Missing Marine Killed – Missing pregnant Marine, Maria Lauterbach, was killed and her body buried in Onslow County according to Sheriff Ed Brown who said a new witness provided tangible evidence about her murder.
The 20-year-old pregnant missing Marine killed, Maria Lautenbach, had said that another Marine, a corporal, had raped her and had threatened her military career. She was set to testify in an investigative hearing against the officer.
Sheriff Brown said he learned of the death this morning, but declined to offer further details other than that authorities were certain she was dead, based on tangible evidence provided by a witness he would not name.
He said that a Marine whom Maria Lauterbach accused of rape is the key suspect in her death. “I’m hoping as this investigation goes on he will be not only a suspect but a person wanted on key charges,” Brown said.
A Marine investigator said that Lauterbach and the corporal had maintained a relationship after the alleged rape, but had disagreed about her pending testimony.
He said that Lauterbach had left Lejeune on her own and bought a bus ticket out of town. He also declined to say how investigators knew she was buried in Onslow County.
The Marine Corps said it is cooperating fully with the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office in the suspected murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who was eight months pregnant when she was killed.
“There are several findings and pieces of evidence that have been discovered that cause law enforcement to be concerned with the circumstances surrounding Maria’s disappearance,” the sheriff’s department said Wednesday in a previous statement.
The State Bureau of Investigation is also working on the case. Marine Corps and Navy investigators are cooperating with the investigation, said First Lt. Richard Ulsh, a spokesman with the 2nd Marine Logistics Group.
Authorities say Lauterbach, originally from Dayton, Ohio, was reported missing Dec. 19 by her mother, who last spoke with her daughter on Dec. 13. Her cell phone was found Dec. 20 near the main gate at Camp Lejeune.
Her vehicle was found yesterday at a Jacksonville, NC bus station and police reported she had purchased a bus ticket, but had not used it.
Police think the missing Marine was killed shortly after purchasing the bus ticket.
Maria Lauterbach was assigned to the 2nd Marine Logistics Group of the II Marine Expeditionary Force. Camp Lejeune officials said she joined the Marine Corps in June 2006 and was trained as a personnel clerk.
And that’s the sad news about Maria Lauterbach, the eight months pregnant missing marine killed.
Tags: cesar armando laurean, cesar laurean, fugitive, missing marine killed, murder
January 11th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
That is so sad…
I hope they find the guy that did it and fry his ass!
January 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Authorities have not recovered the body of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach, but they believed she was buried in a shallow grave in a residential area of coastal Onslow County, Sheriff Ed Brown said.
Military and civilian investigators were seeking the key suspect in the death, Cpl. Cesar Armando Lauren, who had declined to meet with investigators and apparently left the area, Brown said.
“They don’t know where he is,” Brown said of Lauren’s lawyers.
Lauterbach met with military prosecutors in December to discuss pursuing rape charges against Lauren, said Kevin Marks, the supervisory special agent for Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Camp Lejeune.
He said prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to argue that the case should go to a court martial, the military equivalent of a trial.
In court papers filed this week, prosecutors said the anticipated birth of the baby “might provide evidentiary credence to charges she lodged with military authorities that she was sexually assaulted by a senior military person.”
Brown said Lauren refused to speak with detectives, on the advice of his attorneys. Authorities said they didn’t consider Lauren a flight risk until Friday, because they had information the pair carried on a “friendly relationship” after she reported the assault to military authorities.
The State Bureau of Investigation and the Marine Corps are assisting in the search for Cpl. Lauren.
Authorities believe he has left Onslow County, about 120 miles southeast of Raleigh, and is traveling in a black, two-door pickup truck.
Detectives received news of Lauterbach’s death from an unidentified female witness who is a former Marine, he said.
January 12th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Missing Pregnant Marine’s Body Found
(AP) JACKSONVILLE, N.C. – Authorities issued an arrest warrant Saturday for a Marine corporal wanted in the death of a pregnant colleague, whose burnt remains were excavated from a fire pit in his backyard.
Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said investigators also recovered the remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach’s unborn child.
“The fetus was developed enough that the little hand was about the size of my thumb,” Brown said. “The little fingers were rolled up and this is consistent with what we were looking for, a pregnant lady who is the victim, Maria Lauterbach, and her unborn child.”
A nationwide search is under way for Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, who authorities said fled Jacksonville early Friday morning after leaving his wife a note in which he admitted burying Lauterbach’s body.
December 8th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I enjoyed this one