In a San Bernardino County courtroom this week, Judge Rod Cortez ruled that the body of slain Marine wife Erin Corwin could be released to her family - almost four months after searchers recovered her remains in a remote desert mine shaft.
KESQ.com reports Cortez rescinded a previous court order to keep Corwin's remains for further testing.
Marine veteran Christopher Brandon Lee has been charged with Corwin's murder. His attorney, according to the Desert Sun, is considering a change of venue request for his client because of the intense media attention the case has received.
Six weeks after she was reported missing, Corwin's body was discovered on Aug. 16 in a 140-foot mine shaft on Bureau of Land Management land in the Mojave Desert. Dental records were needed to confirm Corwin's identity.
She was last seen alive on the morning of June 28, when Corwin told her husband, Marine Cpl. Jonathan Wayne Corwin, she was heading to Joshua Tree National Park to scout photography locations.
Cpl. Corwin reported his wife missing the next day.
The couple lived in an apartment at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms.
Family members of Corwin say she was three months pregnant when she disappeared.
A probable-cause affidavit filed by Detective Cory Emon of the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department indicated Corwin was involved in a romantic relationship with Lee, whom she met at White Rock Horse Rescue.
