Russian Roulette | "48 Hours: NCIS" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 3) | Forensic Files

alone in a chilly room in the San Bernardino sheriff's department Corporal John Corwin sat with his feet flat on
the floor back straight and sensors wrapped around his chest and abdomen he was hooked up to a polygraph with wires
running from his fingers to the machine next to him the first suspect when Aaron
went missing was her husband John Beth Ford Roth is a reporter who covered Aaron's disappearance he waited 24 hours
to call to say that she was missing he said it was because watching True Crime programs he believed he had to wait 24
hours I'm sure authorities always look at the spouse first so the authorities called him
in once hooked up to the polygraph machine they tracked changes in John's heart rate and blood pressure 48 Hours
producer Paul Arosa heard how that day went the sheriff's deputies and Sheriff's Office had a lot of questions
for him they were like you know tell us where she went he didn't know tell us what did she have with her a bottle of
Gatorade so far JN seemed to be keeping his cool he wasn't showing the type of physiological reactions people have when
lying the type of responses that polygraphs are known for exposing in like increased sweating heavy breathing
and an elevated heart rate according to NCIS analyst Ashley duelin that was enough for the sheriff's department to
determine that John was telling the truth when san berino county sheriff's department conducted the polygraph
examination on Jonathan Corwin they did not detect any deception John had passed
his polygraph examination and that confirmed what aon's mother lore already thought
I never suspected John never never crossed my mind the authorities floated another theory one that seemed to come
out of left field was it possible that Aaron had been planning to leave JN maybe there hadn't been Foul Play but
instead she ran away Aaron's mother however didn't buy that theory at all remember lur had planned to visit
for her daughter's 20th birthday instead she ended up flying out after Aaron disappeared and you know when I got to
her apartment all those ingredients for the meals that she wanted me to cook were there she was pretty excited about
mom coming and cooking her favorite meals Aaron was not planning on going anywhere so that means someone else must
have been responsible with her husband John Corwin ruled out it was time for the authorities to look at the next
suspect on their list I'm CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales this is 48 Hours
NCIS episode three Russian Roulette lur havin arrived in California shortly after she found out that Aaron
was missing she knew that the chances of Aaron making it out alive were not high
but still she was her mother she had to remain hopeful and she knew that if they
did find Aaron the very first thing she would want was her mother lur was staying at Aaron and John's Apartment
along with John's parents the first night we all spent the night in the apartment and the sheriff's
department had knocked on the door and they were going to interview us so we all get up and they just took us
individually and just you know pretty much asked us about our relationship with Aaron despite their jurisdiction
over all of San Bernardino County the sheriff's department couldn't just walk on to the military base that's where
NCIS came into play together they went door too taking hours to speak to everyone they needed to Beth Ford Roth
heard the details of those interactions after the fact the sheriff's deputies went upstairs to talk to Christopher
Nicole Lee and Chris answered the door he was very nervous he said he was in a hurry
and the sheriff's deputy asked him do you know Aaron Corwin and he said she's my neighbor but I mean we're
acquaintances I know her husband but yeah we're not we're not close and he he had to go somewhere he just ended the
conversation right away up until that point Christopher Lee appeared to be a background figure in
Aaron's life someone she knew Loosely from babysitting his daughter or would occasionally see at the horse ranch with
his wife Nicole but as we found out in the previous episode from NCIS special agent sha Nash Aaron had told her best
friend Jesse that Chris was planning some kind of surprise for Aaron a trip to Joshua Tree National Park that in
itself was not suspicious it was a pretty normal place to visit while living on the 29 Palms military base but
was it a trip that two acquaintances would make and without their spouses San Bernardino sheriffs were not
convinced so they brought Chris back in to get a better sense of who he was and how he had met Aaron details that they
hadn't been able to sus out in their first quick conversation with him he entered the sheriff's department
Chris was stocky with a round face and broad shoulders he was somber with dark hair and matching dark brown eyes he sat
down the interview started out slowly they needed to establish a rapport with him so he would be comfortable sharing
information that could help them down the line okay uh some some of the Fall questions stuff that I need to ask you a
little bit um just to kind of close up some of these gaps they talked for a while about his childhood he grew up in
Anchorage Alaska with a sister and two brothers and played High School football it was also where he met his wife Nicole
before he became a marine and moved to 29 Palms he couldn't recall answers to everything they asked about though like
past trips or minor things about his own personal life the police tape you're about to hear is a little hard to
understand my memory is really really bad anymore fighting or football explosions he said his memory was really
bad because of football and his proximity to explosions while serving in the military unless he experienced
something impactful Chris generally couldn't remember it with that in mind officers moved on to what Chris had been
up to lately and his future plans he was set to be released from active duty on July 6
2014 just a few days away the process for being discharged had started months before this first Chris like all Marine
had to take a transition Readiness seminar then he needed to complete and submit an outbound review get that
review approved and complete a final physical even with all that done Chris and Nicole still needed to clear out
their apartment and ran a U-Haul to get it all back to Alaska he'd had a lot going on in the
last few months and it was during this long transition period that he'd also met John and Aaron I met her uh she
moved in before he got back we didn't really like it's kind of like hey you're the new neighbor what's up didn't really
have any interaction with her until John got back from Oka they were neighbors but he didn't
actually interact with Aaron until John came back from his deployment in Japan it was then that Chris and Nicole
started hanging out with them as a couple along with their downstairs neighbors Connor and ashleen Malaki
Chris was already close with Connor and would regularly go out into the desert to go coyote hunting shoot pellets or
race their cars there's my road back here that kind Mak a really nice race track I like to see how D my Jeep on the
corners and stuff like that so out in the desert Chris said he liked to see how fast he could race his
Jeep when John Corin returned from his deployment he became a part of their group they talked about their jobs and
being in the military had cookouts together and bonded over being far away from their homes with few friends and
little to no familial support in California despite his blossoming friendships and the fact that he would
soon be out of the military Chris was struggling he had had one six Monon Tour of Duty in Afghanistan but he'd been
back for a year and had become depressed when it became clear he would not be redeployed he told investigators it was
easier there in Afghanistan all you have to do do is quote wake up stand post call patrols simple stuff with no real
life type responsibilities he came home and had a difficult time adjusting to life after
deployment like I most say it was like I didn't give anything I was just kind of
falling apart mentally Chris said he was falling apart mentally it was hard for him to be at home he and his wife Nicole
had gotten used to being away from each other and no longer knew how to communicate he said they'd argue over
minor things like whether she made dinner the right way when she told him she thought he needed help he didn't
want to listen there was a tension in the air he'd be drinking they'd occasionally
blow up at each other it's weird CU you're there like you miss them on a lot and you come back and it's like it's not
the picture perfect thing you had in mind so Beth Ford Roth recalled hearing stories about Nicole while covering the
case Nicole was not a well-liked lady in that area she was gossipy she had sort of a bad reputation
about things that may have happened in other housing complexes and relationship just gossip Melrose Place gossip
basically in the house and outside of the house Nicole was not the most popular person to many people on and
around the base she was abrasive strict and controlling telling Chris what he could and could not do according to
multiple people in Aaron's life her spouse John was also controlling of her spending and her ability to get a job
when she bought a puppy to keep herself company he made her get rid of it the greatest Solace she could find was at
Isabelle megley horse ranch but even when she was alone and away from John she still didn't feel free she felt like
she was being controlled that's 48 Hours producer Paul Arosa they had two cars but one one car broke down they only had
one car so sometimes Aaron was by herself without a car on this isolated military base so it meant a lot to Aaron
that Chrisley would sometimes drive her along with Nicole to the horse ranch and
as they got to know each other better in the context of the neighborhood and the
stable they realized just how much they had in common back in the interrogation room Chris had
finally started sharing information that was useful to the authorities he had a lot to say about Aon and John's
relationship some that was frankly shocking even to investigators he said Aaron was unhappy
that she was scared of John to Chris it sounded like a cry for help one that he could do something thing about and in
the process maybe she could help him too I was like oh I can fix this I broken pieces fix each other so we just
kind of started developing a bond that grew stronger it was like she was like a distraction from everything else was
going wrong in my life Chris said they were both distractions for each other Aaron had met someone who was passionate
about her interests who understood how trapped she felt and Chris had someone to nurture him to take care of him he
told police something else that revealed just how close to the edge he'd been I would I was playing Russian rouette
three four times a week like not getting car about anything Chris told the sheriff's deputies that he was playing
Russian roulette multiple times a week he told them that he had stopped caring about anything including whether
he lived or died but talking to to Aaron commiserating and playing video games together gave him something to care
about something to live for over time you know we started getting closer having longer
conversations it wasn't difficult for producer Paul L Roa to piece together how those longer conversations turned
into something more it starts as an emotional affair right I mean eron's depressed Chris is depressed they
confide in each other they bond over their love of horses he was in a lot of ways what John was not he was more
emotional he was he had more character he had more personality he was a polar opposite of John her husband but like
many emotional Affairs it didn't just stop there and then uh we end up we kissed a few times at her
place they had kissed multiple times at Aaron's place they had now connected on an emotional and physical level that
Aaron was missing with John Chris had started writing poetry for her he sent loving texts he told her they were
perfect together just like Paul L Roa Beth Ford Roth could also understand exactly how this affair came to be H
having been a 19-year-old girl myself you fall in love like there's no tomorrow and I believe that Chris said
all of the right things that eron needed to hear he was a poet or a self-proclaimed poet
and he wrote love poetry to Aaron I don't know any 19-year-old girl who wouldn't be impressed with that
especially if she feels like her husband is not emotionally there for her at this
critical time soon instead of Russian Roulette Chris was getting his Thrills from Aaron he'd have an argument with
Nicole and immediately Text Aaron she was an escape from The Real World where he could make Bel that he was in a happy
place he could confide anything and everything in her you know cuz she was a secret so I could tell her my secrets
because she was a secret Chris could tell her all of his own Secrets at this point Aaron Corwin and
Christopher Lee were having a full-blown Affair mentally and physically and had been for months they were able to keep
it hidden at first but then Beth says things got a little precarious for everyone so it was Valentine's Day of
2014 and the military families all sort of got together the the little military Melrose Place got together to uh watch a
movie Mulan Rouge they met at the malak's downstairs apartment at some point the party broke up John went back
upstairs ashleen Maliki who had a six-month old baby went to her room to put the baby to bed
Chris and Aaron stayed that's when ashleen came back out to fix a bottle for the baby and saw that Christopher
Lee and Aaron Corwin were still there on the couch together and she saw them kissing Chris and Aaron had gotten so
wrapped up in each other that they had actually kissed out in the open in their neighbor's
apartment they may have been living in a fantasy world but unfortunately the consequences of their actions were about
to get very real so after Christopher got up and left Ashley's apartment ashleen went over to Aaron who was still
on the couch and confronted her and said I saw you kissing what are what are you
doing you can't can't do this and Aaron told ashleen that they weren't kissing that Chris was whispering something to
her he was trying to comfort her Ashley knew what she saw it's kind of hard to mistake passionate kissing with
Whispering it put ashleen in an incredibly awkward position she and her husband Connor were friends with both
the Le and the Corwin they saw each other in the apartment complex every day and now ashleen couldn't make eye
contact with any of them she didn't know why Aaron wasn't being honest with her because the two
had shared a a pretty meaningful friendship and Aaron basically left and that was kind of the end of
their friendship weeks went by and when it became clear that neither Aaron nor Chris was going to own up to what they
did ashleen could no longer keep quiet ashleen said that she told mcole and John and that's how the spouses found
out after that Chris said Nicole went through his phone she found their texts came into the bedroom and threw the
phone at his head things grew increasingly tense within their small bubble the friendships they once shared were no
longer to make amends Aaron and Chris promised to put an end to their Affair but Nicole had already made up
her mind about Aaron amiable Interac actions turned into Stony silence trust that had previously formed while Aaron
babysat the Le's daughter went out the window Nicole went so far as to try to ban Aaron from one of the only places
where she had the freedom to be herself Isabelle megley horse ranch Nicole came to me and told me that Aaron wasn't
allowed at the ranch anymore she has done some unforgivable uh acts and that she was
she told her she couldn't come here Nicole's anger towards Aaron was so Dynamic the words she said I couldn't
repeat she said I wouldn't care if she died she said uh she was unspeakable which she's done but never would she say
what she did despite his own tense relationship with Aaron Jon seemed more understanding of her indiscretion and
wanted to work together to leave it in the past according to Beth Roth Aaron told John that the affair was over they
went to coup's counseling John was under the impression that things were improving they were trying to have a a
child and John believed that things were going in the right direction Aaron's mother lore knew that Aaron and
John were young and naive but she believed their relationship was solid when she came out to California after
her daughter was reported missing she was shocked to find out about the affair that Aaron had been carrying
on she'd had no idea that information it seemed was reserved for Jesse Aaron's best friend in
Tennessee Aaron definitely confided in Jesse and in a different way than she confided with me I know now that Aaron
had shared about her affair with Chris to Jesse I feel like she she knew what she was doing was not
right and that I would probably try to talk her out of what she was doing whereas Jesse was going to be more
accepting for Shawn Nash the NCIS special agent who interviewed Jess this was far from the first time he'd
seen something like this play out while I was stationed at cample Jour there was
a lot of 18 19 20-year-old Marines living aboard the base we had seen a lot of Young Marines get married before they
deployed and uh then they would leave their spouse for a long period of time there were a lot of instances where the
spouses would be cheating on their uh deployed husbands or wives and one of the common themes is uh the spouse Left
Behind is lonely and will reach out for other people for companionship it's important to
understand just how high the stakes are for committing adultery while in the military not necessarily for Aaron but
for Chris NCIS special agent Clifton Randolph Jr has seen what happens to military members who engage in
extramarital Affairs to have in the extramarital affair is a violation of the uniform code of military Justice
someone that is found guilty of it will be subject to military criminal prosecution adultery Falls within ncis's
jurisdiction to investigate while it's not a criminal offense for civilians the military doesn't take kindly to cheating
it can even lead to a dishonorable discharge forfeiture of all pay and allowances and up to one year of
confinement in a military Brig that may seem extreme and old fashioned but the uniform code of military Justice exists
to ensure professionalism and discipline within the military a core component of this code
is the rule that any action that could discredit the Armed Forces can be prosecuted from adultery to bigamy even
writing bad checks it's a catch intended to quote maintain the military's moral fabric it's as serious as it sounds and
everyone within the Armed Forces is aware of it so there's a very good reason why Chris may have first lied
about the extent of his relationship with Aaron a dishonorable discharge would put his entire future at stake
likely revoking his access to VA benefits unemployment and federal student loans and severely limiting any
post military career opportunities it would follow him for the rest of his life and as someone
whose discharge from the military was fast approaching admitting to an affair wasn't something Chris could
afford and all of this in response to an affair that only lasted a few months after all Aaron and Chris ended things
after their spouses found out but according to Jesse that's not actually what happened Beth Ford Roth
recounted the full story she was the only one who knew that that relationship was still
ongoing Aaron's spouse John and Chris's spouse Nicole both had found out about the affair and everyone believed it was
over but it wasn't and from there things only got more complicated not only had they continued their Affair in secret
but special agent Shawn Nash in Tennessee had uncovered another shocking piece of information Jessica had told us
that Aaron was 3 months pregnant and that the baby might have been Christoper Aaron was pregnant
again I did not know that Aaron was pregnant her mother learned about this pregnancy for the first time when she
arrived at the Corn's place in California John knew about the pregnancy they found out on Father's Day and they
told his dad on Father's Day that she was pregnant despite knowing about her pregnancy for 2 weeks Aaron hadn't told
her mother anything she'd been open about her first pregnancy and miscarriage so why not this one Aaron's
lack of communication with her mother left everyone with questions what else had she been holding back and depending
how far along she was whose baby was it with Jon and his family Aaron had acted like the baby was his but with
Jesse Aaron was adamant that the baby was actually Chris Le at the prospect of having Chris's
baby Aaron seemed excited and hopeful happily ever after with John didn't seem to be in the card he was too cold too
controlling too uninterested in her Hobbies but Chris Chris made her excited Chris gave her purpose according to Beth
Chris he made her feel like she was the reason he was alive she was his reason for living maybe Chris could be her
happily ever after police even found information on Aaron's laptop about apartments in Alaska she'd been
seriously thinking about their future together so Aaron texted her friend Jesse in Tennessee that Chris was very
excited about it that he wanted to tell everyone he wanted to tell Aaron's mother it was going to be this big
announcement that Aaron was pregnant they were in love and they were going to move to Alaska together because Chris
was getting ready to leave the Marines and uh that's what Aaron thought was happening and that's what she conveyed
to her friend Jesse now Chris and Aaron's up coming surprise trip to Joshua Tree made much more sense it was
a perfect place to be alone together something that was hard to come by in their apartment complex where they were
constantly under watchful eyes Aaron seemed thoroughly convinced that both of them were in it for the long haul that
much was clear to analyst Ashley deelin it seemed that Aaron was in love with Christopher Lee because she was willing
to take that next step with him in her life and I don't believe personally that she would have done that if if she
didn't really care about him NCIS agents were now convinced that Aaron was in love with Chris she was serious about
their future but the question remained was Chris also in it for the long haul or did he have other
plans on the next episode of 48 Hours NCIS what else was chrisly hiding we're going to find here
right now the Marine Corps base is helping us they are gathering as many soldiers as they possibly can to go out
and search check in all these areas we're going to find [Music] her from CBS News and CBS Studios this
is 48 Hours NCIS original reporting by 48 Hours producer Paul Arosa Anthony Batson is
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After investigating her social circle, NCIS agents discovered that Erin was planning to go into the desert with her neighbor Christopher Lee. But Chris claimed to barely know her. NCIS and the local sheriff's department dug deeper, and found out that Chris and Erin had been having a secret affair for months before Erin went missing.

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Brief Summary

Aaron Corwin's disappearance leads to a complex investigation involving her affair with neighbor Christopher Lee and shocking revelations about her pregnancy.

Key points

John Corwin's Polygraph Results. John passed his polygraph examination, confirming he was telling the truth about Aaron's disappearance.
Chris and Aaron's Emotional Affair. Chris and Aaron developed a close bond that turned into an emotional and physical affair.
Consequences of Adultery in the Military. Engaging in extramarital affairs can lead to serious consequences for military personnel.
The Complicated Affair. Chris and Aaron's relationship was more complex than anyone realized, with secrets and lies.
A Shocking Revelation. Aaron's pregnancy adds another layer of complexity to the already tangled relationships.
Love and Uncertainty. Aaron believed in a future with Chris, but was he truly committed?

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I never suspected John, never crossed my mind.

Aaron's mother reflects on her thoughts about John.

2:04WatchNov 12, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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