Revisiting The Jet Ski Case
Q: What happens when you combine meth, a jet ski, and a bad autopsy? A: The Easterling Saga.
With the 20th anniversary approaching, it’s worth revisiting the very odd and sad Easterling Saga—a case that had a peripheral connection to one of Contra Costa County’s most notorious murders.
In October 2004, Corbin and Jennifer Easterling, both 35, resided in a mobile home park in Vallejo. They were the parents of a young daughter, Dixie Lee. The Easterlings were also methamphetamine users and had a history of alcohol-, drug-, and domestic violence-related arrests.
On Monday, October 11, 2004, the Easterlings went out on San Pablo Bay on their Yamaha Wave Runner. Prior to departing, they consumed alcohol and meth.
The pleasant afternoon outing on the personal watercraft took an unexpected turn when the Wave Runner became disabled near where Sonoma Creek outlets into northern San Pablo Bay. This location was just inside the Sonoma County line—something that would prove very significant in the months and years that followed.
Jennifer Easterling had her cell phone and called her father, Richard Jevarian, to advise him of the situation. This apparently wasn’t the first time Jennifer had called her father frantically, and he reportedly assumed she was overreacting. So Jevarian took no action. After Jevarian realized the Easterlings did not return home from the jet ski trip, he called the authorities the following morning.
Meanwhile, Jennifer’s cell phone fell into the water and could not be retrieved. On top of that, Jennifer Easterling was wearing a life vest that was two sizes too big. Stuck on a disabled watercraft with no means of communication, Corbin and Jennifer Easterling spent the next 19 hours stranded in the frigid waters of San Pablo Bay.
The Coast Guard found them the following morning, Tuesday, October 12. A medic described finding Corbin Easterling on the personal watercraft shaking uncontrollably as he looped his arms into Jennifer’s vest to keep her afloat. By this point, she was deceased. Corbin was air lifted to Queen of The Valley Hospital in Napa.
Dr. Gregory Reiber of Forensic Medical Group conducted the autopsy of Jennifer Easterling. Reiber had experience working major cases, including Jack Barron and the Helzer Brothers. (In the latter case, Reiber was the guy who had to reassemble the dismembered body parts of three victims who were found co-mingled in nine duffel bags in the Delta). Reiber noted Jennifer had murky water in her stomach and foam in her airways, as well as bruising on her neck, mouth, torso, arms and legs.
Reiber ruled Jennifer Easterling’s cause of death to be drowning as a result of suffocation. The Sonoma County Coroner ruled the manner of death to be homicide. Corbin Easterling was arrested and charged by the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office with murdering his wife.
Corbin Easterling was in custody for 19 months until June 2006, when it was revealed a second expert concluded Jennifer Easterling’s death might have been accidental. This opinion was offered by Dr. Alan Steinman, a former Coast Guard surgeon general, who had extensive experience with water-related deaths. Steinman noted that the bruising on Jennifer Easterling could have been caused by the two-sizes-too-large life vest chaffing against her skin. Steinman provided his opinion in July 2005, yet Corbin Easterling remained in custody for the next 11 months.
Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua dismissed the charges on June 22, 2006—two days after his very narrow reelection was certified. Corbin Easterling was released from custody. Prior to Easterling’s release, he gave an interview to The Press Democrat.
“I would never kill my wife. I loved her with all my heart. I am going to sue this county and I will win.”
Corbin Easterling died in his Vallejo home on March 20, 2007, at the age of 37. A subsequent autopsy determined he died of a methamphetamine overdose. Chris Andrian, Easterling’s Santa Rosa criminal defense attorney, was quoted in The Press Democrat as follows:
“I kind of felt like he was struggling. I think he was just kind of a tragic figure.”
Corbin Easterling’s April 2007 obituary in the Vallejo Times-Herald read as follows:
June 7, 1969 - March 20, 2007 Corbin always had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. He brought laughter to all. He loved working with wood and had a great appreciation of animals and nature. He had a passion for cooking which he shared with his dad, and was a superb chef. All that were invited to his table knew the meal was prepared with love. He will be greatly missed, but now there is another angel in heaven, where he is joining his mother, Dixie Lee Easterling; and his wife, Jennifer Easterling. He leaves behind his father, James Easterling and stepmother Peggy Easterling of Westwood, Calif.; a stepfather, Bob White of Vallejo; and a brother, Bart Maltby of Vallejo; numerous friends and relatives, and his most cherished daughter, Dixie Lee.
The FAIM Connection
Four days prior to the Easterling’s ill-fated jet ski trip, 39-year-old Darrell Grokett was murdered in the Crockett Hills. Grokett was an Aryan Brotherhood associate connected to AB heavyweight Ronnie Yandell. Grokett was also closely connected to Family Affiliated Irish Mafia (FAIM) co-founder and AB member Coby Phillips. Phillips and Yandell have a long-standing mutual disdain for each other and Grokett was right in the middle of it.
Following the 2001 Mother’s Day Massacre, Yandell allegedly ordered Phillips and Grokett to kill the witnesses to prevent them from testifying. Phillips and Grokett did not follow Yandell’s directive. So Yandell then ordered them to kill each other. Circa 2004, Grokett decided to get back into good standing with Yandell by robbing FAIM-connected drug dealers.
One of Grokett’s victims was Robbert Lott, a 39-year-old Sonoma County meth dealer who lived in a mobile home park in Rohnert Park. Grokett and Lott had known each other since fifth grade. Grokett was a frequent visitor to Lott’s mobile home, which functioned as both a drug den and flop house. In mid-August 2004, Grokett showed up at Lott’s trailer, stuck a gun down his mouth, and forced him to open his safe. Grokett allegedly made off with $30,000 in cash, meth, and jewelry. Six weeks later, Grokett was murdered on October 7, 2004.
During the summer and fall of 2004, the Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement (BNE) had a wiretap on Lott’s phone. A toddler had ingested meth and was taken to the emergency room. The authorities investigated and traced the ingestion back to Lott’s residence. Hence, the BNE knew from the wiretap that Grokett was taxing Lott and passed that information onto Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Detective Shawn Pate, who was leading the murder investigation.
Pate—knowing that there was an active wiretap on Lott’s phone—called Lott up sometime between when Corbin Easterling was released from the hospital but before he was charged to interview him about Darrell Grokett’s murder. (One wonders if Pate gave the BNE a heads up or just did it on his own). The topic of the Easterling jet ski saga came up during the conversation.
Lott: I can’t believe you guys are spending’ that kind of manpower on this. ‘Cause I know a friend of mine whose sister was just killed out in San Pablo Bay. And they, the cops up here let the guy go ‘cause you know it’s a horse shit thing. And they got, he’s sittin’ in his living room down in Vallejo, scot free.
Pate: What’s his name?
Lott: My friend’s sister’s husband?
Pate: Yeah, who you…
Lott: The one, it was on the news. It was around the same time.
Pate: ‘Kay, who you talkin’ about?
Lott: Jenny Jevarian Easterling
Pate: Jenny Jevarian?
Lott: Jenny Jevarian, yeah, she’s her sister Cindy is my friend. I’ve known them since I was kids. And she was just found dead out in that jet ski thing.
Pate: Oh, the jet ski thing, okay.
Lott: Yeah, yeah, and they just let him go.
Pate: Well…
Lott: I mean the cops up here…
Pate: I don’t…
Lott:…Should go down there and get trained by you guys, ‘cause you guys leave no stone unturned. Up here, they just let ‘em scot free.
Pate: You, you’re right. We will leave no stone unturned, and anytime other information comes out, that information will be addressed for the next freakin’ ten years if it has to be.
Robert Lott pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in 2007 and was sentenced to 78 months in prison. Lott was also initially charged as a co-conspirator in the Darrell Grokett murder, but charges were ultimately dropped.