SUMMARY OF FIRST WEEK OF CHRISTOPHER LEE’S MURDER TRIAL

The trial of the former Twentynine Palms Marine accused of murdering 19-year-old Erin Corwin and dumping her body in a mine shaft east of Twentynine Palms two years ago started Tuesday in a San Bernardino County courtroom. In his opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Sean Daugherty told jurors that a T-shirt and soda bottle found with Corwin at the bottom of the mine shaft had DNA from the suspect, Christopher Lee, 27. A former neighbor of the Corwins’ and the Lees’, Aisling Malakie, said Lee often talked about murder and how he would hide a body. Malakie’s husband, Conor, testified that after he heard Erin Corwin had gone missing, he asked Lee, “Did you do what I think you did?” Joseph Hollifield testified that he and Lee went to the mine shaft where Corwin was found about a week before she went missing. Two deputies testified about their initial questioning of Lee, who denied knowing Corwin more than saying hello to her, despite the fact that they had had an affair, and Corwin believed she was pregnant with Lee’s baby. The prosecution will continue to present its case this week.