333. The Desert Trap: The Murder of Erin Corwin

- You're listening to an ONO media podcast. - Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. - You know, I'm Garrett Moreland. - I need the husband. - I'm the husband. Happy Monday. How are you guys doing? Hope everyone's having a good day. We're just over here. We're cordon, pregnant. Honestly, pregnant. Doing a lot of that. That's kind of what we got going on, everybody. What do you guys been up to? Anything fun, anything cool you guys have been doing? We haven't really done anything. We've just been working. What do 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 gonna talk about it again. And I feel like the consensus was like 80, 70% agreed and like 20 to 30% didn't agree. So talk about it before, but I just saw something on tick talk 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 disagree with that. Like some people are like, oh, I'm just gonna be late to things. Deal with it. I'm like, what? Like that just, that doesn't make sense in my brain. Like my brain can't comprehend that. Like when it's like, hey, we're gonna be here at three. You don't show up at three, 18. - 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 off. 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 gonna be 15 minutes late. Like it doesn't matter. You name a time of where you're gonna be and everyone in the group is like, yeah, Jack over there, we just know Jack's gonna 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. Like you're too selfishly involved with what's going on in your life. I know what might sound mean. I know some of you are like, whoa, get it. No, nope, don't be late. Pet peeve, not a fan. Everyone's times valuable. That's my rant, that's my hot take. I got some heat last time from it. Look, 'cause 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 Payton. - You can't use your own, you gotta fix you. You can't let it affect other people. - Ask Payton, I got some, my ADHD Mach 10. Level 100. Like 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 who's responding to you. And I don't mean something like urgent. I mean, just like a, you know, just like a robot text. Yeah, like I feel 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 'cause 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 in 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. - Yeah, so 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 like 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 him. We're hanging out. We're scared. - 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, get some times 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, they're so good at it, they're consistently late. - Yeah, no, 'cause I think they think it's like a quirk. - I think so. 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 life that are consistently late. And I've been with them when they have somewhere to be. I don't know what I'm doing crap. - That's what I'm saying. - They're not doing crap. - No, it's time management. - Yes, it's time management. - They're watching you do their doing something if they're just getting ready. - Moving slow, they're showering late. They're like, it's just. - Yes, I know. I honestly, I'm sorry, guys. This is a long, four, eight minutes in. I actually don't understand. Someone try to explain it to me. 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 move. Okay, that's not the explanation we're wanting. - Yeah, no, well then don't make plans with someone. Like 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. - So you're basically a cheater. - You can be late by yourself. I don't care if you're late by yourself. I don't do it around me. Oh man, this gets me fired up. Like I 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 part. - I think I'm just moving a little slower with everything in 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. 'Cause guess what, I'm gonna be getting my kid ready in an hour earlier than before. - Yeah, what if your kid's having a chance? - 'Cause 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 have friends with everyone. - Oh, someone's probably rage. - No, someone's giving me a one star review right now. - 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, sure. - There's probably other things that when they brought it up to us would be like, oh, we don't really care about that. - Oh, but if it's something I do, I get it. - I think it goes back to what you're saying, like the level of respect. It's the thing you're doing inherently disrespectful of someone else's time. - For sure. That's my main thing. We gotta 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. 'Cause 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. I heard one of the cases. Might get it. - No, yeah, it makes sense. - No, I get it. I could see that. - Wow, you're so humble. - No, I'm just a kid out of your ear. No, but I feel like I'm open to-- - A hundred percent. - I'm a very open person when it comes to criticism or hearing what other people's thoughts are. I won't always agree with you, but I'm very open to it. And I'll enjoy seeing other people's point of views. - Yeah, I feel like very rarely do I not see truth in something that someone brings up. - Yeah. - Okay, shall 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 pay in. - Our sources for this episode are oxygen.com, abc7.com, abc30.com, NewYorkPost.com, bakersfillednow.com, CNN.com, desertsun.com, AlaskaNewSource.com, MarineCoreTimes.com, all that's interesting.com, CBS News, New York Post, Fox13Syattle.com, and KTLA.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 face, 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. 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 they'll take the chance to 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 Evelyn is growing up. Now Aaron was adopted when she was just 17 days old by the Evelyn family in Tennessee and all of her other siblings were adopted as well. Though Aaron was easily the most quiet shy reserve of all of her adopted siblings. She was cautious. She was obsessed with animals. She loved horses and that was actually where Aaron 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 lore, that's her name lore, 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 love when she was just in fifth grade. She's a horse girl. She meets a boy named John Corwin 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 Hevelins 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 alope 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 in aloping. 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 desert-y. There's lots of sand, lots of dirt. I 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. 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, barbeque together, watch movies at each other's homes, like it was definitely best friends type thing. And Aaron 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, Laura, was actually coming to visit in a few days. But unfortunately, the family would receive some devastating news before that trip came. On the morning of June 28, 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. 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 percent. You know, 100 percent. That's weird. That's, that's not maybe not all or like that. It depends like, if I, if you, yeah, now I would, yeah, 100 percent 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 worked up over this? John had also called Aaron's mother lore that day to say, Hey, I just reported Aaron missing. And lore'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, lore, waste, 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, okay, 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 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. Uh, 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. - Yeah. - Couples get divorced. - Yes. - Yeah, it's hard. - I guess it wasn't too alarming, just normal couple stuff. - Yeah. - 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, "Hey, we get it. "We're gonna 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 1200 square miles of desert with more than 1,000 abandoned mines. 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 'cause 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 footprints 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 prints 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 the normal population. But I do know it's a bigger deal, right? Because-- - I mean, is it, it is like its own little town? - Like you'll, I mean, like you're not supposed to when you're in the military, right? - Yeah, exactly. So maybe it's just a bigger deal. - I don't know. - Well, it is a bigger deal, but I mean, maybe it's just heightened more. So 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 mail, 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-- - 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, it wasn't thinking of it. - It was about his literal life. - 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 Koreans 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 swat, 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 back, - 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 won't go that far. - Really? Why? 'Cause 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 and doesn't mean the other two are having a relationship as well. - Okay, I got it. - 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. - Okay. - 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 for each other. - Not good, not good. Chris even told her, my child already loves you 'cause you've spent so much time with Nicole. Your best friend, mind you, your best friend. - That's just so messy, don't bring the kids into it like that. Come on. - It's also just like, yeah, Nicole let you know her daughter because you 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 God. - Like our five year old daughter already loves you. - You've gotta be kidding me right now. That makes me sick. - Now it doesn't take long for Nicole to realize something is off. off. Chris had been pushing her away. It 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, 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 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 last 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 begin seeing each other in secret again. And then on June 22nd, it's ballsie less than a week before she disappeared. Aaron learns she's pregnant and she is already three months along. Oh my gosh. And see that'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 there. 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 mind, he's like, yeah, it can only be mine because she's only been sleeping with me. But Chris and Aaron, no, we've still secretly been sleeping together. This could very much be Chris's baby. It's a mess. Like this is a this is a mess. 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 uncovered 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, lore 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 lore 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 1, 2014. Chris seems cooperative. He doesn't ask for attorney. He admits he's like, yep, I was having an affair with Aaron, so 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 of a little 16 year old. Yeah, we just kiss. That's it. We only kiss. No, dude, you're a full grown adult. You're having a full blown affair. You're having a fair. You guys, you guys, you know what? A hundred percent. Come on. Always just kissed. I promise. Be an adult, take some responsibility. It's just funny. And then he tells police, when we only kissed and also 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. But here's what really sets police off. Like as they're just letting him, you know, talk, 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 mind shafts in the park. I just did it by myself instead. Like we were supposed to go hunting and do this like explosion, but you know, oh, fire in the mind. Okay. I'm sure that's not 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 Isabelle. 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 Isabelle, 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. 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. But they are kind of scary. Oh, yeah. Like that 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 an explosive device. I don't know if it was illegal at that point. Maybe it was. I don't know. It's 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 Isabelle's ranch. So he's currently staying with with his family except they don't find anything in regards to Aaron's disappearance, which is not 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 them, 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 Isabelle, 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 one police were like, Hey, where is this mine, the one that Chris shared with Isabelle? He recognizes it right away. He says it even has a name, the Rose of Peru mine, apparently not so secret at all. So on August 16, 2014, after eight weeks of searching, using this picture from Isabelle, 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 felt 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. They she was strangled with something. It was basically like a tool composed of wire or cord, along with some sort of metal or wood piece that you could use like tight in it, which explained the piece of rebar that was found at the bottom of the shaft with Aaron. However, Aaron's body was to decompose to confirm whether or not she was actually pregnant at the time. 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 had it with him still just like the one they found near her body because there was like another one. Okay, another one. Okay. Chris was extra dieted 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 in my opinion. It's not basically just first degree murder to an extent. Yeah, but it's almost like more. Yeah. I think it's the learning 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. When I wonder if it's a less of a charge or more of a charge, I don't know, I don't know the answer. It should be worse because you're taking someone who trusts you. Yeah, I know, but I wonder what like if the actual charge is less or more, do you know? Well, 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. No, I was 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. Isabelle says, Oh, yeah, he 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 devastating. 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. What an idiot. Okay. Put him in jail for life. So go on, get out of here. At this point, just to put two and two together, the reason he lied to police and said 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. 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, the wife thinks, by the way, I know. What a mess. What a horrible and just put 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 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 the 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 one against everything he wanted and he killed her because of it. Aaron deserved better than a friend who became 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. And so I just want to make that clear because sometimes it is hard when you're looking from outside looking at it. But the reality is is like, no, no matter what you do, you don't deserve to die. No. I mind a little change in 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 deserves 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.