Marine's Pregnant Wife Missing in Southern CA: 'Suspicious Circumstances' Suggest Foul Play, Say Police
A Marine's pregnant wife has been missing from her Twentynine Palms, California home since Saturday morning, and now volunteers and rescue teams are searching diligently for 19-year-old Erin Corwin. Corwin, who is three months pregnant, was on her way Joshua Tree National Park when she disappeared.
Corwin's husband, Marine Cpl. Jonathan Corwin, reported her missing on Sunday and has been cooperating with authorities in the investigation. The couple, who is from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, live at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. Her car, a blue 2013 Toyota Corolla with the license plate 7CJX519, was found Monday near the base.
The "suspicious circumstances" surrounding Corwin's disappearance— none of her social media accounts or bank accounts have been touched since she vanished— have forced authorities to consider foul play as a factor, Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman told the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
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Furthermore, air and ground search failed to locate Corwin. Now about 30 trained volunteers are scouring the "very rocky, really dangerous areas" of Joshua Tree National Park for the 19-year-old, Detective Marcel Silva told KESQ news.
Corwin's family has flown in from Tennessee after hearing about her disappearance and has set up a Facebook page to get the word out about her situation.
"I mean my gut was just tore up, just tore up," Lore Heavilin, Corwin's mother, said. "And you feel like you're walking in a nightmare."
When Corwin's husband called the family and told them she was missing Sunday morning, they assumed she just got lost.
"She didn't start driving until she was 18 years old and she is 19 now and she has a terrible sense of direction, so our first thought was that she was lost," Erin's sister-in-law DeeAnna told People magazine.
Erin Corwin has been described as 5-foot-2, 120 lbs with brown hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information regarding her disappearance should call the Sheriff's Specialized Investigation Division at (909) 387-3589 or dispatch at (909) 387-8313. To call anonymously, dial their WeTip hotline at (800) 782-7463.
"We want to know something. We want to get the call that they found Erin safe and sound. That's just what we are hoping for," DeeAnna said.
