A former Marine who confessed to strangling a 19-year-old woman and tossing her body into a Southern California desert mine shaft has been convicted of first-degree murder.
Twenty-seven-year-old Christopher Brandon Lee was convicted Thursday in San Bernardino. He's facing life in prison without chance of parole.
Lee pleaded not guilty to killing Erin Corwin, the wife of another Marine, in June of 2014.
But a few days ago at trial, Lee shocked the courtroom during his trial and admitted to strangling Corwin in a fit of anger and throwing the body down a 140-foot-deep abandoned mineshaft near Joshua Tree National Park.
"I'm no longer scared to tell the truth. People have to know what I did," Lee testified in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
Lee had pleaded not guilty to killing 19-year-old Corwin, with whom Lee's suspected of having an affair.
Friends told investigators that Corwin believed she was pregnant and Lee might be the father. Authorities say Lee wanted to hide the affair.
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When prosecutor Sean Daugherty asked Lee if he's the one who strangled Corwin, he replied, "Yes, I am."
Lee testified that he decided to kill Corwin because he said she had molested one of his family members -- the first time that accusation has come to light.
Lee said he approached Corwin from behind and strangled her for at least five minutes with a garrote made up of two pieces of rebar and a cord. He said he then dragged Corwin's body to the mine shaft and pushed her in head first.
Corwin, 20, was last seen June 28, 2014. Her husband, a Marine corporal, reported her missing the next day when she did not return home from a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Corwin was reportedly three months pregnant.
The search for Corwin spanned 300 square miles of the Mojave Desert. Hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers searched in helicopters and on the ground, often in sweltering heat. Dive teams searched bodies of water in the area.
Forensic exams of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices led detectives to a mine shaft outside Joshua Tree National Park.
Lee's attorney, David Kaloyanides, questioned his client only briefly, trying to emphasize that the Lee had not planned the killing.
Kaloyanides did not return messages seeking comment Tuesday.
