(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.

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.

I hope they find the guy that did it and fry his ass!