The Honeymoon is Over | "48 Hours: NCIS" | "48 Hours" Podcast (Episode 2) | Forensic Files

on June 30th 2014 2 days after Aaron Corwin went missing workers with the local water department in the desert
town of 29 Palms showed up to a job by the Marine base a crew member noticed a car which
was strange they were in the middle of the Mojave Desert the car appeared to be abandoned so they called it in to the
police the was a blue Toyota Corolla the car Aaron Corwin was driving the day she went
missing Aon corin's car was located approximately 2 miles from the back gate of the military base and that's still
significantly far from Joshua Tree National Park's entrance but why is a car located close
to base NCIS special agent Clifton ran doph Jr and his team tried to make sense of this did Aaron walk all the way to
Joshua Tree to scope out Trails for her mom's upcoming visit they investigated the area prowled over the Sands and they
noticed a second pair of tire tracks another vehicle seemed to indicate she didn't go wherever she went
alone NCIS and San Bernardino authorities followed Aaron's shoo blueprints walking out of her car and
into someone else's and then they followed the tracks of the second vehicle with those tracks ending at the
black asphalt road out there it appeared that the second car drove off into the desert the terrain out there it's it's
like Mars I think they did some type of training for the moon mission somewhere in that area NCIS analyst Ashley did
chelin remembers when they initially found the car where the vehicle was found was was a clue because it was it
was not found in an area you would think it was a much needed clue but still it's
just a question of where is Aaron in the days after Aaron Corwin was reported missing NCIS and the local
police department exhausted all leads once they found her car with clear evidence she was with someone else the
search for the 19-year-old Marine's wife gathered speed and urgency it was summertime which gets
very hot it can be very foding that there's no literally no water available in that area during the day and at night
there's nothing to light your way and many dangerous uh animals that are in that habitat the harshness of the desert
was troubling to to say the least and time was not on ncis's side between myself cliff and our program support the
three of us were back and forth like working long days in and out and as new leads were developed and information
came in then we just kind of put our our heads to the next the next hurdle or challenge that we needed to overcome but
some challenges were insurmountable there was still no trace of Aaron after 48 hours and if she was
was lost in the desert away from her car it was hard for lore aon's mom not to think the worst when I found out they
found her car without her that's when I knew something had happened and I really kind of had that
mother gut instinct that maybe she was no longer alive now it was not just a question of
where is Aaron it was also a question of who had been with Aaron in the desert I'm CBS News correspondent
Natalie Morales this is 48 Hours NCIS episode 2 the honeymoon is over this new information finding
Aaron's car and the second pair of tire tracks in the sand changed everything the authorities needed to go back over
what they knew about Aaron's life in 29 Palms before she went missing they needed to look at 29 Palms as Aaron had
and retrace her steps in order to identify where she frequented and who she knew 29 Palms where Aaron was last seen
is a remote desert city over 100 miles outside of LA and it could not be more different 29 Palms is sleepy and sparse
Route 62 Cuts right through its Center there's a cassino a few hotels a single Starbucks for a city there's a lot of
blank empty space across its 58 square miles that's about the same size as Disney
World but it used to be bustling a long time ago in the 1800s the area was teeming with gold min ERS Legend has it
after a long day's work they would make their way to the town's main water source a spring surrounded by 29 Palm
Trees so when the miners would describe where they had been they opted for 29 palms and it's
stuck you could drive through it in you know I don't know 15 minutes and maybe less here's 48 Hours producer Paul L Roa
who reported on Aaron's case it's the desert you know and the desert draws its own unique brand of
people there are two sides to 29 Palms the side connected to the Marines which is the majority of the population and
then there's a fraction of folks who are locals with no connection to the base the two worlds are starkly different and
yet they are constantly colliding it's kind of funky in its own way I mean you'd probably be surprised and you'd
probably want to visit some of like the sort of offbeat shops there the locals are known to wear cowboy hats and Sport
turquoise jewelry after all 29 Palms was once a mining town There's shops that sell crystals there's a few places to
eat then there's the Marine base the Marine base entrance is located in 29 Palms but the base itself is its
own entity that exists just outside of the city limits nestled up against a mountain
range the base eclipses the city in size at over 1,000 square miles Marines come
from all over the country to serve here at the world's largest Marine Corps training base and they bring their
families toward the base entrance it feels more like a small suburban neighborhood than a military site with
young families living in culdesac the grounds are pristine surrounded by desert and Mountain Vistas
there is one main strip of buildings where much of Base Life takes place based like this you're going to go to
the same movie theater you're going to go to the same Watering Hole a lot of the events that are put on on base
everybody goes to and you're going to run into each other special agent Randolph knows
firsthand the small town feel of 29 Palms he lives in town and commuted to his office on base every day there are
new people always coming in there are uh people always leaving there are people always returning uh even
NCIS we we don't stay there permanently but you become a part of the community if they were going to find Aaron they
had to start looking at this particular Community most of the population are transplants far away from their
hometowns because the majority of people are connected to the Marine B case which
means families are only stationed here for brief periods of time before a marine is relocated or
deployed bottom line military families don't stay in 29 Palms for too long this is also true for NCIS
Personnel who get bounced around depending on where they're needed like Analyst at chelin who transferred from
Camp Pendleton California to 29 Palms because her help was needed when it came to finding Aaron Corwin it was my first
time at an NCIS field office because prior to that I had started at our headquarters analyst ditchin picked up
on the close-knit feel of the 29 Palms Marine base as soon as she arrived there's not a whole lot there so you
really rely on that base life because if you're a dependent spouse and your husband's deployed then you're you're
socializing with other dependent spouses and everybody's talking Aaron started making friends with her
neighbors like Nicole Lee who brought Aaron to the nearby horse ranch and she was also a Marine's wife so I think for
a 19-year-old in that situation you're you're trying to find your Social Circle you're trying to find your Niche and I
think it's easy to get emotionally invested in things that may not be in your best
interest that you realize in hindsight as the NCIS a agents progressed their investigation into
Aaron's whereabouts they zeroed in on these Social Circles on a Marine base where everyone knows everyone the
agent's investigation revealed that not everyone is who they say they are when Aaron felt lonely in the
close-knit crowd she'd call back home it was a big adjustment to live away from home and in such close proximity to
other young military couples she'd tell her mom lore what her new life was like there was maybe six apartments in this
little quad it was little two-bedroom apartment I mean didn't anything bigger it wasn't fancy but you know it met your
needs on the base housing is free for Aaron and John this was a no-brainer plus the base would be a secure en
closed neighborhood giving Aaron's family back home much better peace of mind you know he was just starting out
in the Marines he wasn't getting a huge stien for off- based housing so they probably wouldn't be living in the
nicest area of 29 palms and we just felt they and we felt like she would be safer
on base their housing was on one of the many CEST sacks in town all the buildings look like desert homes
minimalist Style with clean lines and neutral colors most were equipped with Spanish tile roofs the ones with Clay
shingles to manage the internal temperatures during those hot summer days in the complex there were two
couples in particular who Aaron and her husband John connected with first ashleen and Connor Maliki who live
downstairs and second the family who introduced Aaron to the White Rock horse rescue Nicole and Chris
Lee the Le their kitchen's actually touched she also made friends with the people that live below them young
husbands and young wives living in the desert with not much to do she had had a couple other people but these three
couples were tight they did a lot together cooked out a lot would stay up all night playing board games whatever
then then would make breakfast together and the guys would hang out together everyone in that complex was
sort of like a military Melrose Place this is Beth Ford Roth a public radio reporter who covered Aaron's case once
news spread that she was missing and it had spread to many local news stations it seemed like the media could not get
enough of Aaron's story The Missing Marine's wife she lives in 29 Palms with her Marine husband Jonathan and he
reported her where her husband is stationed anyone with information Marine Corporal husband
reported her missing the day after she disappeared as soon as Beth heard about the case she followed it closely because
it was right up her alley I am the daughter of a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve and was interested
in telling the story that a lot of people don't know which is military wives serve just as much as their
husbands do she made it her life's work to write about its intricacies and pitfalls so I
I wanted to cover not just the dry black and white stuff that goes on a barbecue
or a parade or that kind of thing but just sort of what's it like to raise children on your own when your husband's
in Afghanistan what's it like when he comes back what kind of support network do they have I was inspired by my mother
who became an army wife just knowing that how alone she felt and didn't really find a support system that she
needed so Aaron's case felt personal as Beth covered the story she came to know the people living in aon's
apartment block well the husbands all Marines supported their families financially the wives were Homemakers
the Le from the horse ranch were older than the other couples by a few years Christopher was sort of like the leader
of of the group the guys generally got along the three Marines would have cookouts every week
they would drink and just you know have a good time together and they could sort of bond
over the the different aspects of what it's like to be in the military and where they were deployed or if they'd
been to okanawa if they'd been to Afghanistan now the three women were kind of different of the three couples Aaron and
John were the only ones without kids but Ashley Malaki from downstairs was similar to Aaron in temperament shy and
quiet just trying to be a supportive Marine wife I remember ashleen Malaki saying that her husband had an open door
policy which meant anyone could come in and out and she sort of went along with that now Nicole Chris's wife was not
very popular on Bas she was known for being abrasive and maybe even a bit distracted neighbors sometimes raised an
eyebrow at her parenting of her six-year-old daughter according to Beth Nicole would let her daughter wander
around alone in the complex popping into other people's Apartments unannounced so these three couples may
not have seen eye to eye on everything but in order to avoid total isolation they stuck together
[Music] in different circumstances these couples could have been in college in a lot of
ways they still behaved like college kids according to multiple accounts the couples partied often drank heavily and
made questionable decisions spending their small stiens on luxuries like new clothes and
cars Aaron's days transformed from their quiet routine of church in her hometown
horse barn to the Rowdy world of Young Marines so so instead of dorm life it was Bas
life unlike most 19-year-olds whose lives revolve around themselves Aaron's life revolved around the Marines it was
an easy place to feel lost in the women sort of followed the men's lead because it's important for Marines to get along
with each other it reflects well and it might help their chances of getting promoted in the
future Beth Ford Roth says that the Wom women also had a role to play so it's kind of up to the wives to make sure
they present a good front even if maybe they're not going to be best friends with someone because it's in their
husband's best interest to move up the ranks and the [Music] Marines Aaron did her best to play her
role as a marine wife she made friends with the other spouses did all the requisite socializing and when she was
asked she would happily help out her neighbors Aaron would babysit when Chris and
Nicole would go out on dates Aaron just cared for anyone who was vulnerable or smaller than she was and she really
bonded with that little girl and wanted a child of her [Music] own it was only a matter of time before
Aaron joined her neighbors in motherhood another duty of a marine wife but this she was excited for her babysitting on
the base struck a cord in her heart back home in Tennessee Lura noticed her daughter nurturing children often she
was very tender-hearted very attentive to people like the younger kids at the barn and at church absolutely loved
Aaron because when they talked to her she made them feel like the most important person there it was in those
moments that the true Aaron would come out of her shell she looked at them she got out on their level if they were
younger and she wasn't one of those people that looked around to see who else she could talk to while they were
talking to her they were her focal point Aaron missed her own childhood home full
of kids after 4 months of living in 29 Palms she couldn't wait to get back home for Christmas in Tennessee and spend
some time with her family we um got to spend I think like 10 days with them or so soon after the
visit was over lur got a call for Aon and right after they got back she found out she was
pregnant from the very beginning of their relationship John and Aaron both wanted to have children and start a
family together Aaron was very excited to be pregnant they I mean they wanted and they're both great with kids it was
the beginning of 2014 John and Aaron couldn't be happier gushing about the pregnancy Aaron took to Facebook guess
what I'm pregnant with images of a stork flying through the clouds her Facebook friends people from Tennessee and 29
Palms congratulated her so excited for her new chapter she was in her first trimester
around 8 weeks and by the end of January maybe the first part of February she miscarried
Aaron wasn't sure how to deal with something like that I mean she was a baby for anyone a miscarriage is a
painful experience but for such a young couple it was devastating territory they
were not equipped to navigate and I don't think either one of them knew how to handle that grief process to lose the
baby and the hormones doing crazy things to you the miscarriage took its toll on
John and Aaron but was not the first issue they had in their marriage when JN finally arrived at 29 Palms after his
deployment Aron said she sensed a shift in him he wasn't the sweet boy she came to love in Tennessee anymore he started
to harden and became distant the two started fighting more and more here's reporter Beth Ford Roth again they went
from having sort of a sweet romantic dating relationship where they'd go out for french fries and a soda to a
fullon marriage with the possibility of being parents or not being parents what it's like to have to pay bills what it's
like to have to get along with people who aren't from Tennessee and so that the change would
be difficult I think for anyone but they were 18 19 years old Beth thinks that at
19 Aaron and John were still trying to figure out who they were John as I think any teenage husband would have
difficulty communicating his sorrow his grief or understanding how his wife felt
and there was a a split there from afar aon's mother lore noticed the couple was
struggling I think that's kind of one things kind of started spiraling just over 48 hours after Aaron's
Disappearance in the Rolling Sands of the Mojave Desert the authorities gathered around Aaron's blue Corolla
NCIS special agent Randolph needed to keep track of all the evidence found by Aaron's
car looking around that vehicle trying to find any clue that would have led to where she went to next from that
location where that vehicle was parked and if any body else was there with her the car was found just a Stones throw
away from the Marine base it was clear she was not alone when she left for the desert Specialists were called in to
look at the tire tracks the desert sand held the tread well and the Specialists were able to create three-dimensional
impressions of the tracks the design of the tread and its Dimensions can help positively match the tire to a type of
vehicle investigators determined that the car that had pulled up next to Aaron was a
Jeep now this was something the NCIS agents could work with but first they had to question
Aaron's husband John again the last known person to have seen her when was the last time you saw her where did she
say she was going to go does she have any friends and that's where Jessica comes
in Jessica known as Jesse was Aaron's closest friend back home in Tennessee Aaron and Jesse texted daily often
hourly Ever Since Aaron moved to 29 Palms Jessica Trenton reached out to John Corwin the day after Aaron
disappeared she disclosed information related to those messages that she had with Aaron because she was concerned
that Aaron didn't return analyst D chelen knew it was time for NCIS to use its Network and reach to locate Jesse
and learn everything she may know no we contacted our agent out there close to Jessica asked him to get all that
information from Jessica my name is Sean Nash I'm a special agent with NCIS assigned to the
Memphis Tennessee office and I was asked to run some leads on the Aaron Corman investigation the NCIS Tennessee office
was small only two agents ran it including special agent Sean Nash we cover all of Tennessee and all of
Arkansas so if there's anybody that needs to be interviewed anybody needs to be interrogated uh evidence needs to be
collected that kind of thing if an NCIS office across the world needs something done in those two states they they call
us and ask us to do it for them special agent Nash made his way to Jesse as soon
as he got the call luckily Jesse was ready to tell all she told him that initially she was nervous to share
information but now her fear for Aaron's well-being overcame her loyalty Jessica
was very concerned about her friend Aaron and was upset uh so she was very cooperative and helped us in any way
that that we needed special agent Nash's main objective was to copy everything off
Jesse's phone especially her text messages with Aaron the text messages explaining the
locations she might have gone would be important timelines would be important the 29 Palms NCIS office was very eager
to get these because this would explain who she was with uh prior to her disappearance the NCIS has a digital
system for things like this the software itself can extract a variety of data from devices including call logs texts
photos browsing history and more we Tred to uh download her information uh from her cell phone the system should
duplicate all the info and data from Jesse's cell phone onto the NCIS database special agent Nash linked
Jesse's phone to it using a laptop and tried to begin the download unfortunately there was a problem an
error message popped up she had just gotten a new phone brand new phone her other one had broken and
so the system did not have the updates for her brand new phone even with some of the best available Tech it was no
match for an updated smartphone they'd have to do it the old-fashioned way special agent Nash looked through
all her messages cataloged them manually by taking pictures of Jesse's phone with
his phone and during the manual search we identified several uh text messages that were important to the investigation
as he comb through Jesse's text with Aaron special agent Nash found a name Christopher Lee was a marine that was
the nextdoor neighbor of Aaron Corwin at the time and there were some text messages that involved him and Aaron
Corwin according to the text between Aaron and Jesse Aaron was planning on meeting Chris Lee and Joshua Tree
National Park the day she went missing Chris Lee Nicole Lee's husband and Aaron's neighbor the day before Aaron
went missing she had text her friend Jessica apparently this surprise trip is super important you know I had heard of
chrisly before I knew that they had hung out together it seemed kind of odd to me
that she'd be going out there with you know just Chris that's the question on everyone's
mind why would Aaron go into the desert alone with her neighbor Chris Lee what surprise could he possibly have for her
and why didn't she tell her husband about it you know cuz she was a secret so I can tell her my
secrets that's next episode on 48 Hours NCIS from CBS News and CBS Studios this is 48 Hours
NCIS original reporting by 48 Hours producer Paula Rosa Anthony bats is the senior producer for 48 hours Jamie
Benson is the senior producer for Paramount audio special thanks to 48 Hours executive producer Judy igard CBS
studi senior vice president Rob luchow and Paramount audio vice president Megan Marcus our podcast was written and
produced by Jay venables Isabelle Kirby mcowan Cara shillan Max Johnston Megan adoli and Ian Enright additional
reporting at recording by Isabelle Kirby mcowan Jay venables and Megan adoli our
executive producers are Megan nadolski and Ian Enright theme and music by epidemic sound original music from goat
rodeo with additional music from Paramount Final Mix by Rebecca Sidell Ian Enright is our fact Checker our
production manager is Megan adoli I'm Natalie Morales if you're enjoying this show be sure to give it a
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Just over 48 hours since Erin Corwin’s disappearance, her abandoned Toyota Corolla was found in the desert. Looking over the desert sands, NCIS and local authorities gathered that she had met up with someone there, got into their car and drove off into the desert. The question is, who was Erin Corwin with before she went missing?

Investigators will have to look closely into Erin’s social circles in the sleepy town of Twentynine Palms, California.

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Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode investigates the disappearance of Aaron Corwin and the search led by NCIS in 29 Palms, revealing complex social dynamics and relationships.

Key points

Aaron Corwin Goes Missing. Two days after Aaron Corwin's disappearance, her car is found abandoned in the desert.
The Search Intensifies. As authorities find evidence of another vehicle, the search for Aaron escalates.
Life in 29 Palms. The unique community of 29 Palms is explored, highlighting its military ties and local culture.
The Investigation Deepens. NCIS agents begin to uncover the social circles surrounding Aaron as they search for clues.
The Impact of Loss. Aaron's miscarriage adds strain to her young marriage, complicating her emotional state.
Jesse's Cooperation. Jesse shares crucial information about Aaron's whereabouts, driven by concern for his safety.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's just a question of where is Aaron?

The urgency of the search for Aaron Corwin.

2:15WatchNov 5, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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