Murder, Mystery & Makeup - Twisted Love Triangle - Missing Marine Wife Living A Double Life?

Episode Date: May 24, 2022

Hi friends! I hope you are having a wonderful day so far. Today I wanted to talk about the overdramatic Chris Lee. I am telling you, there is something up with Chris' and Nicoles. I mean CMON. I would love to hear your thoughts. Let's have a good week ahead, shall we? I love and appreciate you more than you know, and I hope to be seeing you very soon. x o Bailey Sarian

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That's Better Memory at BeBetterNow.com. Oh my gosh. Hi. How are you? It's so great to see you. How are you doing today? Great! Anyways, hi, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and today is Monday, which means it's murder, mystery, and makeup Monday! Shhhhhh. If you are new here, hi, my name is Bailey Sarian and on Mondays I sit down and I talk about true crime story that's been heavy on my noggin and I do my makeup at the same time.

If you're interested in true crime and you like makeup, I would highly suggest you hit that subscribe button because I'm here for you on Mondays. We're gonna talk about a very awful story. Oh my gosh, wow, it's dramatic. Today's story contains graphic descriptions of crime scenes, adult dialogue, and strong language. Viewer discretion is advised. So we're gonna start with Evan Heavlin. She grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It was said that she was sweet and loving. And you know, when you talk to Erin,

she just made you feel like you were the most important person in the room. She was an animal lover. She had a talent for taming horses that no one else came close to. And Erin's first horse was named Autumn and her whole world just seemed to revolve around horses. It was in a barn where she met a guy named Jonathan Corwin,

who would become her future husband. But when they first met Erin, she was only in fifth grade. I'm laughing just because the thought of them getting married or something in fifth grade just made me giggle a little bit. But John was one year older than Erin and they became very close friends. And they remained close friends.

And then when they turned 16, 17, that's when John went to her parents and asked for permission to date her, which they approved, and the two of them started dating on Erin's 16th birthday. As their relationship blossomed and they fell in love, Erin would often write John little love poems. And from the outside looking in, it just seemed like they were this perfect all American couple just swept up in their fairy tale romance, you know?

John would go on to join the Marines and shortly after that, the young couple got married in November of 2012. Erin's mother, she was a little worried that like Erin would have trouble adjusting to life as the wife of a marine, because she knew that they would have to move around a lot, and Erin was known to be a little bit on the shy side, so making friends, you know, it's,

or having to make friends constantly might be a bit of a challenge for her, but for the most part they seem to be very happy and in love. Who really knows though, right? After all these stories, I'm like, you could be the perfect person, perfect marriage, and there's no such thing. No such thing. Anyways, September 2013, the couple, John and Erin, they moved to the Marine base in 29 Palms, California. It's like out in the middle of the desert, so hot. When they moved in, they became friends pretty quickly

with the family who lived downstairs from them. Their name was Connor and Aisling. And then they had like a little baby too. And then they also had another neighbor, and their name was Chris and Nicole Lee, plus their six year old daughter, Liberty. And they lived like right next door. So family under them, family next door.

So while the husbands were doing their thing on base, a lot of the times the wives, the three neighbors, Aaron, Aisling and Nicole, they would all like hang out together. They would have lunch, they would chat. And when the husbands were home, they would barbecue, have little movie nights, you know, it was just nice to have some friends in this new location.

At first, life on the base seemed to be going fine and dandy, but soon just the normal struggles of married life made their appearance in Erin and John's relationship. Money was a big issue, and the two of them would often argue over it, accusing one another of overspending. You're overspending, why did you buy that? Why are you buying?

You know, just, you never have enough money, right? And there's just always something to fight about over it. So they're bickering a lot. Soon after, Erin found out that she was pregnant. And once like that became the new focus, the money issues were just put on the back burner and they were just excited to start a family of their own. So Erin's excited.

She wanted to be a mom. And she of course went to Facebook and posted on Facebook that she was pregnant. And she was like sharing it with her friends and family back at home. You know, everyone's all excited for her, and Erin couldn't wait to be a mom. So several weeks go by after posting the announcement on Facebook, and sadly Erin ended up miscarrying the baby. She was absolutely devastated, heartbroken.

Just, I can't imagine what that feels like. I'm so sad. In the US, about 10 to 15 out of every 100 pregnancies end in a miscarriage, but it doesn't make it easier knowing the statistics really. And despite there being others who have shared the experience, like many women who go through the trauma of losing a baby before it's born, Erin felt very much alone.

And she started to kind of withdraw from her marriage and just her social circle. She was growing emotionally distant. Her husband said that he really didn't know how to comfort her at all. He tried to, but he just didn't know how. And unfortunately, it just really started to drive a pretty big wedge between the two of them. But there was someone else who was there for Erin

during these difficult times. It was her friend and neighbor, Chris Lee. So Erin at this time was 19 years old, so she's still really young, and she's struggling with the loss of her pregnancy, and her husband, again, doesn't really know how to comfort her. Erin would strike up a conversation with 25-year-old Christopher Lee, again, the neighbor. And Chris was one of those guys who just really loved to make people laugh.

But he had his own sadness that he seemed to be battling with. And him and Aaron seemed to like really connect with that. Like Chris was dealing with his own depression because recently he had been denied deployment. Normally this would have the opposite effect, but for Chris, it was considered a heroic honor to go. So it's just something he so greatly wanted to do. So when he was denied, it was devastating to him

and he was very, very upset. So Chris had told Aaron that he would play Russian roulette every morning, to decide if he was gonna go on with his day or not. If you don't know, Russian roulette is a game, quote unquote game, where you have a loaded gun, it's partially loaded, usually like one of the things is loaded, and then you pull the trigger to see if it's gonna go off or not. It's the kind of behavior that you should definitely reach

out for medical help. Not necessarily tell your neighbor in a casual conversation, but you know, Erin felt bad for him. You know, she was very drawn to people who were broken or hurting. So helping care for Chris, it gave her a sense of purpose being there for him. Also just talking with Chris really distracted her from,

you know, with the pain from like losing her baby, so they both just kind of found comfort and purpose in their friendship. It's never good when you're in a bad place and you seek out companionship other than the person that you're in a relationship with. Like that usually doesn't end well, you know? And I mean, here we are on this Monday upload. So therefore I'm pretty sure this won't end well. Great.

Chris and Erin had already spent a good amount of time together within their friend group, but with their new bond, they started hanging out more and more when like their spouses weren't around. Mm-hmm, Erin. She also spent like a lot of her free time volunteering at a place called White Rock Horse Rescue,

where Chris and his wife, Nicole, also sponsored horses at. So Erin would spend a lot of her time there and Chris would end up going over there as well, spending a little bit of extra time with Erin at the barn without his wife around. They were becoming very close. And Erin felt like she finally had somebody like to really talk to and someone to really express

how she was feeling inside. And Chris felt the same way. Then on Sunday night in February of 2014, and someone to really express how she was feeling inside. And Chris felt the same way. Then on Sunday night in February of 2014, Chris and his wife, Nicole, went over to Aaron and John's to watch a new episode of The Walking Dead together. Now, Aaron, she wasn't really into the show so much because she felt like it was a little too violent for her.

So she hung out for a bit and then she like headed off to her bedroom to play some video games instead. So Chris sees Aaron take off, and instead of hanging out with his wife and John and watching the show, he gets up and he heads to the bedroom to hang out with Aaron and play video games. So Chris, he loved The Walking Dead,

so it was a little weird that he decided to not watch it, but I guess like it wasn't weird enough to catch his wife's attention because she didn't follow him. Not that she should, but you know what I'm saying? So John and Nicole are in the living room watching The Walking Dead, and Chris and Aaron are hanging out,

sitting on the floor playing video games in Aaron's bedroom. I guess all of a sudden just out of nowhere one of them pauses the video game and Erin like kind of glances over at Chris and I guess it must have been kind of like a sexy glance because then they started just like making out. Yeah they just started making out in the bedroom. Mind you, very bold move to do when your husband and wife are right in the other room watching TV. But okay, sure, do that. Kiss. Great. They did. And this kiss would end up leading them to becoming involved in their own love affair.

So the love affair between the two became pretty hot and heavy pretty quickly. They were sneaking around a lot and it wasn't long until they started having more serious conversations about leaving their partners so they can be together instead. And to top it off, Chris, he would constantly tell Erin like how great she was with his baby who was six years old. Her name was Liberty and Aaron would occasionally babysit her and he was like oh my gosh like Liberty loves you like I know you're gonna be a great stepmom and he's saying this to Aaron and Aaron's all like oh my god yeah I know

I can't wait like she's getting super hyped. I don't know I just feel like involving your kid like that's pretty messed up, but okay. Chris is all wrapped up in his affair with Erin, right? So he's kind of checking out from his marriage. Nicole, Chris's wife, she starts to notice how distant her husband was becoming and like she knew something, something was just not right. You know, so what does she do?

Checks his phone, of course. Yeah, it's a huge invasion of privacy, but you know, if her man is cheating, she wants to know. So Nicole just waits for her perfect moment to grab Chris's phone and, you know, check it, read his text messages and stuff. And when she does, she sees text messages between Chris and Aaron. And when she saw a text message that said, you're so gorgeous, I think I'm falling for you. It wasn't good. It wasn't good. I'm sure that hurt right in the stomach.

Oh, it makes you sick, you know? So Nicole's like, shit, man. I knew something was up. It's the neighbor though. Like I trusted this girl with babysitting our kids. We've been hanging out. We've been, I thought we were friends. So she's pissed for good reason.

So first she finds Chris and then she just goes off, as she should, you know? And the two just get into a verbal argument for hours. And then, because it takes two to tango, Nicole marches right over to John and Aaron's place next door and tells John about the affair his wife was having with Chris. Oh, it's getting super messy. Lots of drama going on.

And there's just a lot of bickering, fighting amongst everybody. And it's just a long night with everybody yelling at one another, accomplishing not much of anything, but just let it out, girl. So they're just all fighting together. Great. And eventually Erin, she just is over it. And she's like, you know what, I'm done. I don't need this anymore. Like, I just need to get out of here.

Everyone is in her house and they're just yelling at one another. And that's when Erin just decides, you know what, I'm gonna leave. And Erin goes to leave when Nicole stops her, shoves her finger in Erin's face, and screams at her, if you ever have anything else to do with my husband, I'll kill you myself. I didn't think my memory would be something I would have to worry about at my age. But then

things changed. I started a new stressful job, moved across town, and suddenly I was forgetting names, missing meetings, losing track of emails. It was quite embarrassing. Then I found Better Memory, a natural formula based on a five-year study at UCLA. I ordered a few bottles and was not expecting much at first, but soon I noticed the differences. I woke up with no brain fog, and I can focus much longer during the day and recall my schedules without relying on my notes. I feel like my old self again. I was quite impressed, so I had my daughter try Better Memory as well. A few months later, she feels less anxiety, sleeps better, and is more focused. She's embracing and enjoying life much more now. Better memory has changed our lives.

It could change yours too. Give it a try. Visit BeBetterNow.com and place your order today. That's Better Memory at BeBetterNow.com. Nicole went off for good reason. Again, you know, that was her friend, someone she trusted. How dare you? I'm assuming here that John was pissed off as well,

but he stayed pretty quiet about his feelings and thoughts on the whole situation. Like with the public, even later on, you barely hear from him. He was just a very quiet guy. I mean, I feel like we should be that way, you know? So good for him, he can't be mad at it. But what I'm getting at is,

I don't know what his reaction was to finding out that his wife is having an affair with the neighbor, but I'm assuming he's upset. So after this huge blow up, Aaron and Chris, they decide, you know what, it's best if we just call it quits. It was fun while it lasted, you know, but we need to stop and just focus on our marriages,

whatever. Well, they call it quits and a couple of weeks go by, just a couple of weeks. And of course the two can not resist one another. But they both knew that their love affair was gonna have an expiration date because Chris' service in the Marines was scheduled to end on July 4th, 2014.

When his service was over, the plan was for him, his wife, Nicole, and their baby to move back to Alaska. And that was approaching pretty quickly. It was literally a few weeks away. Something happens. Right before the their big move back to Alaska, Erin finds out that she's pregnant. But this time instead of being super jazzed and going to Facebook and like posting about it. She wasn't really sure how to feel. It's believed she felt this way because she wasn't sure who the father was,

her husband, John, or her lover, Chris. I think she knew it was Chris's because she would tell Chris that she was pregnant. But she couldn't say for sure. Ooh, you're in a pickle. You fucked up. You fucked up. This is a side note, but if you're going to have an affair, the least you can do is wear a condom.

It's not that hard. It's not that hard. If you're gonna do it, at least be smart. You can't be making stupid choices and then make another stupid choice by not, no. No, absolutely not. If you're gonna be stupid, you gotta be smart about it. Wrap it up.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. On June 28th, 2014, Chris was supposed to go coyote hunting with his buddy out in Joshua Tree National Park. He told his friend that he wanted to go hunt for coyotes, but also there was a bunch of abandoned mine shafts out there, and he thought it would be super exciting to go and explode a propane tank in one of the mine shafts, you know, just for the hell of it.

So Chris is super jazzed about this. He's all excited to go, but his friend that was supposed to go with him called him up last minute and had a bail. So he's all jazzed about this, he's all excited to go, but his friend that was supposed to go with him called him up last minute and had a bail. So he's all bummed. He's like, damn it, whatever. I'll just go by myself and blow stuff up. That's what Chris is saying.

And that's what he does. He's just gonna go by himself. That's fine. Now it's a super strange coincidence here, but Erin was also planning to go over to Joshua Tree that day. She told her husband, John, that she was going out to Joshua Tree to kind of like scope out some places to take her mom when she came out to visit them. So she tells John goodbye. She's heading out for the day. She leans over. She gives him a kiss. She says, I love you. He says, love you back. And then she heads out to Joshua Tree.

Mind you, Joshua Tree, it's not that far from 29 Palms. They're kind of close. It's like just one big desert. I'm not sure what Erin was looking for out there, but that's where she was going. So those are the stories that Chris and Erin told people. Right? Chris is going out to hunt coyotes by himself So those are the stories that Chris and Erin told people, right? Chris is going out to hunt coyotes by himself,

and Erin was going to look for places to take her mom. However, turns out the relationship between the two of them was far from over. A couple of days before they both headed out to the desert, Chris told Erin that he had a surprise for her and asked her to meet up with him in Joshua Tree. Erin, who again is pregnant with her lover's baby, maybe, we don't know, she was excited because she thought that Chris

was asking her to meet out there because he was going to propose to her or maybe like break the news that he was finally ending it between his wife and would be with Aaron now and then they could live happily ever after you know so it's believed that this is why Aaron was going out there to Joshua Tree not to spot out places to visit her mom she was going there to uh meet up with Chris. Back at home, John, Erin's husband, he was texting her throughout the day,

but he wasn't getting any response from Erin. And by the time night rolls around, Erin is still not home and she's not answering her calls, her texts, nothing. Super strange, very unlike her. Some time goes by and Erin is still not home. So John, he files a missing persons report with the police. They come out and they ask him questions.

And at first they assume that maybe she got lost. So the Joshua Tree National Park, it's really big, it's flat, so it is possible she could have gone for a hike or something. And if she didn't plan correctly, it could be highly possible that she was out wandering the desert suffering from dehydration. Like there's literally not much around.

So that is definitely a possibility. And if that is really the case, then Erin would not last long, okay? So police, they go out to Joshua Tree and they end up finding her car abandoned, but it was nowhere near the entrance of the park where she said she was gonna be at. So police, they start investigating all the people

in Erin's life to see what they could find. As with most husbands, John was immediately on top of their interest list. But after talking to people around the base, John was ruled out very quickly as a possible suspect because there were many people who saw John at the base pretty much the whole day. So there was no way John could have been involved

with the disappearance of Erin. Then the cops start talking to friends and neighbors and they learn not only of Chris and Erin's not so secret affair, but also that Aaron may have been pregnant. They also got word about this special surprise Chris had planned out in the desert. So naturally police have to go find Chris

and figure out what the hell was going on. So police, they don't have to look far, he is a neighbor, right? So they go to Chris and they ask him, hey, do you know what happened to Aaron? And Chris tells investigators that he and Aaron were just acquaintances and nothing more. He only knew Aaron because they both volunteered

at the horse ranch place and that was it. Now at this point, police already knew about the affair. So red flags are just a fly in. He's lying, what's he hiding? And that was it. Now at this point, police already knew about the affair. So red flags are just a fly in. He's lying. What's he hiding? Three days go by and then Chris was brought in to the police department to be formally questioned. This is where Chris finally admits to investigators that he was having an affair with Aaron. But he swore up and down that it was only on an emotional level and they never went past kissing.

Investigators were like, so you guys aren't having sex? And Chris just said, no, we've only kissed, which was a bold face lie. The questioning between Chris and police goes on for about three hours, and then police decide to change tactics and start a more aggressive type of questioning. Not even questioning, it's where they just like tell you

lies to get you to confess. You know what I'm talking about, right? I don't know how it's legal, but they fricking do that and then they trap you, but it works. So anyways, what I'm getting at is police are telling Chris that they knew he met with Erin that morning, she went missing, and they call him out on being one of the last people to see Erin alive,

which isn't a lie, but it was kind of exaggerated because they didn't really know that. So they're saying this in hopes that Chris kind of starts talking, but Chris doesn't give in to those questions and he tells police that he did not see her that Saturday morning. And then cops, they push back harder,

telling him that he knew she was pregnant with his child. Chris, once again, just holds his ground, deny, deny, deny, and says, she wasn't pregnant with my baby, there's no way, like, you're lying. So he's just lying over and over to police and they know that he's lying, and says, she wasn't pregnant with my baby, there's no way like you're lying. So he's just lying over and over to police and they know that he's lying, but Chris isn't budging.

At this point, they strongly believe that Aaron's case isn't a missing person's case, but it's now a homicide investigation. And Chris is at the top of their possible suspects list. Cause he's all sorts of suspish, like come on. But at this point, they really don't have any evidence proving that he did anything, so they can't arrest him yet. To be honest, I'm not sure why Chris's wife Nicole wasn't high on the possible suspect list,

because she did threaten to kill Aaron, but she wasn't, you know? And that's okay, because maybe she wasn't involved. Police are And that's okay because maybe she wasn't involved. Police are believing that Chris is their man though, because he has a motive, a possible baby with his mistress. He didn't want Aaron's pregnancy getting out and like ruining whatever was left of his already rocky marriage, right? They knew he had a rifle that he was taking with him

to go coyote hunting. And the fact that he was taking with him to go coyote hunting, and the fact that he was going out to Joshua Tree alone the same day Aaron went missing, he may have had plenty of time to do whatever it was he was doing, if you know what I'm saying. Plus the fact that police knew Chris was lying to them about the affair. Honestly, all signs are pointing to you, Chris. Sorry, you know? They just needed to actually get him to confess though, or some kind of evidence proving that this was true. Now, investigators are worried that Chris might try

and make a run for it, you know? Cause he hasn't been arrested yet. So they're looking for any reason to make an arrest. So when investigators find out that Chris owned a potato gun, they were excited. Oh yes, a potato gun, yep. It's considered an explosive and illegal in the state of California.

So after, you know, they got this information, they went to find Chris because he's gonna be arrested. So police go out, locate Chris and they arrest him. But Chris isn't in jail long. So Chris lawyers up and he makes bail pretty quickly. But because of this, it gives police the ability to tell him not to leave town. So he can't go to Alaska like he was planning, you know?

That's what they fear. So meanwhile, the police are searching every square inch of Joshua Tree looking for Erin. They end up covering like 1200 square miles and they even have six different law enforcement agencies and hundreds of volunteers covering the ground, helping look for her. So the searching goes on for weeks

and police can't seem to find a single trace of Erin. Now keep it in mind, it's summer, Joshua Tree is in the desert of California and it's hot as balls out there. I'm talking like 120 degrees, you know? So these poor search parties, they are sweaty, exhausted and trying their best to just not get dehydrated. Anyway, so after two months of looking,

authorities, they make the very difficult decision that Saturday, August 16th, 2014, would be their final day of searching for Erin. Just nothing, just no sign. As luck would have it, the woman running the rescue horse ranch where Erin and Chris volunteered at, she came across some photos,

some very unusual photos that Chris had taken. I guess like a week before Erin disappeared, Chris had gone around and taken some photos of some abandoned mines. Now this was concerning. And this woman, she turned in the photos to police who then brought it to a local cave and mine expert, who was able to determine where exactly

these photos were taken. Okay, a break, you know? So the search and rescue team, they head to these abandoned mine shafts in a remote area of the high desert near Joshua Tree National Park, and just right outside of the 29 Palms Marine Corp base, where Erin's husband was stationed.

The crew goes to one mine shaft where they lower a camera down into the mine, and that's where they find Erin's body laying hidden 140 feet at the bottom of this abandoned mine shaft. Yeah, geez. So the investigation at the crime scene was able to give some insight into what happened to Erin.

They see that wrapped around her neck was a homemade garrotte, a fancy word for like a weapon that's handheld and made of chain, rope, wire, or fishing line, and is used to strangle a person. Yeah, that is a fancy word. She was strangled, okay? So this leads investigators to conclude that Erin was strangled to death

before she was dropped down into this mine shaft. At the bottom of the mine shaft, they find other pieces of evidence. Police found rifle shots around the body and a propane tank tied to her. Now, this was suggesting to police that the killer attempted to burn her body by shooting the propane tank. But luckily this person had a bad shot, I guess,

because it wasn't successful. They also found a little like homemade torch made up of a Marine Corp shirt wrapped around a stick, which it was sent to be tested for DNA and ta-da, guess what, Chris's DNA all over it. But if that wasn't enough, there was one other piece of evidence at the bottom of that mine shaft

that confirmed Chris's involvement. There was a Sprite bottle with a cap still on it and they sent it away to be tested for DNA and it came back with two different people's DNA on it and they sent it away to be tested for DNA and it came back with two different people's DNA on it. Aaron and Chris's. This was like the hardcore evidence that cops needed to finally arrest Chris and charge him with first degree murder and a special charge

of lying in wait, which I had never heard of. But when they go to arrest him, Chris is nowhere to be found, nay nay. He was gone, vanished, poof. You think he's gonna stick around? Of course not. Oh, get this though. Aaron's body was sent off to the coroner's,

and when the report came back, it was confirmed that Aaron was actually not pregnant. Now nobody really knows like the when, the what, the where, the how of all of it, but many thought that maybe Erin was lying to Chris in hopes that he would stay in the relationship or just stay with her in general. Am I saying this is the case?

No, but it was mentioned. Does this mean she deserved any of this? No, absolutely not. It's just unfortunate to think that maybe this lie might have accelerated the whole situation, you know? Like that sucks. And maybe she actually thought she was pregnant though. So after some searching, police are able to locate Chris.

Chris, his wife, Nicole, and their daughter, Liberty, had indeed moved to Alaska as they originally planned. Now Chris was told to stay put, but he obviously didn't give a rat's ass. Bye, you know, fuck that guy. Anyway, they head up to Alaska and they are able to arrest Chris. And when they search his car,

the cops discover more evidence confirming that they indeed have the right guy. When they're searching Chris's phone and computer, they find Google searches on how to dispose of a body. And in his car, they found the garrote. I hope I'm, I'm probably not saying that. Garrote, like the one that was found wrapped around Aaron's neck.

Again, just really sealing the deal that Chris was indeed involved. No ifs, ands, or buts. No. This is a side note, but Is, or buts. Mmm, nah. This is a side note, but I couldn't help but think this this whole time. Have you ever noticed that the New Age killer's name is usually Chris, and there always seems to be a Nicole close by? Can you think of some other cases where that may be the case? Because I most certainly can.

I'm just kidding. But like, I noticed that because Chris and Nicole, remember like Chris Watts and his lover Nicole? I don't know. Just I don't think it means anything but I couldn't help but notice. That's all. Anyways, so he's arrested, sitting in jail, waiting for trial. Trial begins and the prosecution shows their evidence supporting their belief that Chris lured Erin into the desert and killed her to hide the affair that was still going on between them. But not only that, the fact that Erin was pregnant as well. One of the witnesses they put on the stand

was the owner of the rescue horse ranch. Remember the woman who turned in the pictures that helped them find Erin? Yeah, so she went on record saying that she spoke to Nicole, Chris's wife, right after Erin went missing, and that Nicole seemed super uptight, I guess. Whatever that means.

Nicole ended up telling this woman that she had wished Erin was dead, and she wouldn't care if Erin was dead. Not a good look, Nicole, you know? And then Nicole said something super suspicious. She's like, if there's no body, there's no case. We knew Nicole was pissed, but was she pissed off enough to actually follow through with that threat?

I don't know. You know, like I think a lot of times when you're really angry, you say something like, oh my God, I'm gonna kill him, I'm gonna kill her, whatever. Like, cause you're mad, but you don't actually mean it. And then in cases like this, could you imagine if you said that and then like that person actually died

and you're like, oh shit, like, you know? So maybe that's the case, but no. Anyways, so the ranch owner also told the court about how Chris and she were having some small talk. I wish I could talk, I can't even talk. Where Chris went on to tell her that he had done some exploring around and found a certain mine shaft that nobody would find.

He's telling this to the owner of the horse place. And then he was all super casual and asked her like, "'Hey, can I borrow your propane tank? "'I wanna use it to play some games.'" For some reason, the owner, she didn't think anything of it and she gave him a propane tank. Is that a thing? Don't try that, please don't try that.

Sounds very dangerous, fires, we don't need it. The prosecution also brings in a criminalist who testifies that the firing pin markings on a 22 caliber bullet casing, which was found near the same mine where Aaron's body was found, it matched the rifle that Chris had left back at the ranch. It's really not looking good for you, Chris.

But then on November 4th, 2016, the trial takes an unexpected turn. While Chris is on the stand, the trial takes an unexpected turn. While Chris is on the stand, the prosecutor asked Chris if he was the person who strangled Erin. And it was like a bomb went off in the courtroom. Ka-boomie, you know?

Chris replied with three little words that just turned this whole case upside down. Those three words you ask? Well, it was a confession. Well, he said, yes, I am. Those were the three words. Yes, I am the one who strangled her. So great, but this threw everybody off.

Like why is he all of a sudden confessing? What's the game plan with this move you're doing, sir? So Chris goes on to tell the court that he indeed strangled Aaron in a fit of rage, but now that he had time to calm down and really think about his actions, he wanted to come clean and do the right thing. Just wanted to be the good guy.

He told the court that at first, he was afraid to tell the truth, but also in the back of his mind, he was thinking that he could possibly get away with it. He admitted to still being very angry at the time, so he didn't want anyone to find her. But then he went on to say that he's no longer afraid to tell the truth and that he wanted to let everyone know

what he did and would accept the punishment that they gave him, which sounds like, okay, great, you know, but hold on, because he's got a little plan up his sleeve. So Chris calmly tells the Superior Court what went down the night Aaron died. Chris said that he took Aaron out to the desert near Joshua Tree National Park for a surprise. Instead of a romantic surprise proposal,

like Aaron thought was happening, they ended up outside a mine where they start to argue. Chris explains that he told Aaron that he was moving to Alaska and that their relationship was over. Erin was super upset, she was like, I still love you, I wanna be with you. I could go to Alaska with you,

I just want to be a part of you and your child's life, begging him to stay. And Chris says that this makes him very mad for some reason and yells at her like, leave my daughter out of this, this is my daughter. Just like getting super angry that she mentioned his daughter. And for some reason, her mentioning caring about his daughter

just really triggered something deep in him. So Chris is super pissed and he's screaming at Erin. And then out of nowhere, out of the blue, he asked Erin if she had been molesting his daughter. Wait, what? Really? He thinks she been molesting his daughter. Wait, what? Really? He thinks she was molesting his kid?

This is what he's telling the court, mind you. But then it gets worse. He says that Aaron admits to it. I'm gonna take a little pause here and say that in my personal opinion, I believe that Chris was lying because he wanted to give a valid reason as to why he got so angry and strangled slash murdered her.

I am sure you're thinking the same thing, but I just wanted to make that clear. So Chris is telling the court that Erin was actually molesting her and everyone was just supposed to believe it, I guess. No proof, he just says it. Chris goes on to tell the court that one night

after Nicole had given their baby a bath, she noticed that the little girl's lower area was red and irritated. Earlier that day, Aaron had been babysitting the kid. So Chris said that the more he thought about the situation, the more like the gears were turning in his head. So at the mine, he confronted her and was like, did you touch my daughter? Did you molest my daughter?

And Chris said that's when Aaron confessed to molesting his daughter. And he was just shocked. He was so shocked. He was just shocked and angry. And in that moment, he made the decision to kill her. He's still trying. He is still trying to get out of this. Chris told the court that he was controlled by the anger and he then went on to say that it was something

he never wanted to experience again. Chris told the court he then approached Erin from behind and he strangled her for at least five minutes and when he released his hold, she fell to the ground. And then after 30 seconds of searching for any signs of life, Chris was confident that she was dead. He then dragged her body to the mine shaft and pushed Aaron into it headfirst. So during Chris's testimony, his attorney briefly questioned him

with the sole purpose of emphasizing that Aaron's death was not premeditated, but the district attorney was focusing on Chris's lies he told to investigators and not admitting responsibility until he was in court and in front of an audience. So the DA accused Chris of wanting the attention and making Aaron's death about him. He also accuses Chris of spinning a story about this molestation of his daughter as a way to get sympathy from the jury, which he's hoping it would give him like a lesser charge,

maybe involuntary manslaughter. But nay nay, Chris, no one believed you. The jury saw right through your dumb ass and it only took them about 15 minutes to come back with a verdict. He was convicted of first degree murder, and on Tuesday, November 29th, 2016, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Buh-bye. At Chris's sentencing hearing, Erin's mother, she read a statement to the court about how she couldn't understand why anyone would think murder was okay. She said, if Chris wanted to get rid of his problems, all he had to do was move to Alaska and change his number. Like, why did you have to kill her?

John, remember the husband, Aaron's husband, he gave little statements in interviews and stuff. There was one interview he gave where he said that he hated like the actions that Chris chose, but he had to forgive him, because if he still held onto that hatred, it was just gonna pull him down, which is really big of him.

He's so quiet, I hope he's okay. I'm sure that had to be fricking hard. He hasn't given many interviews or made any statements, and he's just all around a pretty quiet guy, and that's probably for the better. I hope he's doing all right. During all of this, Nicole, Chris's wife, she stayed out of the public eye

and wasn't there for Chris's sentencing. At Chris's sentencing, he did address the court. He confessed to killing his girlfriend to save humanity. God. But he did apologize to Aaron's friends and family for the hurt and pain that he had caused them, saying that he didn't want to kill Aaron and he didn't plan on it.

But weirdly, even after confessing and being found guilty, he still continued to stick with the same story. He still has been saying that this is what happened. Christopher Lee is now 31 and he's incarcerated at the California Institution for Men, a state prison located in Chino, San Bernardino County. As per his sentencing, the ex-Marine will spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.

Good. Honestly, like this is tragic. I feel like you hear stories like this all the time on 2020 Dateline, all that stuff, where it's like somebody cheats, things get messy, and somebody gets murdered. But with this one, like Chris, he was very dramatic. Okay, the fact that he put her in a mine shaft,

the propane tank, like come on. There's something loose in his head. So I'm glad he got caught because that's terrifying. I don't care what you have to say. If someone cheats or whatever, they don't deserve to die. So if I see comments like that, I'm gonna shut it down, tell you to shut the fuck up, roundhouse kick you to the face. Because look, yes, she had an affair, whatever,

but no one deserves to die over an affair. So it's just, it never fails. I always see comments like that. Like, well, she deserved it. No, she didn't. I wish this had like a happier ending, well, she deserved it. No, she didn't. I wish this had like a happier ending, right? This whole case is just super horrible.

Not only does this guy kill his girlfriend, quote unquote girlfriend, with his baby, but he then accuses her of being a child molester, knowing that she can't stand up for herself. How dare you? That's very Jodi Arias of you. Freaking terrible human. I hope you rot.

Goodbye. You won't be missed, Chris. Anyways, I would love to hear your guys' thoughts down below. I mean, what can we say, really? Anywho, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day today. You make good choices. Let me know down in the comment section

who you want me to talk about next time. But other than that, I'll be seeing you guys later. Bye. so you