Chapter 1: What background information is provided about Erin Chorney?
Hello everyone, my name is Rachel and welcome back to another true crime video. So the case that I have for you guys today is a solved one and it does involve domestic violence, but I do think that this case is pretty interesting because in order to solve it, the Canadian police actually used a pretty controversial sting operation called Mr. Big.
I think it's so interesting how this entire thing played out and how it worked and I'm really looking forward to what you guys all think about this case and the tactics that they used to solve it. Today, we are going to be discussing the murder of Erin Chorney.
Erin Kristen Chorney was born September 30th, 1983 to parents Darcy and Debbie Chorney in Brandon, Manitoba in Canada. She had two younger siblings, her brother Ryan and her sister Leslie.
Her parents did get a divorce when she was a young adult, but she was close with both of her parents and spent an equal amount of time with each parent. Erin was known to have a very easygoing personality with an ability to make friends with just about anyone wherever she went. She was also very active growing up, participating in sports such as racquetball, baseball, and volleyball.
She also loved the outdoors. She loved nature, with two of her favorite hobbies being camping and fishing. At the same time, Erin was known to be very stubborn. She was set in her ways and she didn't want to budge. She had also struggled a lot with mental health issues, such as an eating disorder and bipolar disorder. When she was 14 years old, she did attempt to take her own life.
She spent a few days in the hospital and then voluntarily admitted herself into an inpatient treatment center for youths.
she was there for three weeks before she ultimately escaped by jumping a wall growing up though, she had a lot of different aspirations she thought of being a writer, a lawyer, or a counselor she really just wanted to stand out at the end of the day and she just wanted to make a difference her parents described her as being outgoing and she was getting to the point of her rebellious stage
She definitely gave her parents a run for their money. It got to a point where she just always wanted to be with friends and she went to parties every so often. At first, it was just a normal teen rebellion and it wasn't a huge issue until she started hanging out with the wrong crowd. She started partying more and was partaking in using weed and alcohol more often.
It did get to the point that she started skipping school very frequently until she dropped out of high school altogether. By age 18, she went to a drug treatment program to help deal with her substance use. That same year in 2001, Erin had met a man named Michael Bridges. At the time, Michael had actually been dating one of Erin's friends, Liz.
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Chapter 2: How did Erin's relationship with Michael Bridges develop?
Everything that he was saying, it sounded very rehearsed. He also made the mistake of talking about her in the past tense. So just based on how he was talking and his body language, police really did think that he was lying. But all of their evidence was purely circumstantial, so there was nothing that they could actually do at that point.
So they had to release him and as soon as they did, he did get a lawyer. After this, police started searching Erin's bedroom to see if they could find anything there that could point them in the right direction.
Now, first, they did find a note that talked about that she wanted to die, but we know that she's had these mental health issues for a very long time and we don't know exactly when this note was written. We don't know if it was right before she went missing or if it was
in the months or years beforehand but then they did find a journal where she wrote about how michael had this evil side to him but at the same time nobody was able to love her the way michael did she wrote that she felt bad for reporting him for assault
but she knew that he tried to kill her at that time she knew that he wanted to hurt her she was in pain and she knew that it was what was best for her not to see him but at the same time she said that deep inside she really did miss him and she wished things were different then police also found a letter in her journal that she addressed directly to michael
she once again addressed michael and said that she didn't want to report him but it was the right thing to do she wrote that she wanted to be with him but he ruined it by hurting her she said that she knows that she shouldn't love him but she still does but no matter how she feels she will never let him treat her that way ever again so of course this really does show the emotional and mental state that aaron was in
She was clearly struggling. She was clearly grappling with her feelings for Michael while also knowing that he hurt her and he was not what was best for her. So the more police investigated, the more they found out about Michael. So one of Michael's friends, who is also named Michael, so I will call the friend Mike,
But he spoke with police and he said that before Aaron's disappearance, Michael had asked him to call Aaron for him. This is going back to the three phone calls that we discussed earlier. But either way, Mike did call Aaron for Michael, but as soon as she answered, Michael snatched the phone away from Mike and he started talking to Aaron.
During the first call, the two were arguing before he hung up shortly after. Then he called her again and the two spoke once again before the call ended. Then, as we know, during this third phone call, that is when Aaron had agreed to meet up with Michael. So the two went over to Aaron's house, so Mike and Michael, and they were driving Michael's mom's 1991 blue Ford Taurus.
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Chapter 3: What signs of abuse did Erin experience in her relationship?
Of course, during trial, the prosecutor explained that Michael somehow knew everything about the murder, where she was buried, how she died, everything. And he had a motive. She wasn't about to drop these assault charges and he was about to get in trouble for them.
Of course, the defense could not argue that Michael didn't kill Erin at all because he literally led an undercover officer directly to her body so instead they were arguing for second-degree murder. The defense said that Michael killed Aaron during a heated argument, so there was no planning with that.
They also said that Michael's confession was exaggerated because he was tricked into confessing. This is a big argument that's brought up in a lot of these Mr. Big cases of, oh, he was just tricked into arguing. He didn't really know what he was saying. He was exaggerating to look better in the eyes of the person that he was confessing to.
but he literally led an undercover officer directly to her body. He explained how he killed her and he explained why. So it's kind of hard to dispute anything that he himself had said. There were details that remain the same through all of the retellings of what he said happened. So it's clear that he killed her and it's clear why.
Of course, the trial also brought forward all of the evidence that we discussed earlier. And after the trial, the jury went into their deliberation and they came back with a verdict of guilty of first degree murder. And he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Of course, he appealed his conviction and he said that he was entrapped by police who got him to admit to a crime that he did not do. Of course, this was rejected, but to this day, he says that he's innocent. He did have to go to anger management classes while he was in jail, and he said that he wants to make amends with Aaron's family, but they want nothing to do with him.
So in the end, thankfully, the family is left with some closure in the case. They got the answers that they had been looking for for so long, and the person responsible is behind bars. But I know that a lot of you guys will have a lot of different opinions on the whole Mr. Big operation, whether it's ethical or not, and I'm very open to having that discussion with you guys.
In fact, I'm really excited to see what you guys think. Me personally, I do see both sides. I can see why someone would say it's unethical, but I also see why it works. So I feel like because of how long it takes, because of the amount of time and effort the undercover officer puts into getting to know the suspect, they probably would be able to tell if that person is just making something up.
Because obviously we've seen in cases where police will have someone in this, you know, dark interrogation room and they'll be yelling at them for 12 plus hours at a time telling them, you know, you're going to get the death penalty. You're going to get this and that if you don't confess until the person just confesses.
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