the president in this way. dawn porter, thank you for making this wonderful, wonderful film. and robert gibbs, man, thank you for everything. and the honesty that came from that office when you were running the press shop. thanks to all of you all for joining us tonight. >> appreciate that. >> thank you. have a good night. joining us, you, have a good night. the desert is a strange place. so isolated. somebody got lost out there, a marine's wife had gone missing, i never expected to be a part of a huge murder case. >> my heart just sunk. something happened. >> we didn't know if she was stranded in the desert, or can we find her before she meets a horrible end. >> it's strange that he waited to report her missing. >> they were laughing and carrying on. >> there was something big going on there. >> i had no idea what we were getting in to.

>> it makes me think of indiana jones, one wrong turn can be your last. >> this really can't be happening. we didn't realize there had would be a predator. >> they say theyou are feeling down, it's time to saddle up with a little love, trust, and respect these majestic creatures can emerge as loyal and gentle companions, for both horse and rider, there's nothing like it. >> she had transformed in to this awesome horse handling and she knew what she was doing and talking about. >> if only romantic relationships were that simple. this is the story of a young woman so gentle, she may have understood what made horses tick, but humans? a different beast indeed.

>> this doesn't happen to people we know. it just doesn't. >> it was crushing. i cried, i cried for days. i still cry when i think about it. not really sure what type of person it takes to do that. >> oakridge, tennessee, nestled along the river is an unassuming place. they call it the secret city for its part in the manhattan project when produced the first atomic obama. they still value themselves being a community, and it's a good place to raise a family. this is where evelyn grew up. >> when erin was three weeks old, she joined our family as a foster child. >> her mom, lore. >> she was a tiny little thing. 5 pounds 3 ounces when we got her. >> oh, we thought she was the sweetest little things. the oldest were squoen and carried her around.

>> she was like their little doll. >> yeah, he this loved her. >> she and her husband adopted their little doll when she was three. erin grew in to a shy little girl. but with the horses she cared for that was a different story at the east tennessee riding club. >> when i think of erin with horses, i think of her as bigger. she is very confident. she knows what she wants and what she is going to do. >> erin's friend, abby guch. >> but with people, she was much meeker, much more had quiet, calmer. >> horses would always be erin's first love. but as she entered her teen years a certain young man caught her eye. his name is john corwin. >> what was it about you that could break through to erin because her mom said how shy she was, and she was better with horses than people, what was it about you? >> i guess it's my charming personality? i have no idea.

still surprises me today. >> really? >> yes. i guess i just always was able to talk to her, figure out what she was feeling. >> erin's parents had strict rules about when she could start dating. >> we were those parents. the mean parents. >> john was sure to get their blessing first. >> i ended up driving over to the parents house and asking if i could date their daughter. >> that was chiolrous of you. >> that was how i was raised. >> he asked erin to marry him when she was just 18 years old, with an unusual proposal, there was no champagne but there was a cup of sprite. >> i got a sprite, and put the ring on the straw and asked her to marry me had. >> did she see it right away? >> no, i said, hey, lock at your

drink. >> what was her reaction? >> she was crying tears of joy, excited and screaming yes, yes, yes, i would love to. >> erin's mom heard that becoming a military wife comes with sacrifice. i know that it can can be a lonely life, i'm a marine corp wife myself, it's not easy. did you try to warn her? >> oh, yes. >> and did she listen? >> i know mom, i know mom. of course when i was 18, i knew also. you know, you probably couldn't tell me a whole lot. >> the couple decided to elope to las vegas and tie the not after a celebration called the marine corp balls. >> my husband and i had a lot of fun at marine corp balls but we never thought about getting married there, why there? >> it was like spur of the

moment type deal and that's how we lived. >> john was assigned to the 29 palms ma s marine base in the california desert. erin packed up to join him and her mom joined her at the airport. >> she had two lay overs, i said when you get off the plane, you ask someone where you need to go, and you let me know as soon as you get there. >> what emotions were you feeling to let your baby go to start her new life? >> it was scary for me, you know, i knew that it was going to be harder than she dreamt. >> like any parent, she worried about her daughter finding her place in this new life. >> she is very shy, and i did have concerns about her making friends. we found that base housing would be safer for her because her husband was out in the field so often. >> it was not long before john and erin learned they were expecting a baby. >> she was very excited. >> i was excited for her.

>> sadly her excitement was short lived. in early 2014, she suffered a miscarri miscarriage, was it hard for you to hear that? >> i was in a training exercise in the field and i received the message over the radio, my c.o.called me down to his vehicle and said, your wife just had a misscarriage and she was in the hospital and so, it was kind of shocking. that night, i drove back to the hospital and i met up with her. and she was in tears. >> after she lost the baby, you know, part of me wanted to go out there and be with her. but i felt like they would do a better job of getting through their grief if they didn't have to worry about entertaining mom. >> wanting desperately to be a mother, erin vowed to try again, around four months later in june

of the same year. during a visit to the hospital for nausea the couple got good news. they were pregnant against. here you are again, how did it feel this time? >> we were happy, but fearful. afraid that it was going to happen again. >> yeah. were you cautiously optimistic? >> yes. >> she decided to wait to surprise her mom with the news. laura had a trip planned to visit the following month. >> you know, we had plans of just going for walks. we were going to go to san diego to go to sea world and san diego zoo. but mostly just spend time together. >> you both must have been really wanting, needing this trip? >> absolutely. >> in anticipation of her mother's visit, erin told her husband she was going to scout out some good hiking locations at nearby joshua tree national park. >> she had woke up and gotten dressed and gave me a kiss goodbye and said, hey, i'm heading out for the day and i love you. told her, i love you to, and

rolled back over and went to sleep. a routine goodbye or so it seemed until erin corwin vanished without a trace. coming up. what had happened to erin? >> called her throughout the night. >> how many times would you say you tried to call her or text her? >> at least 50 times, i was so he is stressed and worried. >> he said erin's missing she left yesterday morning and i have not seen her since. >> john was concerned. but he was withdrawn, when you have a spouse who is not extremely frantic, you have to wonder why they are not super upset. we had a lot of questions for john. >> when "dateline" continues. this week on "the upper hands"... special guest flo challenges the hand models to show off the ease of comparing rates with progressive's home quote explorer.

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19-year-old erin corwin, couldn't wait, her mom would soon be making her first trip to see erin and their husband john in their home at 29 palms california, at the marine base

in the middle of the desert. around 7:00 in the morning, erin said goodbye to john and said she was coming here to joshua tree national park to scout out hiking trails for her mom's up coming visit. she was expected that afternoon, but she did not show, he kept calling her phone, no answer. how many times do you had think you called other texted her? >> at least 50 times. i was so stressed and worried. >> hours passed and by the next morning, he was frantic. >> john calls and he said, erin is missing. >> she got the call back home in tennessee. >> he said, she left yesterday morning and i have not seen her since. my first question was how much water did she have with her? >> you are thinking like it's a hiking situation? she has gotten -- >> this is the child with no sense of direction. i'm assuming she is lost. >> john reported his wife's disappearance to the local police station. san bernardino county sheriff's department was soon notified,

detective travis newport. >> obviously we were concerned can we find her before she meets a horrible end. you don't know if she is being held somewhere or stranded in the desert still. >> lore's phone range again, this this time it was a deputy. he another idea. >> one of the first questions is do you think she is driving home? >> from tennessee? >> yes. >> so maybe she has just left? >> yes. >> and i about laughed because i know how much she hates to drive. has no sense of direction and there was no way she'd give up a trip to sea world and the zoo. >> back in the 29 palms, john rounded up some of his marine buddies and headed in to the national park. it's a vast expans of nearly 800,000 acres of rugged rock formations. twisted joshua trees and desolate open desert, where

summer temperatures climb to over 100 degrees. >> we drove around trying to find any signs or clues where it might have been. >> do you see any signs of her, a car, a piece of clothing? anything? >> nothing. >> there's a protocol detectives follow when investigating a missing person. start small and close to home. that inne a nmpinner circle of d family, when they reported erin had disappeared, it was natural they looked at him. >> with any investigation, you start closest tort source of a missing person. we had a lot of questions for john. >> investigators learned that once childhood sweet hearts settled in 29 palms things were far from perfect. >> their relationship was not intertwined, it was a relationship that was probably starting to dwindle. >> there was her miscarriage in early 2014, john said it was

heartbreaking and erin had trouble coping. >> she'd stay at home, and become depressed, i'm not one that speaks out on my emotions, i kept them bottled up my whole life, and she felt i did not care about them and i did. it actually hurt me a lot. it took a toll on our relationship. >> and erin's mom, knew that the young married couple had money problems. >> we gave each of our kids a certain amount of money when they got married, and they kept buying things and then the huge chunk of money was not there. >> you struggle with finances? >> pay is not that great, we had food on the table, but no money for extra curriculars. >> was that tough? >> times were lean.

>> they were grown up problems for people just out of high school. >> it's hard to transition from being on your own to being married. sometimes a hard hand is what you need. and i think that is what john was teaching her. and she didn't like it. >> they wondered about john's behavior when his wife the did not return home? why did he wait a whole day to call police? >> it was suspicious that he waited until the next day to report her as missing. >> john said he explained to the investigators he thought that was how these things worked. >> you see these common things on television and you cannot report a missing person until 24 hours after they have been missing. and i truly believed that. >> made sense. maybe. but detectives noticed something. >> john was kind of withdrawn. he was concerned, but he was withdrawn, and at times we wondered is it his military background. you know, when you have a spouse that is not frantic, you have to

wonder why aren't they super excited or super upset? >> john had gone in the park to search for his wife. sign of a concerned husband? or something else? >> well, obviously, as an investigator you have to wonder, is this person trying to put themselves this, is this person trying to give us a reason why they would be there had where the last person was seen or was possibly contacted? >> you were seriously looking at him. >> yes. >> i did think that maybe john -- and i think that's normal. it doesn't make it right. but i think that it's normal human response to think, the spouse. >> but really, they might have been getting ahad he h-- gettin ahead of themselves, erin was missing and may well have run off on her own, there was no proof any harm had come to her, there were people to talk to, and a place to explore, a

sanctuary for erin that was in the desert, one full of clues and secrets. coming up. >> they were laughing and carrying on. >> and you think flirtatious? >> giggling. >> i had not seen her act like that, it was like a kid in a candy store. i was not used to it, so it stuck out. >> erin the shy young why, exactly what kind of secret was she keeping? >> any time you have a spouse who is missing, and you hear there may be infidelity there, it you wonder if they are involved in the significant other being missing. and now your co-pilot.

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hello, here a's what is happening, experts are warning that several states across the u.s. are seeing a rise in covid cases unlike anything experienced in the pandemic. new cases topped 65,000 on thursday, with much of the strain being felt in rural area hospitals. and the michigan court of appeals ruled friday, that absentee ballots must arrive by election day. and they blocked a 14 day extension. they had been handed down in wisconsin and indiana. now back to dateline. ♪ detectives in san

bernardino, california, were working around the clock to figure out what happened to 19-year-old marine wife erin corwin. they soon learned that erin had an affair, and that made them suspect that her husband john may have had something to do with the disappearance. >> some of the detectives thought your behavior was strange and you were not acting sad enough. do you get why they were thinking that? >> i understand, i'm a very inclusive kind of person. i don't show emotions at all. >> did you worry at all in the moment that they are looking at me? >> no, i did not. >> john told detectives that his wife said the affair was over. he and erin had reconciled and he reestablished his friendship with erin's former lover. but in the first days of the investigation, detectives learned that erin's relationship with chris was going strong right up to the day she disappeared. >> it was not just a friendship,

slight infidelity, they were full on, completely involved with each other. >> one of erin's close friends back in tennessee told investigators that she talked and texted with erin nearly every day. erin, the friend said, was making plans for a life with chris lee. >> erin had expressed to this friend that she was going to get married to chris. >> the friend told investigators erin said that chris was taking her on a special trip the morning she disappeared and she texted her all about it. erin wrote, so apparently this surprise trip is super important and i finally got him to tell me, it's by the national park. erin told her friend, she didn't know what plans chris had in store. yeah, i'm clueless, lol, i'm ready to know what it is. i have a couple of ideas. i feel like it's big. but yeah, lol, we shall see. the friend responded with a series of emo jimjis, including hearts, question marks and a

diamond ring. suggesting an engagement? erin responded maybe, he was playing with my ring the other night, we shall see. this day cannot take quick enough. and it takes two hours to get there. a long slow drive, good talking time though. after erin went missing that same friend spoke to john. >> she had told me that erin had supposedly went out with chris that day and that she was expecting that chriss was supposed to propose to her that day. >> how betrayed did you feel? >> it was earth shattering. i was, felt like somebody stuck, literally stuck a knife in my back. i was honestly about are ready to strangle chris. >> but detectives soon learned something more explosive. erin had recently found out she was pregnant. she told her friend that she

believed the father of her baby was her loafe-- was lover, chrit her husband. >> do you think that he found out that the afifair did not en like he thought and the baby may not be his? that is heavy stuff to deal with. >> absolutely. that's why we questioned him so. did he realize that the baby was likely not his? and a that brings motive to a spouse? >> do you have anything to do with your wife's disappearance? >> absolutely not, anybody who knew me knew there was no way i could to that. >> he said marines on base that did not know him well, seemed suspicious. >> you could tell, they looked at my differently and i stayed home because of that. >> were you not able to do your job if you didn't want to leave the house? >> no, at that time, they considered me to be mentally unstable and they took me away from everything, pretty much, because we handle firearms every day, and so, i stayed at home.

>> but now, john was not the only one on detective's radar. if his fellow marine chris lee might be the father of erin's baby and the person had she was going to meet that day. then chris too might have a motive and an opportunity. >> did you look at both chris and john as suspects? >> yes. absolutely. >> there was at least one other possibilitity. that erin, naive and just 19 years old, had simply decided to run away from her troubles. what ever happened, there was still no sign of her. that is, until this woman noticed something strange. something she had never seen before. >> i didn't know if someone was doing drugs in there or if somebody was just up to no good. and i knew that it was not supposed to be there. coming up. a break-through new clue. >> as we were driving down the road there, i noticed a car parked off to the left side of the road that was not there the

night before. >> there were shoe impressions, tire impressions. >> something had happened. i know my daughter. i could not get to 29 palms quick enough. the plane could not fly fast enough. >> when dateline continues. for you, for the whole family. trusted soothing vapors, from vicks if yothe medicare enrollment up. deadline is only weeks away. with so many changes, do you know if your plan is still the right fit? having the wrong plan may cost you thousands of dollars out of pocket. and that's why i love healthmarkets, your insurance marketplace.

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♪ 29 palms is definitely, it's an experience to live out there.

the desert is one of those places that you go out to find yourself and then, after you found yourself, you are really happy to leave the place behind. >> debbie and her family lived outside the marine corp base in 29 palms california. >> it's pretty barren and flat, you can see for hundred-s of miles in every direction. >> it was so remote, in fact, that a saturday morning doughnut craving meant an eight mile drive to the nearest grocery store. so around 8:30 on june 28th, 2014, debbie and her daughter set off. >> we were going to get doughnuts together, and my daughter was all excited. >> they took their typical path in to town. via ranch road. >> and as we were driving down the road there, i noticed a car parked off to the left hand side of the road that was not there the night before. >> debbie said it was extremely rare to ever see cars parked near their home in this deceme this desolate stretch of the

park. >> i thought it was odd, there was no reason be to be there had. there's no hiking trails near my appropriat property. if you don't live out there, there's no reason for the car to be there. >> on 30 minutes later on the return drive, she was surprised to see the vehicle still sitting there. >> and i decided to drive up behind the car and take pictures with my cell phone. >> from inside her truck, she took three photos from the back of the car. >> i didn't want to get out of my truck, i didn't know what was inside the car and who it belonged to. >> she had no idea at the time how important those photos would become. she thought about reporting the car to police. but -- >> i think i thought, my imagination was getting the better of me and somebody probably parked there with good reason. >> so there it sat until two days later. 9:00 a.m., monday, june 30th. debbie and her had family were

eating breakfast. when to their surprise, they heard choppers overhead. >> i guess it dawned on me at that moment i probably should have called the police, because you could tell there was something big going on there. >> someone else had called police who quickly determined the abandoned vehicle was erin corwin's. debbie's photos showed it had been there for two days since the morning erin disappeared and next to erin's car, detectives noticed tire tracks and shoe prints. >> the prints made a loop back to the vehicle and there were impressions that walked from the driver's side of erin's vehicle to the tire impressions. >> it looked like erin had driven to the spot and switched in to another car and gone off. >> i realized at that point, we were dealing with a situation where we are being led in to one direction, which is the joshua tree national park, whereas in fact, her car is several miles

north of that location, i'm concerned that we have not been searching the right area. >> that's a daunting task. joshua tree national park is huge and now you are adding on this new area. is it like finding a needle in a hay stack, did it feel like that? >> it's like finding a needle in a thousand hay stacks. >> when erin's mom heard about the car, her mind went to the worst place. >> when they found her car without her, that's when i knew something else had happened. and i think at that point in time, i knew she was not with us anymore. >> you knew. just from the car? >> yeah. i know my daughter. and it was just -- i couldn't get to 29 palms quick enough. >> what's that like getting on a plane, you have had this revelation, the worst kind of revelation and there --

>> you have to turn your phone off. you know, you can't get any communication until you get back on the ground. i mean, it was -- must be excrutiating. >> it was. the plane could not fly fast enough. >> the detectives had to keep an open mind, they did not know ifshe had run away, gotten lost or was a victim of a crime. >> we had to turn it in to a search and rescue mission and potential homicide investigation. one was to try and lookfor a live and well hopefully erin corwin, and the other was to work another angle whereas unfortunately we might be looking for a deceased erin corwin. >> had whichever course the investigation took, they knew they needed to check out a key piece of information. erin had told her friend in tennessee that she was supposed to meet up with someone the day she vanished, her neighbor and

lover, chris lee. deputies knocked on chris's door when erin was reported missing. >> he told the deputies the extent of any contact he had with erin corwin was waving hi in passing of the apartment complex. >> apparently it was not true. but it was not necessarily incriminating. he every reason to down play his relationship with erin. but detectives knew it was time to talk to chris lee again. >> coming up: >> we found her car. >> you can did? >> yeah. >> he seemed surprised that we found the car. >> did he start to tense you have after this reveal? >> yes. i could see it definitely, him more tense and his body. >> marine corporal chris lee prepares for battle. >> your tire tracks are there as well as her tire tracks. >> i was worried that i told you guys that i had relationship with her.

you would have automatically assumed i did something. >> it was a very unusual wild story that he was telling me. >> when dateline continues. an ae really paid off this time. nah, just got lucky. so did the thompsons. that faulty wiring could've cost them a lot more than the mudroom. thankfully they bundled their motorcycle with their home and auto. they're protected 24/7. mm. what do you say? one more game of backgammon? [ chuckles ] not on your life. [ laughs ] ♪ when the lights go down shingles doesn't care. i logged 10,000 steps today. shingles doesn't care. i get as much fresh air as possible. good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. so what can protect you?

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two days after erin corwin disappeared, chris lee sat counsel for a formal interview. >> was he being cooperative? >> yes, he was. >> the dehe can t-- they wanted why chris did not admit right away that he and erin were more than just friends? >> i didn't bring up mine and erin's thing because it did not seem pertinent at the time. >> now he opened up. he said his relationship with erin started innocently enough. he was depressed after his 2013 tour in afghanistan. erin was someone he could talk to. >> i had, confided in her, you know, that i was feeling

suicidal and she was like -- >> he said erin confided in him as well, a terrible secret. that she suffered physical abuse at the hands of her husband, john. >> she said that he was choking and beating her, when he got mad. >> the way chris told it, erin's story of john's abuse brought them together. >> i just like, being in the state i was, was like, okay, i can fix this had and you know, broken pieces fix each other, so, we just kind of started developing a bond. >> chris said that bonding soon turned to love. >> when you told her that you loved her. did did she tell you that she loved you? >> she did. >> okay. >> remember, police had heard from a friend of erin's that she thought she was pregnant with chris's baby. but chris said that the relationship stayed pretty pg. >> how many --

>> maybe like hands up and down and kissing but nothing heavy. >> okay. >> nothing under clothes orrer anything like that. >> so, clothes never came off. >> chris said they talked about running away together, but he didn't want to risk losing his daughter, liberty. >> i said, i'm not going to have a broken home. the affair ended bankrupt abrupe found that his relationship was based on lies. he said that he never talked to erin again after that. but detectives had the text messages between erin and her friend back in tennessee. which seemed to show the affair was far from over. detective travis newport confronted chris. >> so no reason at all why she would message people saying that she is planning to meet with you on saturday? >> like, she very well could have overheard me and connor

talking. >> chris suggested that erin had overherd his plans to the desert and upset that she was not invited lied to her friends saying that chris planned to meet her that day. >> i don't think she ever got over the fact that we had to stop seeing each other. >> we know cheating in the military, that can be a d dishonorable discharge, was that maybe why he did not want to talk about it? >> yes, and it's not rare for them to deny it because there's consequences. >> he told them he was hunting kai y coyotes in the national park. and he shot his rifle four to five times at a rock. and he encountered another man with a gun. >> there was a individual with the handgun that was fired in my

direction. >> he was descriptive about this guy and his clothing on a ridge line, and he was reloading and firing four rounds at him. >> i got lost, and at one point in time, i came out, followed gold crown road to old dale mine road and followed it to the national park and then got home about 3:30. >> it was an unusual wild story that i thought he was telling me. >> so the detective tried to shake chris up with new information. >> we found her car. >> did you? >> it was parked in that area. >> he seemed surprised that we had found the car. >> did he start to tense up after this reveal? >> yes. i could see it, definitely him more tense in his body. >> and then, he tried bluffing. >> your tire tracks are there are and your tire tracks and your tire tracks go over hers

the -- >> but you didn't know for sure. >> i didn't know for sure, but i had a suspicion. >> under pressure chris changed his story slightly saying that while he did not see erin the day she disappeared he did see her car. >> i was worried that i told you guys i saw her car, because of my previous relationship with her, you would have automatically assumed i did something. >> that didn't ring true and his ears perked up more when chris said this. >> did you make any other phone calls when you were out? >> no. i couldn't. i literally lacked the ability to. because of the area we were in. >> you heard that word -- we. >> yeah, that was a big tell for me. he told me this entire time he was by himself. >> detectives interviewed chris for nine hours. and thought they had caught him in numerous lies but they had no proof that he committed a crime, or for that matter anything bad had happened to erin. so the detective drove chris home. >> nigel thing from that car

ride? >> so, yeah,s the chilling, actually. some of the questions he asked me. >> like what? what was he asking you? >> he asked me how good i was at my job. and how good our detective team was. >> what did you tell him? really good? >> told him we were really good. he asked me specifically how many bodies have you not found in the desert. >> that's a freaky conversation. >> yeah. >> it would not be long before investigators heard another strange thing, this time from chris's wife, about something out at the horse ranch. >> nicole said something was hidden in isabell's closet, what was it? >> a rifle, a .22 caliber rifle. >> coming up. chris lee's wife. >> angry and not cooperative. >> a chilling warning. >> tell erin that if she has anything else to do with her

husband, she'd kill her herself. >> that is a strong statement and now very relevant. >> yes. >> did you have to consider her as a possible suspect as well? >> of course, we did. hearing a statement like that, obviously, just raises all kinds of red are flags really makes you wonder, would this person pay somebody to harm erin. >> when "dateline" continues. most cold medicines may raise blood pressure. choose coricidin hbp. the brand with a heart. for powerful cold relief without raising your blood pressure. seeing what people left behind in the attic. well, saving on homeowners insurance with geico's help was pretty fun too. ahhhh, it's a tiny dancer. they left a ton of stuff up here. welp, enjoy your house. nope. no thank you.

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nicho >> reporter: three days had passed since erin corwin told her husband, she was going out to scout hiking locations in joshua tree national park. but there was still no sign of her. and so, detectives turned their attention back here, the horse rescue ranch that seemed to hold so many secrets. >> erin corwin and john, chris lee, his wife, they were all tied to that ranch. >> you conducted a search of the entire ranch? >> yes. >> looking possibly for a body on that ranch?

>> not just a body, but we were looking for any piece of evidence we could. you know, anything linking anybody to erin's disappearance. >> i said, "she's not here." but they said they had to follow every lead that they thought might be possible, so that's what they did. >> reporter: detectives knew one thing they were looking for. nichole told them she had stashed a rifle in isabel's bedroom closet. >> you had no idea it was there? >> had no idea. >> reporter: it was the .22 caliber rifle that chris had told detectives he took with him to the park the day erin went missing. >> i was very disturbed. i -- i can't imagine somebody hiding something in my house and not tellin' me. so i was starting to get more angry at chris and nichole, because now i'm part of it and i didn't even know i was part of it. >> and you don't allow guns here. >> no, i don't. >> reporter: now isabel told detectives that the day erin disappeared, she received a text from nichole saying she and chris wouldn't be at the ranch that day, because she was sick. the next morning chris and nichole were back at the ranch.

by then isabel had received a call that erin was missing. >> and i kinda blew it off, because i -- i couldn't believe it. they'll find her. >> reporter: isabel noticed things were tense between chris and nichole that day. and that nichole had nothing good to say about her missing friend. >> nichole was tellin' me that erin is probably hiding out somewhere to make chris' life miserable. that she's -- settin' us up. she's tryin' to hurt our family. she's -- erin's doin' this just to get even. she's tryin' to get sympathy. >> chris was about to be discharged from the marines and move back to alaska. isabel had lent the suv to move some belongings. detectives searched the s.u.v. and found a potato launcher like this one. a sort of home-made cannon, that shoots chunks of potato or other small objects. >> and -- and the officer said, "you didn't know that's -- that's -- a weapon?"

i said, "i had no idea it was even in my car." >> reporter: a weapon, as it happens, that was illegal in california. detectives were already suspicious of chris, now they used that potato launcher to get some leverage on him. >> he was arrested here. >> this patio we're sitting on. >> yes. >> is where chris was arrested? >> he was handcuffed to a chair. >> reporter: the charge, possession of a destructive device. chris had already spoken to detectives at length, but now that he was under arrest, isabel noticed that nichole seemed to be getting nervous. and she started to say some odd things. >> she was very concerned that he would get his story confused. because he wasn't in control of the facts as much as she was. >> reporter: detectives had already noticed nichole didn't seem interested in helping to find her friend erin. >> extremely uncooperative, angry. just not what you would expect of somebody who's trying to

assist an investigation. >> reporter: isabel told them chris and nichole had also searched the internet, for some very specific information. >> they had researched how to -- how to dispose of a body, a dead body. she said that -- we've watched enough of those csi movies to know, no body, no case. >> reporter: remember, it was nichole who told jon about the affair. according to isabel, nichole said that she then confronted erin. >> it was very -- important to her, to tell erin that if she ever had anything else to do with her husband, she'd kill her herself. >> given that erin has disappeared, that is a very strong statement, and now, very relevant. >> did you have to consider her as a possible suspect as well? >> of course we did. hearing a statement like that, obviously just raises all kinds of red flags. nichole lee had an alibi. detectives learned she was at

home with her child the day erin disappeared, but even if she wasn't out in the desert that day, investigators believed she still could have played a role in arranging erin's disappearance. >> really makes you wonder, you know. did this person pay somebody to harm erin? >> reporter: erin's mom lore had suspicions of her own. in those initial days following erin's disappearance, lore stayed at erin and jon's apartment on the base. >> i went for a walk. and i come back, and nicole's sitting on the -- their walkway. and if looks could kill. >> toward you? >> towards me. >> must have been an odd moment. >> i guess it, for some reason, didn't surprise me. >> reporter: instead of shrinking, the suspect pool seemed to be growing. but there was still no proof any crime had even occurred, except maybe possession of a potato gun. chris bailed out on july 5, 2014, one week after

erin disappeared. two days later he was officially discharged from the marines. and the lees returned to alaska. >> people kept having a fit because they let him go to alaska. >> reporter: meanwhile, detectives in san bernardino continued to hunt for clues, as to where erin corwin might be found. and they learned something that would launch them on a massive, treacherous search in the desert. coming up, danger in the heart of the desert. >> it makes me think "indiana jones." >> what would investigators find? when "dateline" continues. d in find when "dateline" continues. w adv. advil targets pain at the source. acetaminophen blocks pain signals. new advil dual action with acetaminophen. [yawn] you. look. stunning. want the truth to why i wake up feeling... [growls softly] ...so darn awesome? [makes playful sound]

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you ready for this? 'cause we're all set. so let's woah. ready. set. woah. universal orlando resort. stay at a universal hotel starting from $79 a night plus tax. restrictions apply. >> reporter: was erin corwin still alive somewhere in the desert? or was she the victim of foul play. >> this is a huge operation, tryin' to find erin corwin? lieutenant trevis newport: >> yes.

>> yeah, we had hundreds of searchers from four different counties. >> reporter: but with such an enormous area to cover the search dragged on. and in the withering desert heat, the odds of finding erin alive dwindled. her parents had long ago returned home to tennessee. >> it must have been so hard getting on that plane. ing. >> it was. >> was there any part of you that felt like, of course it's reasonable, but did you feel guilt or -- >> oh yes. yeah. you're right. >> "i shouldn't be leaving," or, "what if they find her tonight or tomorrow." >> right, right. >> reporter: the investigation had narrowed in one way. detectives cleared erin's husband jon of any wrongdoing in connection with her disappearance. cell phone and computer records showed jon was on the base the entire day that erin went missing. they also concluded chris was lying when he told investigators erin claimed jon had been abusive. >> over the period of the investigation jon was interviewed multiple times. jon submitted to a polygraph test. i mean, easily 20 hours total we had spoken with jon. >> did he pass the polygraph? >> yes.

>> i knew what was true, and i gave them my honest answers. and i never lied to them, and the light shined through. >> reporter: but chris lee had lied to them and seemed interested in how to dispose of a body. and isabel told them he'd taken a trip to the desert with a friend the week before erin disappeared. >> and he says, "we found a lotta mines, but i found this one mine no one will ever find." >> reporter: detectives believed it was all adding up. chris killed erin and then dumped her body in a mineshaft. so they decided to start searching. but here was the problem. the mojave desert is pockmarked with hundreds of mineshafts. detectives knew they needed help. >> the search-and-rescue folks explained that there was a guy who knew a lot about the desert, knew a lot about the caves, you know, would be a great resource to us. >> reporter: this is the man they were talking about, doug billings.

"cave-doug" to his pals. as much desert rat as the gold miners who used to roam the mojave a century ago. but instead of a pick axe and a mule he's outfitted with gps and a hummer. >> i'd been down every one of these mines, including the one we're standing in front of right now. i know how deep they are. i know what's inside 'em. >> when other kids were playing little league billings was hanging off a rope catching rattlers. by the time he was an adult billings was traveling the globe, exploring the underworld. but the mojave is his home. so detective newport and billings started talking and a relationship quickly formed. >>almost every day, doug and i would talk on the phone, and he would send me photographs, aerial images, satellite images, and say, "check these mineshafts. you know, these are more that i have located" >> reporter: just getting to a mineshaft could be an ordeal as we discovered. billings took us out to one of the high priority search areas

but the road got so rugged and treacherous, we were forced to leave behind our s.u.v, along with two members of the crew, and carry on in billings hummer. >> this is really hard to get around. >> yes, yeah. >> i mean, this is, sort of, at times, white knuckle driving. >> yeah, there -- >> i have to admit. >> i mean, you look straight down, you don't wanna make one wrong little turn. >> yeah, yeah, one wrong turn can be your last turn. >> this is one of the mines that was searched? >> yes. >> reporter: billings and the other volunteers checked off one dangerous mineshaft after the next. >> we're monitoring the oxygen. so it's all clear. the next step we do is we always throw in a little bit of rocks. and you listen quietly for a rattlesnake. it's, kind of, a general protocol. this part of the desert, they love to come and hide out in these mines -- >> it's cool in here -- >> to get out of the sun. yeah, you see the temperature drop. and, as we walk in here, click your light on. >> oh, that could be scary if it dropped down. >> yeah. yeah, so this could be a false floor here. we'll stay on this side here. >> it makes me think of indiana jones.

>> yeah. >> kind of, the unknown trap almost. >> uh-huh, uh-huh. i've seen that in real life. >> reporter: these are the most dangerous shafts to search. vertical ones that go straight down into a crumbling abyss. >> originally we were dropping mine shafts. we were physically going down the shaft. we would rig the ropes, rappel in, check it, clear it. and move on. but it became not feasible with the amount of mines we had to search. >> reporter: so they outfitted buckets with cameras. it sped up the process, to be sure, but with hundreds of mines to explore the search dragged on for days, then weeks. detectives were often side by side with the hundreds of searchers looking for erin. >> we were dig holes, searching. i was in s shirt and jeans. we wanted to find her, so we were doing everything we could to help. >> and yet there are was no sign of erin corwin anywhere.

but then, detectives caught a break. >> detectives had taken photos, and seven weeks into the search showed them a cave. >> he almost immediately began identifying each photograph and we began plotting them. >> i immediately recognized the tower. she showed the shaft, going down the shaft, i recognized that. second, they showed met cabin. and then the next picture was the mine we're standing next to. >> so they bet on billings' memory and focused their efforts here around what's known as the rosa peru mind. >> around the rosa peru mine are hundreds of mines like this one and any one of them could have been a potential burial site.

>> after an exhaustive and expensive search that lasted for weeks and weeks, they decided this was it. saturday, august 16th, 2014, would be the last day of the search. >> we felt we had one more shot at it. >> in the early evening, they headed for the very last mine on their list. >> and as nighttime falls out there, you don't want anybody out there still. so we began to really collect our thoughts and decide, you know, any minute now we need to start calling this search. >> a member of the san bernardino cave rescue team, a doctor in fact, came upon this mine and right away noticed a strange smell. >> it was the stench of gasoline. there was also a shell casing resting near the mouth of the mine. the searchers lowered a bucket cam. >> we received a phone call from one of the satellite phones that was out there with the search team, and though see what appeared to be a leg or some sort of a body part down at the very bottom of the mine shaft. >> that is unbelievable that

this search was minutes away from being called off after weeks and weeks and you find something. >> it was very unbelievable. >> a full exploration of the mine would have to wait until day break. >> detective hanke called me at roughly 9:00 or 10:00 that night and said that we had found a body at the bottom of this mine shaft. >> did you sleep at all that night? >> i did not, no. coming up. >> i had no idea what we were getting into. do i want to put my life in danger? >> journey to the bottom of the mine. when "dateline" continues. om o mine. when "dateline" continues. these are real people, not actors, who've got their eczema under control.

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still a legend. just more legendary. chevrolet. making life's journey, just better. hake row, i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. experts are warning experts across the states are seeing a rise in covid cases, unlike anything experienced in the pandemic. total cases have exceeded 8

million with much of the strain being felt in rural area hospitals. and california governor newsome announced that president trump approved his state's major disaster declaration request. reversal by the administration could provide much-needed relief fund for what has been a devastating wildfire season. now back to "dateline." ldfire . now back to "dateline." >> reporter: a massive search effort that once spread across 2,000 square miles of desert was now focused on a single four-by-six-foot hole. >> i had no idea what we were getting into. >> reporter: paul anastasia and brenton baum are with the san bernardino county fire department's elite urban search and rescue team. >> i was told they had found a body approximately 140 feet in a mine shaft. >> reporter: but there were problems.

>> they detected, propane, gasoline fumes. >> reporter: the bucket cam used the day before picked up images of a gas can and propane tank which were venting fumes into the shaft. that's why anastasia and baum were called -- they're trained to work inside tight spaces while using sophisticated breathing equipment. the two regularly risk their lives to rescue people in danger but in this case taking a grave risk in order to recover a dead body, gave them pause. >> it's risk versus gain. do i want to put my life in danger? >> reporter: after talking it over and knowing how important their recovery efforts could be to solving erin's disappearance -- they agreed to go. baum, who is admittedly claustrophobic, got the short straw and was first in the hole. >> and i started descending down. >> how deep were you going in? >> about 100', 140' it was a lot deeper than i've ever been. >> and what are you seeing as you're on your way down? how -- how tight is it? >> it was eerie. rock collapsing -- um snakes --

>> rattlesnakes. >> yeah. and also, just the heat. it was about 110â° topside. and i believe it was about 90â° downside. so work in that environment, you only have a limited amount of time effectiveness before you're quickly fatigued. >> what did you see? >> a -- sprite bottle -- a rope -- >> a tire down there propane tank -- some plastic jugs -- a lot of rock and rock debris -- some railroad ties. >> reporter: and then he saw it a human body. >> that sounds like out of a horror movie. i mean, i hate to say it like that. but to -- to rappel down and then to see a decomposing body. >> we see a lot of death in this line of work. over time you just develop a method where you just ignore your emotions for a little while. and you just focus on the task you need to do. and then, you know, face up with your emotions later. >> reporter: baum first took photos while suspended above the grisly crime scene. then methodically set about gathering evidence and sending

it back to the surface. >> the original plan was for me to do the whole operation. but i had been down there about 45 minutes and was pretty fatigued. so our captain made the decision to go ahead and rotate us out. >> how did you feel when -- when you finally got out of that mine, >> i took my mask off, i was hit with the smell all of a sudden, what i -- what i had been immersed in and didn't smell in the shaft, i smelled on the topside, 'cause it was all saturated in my clothes. i started dry heaving. >> reporter: then it was anastasia's turn. his assignment? get the body. >> i would be lying if i said i was excited about goin' down into that mine shaft. i never put a body in a bag. >> reporter: once in the mine, anastasia realized retrieving the body was going to be far harder than expected. >> i did a little assessment with my flashlight. and i -- i realized that that was a false bottom. and then i got a little more concerned with some rocks coming down and knockin' out that false bottom, or loosening it up. >> 'cause then -- everything would be gone. >> yeah. i had no -- >> it would go to the bottom of the mine.

>> i had no idea how deep that shaft was. >> reporter: so, suspended in mid air, anastasia began placing the body in the bag without disturbing the false bottom on which it rested. once that was done he found something else. >> a torch -- in the corner of the mine >> had it been lit? >> it-- it didn't look like it had been lit to me. it looked like it was brand new. like it -- someone had just made it. >> reporter: ever so carefully, anastasia made his way back up the mine shaft with that torch and with the body. back on the surface detectives made a positive i-d. after eight weeks of searching, on the day they'd decided would be their last, they had finally found erin corwin. >> all these hours we have worked, just think deep down inside she has to be down in one of these caves. and having that confirmed, overwhelming emotion. >> a few minutes before

midnight, the phone rings again. wakes us up and it's detective dan. and says, it's her. it's like, this really can't be happening to us. you know? not that child. >> reporter: the cause of erin's death? possible blunt force head injury and apparently, strangulation with a sinister tool. >> the pathologist discovered what's known as a garrote. i was unfamiliar with that at the time. but i quickly learned what that was. it was -- a paracord with two rebar handles, and it was -- encircled her neck. >> reporter: isabel from the horse ranch said nichole lee once told her, "no body, no case." now detectives finally had the body. and soon they had an arrest warrant. the charge: murder. coming up. >> ladies and gentlemen, at its

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when bipolar i overwhelms, vraylar helps smooth the ups and downs. >> ladies and gentlemen, at its core, this is really a very simple case. >> reporter: october 2016...two and a half years after erin corwin's death, a jury gathered in this san bernardino courtroom. the person on trial, chris lee. the charge, first degree murder. >> all of the evidence in this case points to one person, one person who prepared, planned, studied and executed the murder of erin corwin. there was so much connecting him out there at that mine shaft, even the very location of that particular mine that tied him to

the crime that for him not to have done it, he would be probably the unluckiest man ever. >> reporter: the prosecutor used friends and family of the lees and corwins to lay out the case against chris. several people who knew chris, including this fellow marine, testified he'd shown a lot of interest in how to dispose of a body. >> he did mention the benefits of hiding a body in a vertical position so ground penetrating radar wouldn't be able to see the outline of the body. >> reporter: former downstairs neighbor and one-time friend, aisling malakie also took the stand. >> how many times prior to june 28th did you hear the defendant talking about murder? >> more than i can count. >> reporter: aisling also told the jury about chris's wife nichole's odd and cold response when she heard erin was missing. >> i called nichole and said, "where's your husband? there's people here looking for her, you know. erin's missing."

she replied with, "i don't care what happened to that little bitch." and she laughed at me and told me to mind my own business. and then, i hung up on her. >> reporter: and aisling's husband, conor malakie, testified he saw chris lee around 6:00 the morning erin disappeared, and in the back of his jeep, he noticed something. >> i saw a bunch of items covered by a tarp and i saw a white propane cylinder. >> white propane cylinder? >> correct. >> like -- for a barbeque? >> yes. >> reporter: conor said the propane tank he saw in the jeep looked like the one recovered from the mine. >> i asked him why it was in there and what he was going to do with it. >> what was the defendant's response? >> that he was going to blow up a mine shaft with it. >> reporter: isabel megli from the horse ranch told the jury she also recognized the tank pulled up from the mine. she said chris had borrowed it from her the day before erin disappeared. >> i asked him if he was going to have a barbeque. >> and what was his response? >> he said "no." he was going to use it to play

games. >> did the defendant ever return the propane tank? >> no. >> reporter: and detective woods testified that a search of the suv chris was driving at the time of his arrest yielded another piece of evidence. >> that is the garrote that was located underneath the front passenger seat. >> i'd only seen one of those in my life, and that was the one that was wrapped around ms. corwin's neck. and for the second time in the same week, i saw the second one. >> reporter: and there was another link to chris, that shell casing found near the mouth of the mine shaft. it matched chris's rifle. the jury also got to hear from erin's confidante back in tennessee. jessica trentham was erin's close friend and secret keeper. she's the one who told detectives everything she knew about erin's affair with chris. >> did she tell you how she felt about christopher lee? >> she made it known that she loved him more than her husband. >> reporter: jessica said erin had plans for a future with

chris. >> she stated that she believed she would be divorcing her husband or that a divorce would come and that she was hoping to be able to stay with him. >> reporter: she said chris told erin he had a special trip planned for her the weekend she disappeared. >> she said that he was going to surprise her with -- a trip out to the desert. >> how did she sound? what was her feelings about that? what did she sound like to you? >> she was excited to get to spend time with him. >> reporter: jessica also testified about a text she got from erin, "my mother comes in a week. i'm excited!" jessica responded, "are you gonna tell her?" >> what did -- what did you mean when you sent the text, "are you gonna tell her?" >> that she was pregnant. >> reporter: erin texted back, "well chris wanted to tell everyone next week." on june 28, 2014, jessica spoke to her friend for the last time. at 7:19 am california time, erin called jessica back in

tennessee. >> she said that she was getting ready and about to leave the apartment -- to go meet chris to have their special date. >> did -- what was your response to that? >> i was excited for her. >> why? >> i wanted her to be happy. >> did you guys make plans or talk about -- her calling you later? >> she was supposed to call and let me know how it went. >> did you ever get that phone call? >> no. >> do you think she was planning to start this new life with him? with the baby -- >> seems -- seems so. >> in alaska? >> it seems so. it was really hard to hear that. i think one of the harder things is to know that she was going through all that and she did not share it. it just makes me wonder the level of his manipulation because obviously he was leading her on.

>> reporter: but perhaps the most damning evidence came from this dna expert, who analyzed the items that were pulled out of the mine shaft where erin's body was recovered. >> in this case, i chose to go with more substantial testing. >> reporter: remember that homemade torch? it consisted of a piece of wood with a green t-shirt wrapped around one end. and on the shirt's collar, dna. >> in this particular case we have a major dna profile which includes christopher -- uh, christopher lee. >> reporter: there was also dna around the mouth of the sprite bottle found in the mine. >> i have a mixture of two individuals. uh, christopher brandon lee and erin corwin. >> reporter: erin and chris, it appeared, had been sharing a sprite that day, the same drink her husband had once used to propose marriage. >> i believe christopher lee took erin corwin out to the desert to kill her that day because she was a hurdle between him and the rest of his life. by the end of this entire

investigation we realized christopher lee didn't care about anybody but himself. >> reporter: the prosecution said chris took erin out to the mine, strangled her with the garotte, and dropped her in. he may have intended to use the propane tank and torch to blow up the mine and conceal her body, although he apparently didn't follow through. their conclusion, it was a carefully-planned, cold-blooded murder. the evidence seemed overwhelming. but now it was the defense's turn, and jurors were in for a surprise. chris lee was about to testify, and no one was prepared for the dark tale he would tell. coming up, a story from the stand that stuns the court. >> i couldn't live with myself if i kept this a secret any longer. >> when "dateline" continues. t longer. >> when "dateline" continues. their parents. i'm having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. so we're using a speakerphone in the store.

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i need to tell the truth. >> reporter: christopher lee, a husband, father, and decorated marine, would be the first, and only, witness in his defense. his attorney david kaloyanides took chris through his version

of events. >> i couldn't live with myself if i kept this a secret any longer. >> by june 2014 chris was preparing to leave the marines. he told the jury that he knew it was time to end his relationship with erin. >> did you have any plans after leaving the corps? >> yes. me, nichole, and liberty were planning on -- moving back up to alaska. >> had you told erin this? >> i did. >> reporter: chris said that he had planned a hunting trip, and that he had invited erin along so they could talk. >> was it just gonna be you and erin? >> no, it wasn't. >> reporter: chris had asked two friends to join him, including his neighbor, conor. >> why were you inviting all these other friends of yours, if you needed to talk to erin? >> because i didn't really wanna have lengthy conversations. so i wanted to be able to go hang out with my friends, and actually do some hunting. in case the conversation got too deep, or became to the point where i was uncomfortable with

it. >> reporter: but chris said by the morning of june 28th, he found out his friends had bailed. so he and erin set out for the park, just the two of them. chris had a propane tank and, he said, he wanted to blow off some steam -- literally. >> had you told erin that you were going to actually try to blow up this mine? >> on the way there. >> do you remember what her reaction was? >> she wasn't happy about it. she thought it was stupid, unsafe. you know, she thought this trip was gonna be about us talking. and i told her that it was but, you know, that i wanted to try and do this, too. >> reporter: when they arrived, chris began unloading his supplies. >> i took the tires out of my jeep. and i tossed 'em down the mineshaft. >> what was erin doing during this time? >> she was sitting in the jeep, listening to music. she didn't wanna be near any of this. >> all right. so what did you do next to blow the mine? >> i went to the back of the jeep to grab my torch. and i realized i had not doused

it in gasoline. >> reporter: feeling frustrated, chris said, he returned to his jeep. >> we started havin' a conversation. >> about what? >> about plans. she wanted to come to alaska. she wanted to be part of liberty's life. i had told her, you know, i -- i didn't want that. i told her, you know, i decided that, you know, you can't be a part of liberty's life. and she said that she wanted to, that she loved liberty, you know? and i told her, you know, it's not your choice. it's not your daughter. you don't get to love her. she's mine. >> what were you thinking at that point? >> i was thinking there was no reason for erin to love liberty. she's not hers. she -- she couldn't have any kind of emotional attachment to her. >> reporter: and then, chris said, he remembered something else.

a story that would be central to his defense, and would stun this courtroom. he said he recalled something his wife had shown him one night when she was giving liberty a bath. signs, chris said, that nichole believed, showed sexual abuse. >> then she thought maybe erin had molested liberty. because she was uncomfortable with the way she was around her, when she had been watching her. >> what was your reaction to that? >> i felt so safe in my little community that i -- i didn't think it was possible. >> you didn't believe nichole. >> no, not at the time. >> reporter: but now, as they talked at the mine, he said erin seemed way too attached to liberty. >> when erin told me she loved liberty and that she wanted to be with her, you know, something clicked. it turned a gear in my head. and i said, "why do you care about liberty so much? why -- why do you wanna be part of her life?" and erin -- erin told me, you know, "i just -- i just love her." and i -- and i -- i stood up, and i stopped her. and i-- i said, "did you touch liberty?"

and she reeled back a little bit and started stuttering over her words. and she was saying, you know, "i -- i --" and i stopped her again. and i yelled at her this time. and i said, "did you molest my daughter?" and she said, "yes. but --" and that was the last thing i heard her say. >> reporter: an explosive allegation, against the victim. >> did you worry that that could really turn off the jury? >> absolutely. but it was what chris insisted was the truth. erin's husband said it simply wasn't possible. >> she was nurturing, caring, never did anything illicit or crude or harmful. nobody that personally knows erin, or has even heard of erin, would believe that. >> reporter: and for detectives -- >> i personally felt disgusted. from all the people we've talked to that knew erin -- we didn't think this was even an angle that christopher lee would play. this came outta left field.

>> reporter: but chris said, it was hearing what he believed to be, a confession from erin that caused the horrible events he now recounted, in chilling detail. >> i -- i stumbled back. and i sat on the edge of my jeep and caught myself with my hands. and in my right hand, i felt the metal from the garrote. it -- it set me off. i just felt so much hate, so much rage. and i grabbed it. and i stood up and i came up behind her. and i put it around her neck. training took over then. and i turned around. and i started pulling. nothing woulda stopped me, from doing what i was doing. i told myself, while i was doing this, "never again." i wasn't gonna let anybody hurt my daughter again. i had let her into my daughter's life. it was my fault that my daughter was hurt. i just kept choking her. i don't know how long it was. might've been five minutes, ten minutes.

it felt like forever. and i just kept choking her. and then the anger, that feeling of disgust and hate, ebbed a little bit. and i let go. and she dropped to the ground. >> reporter: christopher lee was describing for the jury how he had killed erin corwin. >> after a few minutes, my -- i realized what happened. i know i killed her. and so the garrote was still around her neck. so i grabbed it. and i dragged her to the edge of the mineshaft. and i pushed her in. >> reporter: his story accounted for all the physical evidence, and portrayed the killing as a crime of passion committed by an outraged father. but now the prosecution took over, and shocked the courtroom all over again. coming up, a heart-stopping

moment. >> couldn't have stopped there, right. >> no. >> couldn't have stopped? >> no. >> why not. >> nothing was done at that point. i was tooing angry. >> the fate of corporal chris lee when "dateline" continues. lee when "dateline" continues. having the wrong plan may cost you thousands of dollars out of pocket. and that's why i love healthmarkets, your insurance marketplace. with healthmarkets' fitscore, they compare thousands of plans from national insurance companies to find the right medicare plan that fits you. call or visit healthmarkets to find your fitscore today. in minutes, you can find out if your current plan is the right fit and once you've let the fitscore do the work, sit back and enjoy not having to shop for insurance again. healthmarkets' fitscore forever technology will continuously scan the market for the best coverage at the best price. so you can shop once and save again and again and again. rest easy knowing you'll have the right plan at the right price and the right fit for you. best of all, their services are completely free.

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>> reporter: chris lee had shocked the courtroom. telling the jury that he did kill erin corwin, but it wasn't premeditated. instead, he said, he snapped. when he claimed erin confessed to him that she'd been molesting his daughter. >> reporter: now prosecutor sean dougherty cross-examined chris. confronting him on those allegations against erin. >> you heard these accusations from your wife who you loved, right? >> yes. >> so you immediately picked up and called the police? >> no. >> nicole immediately picked up and called the police? >> no. >> so you're still having sex with the woman who your wife thought was molesting your daughter, right? >> yes.

>> reporter: the prosecution's mission, show the jury that they could not believe chris. because he'd lied, claiming not to know where erin was through all eight weeks she was missing. >> people lie for a reason. it was important that i point out that he lies to protect himself. >> you had a choice to tell the truth? right? >> i did. >> and you knew erin had a mother? >> yes. >> you knew she had people that loved her? >> yes. >> you knew a lot of people were looking for her? >> yes, i did. >> you essentially made a decision to hold them hostage, right? >> yes. >> reporter: perhaps the biggest moment in court came when the prosecutor found a striking way to demonstrate how chris had killed erin. >> okay. so for the record, what you did is you put it around the dummy's neck that i'm holding, you twisted it around, and then you turned backwards? so you're actually back to back with her? >> yes, sir. >> okay. and you testified earlier that you pulled really, really hard? >> yes, sir. >> you could've stopped there, right? >> no. >> you couldn't have stopped? >> no. >> okay. you already made the decision to kill her? >> yes. >> and you were gonna follow through with that decision? >> yes. >> okay. >> my goal was to show the jury how long it takes to kill somebody like that and to show them the brutality of what was

done. it's one thing to say, as he did on direct, "i strangled her and i pushed her down the hole." it's another thing for him to actually show us what you did. so i think the jury was entitled to see that. it was heavy, it was one of the heavier moments that i've had in court. >> that's about ten seconds in. you could've stopped. right? >> no. >> twenty seconds in. you could've stopped? >> no. >> why not? >> nothing woulda stopped me at this point. i was too angry. >> i saw the reaction of the jurors. it was pained. their expressions were pained. so we're about 40 seconds in. you're still doing it? >> yes, sir. >> that's about a minute in. you're still doing it? >> yes, sir. >> and your testimony is you couldn't have stopped? you couldn't have just let go of those handles? >> no.

>> a minute 20? still no, huh? >> no. >> okay. you can let go. can you let go now? >> yes, sir. >> and then you threw her down a mineshaft, didn't you? >> i did. >> like a piece of trash. >> i threw her down the mineshaft, yes. >> like a piece of trash? right? >> is that a question? >> yes. >> yes. >> reporter: the jurors had heard a confession from chris lee. would they think it was voluntary manslaughter, a killing carried out in the heat of passion? or, was it premeditated murder? the prosecutor made his final appeal to the jury. >> do you think the defendant testified to express remorse? ladies and gentlemen, if you do, you're mistaken. the defendant was not remorseful. he didn't care. he didn't care when search and rescue and homicide and fire departments are putting their life at risk looking for erin. he didn't care that he was

holding her mother hostage. he didn't care one bit until it was time to talk to you. the people who are gonna decide what crime he's guilty of. >> reporter: defense attorney david kaloyanides asked the jury to consider this case as a tragic crime of passion. not one of premeditated murder. >> mr. lee was provoked. only you can decide whether that provocation was sufficient to justify a lesser included. not justify the killing, because it wasn't justified. but was it murder? was it deliberate, willful, premeditated, lying-in-wait murder? or was it a tragic killing that shouldn't have happened?

>> the jury pondered those questions... for just an hour and a half. then they reached a verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant, christopher brandon lee, guilty of first degree murder. the defendant intentionally killed the victim by means of lying in wait. >> reporter: christopher lee was convicted on all counts. he will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. >> what was that moment like for you? that, that was pretty final, at that point. guilty. >> it was like taking a breath of fresh air. >> reporter: although jon corwin still feels the lasting pain of regret. >> i just wish, wish i could have been there for her more. i tried my hardest, but it wasn't enough. >> erin was a kid. she had her whole life ahead of her. she just didn't know that, in my opinion, she was dealing with the devil. >> chris's wife, nichole, told detectives she had nothing to do with erin's disappearance, and she has not been charged with any crime. >> is there still a chance, is

nichole out of the woods? >> not every door has been closed. >> reporter: but for erin's mom, the door on chris lee is closed. and she breathes a little easier knowing it. >> every time there's a hearing, your emotional scab gets ripped off. and to know that i'm not gonna have to deal with that. >> reporter: lore finds comfort here. way out in the joshua tree desert. where doug billings "cave doug" created this. in the desolate place where erin's life was cut short. a garden now grows in her memory. >> reporter: when you look at that desert garden, what are you thinking? >> it's beautiful, like my girl. it's a peaceful place. i have a peace that can't be explained. i decided i couldn't be bitter and angry. he's already taken enough from me. and if i'm bitter and angry,

he's taking my mind, my soul, and my heart. and i'm not giving him that. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i just got home, and i opened the door, is my husband's dead on the floor. >> a husband and father suddenly gone. >> did he hit his head? did he have a heart attack? >> i said something's wrong, something's wrong. >> there was a lot of blood. >> then they found the bullets. he'd been shot with two different guns. >> two guns, does that mean two shooters? >> one could argue that. >> detectives would unravel a staggering plan of stone cold evil. >> this plot to kill him had been going bk