Where is Erin? | Presenting "48 Hours: NCIS"
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Hello, listeners. It's 48 Hours correspondent Natalie Morales and host of the new podcast, 48 Hours NCIS. 48 Hours NCIS is bringing you the real-life cases that inspired the hit drama NCIS, along with the in-depth award-winning true crime journalism of 48 Hours.

This season untangles the infidelity, obsession, and murder of Marine wife Erin Corwin. At only 19 years old, Erin was found strangled to death in a mine deep within California's Joshua Tree National Park.

Join me to look back at Aaron's case, featuring recordings with agents, survivors, and police that will detail the events that led to Aaron's tragic end in the new limited series, 48 Hours NCIS. Here's a preview of the first episode. Our whole life being turned totally upside down began on June 29th, 2014.

On a beautiful summer Sunday morning, Laura Heavlin 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, 1130 on Sunday morning and told us that Aaron was missing. And I'm like, what do you mean Aaron's missing?

Bill and Lore hadn't seen their daughter Erin in a few months. Erin recently moved out of the Heavlin 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 Corwins 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 Lore hadn't seen the new place yet. When John called, Lore 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, Aaron's husband, John Corwin, told Lohr that the last place he knew Aaron 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 Aaron got lost. Aaron 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, 5'2", maybe 5'3".

115 pounds. She was very shy, extremely naive. Bill and Lorne 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 homebody. She stayed inside her comfort zone. The Hevelins thought through what might have happened and quickly discounted some possibilities.

No, I never thought that Aaron had run away. I didn't think that was even remotely a possibility. I mean, she just was not a risk taker. Worried, Lohr pressed Aaron's husband, John, for more details. The last time John said he saw Aaron 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 Lore. 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 Aaron? 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 and 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 Aaron missing.

The sheriff's deputies and the sheriff's office had a lot of questions for him. They were like, tell us where she went. You know, what did she have with her? Why did you wait 24 hours to report her missing? His version of the story is that I thought from watching television shows that you have to wait 24 hours before you can report an adult missing. But

That makes you seem suspicious in the eyes of the investigators. Also, he had no alibi, per se. I mean, he was in his apartment playing video games, and he's an unemotional guy. I mean, he's not the kind of guy to say, my wife is missing. You know, he's like unemotional and very flat affect. Once John finally did alert the authorities, the local sheriff's department in San Bernardino immediately opened up an investigation. But they needed help for this specific case.

The Sheriff's Department can't just go there and start talking to people. They have to go through protocol, right? They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. NCIS, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Most of us may recognize this name from television. NCIS. Never heard of it. That's embarrassing.

The television show NCIS follows a cast of characters, including NCIS special agents, field agents, forensic specialists, and more, through 21 seasons of scripted, primetime television drama. But the NCIS is a real-life federal agency. NCIS is sort of like an in-house FBI for the Navy. There are only about 1,000 special agents based all over the world.

in Japan, Singapore, Bahrain, Italy, and yes, at the Marine base in 29 Palms, California. They are stationed at the base, and they get involved, holding the Sheriff's Department hand to let them know how the military operates. NCIS Special Agent Clifton Randolph Jr. was alerted by the Sheriff's Department that a Marine's wife was missing.

The initial story we received was Erin had gone to Joshua Tree National Park to look for nice hiking routes for her and her mother, who was coming out later on that week. That was the last time that Corporal Corwin had seen her, driving in their blue Corolla away from the installation.

The Marine Base, what Special Agent Randolph called the installation, was the largest Marine Corps base in the world. In addition to housing an NCIS office, there were about 900 families who lived on base. By 2013, that included the Corwins.

This is just the beginning of the story of Aaron Corwin's disappearance. In the next few episodes of 48 Hours NCIS, investigators untangle it all. They find a story full of secrets, lies, and at the heart of it, a dangerous romance.

Thanks for listening to this preview of 48 Hours NCIS. If you want to hear the rest of this series, you can listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free right now by joining 48 Hours Plus on Apple Podcasts.

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