Man Held in Wife’s Death in Waterway

The husband’s story sounded tragic -- newlyweds stranded in the chilly water of San Pablo Bay, shouting in vain for help all night after their personal watercraft got stuck and they lost their cellphone. Corbin Easterling says he finally fell asleep near dawn, and when he awoke, his wife was dead.

But his story took a sinister twist after an autopsy revealed evidence that Jennifer Easterling had been assaulted. Easterling now sits in the Sonoma County Jail, accused of murdering his wife of seven months.

“There were injuries that were consistent with an assault,” Sonoma Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Edmonds said Friday, refusing to elaborate about how and where exactly authorities believe she was killed.

Sonoma County authorities interviewed Easterling twice Wednesday at the home he shared with his wife in Vallejo, about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco. They arrested him without incident at a friend’s home Thursday evening after receiving the autopsy report.

Police are now checking into key aspects of the husband’s story -- such as whether they were in fact stranded in the bay overnight Monday. Edmonds wouldn’t say whether they recovered a cellphone or whether any calls were made, and results of blood tests for drugs and alcohol were still pending Friday.

Earlier, Easterling had spoken to the San Francisco Chronicle about his ordeal, chain-smoking and drinking heavily from a liter bottle of whiskey during the interview.

He said they hit the water about 11 a.m. Monday after stopping for drinks at a local bar. They wore swimsuits and life vests and spent much of the afternoon cruising the bay on their WaveRunner. He said they got bogged down in thick offshore mud. They managed to free the vessel, but then it somehow caught fire and sank, leaving just its nose poking out of the water.

As the sun set, they called Jennifer Easterling’s father, Richard Jevarian, in Sonoma and told him they were stranded. Jevarian told the Chronicle he talked to both his daughter and her husband, advising them to call 911 and call him back. They never did.

Easterling says that’s when they lost the phone.

“I figured her dad would call the Coast Guard and we would be saved that night,” Easterling told the Chronicle. “I was hoping we don’t go out to sea and kept wondering how we were going to get back to shore, and I was worried about sharks. It didn’t ever dawn on me that my wife would pass on.”

The next morning, when Jevarian hadn’t heard from his daughter, he reported the couple missing. About two hours later, the Coast Guard rescued Easterling and recovered his wife’s body. Later, the Coast Guard also recovered the watercraft and turned it over to Sonoma County authorities.

Local police have dealt with the couple before. Easterling, 35, is an ex-convict who served time in San Quentin and Folsom prisons and was repeatedly arrested for drunk driving, drug possession and assaulting a police officer, among other offenses.

His wife, also 35, had a history of domestic violence arrests. She was arrested at least three times for allegedly beating up the father of her older child, vandalizing his car, disturbing the peace and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Because she skipped an Oct. 4 court hearing on the domestic violence charges, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest on Wednesday -- the day after her body was found.

Jevarian said his daughter and Easterling had “a loving relationship, a partying relationship.” But he also conceded that “there was a lot of drama.”

The couple met about six years ago at a Vallejo cocktail lounge, Easterling said. Together, they had a 1-year-old daughter and they got married in March. Neither had regular jobs; he recently applied for disability payments because of a foot injury; she worked intermittingly for Solano County.

Corbin Easterling’s stepmother, Peggy Easterling, told the Chronicle her stepson was distraught about losing his wife, but was “kind of clouded” about the details.

“I know that accident was a total accident and they did everything to try and save each other,” she said.

Jennifer Easterling also had an 11-year-old son from a previous relationship. She did not have custody of either child, according to her grandmother, Evelyn Jevarian. She told Associated Press on Friday that they spoke on the phone Monday morning and everything sounded fine.