Man accused in slaying of Marine’s wife to be arraigned for murder

A man accused of killing a U.S. Marine’s wife and dumping her body in a 140-foot mine shaft is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Joshua Tree.

Christopher Brandon Lee, 24, is charged with murder and a special circumstance of lying in wait for allegedly shooting 19-year-old Erin Corwin to death in late June.

Investigators believe Corwin and Lee, who were next-door neighbors at a military base in Twentynine Palms, were having an affair. Lee may have been worried that Corwin was pregnant and would tell his wife, according to investigators.

Corwin was reported missing by her husband June 28 when she did not return home from a trip to Joshua Tree. According to a search warrant, Lee had planned a hunting trip with Corwin that day.

Lee was arrested last week in Anchorage, Alaska, a day after search crews found her body in the mine shaft. Authorities had scoured the desert town for weeks before finding her body.

Lee moved to Alaska with his wife and daughter after being discharged from the Marines in July.

According to an arrest warrant posted on the San Bernardino County district attorney’s website, .22-caliber cartridge casings found near Corwin’s body match cartridge casings found in Lee’s Jeep and his apartment on base.

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