Ex-Marine pleads not guilty to killing pregnant lover whose body was found in mine shaft

FILE-This undated photo released by the San Bernardino County, Calif., Sheriff's Department shows Erin Corwin. Alaska man charged with the murder of Corwin, a fellow Marine's pregnant wife, will make a first court appearance Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014 to enter a plea. Christopher Brandon Lee, 24, was arrested in Anchorage, Alaska last week after sheriff's investigators in San Bernardino County, California found the body of missing 19-year-old Corwin 140 feet down an abandoned mine shaft. (AP Photo/San Bernardino County Sheriff, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This undated file photo released by the San Bernardino County, Calif., Sheriff's Department shows Erin Corwin, left, with her husband, Jonathan Wayne Corwin, a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. Alaska man charged with the murder of Corwin, a fellow Marine's pregnant wife, will make a first court appearance Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014 to enter a plea. Christopher Brandon Lee, 24, was arrested in Anchorage, Alaska last week after sheriff's investigators in San Bernardino County, California found the body of missing 19-year-old Corwin 140 feet down an abandoned mine shaft. (AP Photo/San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, File) (The Associated Press)

A former Marine has pleaded not guilty to killing the pregnant wife of another Marine.

The Desert Sun of Palm Springs (http://desert.sn/1onV9Bk ) says 24-year-old Christopher Lee entered the plea Tuesday to first-degree murder with a special allegation of lying in wait.

Lee was arrested in Alaska on Aug. 17 after the body of 19-year-old Erin Corwin was found down a 100-foot mine shaft near Joshua Tree in the Mojave Desert. The Tennessee native went missing June 28.

Prosecutors say that Corwin and the married Lee were lovers. Her husband, Cpl. Jonathan Corwin, and Lee were both stationed at the Twentynine Palms Marine base.

Authorities say bullet casings and rebar found near Corwin link Lee to the killing.