Marine’s mother breaks silence on search for daughter-in-law
“They have a great love. You don’t always find that, you don’t always see that, but when you see the two of them together, you know it’s the real thing,” says Erin Corwin’s mother-in-law, Sheila Braden.
Braden says Erin found out on Father’s Day she was pregnant. The 19-year-old from Tennessee married her high school sweetheart, John, nearly two years ago. Braden says the two attended their senior prom together, and that her son is torn up inside about the disappearance of his wife. Erin reportedly left the Marine base on June 28 for a trip to Joshua Tree National Park to scout out locations to take pictures.
“John is stoic. He internalizes a lot of emotions. It’s apparent he’s torn up inside over Erin being missing and wants his wife back, and he’s still hoping and praying that that’s going to happen.”
There’s been a lot of speculation about Erin’s husband, John, a Marine stationed at Twentynine Palms. But Braden says it’s unwarranted.
“He can’t speak out, his command has asked him to be quiet.. He feels helpless because he can’t help with the search,” says Braden.
But Braden says her son is staying close to the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base in order to help where he can. “He wants to stay really close to where the investigators are.”
And as far as any ideas on what happened to Erin, Braden says, “It’s unknown right now, I don’t want to speculate. I know there has been a lot of speculation about the husband, but John loves Erin, Erin loves John. I know there’s no possible way that he had anything to do with it that– thought never crossed my mind.”
The family is simply devastated, Braden says.
“I can’t even think of another word, it’s worse than that. It’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking.”
Despite being missing for more than a week, in triple digit heat, in a rough, remote area, Erin’s friends and family are trying to stay strong, and are hoping others do, too.
“We hope every day that we get the phone…have us a grandbaby. We are faithful people and we are praying every moment of every day for that.”
Photos: Police search for missing pregnant woman in Twentynine Palms