TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. – The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is assisting the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in its investigation into the disappearance of Erin Corwin, an NCIS spokesman told The Desert Sun on Thursday.

"We're assisting them as far as some of the more military aspects of the investigation," said Ed Buice, NCIS public affairs officer at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. "The military world is sometimes very confusing to non-military investigators. We help them connect the dots and find a way through the red tape."

The NCIS maintains an office at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, where Corwin was last seen June 28.

According to a resident in Oak Ridge, Tenn. — the hometown of Erin Corwin and her husband, Marine Cpl. Jonathan Corwin — the NCIS had been there to interview at least one person.

The 20-year-old Marine wife, who found out she was pregnant just two weeks before she vanished, has been missing for nearly three weeks.

Her husband reported her missing June 29. He told investigators that she planned to go to nearby Joshua Tree National Park.

Her blue 2013 Toyota Corolla was found the next day near a back entrance to the base.

Sheriff's Capt. Dale Mondary confirmed NCIS is assisting in the investigation, but wouldn't elaborate.

When asked if there were any new leads in the case, Mondary said, "Nothing we're going to disclose at this time."

When asked if the sheriff's department had identified any suspects in the case, Mondary said, "I will neither confirm nor deny that we have a suspect. We have interviewed a number of people."

There were no active physical searches taking place Thursday.

"We have scaled back," he said. "The majority of our searches will now occur over the weekends. Most of our volunteers hold full-time jobs."

The volunteer force and the homicide unit will be deployed as circumstances develop.

"Some searches may require a lot of manpower, some may require less, but more specialized searchers," Mondary said. "There's a lot of area that we're searching. It's going to be a very long process."

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