GUILTY CA - Erin Corwin, 19, pregnant, Twentynine Palms, 28 June 2014 - #1

[BRRI]

So. Marines MUST obey orders. And they come from on high and no-one can quite figure why.

We all know that.

But is it usual for Commanders to forbid a marine from speaking about or appealing for help to locate his young, vulnerable, pregnant, missing wife?

Technically, everything you say is supposed to be "vetted" so that it doesn't come off as an official announcement.

 

[dulcinea]

Even though I'm In SoCal I've never been to Joshua Tree nat'l park. How vast so the area?

Incredibly vast! Most of the park is "back country" for lack of a better term. It's far from forgiving terrain. Even if you're just doing short hikes on marked trails it's vital to be prepared.

 

[Miss_Diana]

Isn't Joshua Tree Park, where they hold "The Burning Man" and all the other music and art festivals?

 

[mrsobrien]

No, that's the black rock desert.
eta- Maybe black rock is part of Joshua tree, Google has confused me more, lol.

Isn't Joshua Tree Park, where they hold "The Burning Man" and all the other music and art festivals?

 

[dulcinea]

A quick Google search says the park is 1,234 square miles.

 

[Miss_Diana]

No, that's the black rock desert.
eta- Maybe black rock is part of Joshua tree, Google has confused me more, lol.

I think it is in the Joshua Tree Park: See below link. Or am I confused?

http://staminamusic.com/bequinox-2013-joshua-tree-first-la-burn-event/

 

[necco]

A couple of things

A few years ago, I drove across country and was in Joshua Tree and 29 Palms during July. It was excruciatingly hot. Even hotter than the weather reports say. It's desert country and the heat just radiates. When I would stop to take pictures in Joshua Tree, I would leave the car on and the AC running because if I shut off the car, even for a minute or two, the AC would never catch up. Even leaving the car running and the AC on, it was probably 85 degrees in the car, maybe 90.

The area is desolate. There are abandoned buildings littering the landscape between Route 66 (and I-40) and Twentynine Palms.

While I was getting gas in Twentynine Palms, I was approached by a woman in a minivan. She told me a sob story about her husband leaving her and needing money for gas to get to the benefits office to get food for her kids. I glanced in the van, there were no kids, she quickly volunteered that the kids were currently elsewhere. Her story and her demeanor were sketchy to say the least. She was… i'm not sure how to describe it… frenetic, antsy, something about her made me uneasy, and I had been traveling alone for weeks and had only once ever felt uncomfortable in strangers' presence. My guess was, she was a tweaker.

Barstow, about 2 hours away from Twentynine Palms is the meth capital of the US, and April Pitzer is missing from between Twentynine Palms and Barstow.

Also, when I saw the empty baby registry, I immediately thought miscarriage and it sounds like that's what happened to the pregnancy announced in January. It makes sense, people normally are told to wait a few months before they get pregnant again, and at 19, chances are, she could get pregnant again that quickly.

Just some thoughts.

 

[necco]

I think it is in the Joshua Tree Park: See below link. Or am I confused?

http://staminamusic.com/bequinox-2013-joshua-tree-first-la-burn-event/

That's a Burning Man satellite event. Sort of a spin off, closer to LA. The 'real' Burning Man takes place on the Playa in Nevada.

 

[Dixie811]

I'm really anxious to know if anyone besides the husband was told that Erin would be in the park. If not, it seems that LE believes she is in the park...and it seems that the media is leaning towards foul play. This leads me to believe she was dumped in the park. If the husband is the only one who can link her to the park, that's pretty incriminating.

Also, who told the media she was pregnant if her own mother didn't know?

Trying to follow along, my apologies if these questions have been answered.

BBM

I would imagine that her husband alerted her family and LE to Erin's pregnancy when he reported her missing. I am sure it added to everyone's alarm and helped to capture LE's attention more quickly. Once she was declared missing there is really no benefit to keeping that quiet-- it is an aspect of that case that makes it more likely for LE and the public/media to pay attention. Usually LE will include any special health conditions (physical or mental) when they announce that a person is missing.

 

[necco]

Also, the husband may not be talking to the press because he can't hold it together. As a Marine, I'm sure it is extra hard for him that he couldn't protect his wife from whatever may have happened to him. He may even be sedated.

 

[SuziQ]

A couple of things

A few years ago, I drove across country and was in Joshua Tree and 29 Palms during July. It was excruciatingly hot. Even hotter than the weather reports say. It's desert country and the heat just radiates. When I would stop to take pictures in Joshua Tree, I would leave the car on and the AC running because if I shut off the car, even for a minute or two, the AC would never catch up. Even leaving the car running and the AC on, it was probably 85 degrees in the car, maybe 90.

The area is desolate. There are abandoned buildings littering the landscape between Route 66 (and I-40) and Twentynine Palms.

While I was getting gas in Twentynine Palms, I was approached by a woman in a minivan. She told me a sob story about her husband leaving her and needing money for gas to get to the benefits office to get food for her kids. I glanced in the van, there were no kids, she quickly volunteered that the kids were currently elsewhere. Her story and her demeanor were sketchy to say the least. She was… i'm not sure how to describe it… frenetic, antsy, something about her made me uneasy, and I had been traveling alone for weeks and had only once ever felt uncomfortable in strangers' presence. My guess was, she was a tweaker.

Barstow, about 2 hours away from Twentynine Palms is the meth capital of the US, and April Pitzer is missing from between Twentynine Palms and Barstow.

Also, when I saw the empty baby registry, I immediately thought miscarriage and it sounds like that's what happened to the pregnancy announced in January. It makes sense, people normally are told to wait a few months before they get pregnant again, and at 19, chances are, she could get pregnant again that quickly.

Just some thoughts.

BBM. That sounds about right. I absolutely love the Mojave desert. But as another poster said, it's not for everyone. It's quirky, creepy and it has very strange people who reside there. They are squatters that gather together and set up there own townships. I wish I could remember the names of these settlements in this area, because they are very interesting to read about. IIRC, the names are outer space sounding. Does this ring a bell to anyone?

FWIW, the McStay family was found near Victorville, about an hour or so away.

 

[dulcinea]

BBM. That sounds about right. I absolutely love the Mojave desert. But as another poster said, it's not for everyone. It's quirky, creepy and it has very strange people who reside there. They are squatters that gather together and set up there own townships. I wish I could remember the names of these settlements in this area, because they are very interesting to read about. IIRC, the names are outer space sounding. Does this ring a bell to anyone?

FWIW, the McStay family was found near Victorville, about an hour or so away.

The place that comes to mind for me is Slab City, but that's closer to the Salton Sea.
Meth, sadly, is a gigantic problem in this area. Housing is cheap in the high desert. You see lots of shady people and scary things. It's not a place I'd go alone.

 

[Plumeria5]

Flashbacks of adorable Laci Peterson are what I see right now.

 

[necco]

Flashbacks of adorable Laci Peterson are what I see right now.

My money is on a tweaker.

 

[Plumeria5]

I could see her taking her mom to the horse sanctuary for a horseback ride, depending on how far along she was. Hiking in a hot desert, not so much.

 

[Plumeria5]

My money is on a tweaker.

Are they exploring the idea she just got lost? But wasn't her car found close to home?

 

[Plumeria5]

Weather in the park.

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Joshua+Tree+National+Park+CA+CANPJT:13

 

[necco]

I could see her taking her mom to the horse sanctuary for a horseback ride, depending on how far along she was. Hiking in a hot desert, not so much.

Depending on how old her mom is, her mother may have wanted to go to Joshua Tree because she is a U2 fan. That's why I went. Since Erin is 19, her mom is probably 40-50 years old, which would totally make her the right age to have had that album as a young adult and had it be important to her. The album came out in March of 1987 and was a huge commercial success and U2's real introduction to the US pop market. Say Joshua Tree to a GenXer who was into music, and chances are, they will think of the album before the park.

It's interesting to me that two major music landmarks are involved in this case. Erin grew up in Oak Ridge, where the Oak Ridge Boys got their name and disappeared while scoping out Joshua Tree, the park that lent it's name to the U2 album.

 

[G&AMom]

I was somewhat surprised that a pregnant woman would want to go on a hike in 100+ degree weather, but not flabbergasted. Everyone's different and what's enjoyable to one person isn't necessarily enjoyable to someone else. But if it's true that she had a miscarriage, that's something else again. I can't see risking your baby just to go on a hike.

 

[necco]

I was somewhat surprised that a pregnant woman would want to go on a hike in 100+ degree weather, but not flabbergasted. Everyone's different and what's enjoyable to one person isn't necessarily enjoyable to someone else. But if it's true that she had a miscarriage, that's something else again. I can't see risking your baby just to go on a hike.

You can drive to a lot of cool places in the park and only have to walk a few yards to see things. There are some amazing views, and frankly, it being Twentynine Palms, there isn't a whole lot of other touristy things nearby for her to take her mom to. You can see the San Andreas fault from Keys View and the wheelchair accessible path is a .2 mile loop, not bad at all, even in the heat if you're used to it, for a fit person, even pregnant.

I know people who have run marathons while moderately pregnant with doctors approval. We don't know why the first pregnancy didn't work out. It could have been something congenital and incompatible with life.