A last-minute admission!
In November 2016, when Christopher Lee’s trial started at San Bernardino County Superior Court, he stuck to his original plea and claimed he was not guilty of murdering his alleged mistress.
So when the 27-year-old took the stand to give evidence and admitted that he had indeed strangled her, the court – and the world – were stunned.
‘I’m no longer scared to tell the truth,’ he said. ‘People have to know what I did.’
When the prosecutor, Sean Daugherty, asked him to confirm that he was the person who had strangled Erin, he replied, ‘Yes, I am.’
But that wasn’t all. Lee said that he had acted in ‘anger’ and ‘hate’, after Erin had admitted to molesting his daughter. ‘I made the decision to kill her,’ he said under oath. ‘I was controlled by the anger. The hate I felt that day, it was something I never want to experience again.’
He explained how he had approached Erin from behind and strangled her for at least five minutes, then, after checking that she was definitely dead, dragged her to the mineshaft and, pushed her down it, head first.
This allegation – which had never been brought forward before – was rubbished by the prosecution, who claimed that he was frightened that, if his wife were to find out about the affair, she would take his child away from him.
Astoundingly, Erin’s mum, Lore – whose child was taken away by the deplorable Lee
– has tried to keep her feelings toward him in check. ‘I’ll never know why he decided she had to die, but I refuse to hold on to any bitterness or anger. He’s taken so much from me already – he’s not having my mind, my heart, my soul.’
It wasn’t possible to confirm whether Erin had been pregnant when she died, but Lee was sentenced to life without parole for the single killing.
It makes you wonder if he could do that to a woman he was having an affair with – and possibly carrying a baby with – what else would he have
been capable of…?
‘I was controlled by the anger and the hate I felt’