ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – A trial has officially begun for the Delta County man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend.
Tavaris Lee Jackson was arrested on July 8, 2023, after the body of 22-year-old Harley Corwin was found in the woods of Ford River Township. Jackson faces an open murder charge, as well as charges for felony possession of a firearm and assault intentionally causing the death of a fetus.
On Tuesday, the prosecution and defense questioned the first witnesses in the case, including women who were close to Corwin. Witness Sunday Quinn testified that Corwin had once been engaged to her son. After the couple split in early 2022, she and Corwin remained good friends.
“She was a mother above all else,” Quinn said. “She was beautiful. She was soft-spoken most of the time, until you got to know her. Then, she opened up a bit… She always put her kids first. She wanted to make sure they had experiences and adventures and memories that she didn’t necessarily have growing up. She was adventurous… but she was also a 22-year-old young woman who was finding herself. She could be dramatic. She had her highs and lows—I always called them her ebbs and flows of Harley. She liked doing community activities, like events in the community. She would go to those, whether it was with the kids or not.”
Quinn, Corwin’s longtime “best friend” Isabelle Martin, and Carolyn Corwin, the wife of the victim’s ex-husband, testified about their last communications with Corwin during the week of her disappearance.
Carolyn stated that she often spoke with Corwin via Facebook Messenger to schedule pickups for children in their shared custody. Carolyn said Corwin never missed a pickup until that week. After a final message from Corwin on July 2, Carolyn testified that she never heard back from her. Carolyn reported Corwin as missing after sending multiple unanswered messages and calls to Corwin.
Martin testified that she and Corwin saw each other or communicated virtually almost every day. Martin says she last saw Corwin on July 3. Martin and Corwin spoke over social media “off and on” until the afternoon. Martin said responses from Corwin became less frequent in the following days.
At Corwin’s request, she and Martin had been tracking each other’s locations using an app called Life360 for some time. Shortly before her disappearance, Martin said she got a message from Corwin’s phone explaining why Corwin decided to turn off the tracking app. However, Martin said the wording and tone of the message “sounded off.”
Quinn testified that she spoke to Corwin over text daily. She said that Corwin stopped responding on Monday, July 3. On July 4, Quinn received a response from Corwin’s phone. Because the response did not seem like Corwin’s usual manner of speaking, Quinn now believes that the person who sent the message was not Corwin.
“When I found out she was missing, everything from Monday night and Tuesday just kind of clicked from things I had seen on Snapchat on Monday, personally,” Quinn said.
More witnesses will be called on Wednesday. WZMQ 19 will continue to follow the trial as it unfolds.
