, they're right in front of me. They're squirming in their chairs. Several of them are tearing up.

I think a lot of us hoped it was, she didn't see it coming, at least. She didn't know what was about to happen to her, but she did. The medical examiner testified that it would have taken four and a half to five minutes for Aaron to die. Chris stood with the dummy hanging over his shoulder. Its legs kicked out and limp.

He held the garrotte taut until he was told to stop. It was dead silent and I got the point across. I did, I stopped. They get it. It was so brutal to know that he just stayed there after she was no longer conscious and held her like that for four minutes to make sure she was dead. The demonstration proved that Aaron's death was no accident, regardless of whether it was voluntary manslaughter or first degree murder.

What I was showing to the jury is he had plenty of time to think about life, letting someone live, or think about killing them. And once you've had that opportunity, that's premeditation deliberation when you choose death. And that's certainly what he did, and he could have stopped, which even further shows premeditation deliberation. he could have stopped, which even further shows premeditation deliberation. In the desert, with the garrote still around Erin's neck, Chris had to get rid of her body. The prosecutor asked how Erin ended up in the mine, and he said, I dragged her with the garrote, and she went down head first into the mine.

He didn't initially want to answer and eventually he admitted that's the way he did it. It was important for the jurors to hear that. It was important for everyone to hear that. But he did. He threw down like a piece of garbage. Lor kept her head down during the demonstration, but she knew she would never forget it. One thing that does kind of haunt me is what was going through her brain. What was she thinking when he was choking her?

She was with somebody that she thought loved her, somebody she felt she could trust. And my only saving grace is I choose to believe that she was unconscious very quick, that she didn't have much time to think about it. After three full days in court, spread across the month of October 2016, the judge sent the jury to deliberate. The day the jury went out, I was so totally drained that I literally was tripping just walking. I could not pick my feet up. Reporter Beth Fordroth recalled that it didn't take long for the jury to come back with a decision. So the jury was given the case the last day of trial after the closing arguments that afternoon, and by the next morning they had a verdict. It was just a very scary day.

Because you just don't know, what are all these people thinking? When the jury filed in, I mean, you're still very apprehensive. You know, I don't have a good read on them. The courtroom held its breath, awaiting the verdict. Christopher Brandon Lee was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

When they read that, the verdict, I immediately thought, we've got justice for you, Aaron. Prosecutor Sean Doherty's strategies in court had paid off. The special circumstance allegation in the case was line and wait. And that is he essentially waited and watched for an opportunity to act, to kill, with the intent to kill. All the evidence in this case pointed that that's exactly what he did. Chris sat in the defendant's chair in handcuffs.

His expression did not change. I didn't look over at him. I've heard he didn't react at all. Behind him, his mother started to cry. Lor, Erin's mother, fixed her eyes on Chris. Chris would not look at me. When he was sitting on the stand and saying how sorry he was that he did this to her. I literally stared at him during that time and he would not look up at me.

You know, if you're truly sorry, look at me and tell me you're sorry. But he would not look at me. Chris was led away in handcuffs. The judge returned to his chambers. And the rest of the room filed out. After four long days in court and two years since Aaron's murder, perhaps the community could finally start healing. But there would be no peace for Lore. Not yet. Chris wasn't done fighting. He filed an appeal on November 29, 2016, the day of the sentencing hearing. In his appeal, Chris claimed that had the jury been more fully instructed, it could have found that he did not premeditate and deliberate the killing, and therefore the jury could have found that he did not premeditate and deliberate the killing. And therefore, the jury could have convicted him of second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder.

The appellate court disagreed and affirmed the judgment. And they're basically saying you have nothing to stand on. But then his attorney has a chance to reply again. This could go on for years and years and years and years. It's just like you're going along just fine, and then all of a sudden someone rips your emotional scab off again. Today, Chris is in prison in San Bernardino County. Since he lost the appeal he filed in 2016, he has

not filed another. And since the day he was sentenced when he couldn't look lore in the eyes, it's not clear whether he feels any real remorse for taking Aaron's life. You know, he's stolen so much from us. But I also talked about the huge ripple effect. You know, yes, it affects us, it affects her siblings, it affects her nieces and nephews, it affects her friends. But Lore demonstrates an unbelievable grace. I felt a peace that couldn't be explained. Pretty much through the whole trial, I had so many people praying for me.

That's the only way I can explain the peace that I felt. I have no hate or animosity towards Chris. I've forgiven him a long time ago. If I was hateful and bitter, that wasn't going to bother Chris at all. It would destroy me. And I decided he's already taken enough from me. He's not going to get my heart, my mind, my soul. Lor knows that Aaron is not the only victim here. Not only did he throw Aaron under the bus, he threw his daughter under the bus. I mean,

what's she going to think when she grows up and Googles all this? With astonishing empathy, Lor thinks of the rest of Chris's family. You know, when his mom gave birth to him and holding him, the dream she had for him. And surely this wasn't one of her dreams. And how proud was she of him when he played football? And how proud was she of him when he played football? And how proud was she of him when he joined the Marines? And how excited was she when he was getting discharged

and coming home? Not only did he destroy our family, he destroyed his family's too. When we're putting together a big investigative series like 48 Hours NCIS, it means digging deep, doing the research, and piecing together clues. But not everything is a mystery in need of solving. Certainly not your holiday shopping. You don't need to play detective to find the perfect gift. Quints can help take the guesswork out of your list this holiday season with something

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Trench Coat delivers on both style and warmth to at least help you look the part this season. Gift luxury this holiday season without the luxury price tag. Go to quince.com slash 48 hours NCIS for 365 day returns plus free shipping on your order. That's quince.com slash 48 hours NCIS to get free shipping and 365 days returns. Quince.com slash 48 hours NCIS. Following his sentencing, Chris Lee's military service record was amended with a dishonorable discharge. Beth Ford Roth, with her reporting background

on military family life, says this is a huge deal. So you're never supposed to say that someone is an ex-marine. He's an ex-marine. After he was honorably discharged, he was dishonorably discharged. With dishonorable discharge status, the U.S. government does not legally consider Chris Lee a veteran, and therefore he cannot receive veteran benefits. It is an indelible mark on his service, permanent for the rest of his life. And while this doesn't have a serious effect on Chris serving a life sentence, it means

his family isn't eligible for benefits either. But as far as we can tell, Nicole is still married to Chris. We couldn't find any divorce records. Her latest address is listed as Chris's mom's house in Alaska. At the White Rock Horse Rescue, where Erin and the Lee family first came together, Isabelle Megley has reminders of Erin everywhere. I had her horse. Her horse just passed away. Every time I saw that horse, I thought of her. Erin's murder changed how Isabelle runs the horse rescue. I learned that anything can happen.

That the friendship I had with a volunteer is now different. I don't trust, I can't believe what they say. And it has changed me to be a little harder, but for the best because it can happen. And you can see in this instant, good went to bad in a minute. Beth maintains that it was a formative court case for her to cover as a journalist.

She thinks of Erin often. But there's this feeling of, oh my gosh, it all could have stopped at age 19. And it could have been me, it could have been my older sister, it could have been any 19-year-old girl who fell in love with the wrong guy. Prosecutor Sean Doherty still defends Aaron in a sense. He remembers how vulnerable she was. I've heard the sentiment that Erin was at fault for having an affair. I just always thought it was important to keep in mind her age and her lack of experience.

As for John, Erin's husband, he is as enigmatic as ever. We know he was remarried after Aaron's murder and they had a child. He's divorced now. The NCIS agents officially closed the case once Chris was convicted, but Aaron's story stays with them. When you work a case like that, everyone's ultimate goal is to get justice for the victim and to ensure that families have closure. And obviously it was a very sad circumstance and a very sad thing that occurred. And I think my main focus was, are we getting justice for Erin and her family and the people

who loved her? In Erin's case, the NCIS agents helped ensure that justice was served. But her case was just one of many investigations that the agents were conducting at the time. Aaron Corwin was just one victim who Special Agent Randolph and Analyst DeChelfen fought for. You're working cases simultaneously. There's always mail coming in. You know, deliveries are going out, but mail's coming in. It's working cases simultaneously. There's always mail coming in, you know, deliveries are going out, but mail's coming in. It's a constant process. So there's no moving on

really. It's compartmentalized. This is what I'm working with here. This is what I'm working with here. Okay, we got a conviction here. Did we do everything we needed to do to shore this up and ensure that we did everything on our part. So you're never really over it like because I still I remember that case. I haven't forgotten it. We are at the mine shaft where Aaron's body was found. In March 2018, almost four years after Erin's murder, Lor visits the place for the first time where her daughter took her last breaths. She goes with 48 Hours producer Paul LaRosa. I wanted the opportunity to be

able to come up here to have like a memorial service for her. Like you see the flowers on the side of the road when someone has passed away. I wanted to remember the last place where my daughter was alive. In the desert, Lors stands at the opening of the mine shaft. Wind blows against the sands. It's hard to imagine how desolate it is here. Pictures don't do it justice.

It's very desolate, very vast, but beauty, just a different kind of beauty. Lore bows her head. Erin Renee, our sweet precious daughter, sister, aunt, friend, when you were taken from us, we lost our breath of fresh air, shy, loving, nurturing, trusting, naive animal whisperer. You were such a wonderful young lady, a gift from God, we were blessed to be chosen to be your family. I'm sure the angels were saying, come to Jesus as you left us here.

My Aaron-sized hole in my heart is a little bit deeper right now. To know that this was where her life was taken from her. To know that she had dreams that were stolen from her. Memories that were taken from us in this spot. Times that we could have spent together. Do you feel Erin here?

No, Erin's not here. Erin's in heaven. Aaron's not here. Aaron's in heaven. Anthony Batson is the senior producer for 48 Hours. Jamie Benson is the senior producer for Paramount Audio. Special thanks to 48 Hours executive producer, Judy Tigard, CBS Studios senior vice president, Rob Luchow, and Paramount Audio vice president, Megan Marcus. Our podcast was written and produced by Jay Venables,

Isabelle Kirby McGowan, Kara Shillen, Max Johnston, Megan Idolsky, and Ian Enright. Additional reporting and recording by Isabelle Kirby McGowan, Jay Venables, and Megan Idolsky. Our executive producers are Megan Idolsky and Ian Enright. Theme and music by Epidemic Sound. Original music from GOAT Rodeo with additional music from Paramount. Final Mix by Rebecca Seidel. Ian Enright is our fact checker.

Our production manager is Megan Nadalski. I'm Natalie Morales. If you're enjoying this show, be sure to give it a rating and review. It helps more people find it and hear our reporting. If you liked 48 Hours NCIS, check out the rest of our 48 Hours podcasts by searching 48 Hours on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.