Murder With My Husband - 333. The Desert Trap: The Murder of Erin Corwin

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

On this episode, Payton and Garrett dive into the case of Erin Corwin. When the young Marine wife mysteriously vanishes during a trip to the California desert, what starts as a desperate search for a missing person quickly unravels into a dark web of secrets. Links: Netflix Video Every Monday @11am PST, 12pm MST, 2pm EST 1pm CST https://www.netflix.com/murderwithmyhusband Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case sources: Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/dateline-secrets-uncovered/crime-news/disappearance-of-erin-corwin-uncovers-devastating-secrets-and ABC7.com - https://abc7.com/post/ex-marine-found-guilty-of-murdering-pregnant-lover/1588058/ ABC30.com - https://abc30.com/post/ex-marine-confesses-to-killing-throwing-pregnant-lover-down-mine-shaft/1585591/ NYPost.com - https://nypost.com/2019/04/02/the-twisted-love-triangle-that-led-to-the-killing-of-a-marines-wife/ BakersfieldNow.com - https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/ex-marine-gets-prison-in-murder-of-fellow-marines-wife CNN.com- https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/19/us/california-missing-marine-wife DesertSun.com - https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2016/11/03/christopher-lee-erin-corwin/93237046/ AlaskaNewsSource.com - https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/content/news/Ex-Marine-with-ties-to-Alaska-admits-to-strangling-pregnant-lover-399710281.html MarineCorpsTimes.com - https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2014/08/27/former-marine-pleads-not-guilty-in-erin-corwin-s-death/ AllThatsInteresting.com - https://allthatsinteresting.com/erin-corwin CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cops-man-charged-in-erin-corwin-case-researched-body-disposal/ NYPost.com - https://nypost.com/2019/04/02/the-twisted-love-triangle-that-led-to-the-killing-of-a-marines-wife/ Fox13Seattle.com - https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/ex-marine-shocks-court-admits-on-stand-to-killing-other-marines-wife KTLA.com - https://ktla.com/news/local-news/murder-charge-filed-in-death-of-erin-corwin-pregnant-wife-of-u-s-marine/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morland. And I'm Garrett Morland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. Happy Monday. How are you guys doing? Hope everyone's having a good day. We're just over here. Recording. Pregnant. Honestly, pregnant. Doing a lot of that. That's kind of what we got going on, everybody. What do you guys have been up to? Anything fun? Anything cool you guys have been doing? We haven't really done anything. We've just been working. What have we got going on? We go to the hospital sometimes. What else do we do? You go to the bagel shop. I go to the bagel shop. Look, I've talked about this multiple times before, but I feel like we have a lot of new listeners and viewers.

So I'm going to talk about it again. And I feel like the consensus was like 80, 70% agreed and like 20 to 30% didn't agree. So talked about it before, but I just saw something on TikTok about it. So I feel like I got to bring it back up. I don't like late people. I do not.

It really is interesting to see that. Some people like disagree with that. Like some people are like, oh, I'm just going to be like to things. Deal with it. I'm like, what? Like that just, that isn't, that doesn't make sense in my brain. Like my brain can't comprehend that. Like when it's like, hey, we're going to meet here at three.

You don't show up at 318. Why? Some people just treat it so, it's so disrespectful. Yep. And the reason I'm saying this is because I just think someone's time is extremely valuable. We're all busy. We're all doing a million things in life, whether it's work, whether we have kids, whether what's going on.

And so I just think it's so strange to be like, sorry, like, look, and things happen. I get it. There's your one-offs. It happens every once in a while. I'm talking about the people who are consistently. Like, we all know someone where it's like, oh, they're going to be 15 minutes late. Like, it doesn't matter. You name a time of where you're going to be.

And everyone in the group is like, yeah, Jack over there, we just know Jack's going to be 15 minutes late. No, but most of the time, Jack's like, yeah, I'm always late. Yeah, it's like a joke to them. Yeah, I can't ever get anywhere on time. But in my mind, I'm like, Jack, you obviously just don't care about other people's time. You're like, you're too selfishly involved with what's going on in your life. I know it might sound mean. I know some of you were like, oh, Garrett.

No. Nope. Don't be late. Pet peeve, not a fan. Everyone's time's valuable. That's my rant. That's my hot take. I got some heat last time from it.

Look, because I know some people are like, well, I have eight, guys, I have an extreme case of ADHD. My ADHD is through the freaking roof. And guess what? You'll never catch me late to something. Also, you can't. Ask Peyton. You can't use your own. You got to figure.

you. You can't let it affect other people. I was paying. I got some, my ADHD, mock 10, level 100. Like I'm, I have issues with it, but you know, okay, so, okay, so. Okay, let's hear this. I have a hard time texting people back. Yeah. People would put those in the same category. I would not. I don't think I would. Because one is like in person time where you, took the time to leave your house, get dressed. Like, you put a lot of time and energy into going to do something with someone versus someone not responding to you. And I don't mean something like urgent.

I mean just like a, you know, just like a random text. Yeah, like I feel it is very hard for me to respond to texts. Like they are so socially draining for me. I think those are two different categories. But I'll be interested to see what people say because there are people who think it's disrespectful. Like not respond to someone? And my argument on that is, well, being able to get a hold of someone anytime, any place

is a new thing. Like we weren't, I don't know if we were necessarily meant to be able to be reachable at all times. And like an expectation that just because someone has a cell phone mean that they means that they should always be ready and willing to talk to you. Yeah. No, I think those are two completely different things. I think if you were to say,

if you agreed to text someone back and then didn't text them back, then that would be similar to. Like, let's make plans. And then they text and you don't. That's disrespectful. Yes, I think that's rude and disrespectful. Yes, I would agree with that. But there's a lot of people in my life I know that are like to things. I'm still friends with them.

It doesn't mean I hate them. But I will give them crap every single time. They're late to something. So if that is you and you're hearing this, I still love you. No, Garrett's scared half of our friends. they're all like, oh, we know when we're hanging out with Garrett, we have to be on time. It's true. But I still love you.

I'll still be your friend. I still want you to watch and listen. I'll still talk to you. But we ever do a live show and you come late. I'm calling you out in front of the whole crowd. No, because sometimes things happen. Yes. Unless that's true.

And that's what I said. Yeah. Things happen. You have your one-offs. I'm talking about the people that are like, like, they're so good at it. they're consistently late. Yeah. No,

because I think they think it's like a quirk. I think so. Well, no, there's a lot of people out there who are like, what's the big deal? Yeah.

But then it's like I have people in my like life that are consistently late. Yeah. And I've been with them when they have somewhere to be. They're not doing crap. That's what I'm saying.

They're not doing crap. It's time management. They're watching TV where they're doing something instead of just getting ready. slow. They're showering late. They're like it's just. Yes. I know. I honestly,

I'm sorry guys. This is long for eight minutes in. I truly don't understand. Someone tried to explain it to me. Like, I don't know if there's a good explanation you can give me. Yeah, but here's the thing. If your explanation is, oh, my life doesn't rule. Okay. That's not the explanation we're wanting. Yeah. No. Well, then don't make plans with someone. Yeah. If you make plans with someone, you're committing to something. It's not just your time

It's somebody else's time So you're disloyal You can be like So you're basically a cheater You can be late by yourself I don't care if you're late by yourself Don't do it around me Oh man

This gets me fired up Like I have always been like this though But I will say since getting pregnant I don't know why it does seem a little harder for me To like get out of the door In the normal time I used to No I totally get that But I think I'm just moving a little slower

With everything and it kind of adds up I'm not late but like I like to be early to things. Yeah. I like to be early to things. And so when I'm showing up with only three minutes to spare, that stresses me out. And look, I get it. I'm, oh my gosh.

I already know all of you guys are like, wait, do you have kids? Okay. I will film every single time because guess what? I'm going to be getting my kid ready an hour earlier than normal. Yeah. What if your kids having a tantrum? Because here's the thing. I grew up in a family with little kids.

Yeah. And guess what? We were never late to anything. But what my parents did was different is how we went about things is everyone would just get ready a lot earlier. Right? You just push everything back. It's not impossible. Yeah.

Oh, I'm sorry. I know I'm pissing a lot of people off. So I'll stop. I love all you guys. We all have our own opinions. That's the best part of life. I still friends with everyone. Someone's probably rage.

No. Someone's giving me a one-star review right now. But I do feel like there's other things. that people feel this passionately about like you with late people. Yeah. There's probably other things that when if they brought it up to us, we'd be like, oh, we don't really care about that. Oh, but if it's something I do, I get.

I think it goes back to what you're saying, like the level of respect. It is the thing you're doing inherently disrespectful of someone else's time. For sure. That's my main thing. We've got to stop talking about it. But yes, no, that's my main thing is it's just, I think it's disrespectful. If there's something I'm doing that you think is disrespectful, tell me. Because I'll be like, yeah, you're probably, I get that.

I shouldn't do that anymore. Someone the other day was mad that I was eating food when we were telling one of our stories. And I was like, okay, I could see that. So guess what? I'm not eating food during one of my stories or one of the cases. Might get it. No, yeah, it makes sense. I get it.

I could see that. Wow, you're so humble. No, I'm just, get out of here. No, but I feel like I'm open to. 100%. I'm a very open person when I'm a very open person. it comes to like criticism or hearing what other people's thoughts are i won't always agree with you but like i'm very open to it and i enjoy seeing other people's point of views yeah i feel like very

rarely do i not see truth and something that someone brings up yeah okay should we get into today's case let's get into today's case and guess what you don't have to hear me talk as much anymore we're coming over to payton our sources for this episode are oxygen dot com abcc7 dot com abc30.com New Yorkpost.com, Bakersfieldnow.com, CNN.com, desert sun.com, Alaskanewsource.com, Marinecourtimes.com, all that's interesting.com. CBS News, New York Post, Fox13, Seattle.com, and KTLA.LA.com. Usually a solid friendship makes the perfect foundation for a beautiful romance. We've heard this time and time again, like friends first, lovers, second. Falling in love with your best friend makes things easy. You get to skip the awkward first date, the getting to

know you phase, the uncomfortable small talk. You already feel safe with that person. So dating just kind of feels like this organic transition. But there are cases where dating your close friend is not the best idea. Like maybe when you're already in a committed relationship, it's a risk that usually outweighs the reward. The possibility of ruining several important relationships all at once because you're dating someone but then fall in love with your best friend. I don't know. Some people will do it.

They'll take the chance. They'll roll the dice. I love who I love. And others just get themselves in too deep and then end up trying to do whatever it takes to pull themselves back out. So we are kicking today's case off in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where a young girl named Aaron Heavelyn is growing up. Now, Aaron was adopted when she was just 17 days old by the Heveland family in Tennessee. And all of her other siblings were adopted as well,

though Aaron was easily the most quiet, shy, reserved of all of her adopted siblings. She was cautious, She was obsessed with animals. She loved horses. And that was actually where Erin ended up finding a lot of her confidence growing up. She got a lot of her experience with horses at the East Tennessee Riding Club, which her mom, Lor, that's her name, Lor, described as Aaron's second home as a kid. And as much as Lauren her husband pushed back on getting Aaron a horse of her own, they couldn't deny that joy from her forever.

So they eventually gave in and they gave her not one but two horses. But it was there at the barn that Aaron gained another loved. When she was just in fifth grade, she's a horse girl. She meets a boy named John Corwin. Fifth grade. Fifth grade. Now John and Aaron become close friends. then they drift for a while as they like start coming of age.

But then after reconnecting, the two started dating. John actually asked her to be his girlfriend on Aaron's 16th birthday. So it was kind of like this childhood crush love that's now actually turned into teenagers dating. And John even asked Aaron's parents permission first, which is why the Heavlins really loved John. They really took him in. He was polite, warm-hearted. He had a good head on his shoulders. He already knew what he wanted to do with his life, which was to join the Marines.

Of course, that meant that John would likely be stationed somewhere out of state after he joined. And the best way for Aaron to go with him and for them to stay together after high school was if they got married. So in November of 2012, 18-year-old Aaron and 19-year-old John tie the knot. They actually went off and eloped in Las Vegas. While they were young, Aaron's family was supportive of the decision. Her family knew him, had known him for a long time. They didn't really see this as some just like puppy love bling-oh going off and eloping. They figure this is just a means to an end to make it so that he can join.

the Marines and she can go with him. And that was important because by September 2013, Aaron and John were going to be on their own, far removed from family, when John got his assignment. He was sent to a base in 29 Palms out in California. Now together, Aaron and John, still young, started a new little life at the Marine Combat Base just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. and Garrett and I have been to Joshua Tree if you don't know what Joshua Tree is it is this town in the desert

It's a desert town It is very small It is very deserty There's lots of sand Lots of dirt Think like holes the movie I feel like I'm always talking about that movie But there's some cute

There's some really cute houses Cute city There's some things to do But they're on the base outside Of Joshua Tree Basically they move here and pretty soon the world is starting to feel a little bit smaller for Aaron. Out in the desert, there wasn't much to do to occupy her time, especially since John would be off in training

sometimes gone for a month or longer, while Aaron was just left at home to her own devices. Luckily, the base did have its own grocery store and a movie theater, so it was easy for Aaron to meet people, make friends who also lived there, especially running into the same military wives who were going through similar things as her. Plus, there was a place called the White Rock Horse Rescue that was nearby, and that kind of filled some of what Aaron was missing from back home. She started going to these stables often, including with a new friend she had met, a fellow Marine wife and neighbor of hers, a woman named Nicole Lee. Now, Nicole and Aaron going to the stables together, kind of living a similar life, they get

pretty close. They would ride together and then Aaron would go over to help babysit their five-year-old daughter, which she loved because Aaron loved kids. She wanted kids of her own. And while their husbands were out on duty, they would spend a lot of time together hanging out at each other's places, chatting, gossiping, and when their husbands were around, they would all double date, barbecue together, watch movies at each other's homes. Like, it was definitely best friends type thing.

And Erin was starting to get used to the setup, even though she was miles away from home. But she was excited in June of 2014 because her mother, Lore, was actually coming to visit in a few days. But unfortunately, the family would receive. some devastating news before that trip came. All right, you guys, we are getting into an ad, and it is Amazon music. And if you don't follow us on social media, you need to go right now and check out the Amazon Music Reel that I made. Yes, Peyton just posted an Amazon Music ad reel.

We don't do many ads on Instagram. So Peyton did one. Go check it out. It's pretty good. She worked really hard on it. And loki, it explains like everything I love about Amazon music. We both love Amazon music. Honestly, we both are big fans of audiobooks.

I'm always like working or driving. And I do like books. But for me, it's so much easier when I can just listen to a book and hear everything and picture everything. I love it. I'm a big, big fan of that. And you know what it is? It's the fact that they made it so you don't have to go to three separate apps.

Because Amazon music is your. one app for music podcasts and audiobooks. So like no matter what you're listening to, you can get it on Amazon music. You get access to audiobooks included with your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription. You know, I wish I had this when I was in high school. I know. I really wish I had this when I was in high school because I have a hard time reading. Yeah.

And so this would have been such a game changer for me in high school. I actually would have read all the books. instead of spark noting them. I know. I'm currently on Amazon music, besides listening to music and podcast, obviously. I'm currently listening to Project Hail Mary because Garrett was like, you have to watch this movie. You have to watch this movie. It's so good.

And so I watched it. And then I fell in love with Rocky. I fell in love with Grace. And I was like, I have to listen to this audio book. You're also a big fan of a core of Thorns and Roses, right? Yeah. they have that on there too. And you know the thing about it's the narrators are so good. They really can bring like the book to life. Yes. So listening to a court of thorns and roses versus reading it was like a whole

different experience. I mean, they have so many titles over on Amazon music. Something Peyton and I actually just started doing recently as well is like when we're driving, we'll throw on an audiobook and listen to an audiobook. It's just pretty cool because we used to. I mean, listen to a lot of music, but lately we've been doing more audiobooks. It makes the drives go by. Yeah, it makes a drives go by faster. Like, it feels like you're doing something. And so the drive goes by way faster.

Honestly, for me, it's just the fact that I can put an audio book on and continue about my day. Like things I do while I listen to audiobook, podcast music from Amazon music is laundry. I put it on while I get ready, doing my makeup, doing my hair. I use it in the shower. Also, I'm sure a lot of you listen to, but we actually have a good audience on Amazon that listen to our podcast. Again, it's just so nice. It's all in one place. Like, it's so easy and so good.

If you're curious, go check it out. Music, podcast, audiobooks, all in one app. Again, music, podcast, audiobooks, all in one app. Go check it out. We're big fans of Amazon music. and we are back to our regular episode. On the morning of June 28th, 2014, Aaron woke up early and told her husband

she was going out for the day. She wanted to scout out some hiking trails around Joshua Tree National Park to see what would be safe and doable for her and her mom when her mom arrived. Now, Aaron gave John a kiss goodbye and told him she loved him. and then John rolled over and went back to sleep for a while.

Apparently, that was around 7.30 a.m. Later, John wakes up. He goes about his day. But the hours passed. And Aaron still wasn't back from scouting out hiking trails. So eventually he gets really worried. And he called Aaron over and over again 50 times by the end of the day with no answer. Okay.

And by nightfall, she is still not home. Except John doesn't go to the police that night. Instead, he waited until the following morning, she still doesn't come home, and then he reports his wife missing. You would report me missing if I wasn't answering and didn't come home that night. Oh, 100%. You know, 100%. That's weird. That's completely weird.

Maybe not all or like that. It depends like if I, if you, yeah, no, I would. Yeah. 100% would. So John, it tells the police, he's really worried over the fact that Aaron honestly left the house that day with nothing. She didn't pack much more than a gatorade. So how is she still gone into the next day?

But he doesn't sound that worried, according to police. They said there wasn't much emotion in his voice. And that was what worried them. They were like, why are you not more working? up over this. John had also called Aaron's mother, Lor, that day to say, hey, I just reported Aaron missing. And Lorr's first impression is Aaron, her daughter likely just got lost somewhere out looking for those hikes. She said, Aaron's not very good with directions and in a place as vast and sparse as Joshua Tree National Park, it is easy to get turned around. But regardless, Laura wastes no time. She gets

on a plane and she is out there by the next day. But when she showed up at Aaron and John's house, John goes, oh, there's also something else I need to tell you. Something that's going to make this situation even more dire. Aaron was apparently three months pregnant at this time and she's now been missing. So again, this is a pretty big deal for Aaron because she had gotten pregnant before earlier in the year. She was so excited about it. She had posted an announcement on Facebook, but then a few weeks after that,

they had a miscarriage. It devastated her. It devastated John. And according to sources, this was a hard time in Aaron's life. She pulled back a bit. She was less social. It also put distance between her and John,

which was tough since things weren't great between them even before this first pregnancy. So when her mom gets there and she learns she's pregnant again, she starts kind of like flashing back to all of this entire marriage. Apparently, John and Aaron often argued over their finances. Friends said he kept tabs on her, maybe more than he should have, was a little controlling. I mean, finances are the number one reason.

and couples get divorced. But. Yeah, it's hard. I guess it wasn't too alarming, just normal couple stuff. But the marriage just ended up complicating matters even worse. Still, the police believe at this point in the investigation, she's been missing. Her mom is now here. They think John's lack of emotion is still strange.

But Laura kind of tells him, no, that's just John. Like, he's not acting any different. He doesn't show a lot of emotion. he never really has. And she personally tells police, I don't think he's done anything wrong. The police are like, okay, we get it.

We're going to polygraph him anyway because his pregnant wife is missing. And he passes. Plus, he handed over his phone to authorities and let them track his digital information, which proved he was at the house all day when Aaron went missing. At least his phone was and being used.

So they kind of ruled John out. But at this point, investigators didn't even. know if this was an issue of foul play. I mean, all they know is that Aaron went out to Joshua Tree and never made it home. So that same day, they dispatched crews by foot and air to scour Joshua Tree National Forest just in case she had gotten lost. This is not an easy task, considering that it's over 1,200 square miles of desert with more than a thousand abandoned mines. Wow. Now, luckily, authorities managed to narrow down the search to 300 square miles actually using Aaron's cell phone data.

And with the help of six different law enforcement agencies and hundreds of volunteers looking for this missing pregnant woman, the search for Aaron Corwin went into full effect. Meanwhile, two days later, on June 30th, police found their first clue of what they believe might have happened. And it was her car. Police discovered her car just outside the military base, not inside of Joshua Tree Park, like they had expected. Which doesn't make sense because if she told her husband that morning when she woke up, she was heading to the National Park to scout hiking trails. Why did she park her car so far away? The car doesn't give them much else.

There was no sign of Aaron, but there were some foot. but prints leading away from her car, and they seemed to disappear at another set of tire tracks. Again, it's desert. And so they believe Aaron parked her car, got out of her vehicle and got into someone else's car. So when they discover this, they're like, okay, this isn't what she said she was doing that morning.

Who was she meeting up with? The prince don't show any signs of a struggle. It looks like she just willingly got in, which is when they started looking closer at the friends Aaron made while living in 29 Palms. And they heard from a few people that Aaron's new best friend, Nicole, was having some issues in her marriage as well recently with her own husband, 24-year-old Marine Corporal Chris Lee. And it seemed to have something to do with Aaron.

So as they began asking around, getting to the rumor mill, the gossip, they're like, what's going on with Aaron? Who did she know here? What was her life like? And all of these people are like, well, her best friend Nicole and Nicole's husband, they seem to be arguing over her friendship with Aaron. Okay. Now, one of the first people to notice. Am I wrong? I feel like someone that's in the military, let me know.

I feel like on these bases, like cheating happens a lot. I mean, I guess it makes sense. I mean, maybe it's not any different than a normal population. But I do know it's a bigger deal, right? Because. I mean, it is like its own little town. Like, you'll, I mean, like you're not supposed to when you're in the military. Yeah, you lose your career.

Yeah, exactly. So maybe it's just a bigger of a deal. I don't know. Well, it is a bigger of a deal, but I mean, maybe it's just heightened more. I feel like I hear about it a lot for some reason. Well, they begin talking to people. And one of the first people that claimed to notice this was Isabel Megley. She was the owner of the Horse Ranch, where Aaron and Nicole spent a lot of their free time.

Now, Isabel got to know both couples pretty well, and she could immediately sense a disconnect between Nicole and her husband, Chris. she said Nicole was definitely the tougher one in the marriage. She was stricter. She wore the pants, if you will. Chris was less serious, a bit more irresponsible, was always just trying to have a good time. In fact, he had gotten in trouble with the Marines at least once for treating the weapons like toys. He had already gotten caught messing around with rifles and rocket launchers. So there were rumors that Chris was a bit reckless and that it could.

jeopardize his career in the Marines. Like this was kind of, you know. It also seemed like Chris was at a loss when it kind of came to the direction of his life. He told people around this time he was struggling with depression. He wasn't really connecting with his family anymore, which was something that Aaron Corwin could relate to, especially after her own miscarriage with John. So, according to the rumor mill, Aaron began confiding in her best, friend Nicole's husband, Chris, about the issues in her marriage. And it was reciprocated by Chris,

who was also struggling after coming back from a tour in Afghanistan. Aaron was also the kind of person who liked to help people. And Chris had told her that his depression had gotten so serious that he had been playing, quote, Russian roulette every morning. I don't know how serious that statement is. What does that mean? I mean, I know what it means, but like, I don't know if he's being literal or if it was more just like every morning I get up and wonder if I want to be here. I would just, oh, okay, got it. I was thinking of something like he's walking on eggshells. No. I wasn't thinking. This was about his literal life. Ah, I see. Okay. But over time, Chris made it seem like Aaron, again, his wife's best friend, was really helping him through that. He said they felt like, quote, two broken

pieces that fit together. The two started to lean on each other more. They started hanging out more, even with their spouses present. Like they didn't necessarily hide this blooming friendship from their spouses. But things escalated from there one night a few months before Aaron's disappearance in February of 2014. That evening, the Lees invited the Corwin's over to watch the Walking Dead. Again, all four of these people are best friends. They're couple best friends. But since Aaron hated the violence in the Walking Dead, she ends up going into Chris's room to play video games.

And apparently, he joins her, leaving John and Nicole on the couch alone to watch the episode. So the couples have, like, swapped, if you will. Like willingly? I mean, she walked in and then he ended up following her and then the other two were still watching The Walking Dead. I mean, could it unfold naturally? No.

But when you look that like... No, like cannot unfold. No. Like when you look at it, it's like, hmm? Why are those two in a room together? They're basically swinging. Oh, okay. I wouldn't go that far.

Really? Why? Because it's not like they're swinging. What are they doing? They're just four friends hanging out. And they happen to swap. Well, they're not... Just because one went in doesn't mean the other...

two are having a relationship as well. So that's not swinging. That's just a full-blown affair. Sure. So according to sources, Aaron is playing video games. Chris goes in. They're seated on the floor.

Guess one of them pauses the video game and kisses the other one. I don't know. It was quick. It was the start of something dangerous. It escalates into a full-blown affair. According to the story, this is the first time they have, had physical interaction with their spouses sitting in the living room to the point where they then

both begin talking about leaving their partners. Oh, no. For each other. Not good. Not good. Chris even told her, like, my child already loves you because you've spent so much time with Nicole. Your best friend, mind you.

Your best friend. That's just so messy. Like, don't bring the kids into it like that. Like, come on. It's also just like, yeah, Nicole let you know her daughter because you guys. guys were best friends. No wonder the daughter loves you. But then Chris takes this and he's like, you'd be such a good step mom. Oh my. Like our five year old daughter already loves you. You've got to be kidding me right now. That makes me sick. Now it doesn't take long for Nicole to realize something is

off. Chris had been pushing her away and made her curious if there was something he wasn't telling her. So one day that spring, she checks his phone and she finds endless text messages between Chris, her husband, and Aaron, her best friend. Okay. Saying things like, I'm falling for you. So after that, Nicole called John, the husband, Aaron's husband. So instead of confronting the two, she ends up calling John. And she says, hey, this is what I've found.

Our spouses are definitely sleeping together. And this ends up becoming a meeting between the four of them. He's like, okay, let's bring both of them to the room. all four of us will meet and get down to the bottom of what's going on. And this meeting lasts hours and ended with Aaron trying to leave, but Nicole stopping her to say, quote, if you ever have anything else to do with my husband, I will kill you myself. Oh my gosh. Okay.

So it's definitely volatile. It's definitely messy. And after that, Aaron and Chris apparently call it quits. Like the spouses have found out it's a mess. At least for a few weeks. But once the storm had settled, they began seeing each other in secret again. And then on June 22nd...

That's bad as ballsy. Less than a week before she disappeared, Aaron learns she's pregnant and she is already three months along. Oh my gosh. And it's their baby. Well, she tells John, no, no, no. The baby's yours.

Like 100% the baby's yours, I promise. and after their miscarriage, he's obviously overwhelmed with joy. Maybe they're finally getting back on track, like secrets had come out, they're now pregnant. What John never learned was, she also goes to Chris

and says, the baby's yours. What are we going to do? She tells both men that the baby is theirs. That's pretty diabolical. Not going to lie. John obviously has no idea the couple had been,

sleeping together again because even though it's three months remember they took some time and stopped talking apparently so it had been three months since this meeting that he believed is when they stopped sleeping together so in john's mine he's like yeah it can only be mine because she's only been sleeping with me but chris and erin no no we've still secretly been sleeping together this could very much be chris's baby it's a mess like they this is a this is a mess what And this means at the time of Aaron's disappearance, things are still on between her and Chris. She's still having an affair. But now, several days into the investigation, police have been talking to people, they've been going through cell phone records, they've been pulling people in for interviews, and they've uncovered the truth, which means John is also finally learning that his missing pregnant wife was still actively seeing his best friend, basically.

her best friend's husband at the time of this disappearance and could possibly not be his baby. It could be Chris's. So police uncover this to everyone involved. They're like Aaron continued this affair with Chris. And she also told Chris the child was his. Now, by that point, the police had also begun unraveling another clue. Aaron's mother, Lour, had spoken to Aaron's close friend, Jessica, who lived back home.

and apparently Aaron had been confiding in her home friend Jessica about everything that had been going on. The details of the affair. She told Lorne that Aaron was talking about a special surprise from Chris right before she vanished. So her friend from home is like, oh, I knew about everything going on. And she said Chris was going to surprise her. According to this friend, Aaron said she was clueless about what the surprise might be. but he did tell her it was a trip to Joshua Tree National Forest. Aaron believed Chris was going to tell her he was leaving his wife for her and he was going to propose.

So she tells her friend, I actually think he's taking me here because we're going to start our life together. Now, after hearing this, the police bring Chris in for an interview the day after Aaron's car was found. So this is all unraveled quickly. This is July 1st, 2014. Chris seems cooperative. He doesn't ask for attorney. He admits he's like, yep, I was having an affair with Aaron. Though he said,

Aaron couldn't have been carrying his child because we never actually had intercourse. We never did anything more than kiss. So I know that that child's not mine. He also tells police, I thought I was in love with her, but now I'm thinking it was just a fantasy since me and my wife weren't in the best place.

Does that sound a little funny as like a grown adult? To be like, we only kissed. We only kissed. I swear. We just like we had a little peck on the list. A little 16 year olds. Yeah, we just kissed. That's it.

We only kissed. Like, no, dude, you're a full-grown adult. You're having a full-blown affair. You're having an affair. You guys, you know what?

100%. Like, come on. Oh, we just kissed. I promise. Like, okay. Being an adult, take some responsibility.

It's just funny. So, and then he tells the police, like, when we only kissed and also like, the only reason I ever even kissed her was because me and my wife weren't doing good. But I realized that was just like a fantasy. Like, I love my wife.

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They say, okay, well, where were you on the day Aaron went missing? And he goes, I was in Joshua Tree National Park. He said, I was supposed to go coyote hunting with my friend Connor. And he said, but Connor canceled on this trip, hunting trip, because he had a friend staying with him. And he's like, yeah, I also brought along a propane tank. I wanted to mess with and explode in one of the mine shafts in the park. I just did it by myself instead.

Like we were supposed to go hunting and do this like explosion, you know, ooh, fire in the, in the mine. Okay, I'm pretty sure that's done allowed. Yes,

but also he already has this reputation of being like a little adrenaline with his toys. And so he's like, but I went by myself. My friend Connor canceled. I went by myself to Joshua Tree National Park. Now,

this is obviously a horrible alibi. If he's trying, like, If he's trying to be like, no, I couldn't have done it. I was here. You literally just put yourself in the place where she thought you were taking her. She told a friend you were taking her. On the day she went missing.

They're like, okay, but they don't have enough to arrest him. They don't even know if Aaron is dead. They haven't found her body. So next, they call in Nicole. She is a little bit tougher to deal with. She doesn't want to answer questions. She's angry. They don't really get anywhere with her, which didn't bode well for her either.

I'm not sure if she has an alibi, but I can tell you this. The police weren't ruling either of them out as a person of interest. But they keep digging for evidence and they find something interesting. Those tire tracks that were found next to Aaron's car, they obviously check Chris's car. It is a perfect match for his Jeep, which was strange considering he said he was just going out playing with fire in Joshua Tree and said nothing about seeing her that day. but now they have tire tracks that match his car right next to her abandoned car. But even that is not enough to move in on Chris. Unfortunately, the timing of this investigation isn't great

because the next weekend, July 4th, Chris finished his service with the Marines. He was honorably discharged, which means him and his family are moving out of base housing. So this isn't great. they move out of base housing and they go stay at the white rock horse ranch with Isabel. This is the ranch Nicole and Aaron would go visit. They go stay there while they're trying to figure out how to move back to their home state of Alaska. But before police let him get too far, they found something on Chris that they hoped would keep him in town a little bit longer. While talking to Isabel, she tells police something useful.

again, she owns the horse ranch. She remembered that Chris had once left something in her truck after he borrowed it and it was a potato gun. Okay. If you don't know, basically a high-powered potato launcher that can be very destructive. And in the state of California, it is considered an explosive device. And since Chris had left it in someone else's car, that's a felony. So they literally just use this information. Okay, though, potato guns are kind of scary.

Oh, yeah. Like, you can kill someone. Yeah. Not that I've ever used one. Okay. But you can kill someone. So you're telling me you grew up in California and we're using a explosive device? I don't know if it was illegal at that point.

Maybe it was. I don't know. I was a teenager, dude. Anyways, it's considered a felony. So they get an arrest warrant for Chris. And they end up searching his apartment on Isabel's ranch that he's currently staying with with his family. except they don't find anything in regards to Aaron's disappearance, which isn't that surprising because that's not even where he lived at the time she disappeared.

But instead, Chris is released on bail just two days later. And shortly after he moved his family back to Alaska like they had planned. Because like unless you're going to arrest him, you can't keep them. Yeah. Now, meanwhile, the search for Aaron does not stop.

By mid-July, people suspected that Aaron if she was out in the park was no longer alive. Temperatures in the summer there, easily climbed to 110 degrees. Even search and rescue dogs were getting heat stroke. By that point, they had explored over 100 different mine shafts, but there were thousands of them. Now, come August, they felt like they were running out of options.

When Isabel, our horse ranch owner, once again, saves the day. She goes to police and she's like, I remember something else that might be useful. She said about a week before Aaron vanished, Chris told her he was going to go to the park to explore some mines, including, quote, one no one would ever find. And when he came back, he showed her pictures. And she had those pictures, so they are now able to recover them. Luckily, they had been working with an expert named Doug Billings,

who not only knew Joshua Tree Park like the back of his hand, he knew the mine shafts extremely well too. And when police were like, hey, where is this mine, the one that Chris shared with Isabel? He recognizes it right away. Wow. He says it even has a name, The Rose of Peru mine,

apparently not so secret at all. So on August 16th, 2014, after eight weeks of searching, using this picture from Isabel, they find? Doug and his team drop a camera 100 feet down this mine shaft. Oh my gosh.

And they find Aaron's body. Okay. Alongside her were shell casings, pieces of rebar, and a propane tank. It looked like a felled attempt to try and blow up the remains in the mine shaft.

Now, thankfully, teams were able to remove Aaron's body from the shaft, send it off to autopsy because it hadn't been blown up. And they found that Aaron had been strangled and then died from

blunt force trauma after being pushed down the mine. Okay. And it wasn't manual strangulation. She was strangled with something. Yes. It was basically, like a tool composed of wire or cord

along with some sort of metal or wood piece that you could use to tighten it which explained the piece of rebar that was found at the bottom of the shaft with Aaron. However, Aaron's body was to decomposed to confirm whether or not she was actually pregnant. Oh, that's horrible. That's horrible. So at this point, officials are like,

yep, we have more than enough now to get an arrest warrant for Chris because we only found this body because of information he gave a witness. It was just a matter of tracking him down, which wasn't hard. The following day in August 17th, they had located Chris living with his family

in Anchorage, Alaska. He was pulled over by local police and arrested, and what would you know inside his car was a device you could use to strangle someone, like a homemade one. He had it with him still? Just like the one they found near her body, because there was like another one.

Oh, he had another one. Okay. Chris was extradited back to California where he was facing charges of murder, along with a special circumstance of lying in weight, meaning he planned her death and then lured her into a trap, which I think is worth another charge. Isn't that basically just first degree murder to an extent? Yeah, but it's almost like more.

Or is it less? I think it's the luring, like an innocent person, because like first degree premeditated could be, I'm going to break in in this person's house and then you break in and kill them. I wonder if it's less of a charge or more of a charge. I don't know the answer to that. I think it should be worse because you're taking someone who trusts you.

Yeah, no, but I wonder if the actual charges less or more. Do you know? I don't know. I'm going to say it's at least the same because this conviction is worthy of the death penalty. Oh, okay. It found guilty. So I would say it's very similar.

Now, meanwhile, the prosecution was building their case against Chris. They found some other pretty strong connections between the items found with Aaron's body and Chris himself. For example, the shell casings discovered near her body matched those that were found in Chris's home and car. Oh, it's open and shut. If you remember, they also found that propane tank. Not only did a neighbor say they had seen that propane tank sitting in Chris's Jeep days before Aaron disappeared, authorities found out where it came from. Once again, Isabel says, oh yeah, he asked.

asked me if he could have that propane tank before the disappearance and said he would bring it back, but he never did. Also found in that mine shaft was a makeshift torch with a Marine Corps t-shirt around it. This was tested for DNA and confirmed to belong to Chris. There was also an empty Sprite bottle that had the DNA of both Chris and Aaron on it, which again is so devised. stating it supports the lion weight theory that Chris led her there. They shared a sprite. They were friendly. And then he murdered her.

On top of that, his internet history shows that he had searched for the phrase, best way to dispose of a human body. Yeah. One idiot. Put him in jail for life. So. Gone.

Get out of here. At this point, just to put two and two together. The reason he lied to police and that he had only kissed her is because her being pregnant is motive and was most likely the motive for him murdering her because if she was pregnant with his baby, he would then have to come clean to his wife. Yeah.

And apparently he was not ready to go run away with her. That's crazy. Which is why he tells police, no, there's no possibility it was even mine because he knows that was the motive. So in October of 2016, two years after the murder, Chris Lee. the wife thinks, by the way. I know. What a mess.

What a horrible. And just. What an absolute mess. Again, she's just victimized over and over again. The wife is as well. Yeah. No, 100%. The trial happens.

There's, you know, a bunch of ways he tries to get out of this, including saying that Aaron had been hurting his five-year-old daughter, which I'm not even going to get into details because whatever. Literally, after 15 minutes. of deliberation. 15 minutes. The jury finds Chris Lee guilty of first degree murder

and the lying in weight enhancement. In November of that year, the 27-year-old dodged the death penalty but was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He's tried to appeal his case. And as for Nicole and his daughter,

whereabouts unknown, it's safe to say she stayed off social media as she should. There's no reason she should have to be in the limelight after all of this. But that brings us back to what we were discussing earlier. A solid friendship can make the perfect foundation for a romance, but this story was never actually really about love.

It was about Chris wanting the reward without paying the price. He wanted something new without losing what he had. And when he found out that Aaron was pregnant, that went against everything he wanted and he killed her because of it. Yeah. Aaron deserved better than a friend who became a friend. a lover and a lover who then became her killer. She deserved happiness, warmth, generosity.

She deserved a soulmate. And I want to make it clear here that everyone makes mistakes. And just because Aaron was willingly having an affair with Chris does not mean that she deserved to be murdered or that she ever even put herself in this situation to begin with. No, no. Not at all. And so I just want to make that clear because sometimes, Sometimes it is hard when you're like looking from the outside looking in.

I get that. But the reality is, is like, no, no matter what you do, you don't deserve to die. No. My mind will change on that unless you kill someone else. But that's the Garrett opinion. Lives are messy. People make mistakes. We can't just kill.

We can't just say everyone deserve to die because of a mistake they made. Thank you guys so much for listening to today's case. And we will see you next time with another one. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye. Thank you.