48 Hours - Where is Erin?

Marine wife Erin Corwin was just 19 years old when she disappeared in California’s Joshua Tree National Park. Nearly two months later, her body was found in an abandoned mine in the unforgiving desert, and suspicions quickly fell on a fellow Marine. Here’s the first episode of the new series, “48 Hours: NCIS”, which merges the award-winning journalism of one of the most celebrated true crime news programs with the world’s #1 TV franchise, to bring you the real-life cases that NCIS agents will never forget. This 6-episode premiere season of “48 Hours: NCIS”, hosted by CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales, untangles this twisted story of infidelity and betrayal that led to Erin’s tragic end. Listen to the series now by searching for "48 Hours: NCIS" wherever you get your podcasts.

Duration: 33m
Broadcast on: 26 Nov 2024
Audio Format: other

[Music] Our whole life being turned totally upside down began on June 29th, 2014. [Music] On a beautiful summer Sunday morning, Laura Havlin was in her home in Tennessee with her husband, Bill. They were getting ready to go to church when they received an awful call. My son-in-law called probably around 11 o'clock, 11 30 on Sunday morning, and told us that Erin was missing, and I'm like, what do you mean Erin's missing? Bill and Laura hadn't seen their daughter Erin in a few months. Erin recently moved out of the Havlin family home to start a new life in California with her high school sweetheart and now husband, John Corwin. They moved to a small city called 29 Palms, a blip in the middle of the Mojave. What brought the Corwin's there was the marine base. John was a marine, corporal Corwin officially, and Erin was a marine's wife. They lived on the base in a small apartment, their first home together. Bill and Laura hadn't seen the new place yet. When John called, Laura had been planning a trip out west to visit Erin later that week. Erin was 19 years old, almost 20. I was going to go out for her 20th birthday. But then no one knew where Erin was. On the phone, Erin's husband, John Corwin, told Laura that the last place he knew Erin had gone was Joshua Tree National Park. And he told me that she had gone out to Joshua Tree National Park the day before to look for places for her and I to go to take pictures and stuff when I came to visit in a few days. My first immediate thought was Erin got lost. Erin is very directionally challenged. Bill, Erin's father worried that Erin wouldn't find her way out.

I mean, Joshua Tree is just the desert. There's nothing there. There's no water. It's not like you're going to find anything. There's no shelter of any type. So you're just exposed to the elements. In addition to her lack of hiking experience, Erin was not particularly prepared for the outdoors. She was a very petite, 19 year old, five, two, maybe 115 pounds. She was very shy, extremely naive. Bill and Laura knew their daughter. This didn't sound like her. She wouldn't go on an overnight hike spontaneously. She probably wouldn't go on an overnight hike at all. Erin was a home body. She stayed inside her comfort zone. The hevelins thought through what might have happened and quickly discounted some possibilities. No, I never thought that Erin had run away. I didn't think that was even a remotely a possibility. I mean, she just was not a risk taker. Worried, Laura pressed Erin's husband, John, for more details.

The last time John said he saw Erin was early the morning before. He said she kissed him goodbye around 7 a.m. and he watched her drive off in their car. He went back to sleep. A while later, he got up and spent the day playing video games. By nightfall, Erin still hadn't come home. She was supposed to be back in time for dinner, but John went to bed. The next morning, according to John, it had been 24 hours since Erin had driven out of sight. John alerted the authorities. Then he called Laura. He sounded concerned. There wasn't a lot of emotion in his voice, but that's typical John. It's hard to read him to know what his thoughts are. I'm CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales. This is 48 hours NCIS, where we take you inside a case. NCIS agents say they will never forget. Episode one, where is Erin? While his 19-year-old wife was missing, John spent most of the day at home. He started wondering where is Erin and tried to get in touch with her, but could not by phone. He knows there is not good service in the desert, so he didn't worry too much, but then by nightfall, he was worried. Paul LaRosa is a producer for CBS News in 48 hours. He reported on Erin Corwin's disappearance. LaRosa had a lot of experience telling true crime stories. He knew that generally, when someone goes missing, the first-person investigators turn to when they need answers is the spouse. In this case, that was John Corwin. But he didn't do anything. He didn't call police. He didn't really tell anybody on his base. So to the authorities, it was initially suspicious that John waited to report Erin missing.

Transcription truncated.