Erin Corwin's Husband Speaks Out For The First Time Since Wife's Disappearance (Video)

First published on Home Post Aug. 26, 2014 | 1:59 p.m. | By Beth Ford Roth

Jon Corwin (left)

Marine Cpl. Jonathan Corwin, the widower of homicide victim Erin Corwin, is speaking to the media for the first time since his wife went missing on June 28. 

Corwin's body was discovered on Aug. 16 in a 100-foot deep mine shaft southeast of Twentynine Palms in the Mojave Desert. 

Jonathan Corwin spoke with The Desert Sun shortly before the start of a vigil held in Erin's memory at Luckie Park in Twentynine Palms on Monday evening:

“I had some hope, but overall, I expected the worst. It’s basically the only thing you can do after so much time. I have closure now. I know she is in heaven, now. She is in a better place, in no more pain.”

Erin and Jon Corwin

Corwin also talked with KESQ-TV off camera about his favorite memory of Erin. Reporter Natalie Brunell paraphrased what Corwin told her:

He said he'll never forget their high school prom; the first night he saw her all dressed up.

And even though they had known each other since middle school, he remembers there was just something about the way she looked that night.

Marine veteran Christopher Lee has been charged with killing Erin. Lee and his wife Nichole lived next door to the Corwins at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms. 

Corwin told The Desert Sun he knew his wife and Lee once had a brief affair, but believed it had ended. Now, he trying his best to forgive the man he once considered his friend:

"Obviously, I hate the actions that he did. But I feel like, if I let him bring hatred to my mind every time I see him, he is just going to pull me down.

“When I first figured out about the affair, and everything, he was still my next door neighbor. There was a part of me that wanted to go take care of him. But if I did that, I would be in the same boat as him — I would be a bad guy. And that is just not me.”

The Associated Press reports Lee, 24, was arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Joshua Tree Superior Court, where he pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

To watch KESQ-TV's story about the candlelight vigil held for Erin Corwin, click here.