The man who helped the Sheriff’s Department narrow its scope in the search for Erin Corwin nearly two years ago was honored by the County Sheriff’s Department recently. Managing editor Tami Roleff explains why…
Doug Billings, a cave and mine expert, was awarded the Sheriff’s Medal for Meritorious Service. The medal is awarded to citizens who distinguish themselves by service above and beyond the normal demands of the law enforcement profession. In June 2014, the Sheriff’s homicide detectives were searching for 20-year-old Corwin, who disappeared from her home in Twentynine Palms. The search encompassed several thousand square miles of desert, including hundreds of mine shafts. Billings approached the investigators and offered his expertise in mine shafts and caves. He spent over 200 hours of his time searching for Corwin, and it was due to his efforts that searchers found her remains at the bottom of a 140-foot mine shaft in the Rose of Peru mining area east of Twentynine Palms. Reporting for Z107.7, this is managing editor Tami Roleff.
