Christopher Lee confessed to killing Erin Corwin and pushing her body down a mineshaft in a San Bernardino courtroom on Thursday, but said he only did it because Corwin was molesting his daughter.
Lee testified on Thursday morning about the 2014 murder, via Hi-Desert Star:
“I came up behind her and I put it (the garrote) around her neck,” he said. “I just kept choking her.”
“I pulled and I pulled,” he said. “I freaked out … I killed her. … I dragged her to the edge of the mineshaft and I pushed her in.”
Lee said he did it because Corwin, with whom he had been having an affair, admitted to molesting his 6-year-old daughter.
Lee testified that his wife, Nichole, discovered that their daughter’s private area was red and irritated while bathing her. Nichole was unaware at the time that Lee and Corwin were having an affair and accused Corwin.
Lee said he became seriously depressed, and grew suicidal in the time before killing Corwin. He started playing Russian roulette a great deal, even when he was out in the desert with Corwin.
On the day of her death, Lee said, he drove Corwin to a mineshaft located about two hours from downtown Twentynine Palms, and confronted her.
Corwin texted a friend on the way, and previous testimony described her as excited about the trip. She and a friend even speculated that Lee might be planning to propose marriage.
Lee claimed that once at the mineshaft, Corwin told him that she loved his daughter and wanted to be part of his life. “Something clicked,” Lee testified. He then says he asked Corwin if she had touched his daughter.
He said he asked Corwin, “Did you touch (his daughter)?” She did not respond. “Did you molest my daughter?” he asked her. He said she replied, “Yes, but….”
“It set me off,” Lee told the court. “I just felt so much hate.”
Lee said he began strangling Corwin . “I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt my daughter again,” he said.
The court then broke for lunch as Lee began to cry. He is charged with first-degree murder.
