The man accused of killing Oak Ridge native Erin Corwin and disposing her body in an abandoned mine shaft in California is tentatively scheduled to go to trial this June.
Christopher Brandon Lee is accused of killing Erin Corwin, 19, after investigators said the two had an affair and Lee killed Corwin before his wife discovered it. Corwin had believed she was pregnant with his child, though an autopsy was unable to confirm this due to decomposition.
Corwin disappeared last June. Seven weeks later, a rescue team finally found her body, dumped at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft. Authorities arrested Lee, a former Marine with whom Corwin was having an affair. Prosecutors believe he lured Corwin into the desert, then killed her in a desperate attempt to hide the relationship.
According to the public affairs officer from the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, newly discovered information delayed Lee’s trial that had been scheduled for this month. A pretrial hearing is now scheduled for May 20, with a jury trial tentatively scheduled for June 27. No word on what the new evidence was that resulted in the continuance.
In an April 2015 hearing, prosecutors read texts Corwin sent to a friend here in Tennessee before her death. The texts show she had hoped the desert getaway trip would mean an engagement ring. According to her friend’s testimony, Corwin said that Lee had planned the desert trip as a romantic getaway, but he also expected to do some hunting, so he would bring a gun, and he might have to pull it out "for a few minutes."
An arrest warrant filed in California Superior Court in 2014 showed the former marine admitted searching the Internet for advice on how to dispose of a body and .22-caliber cartridge casings and pieces of rebar at the mine shaft where she was found matched those found in his Jeep.
Christopher Brandon Lee also asked a witness about the best way to dispose of a body and told investigators he was collecting tires the morning Corwin disappeared. A tire also was found at the mine shaft.
An autopsy revealed Corwin had likely been strangled. Investigators believe her assailant used a homemade garrote, made from rebar and nylon rope, that was found in the mine shaft with her body.
Previous reporting from The Desert Sun contributed to this story.