Suspect's yard may hold Marine's burned remains

Source: CNN

JACKSONVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) -- In a case that the sheriff predicted would have a "bizarre ending," authorities Saturday resumed work at the site where the remains of a pregnant Marine are thought to have been buried. The apparent remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach were found buried in the suspect's backyard and spattered blood was found inside his home, the Onslow County, North Carolina, sheriff said Friday.

The remains appear to have been burned, according to the county district attorney.

.....

Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, whom Lauterbach had accused of rape, is the suspected killer. Police are hunting for him, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said.
Testing showed blood in different locations in Laurean's home, Brown said. Evidence of "an attempted cleanup," including paint applied over blood spatter, was also found, he said.
Laurean has fled the area, Brown said. He said he did not know where Laurean was headed, but "my suspicion would be he's trying to get there quick." Brown also hinted that investigators have uncovered more twists in the case.

.....

Investigators told CNN that Laurean left a note to his wife saying that Lauterbach had committed suicide and that he buried the body. ..... Brown said a witness came forward Friday morning with a statement and evidence that convinced authorities Lauterbach was dead. A source close to the investigation told CNN the witness is Laurean's wife. ..... Lauterbach disappeared before she was able to testify at an Article 32 hearing -- a kind of military grand jury -- about the sexual assault.

Lauterbach's relatives believe her pregnancy was the result of the alleged rape, Steiner said.

.....

Earlier Friday, Brown said a Marine who returned to North Carolina from California -- Sgt. Daniel Durham, 20, in whose home Lauterbach had been living for a short time -- was questioned, but does not appear to have any link to the death.
Lauterbach had rented a room in Durham's home, off the base, because she had been subjected to repeated harassment by the Marines after reporting the alleged rape, Steiner said. Her car had been keyed and an anonymous person had "slugged" her in the face, he said.

.....

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/12/missing.marine/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

and the fire going at night. I keep hoping the baby will turn up alive, that maybe a child was the physical evidence brought in to the police.

Lauterbach had rented a room in Durham's home, off the base, because she had been subjected to repeated harassment by the Marines after reporting the alleged rape, Steiner said. Her car had been keyed and an anonymous person had "slugged" her in the face, he said.

..the Marines did not want to do a damned thing about either the rape or her disappearance.

What a cesspool the military seems to be. I cannot begin to imagine the hell this woman went through.

The crime rate for military people is much less than the civilian sector, genius.

Do you think we should treat them as street people and expect that level of behavior?

Now she and her baby are dead and the suspect is gone. Why wasn't he arrested months ago? This happened on the military's base and under their watch.

I blame in good part the airing of Rush Limbaugh on Armed Forces Radio. Rush creates a cesspool with his constant hate speech and the diminishing of others. This gal was probably only a "femi-Nazi" to so many that listen to Rush. It is unconscionable that the Democratic Majority allows him to continue with his propaganda and politicization of the military.

...just like they say about CEOs' salaries, if you want to attract applicants with the qualifications to do the job, you've got to offer them the kinds of rewards & compensation they seek.

that Maria was gone for 5 days and it was the stepmother who notifed the Marines, not vice versa? That is incredible, and goes hand in hand with the Pentagon's refusal to investigate the gang rape of a KBR (Halliburton) employee, Jamie Leigh Jones.

The US military/private military corporations -- NO place for women to be employed these days. There is no protection for women (military or dependent) and no accountability.

I read an article describing the fetus, the hands curled up, the size of a policeman's thumb, etc. One wonders how such graphic details will affect a Bible-belt community like Jacksonville/Camp Lejeune in terms of its attitude toward its sacrosanct Marines in view of yet another crime within this military subculture, added to the murders of military spouses of years passed killed by husbands returning from downrange. I have yet to read about Maria's attacker's military downrange history.

They just don't seem to want to consider that they botched up. I guess they think we can't allow anything to undercut the "support our troops" mentality.

before she was to testify.

Is this some kind of sick joke?

I also read that the local Sheriff's department said it was unaware of that at the time they were involved in the missing persons case. How incompetent is that?

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Camp LeJeune is not Iraq.

The suspect was not a poor, oversexed kid. He's a married man.

Both the mother and her baby are dead.

http://ap.google.com/media/ALeqM5jQ1L5-q0lA90MfzlmfwMZ5Owhu9Q?size=m

This photo provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, shows Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean. A pregnant Marine missing for nearly a month is dead, and investigators are seeking a fellow Marine she had accused of raping her, authorities said Friday, Jan. 11, 2008. Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean has not been charged with a crime, but is wanted in connection in Lauterbach's death and is the key suspect. (AP Photo/ U.S. Marine Corps)



AP, January 12, 2008

By MIKE BAKER – 1 hour ago

Source: ap



Pregnant Marine's grave found in N.C.

By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago

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."
..........

Her remains were found in a fire pit in the backyard of Laurean's home, buried up to a foot in ashes and dirt, said Dr. Charles Garrett, the county medical examiner...............

Read more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=102

I'm just so proud of them. And I'm sure they're proud of themselves.

in the first place, she would still be alive.

That poor, bi-polar woman should never even been accepted into the USMC.

This is just a tragedy all the way around.

They were going over her medical history, back when they thought she had simply run away.

She wasn't just bi-polar, she was an effing trainwreck. She was so fragile that she could not hold a job or make friends. The poor soul should never have been in the service in any capacity.

This sorry episode just further illustrates what a looming clusterfork is waiting around the bend, thanks to DoD lowering of standards for enlistment.

I'll believe when it's confirmed by medical records. Her uncle is a psychiatrist, but he didn't say anything about her mental condition. He was very sympathetic toward her, unlike the stepmother.

the marines should have released her during boot camp when she was being tested. this is so sad:(

Authorities have described a violent confrontation inside his home that left blood spatters on the ceiling and a massive amount of blood on the wall. It appeared that someone had tried to wash and paint over the blood, Brown said.

Garrett and Brown said the remains will be sent to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill for a formal identification using dental records.

"As well as I could see, the body was much charred," Brown said. "The fetus was in the abdominal area of that adult. ... That is tragic, and it's disgusting."

the OP link is wrong

it fucks with my head.

Such a violent crime on a woman - a Pregnant Woman - makes me wonder if PTSD was involved...

Against pregnant women are nothing new. PTSD may or may not be a factor. Disgusting.

not being stressed.

is homicide. I heard Candace DeLong (former FBI profiler) say this on TV. Shocking, and sad.

Yes, homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women, IF you seperate out all pregnancy-related complications into individual categories. Otherwise, a pregnant woman is four or five times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy than she is homicide. When you consider how few die from complications, you'll realize that in outside the media bubble, the murder of a pregnant woman is pretty rare.

horrified by that statistic. Since then, there have been many instances of pregnant women
being killed and each time it reminds me again of that shocking fact.

I wonder if that's true internationally, or only in this country. Anyone know?

That statistic is deliberately cooked for shock value, by seperating every possible complication of pregnancy into seperate categories. Otherwise, a pregnant woman is much more likely to die from complications. The media glare on a handful of cases, again for shock value, makes it seem more common than it really is. Actual murders of pregnant women are low three digits per year in the US.

And it's not that unrealistic, when you think about it. To be pregnant, a woman has to be relatively young and healthy already. That means that there are very few ways for her to suddenly expire other than accident, homicide, and complications.

he's never been deployed to Iraq. He was a clerk.

Rot. Probably nothing new though. Been done before. But still.....

:cry:

based on "information" that Lauterbach and Laurean were still "very friendly." Some half-assed observation by someone and since they were still "friendly"---whatever that means---they didn't think he'd fly the coop.

:mad:

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American Military is trained to kill and disrespect life

They "dehumanize" their "targets"

"collateral damage"

that's innocent people killed in english

Who in their right mind(which I am not accusing any of the USA Administration of possessing) would expect this "kill" mentality not to backfire on them?

Only a million or so of USA military around the globe with this training

Some are in my own country.

But where?

is modeled on the same methods used to train the troops in Nazi Germany.


Edit: Hitler's spirit is alive and well in the good 'ol USA.

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Well, yeah

Prescott was in with Nazis half a Century ago

PNACers slid in

and here we go

BUT

it ain't gonna work,

their idea of Global Domination - us peasants won't take it - -

SADLY

millions will die as nations like the USA flex their power and drop bombs/missiles on us regular civilians

USA has never gotten over that orgasmic rush of killing so many with 2 bombs in Japan in the 40's

The PNACers wanna do it again, and soon

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were peanuts to what the USA PNACers want to try

I have no idea what it is

But I know it is BAD!

that MEN imprisoned in Gitmo are "not persons." Women ANYWHERE are...

a lot of General Dempsey's men at Normandy were trained this way.

Modern military training practices in the US is modeled on the same
methods that HITLER used to train the NAZI troops in Nazi Germany.

of the Current U.S.Army differ from the way they were trained during 1942, 1950, 1965?

This girl went missing on Dec. 13th, but the mother who recently has called her deceased daughter a compulsive liar and bipolar (as if that's a character flaw) did not alert authorities for days...probably because she thought the problem was something of her daughter's making.

J

how many rapes have gone unreported in the military due to such threats?

countless hundreds, if not thousands.

It seems the Marines have decided to make an example of her.

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and I suspect there are many more that we will never know about . .

and some will just try to pretend it never happened to them . .

and live in shame and fear

USA Nomba ONE!

right . . .

the sheriff said, 'after she reported the rape, we had evidence they were carrying on a friendly relationship.' that was his excuse as to why they never detained the suspect or tried to provide any protection for Lauterbach after she reporterd the incident.

Uhh, but how the fuck do you carry on a 'friendly relationship' with someone after you have just accused them of rape!?? How the fuck do you have friendly relationship with some who had just raped you?? Furthermore, Lauterbach had moved off base in order to escape the constant threats and harrassment she had been exposed to after reporting the rape. How the @!#! can anyone say she carried on a 'friendly relationship' with the accused??

That sheriff is so fucking full of shit its incredible!

Left a lot to be desired

Perhaps law enforcement would have been more serious about approaching it as a possible murder. I'm sure her remarks made them think she probably just ran off.

J

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - The key suspect in the brutal slaying of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine has been sighted outside of North Carolina, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said Sunday.

The sighting by a member of the general public happened around midnight, said Brown, who would not say where. He expressed hope that Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean would soon be in custody.

"I do feel comfortable that Mr. Laurean will be located," Brown said, adding that the evidence in the case "leads us to believe that he would be a dangerous and violent person if put in a corner."

On Saturday, authorities said they recovered the burnt remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child from a fire pit in Laurean's backyard, where they suspect he burned and buried her body. Those remains have been sent to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill for a formal identification.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080113/ap_on_re_us/missing_marine;_ylt=Ah1j3nHA7wkjQO8FPxcYeB2s0NUE

From the article, January 13, 2008:



Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean

CNN, January 13, 2008

Nail him up. By his balls.

I'll be the first to say that, for the murder, he deserves the presumption of innocence and a fair trial. However, he fled.

Fleeing is not what Marines do. He has dishonored himself, dishonored his unit, and dishonored the Corps, even if he is innocent. And if he's guilty, God be with the man, because nobody else will be. If he's guilty, he killed a sister Marine, and we believe there is a special ring in Hell for a betrayal like that.

Let me re-iterate about this: my grand-uncle didn't flee from Guadalcanal or Tarawa. My dad did not flee from Hue City. I did not flee from Al Qut or Fallujah. Maybe the dude is innocent; for all I know, he is. But he fled. He didn't face what was coming. Marines do not retreat or flee. It shames me that I even have to point that out. To be honest, the evidence looks like he did it. But whether he did or not, he should have stood his ground and faced the music. Because that's what Marines do, God damn it.

In the Corps, we all agree without hesitation to put our lives in each others' hands. If he betrayed that, he didn't just betray her (which would be bad enough): he betrayed the entire legacy of trust that, over 2+ centuries, has made the Corps the unit that we know and love, a unit that can put its name up with pride next to any hussars, dragoons, and guards in the history of warfare.

Frankly, I'm kind of hard when it comes to the honor of the Corps. I bled for Corps and Country (I'm pretty much an atheist, so I skipped God, though I honor those who also bled for Him/Her).

Forget the Fox News take. I only mention this to bring a new perspective.

Forget the "poor pretty kidnapped blonde girl" meme. That dishonors her.

She was a Marine. A true Devil Dog. An Angel of Death who was the worst nightmare of America's enemies. She was not helpless. She was not a pretty victim. She was a warrior who was lied to, tricked, and lured to her death by an alleged brother, someone she trusted because he wore the uniform all of us worked so hard to earn.

I can't tell you how much this galls me. How much this makes me want to find him and strangle the last breath out of his shitbird face. We have a news story where the wanted murderer is wearing our uniform -- MY uniform -- the uniform I worked so hard for. The uniform I bled in. The uniform I sat in an alley in Al Qut bleeding into because I wouldn't abandon two dead friends but wanted to get their remains back home (finally we recovered them and got them back home. Marines don't leave their dead. PERIOD. Another reason this guy is a worthless piece of shit).

Anyways. I don't want to preach much longer. This whole story just pisses me off.

FUCK him. FUCK the command structure that tried to cover up his wretched Alleged-Marine ass killing a sister-in-arms. He is not a Marine anymore, to me. He is dead. The command are no longer Marines anymore to me. They are dead. The Marine Corps lives, but in depressingly few units do they actually watch out for our centuries-old honor.

Let me go back to one more point: he fled. He FUCKING FLED. Marines do not flee. I stood up to the enemy in Al Qut. In Fallujah. In Tikrit. Me and my brothers and sisters stood up to them and fought and bled and killed and died and we did not fucking flee. Marines don't do that. He did, and he's a worthless piece of shit, even if he's innocent. Marines do what they do, and stand up for what they do, and let the chips fall where they may.

He's no Marine. He's a piece of shit bastard who happens to have snuck his way into a uniform that he can never even understand. The men and women who have actually fought for that honor turn our backs on him, and await his eventual fate.

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The USA WarMachine does not want to get dragged through a court case which exposes how they train young people to kill

I'll be very surprised if he is brought in alive

That ain't the Murikkkan way . . .

I'd make book on it!


Typo!

Authorities: Reward for Marine Suspect, January 14, 2008






A couple of points: With a protective order against Laurean, that is not considered "on friendly terms" with his victim. Appears the naval investigators neglected this fact deliberately. They cannot claim to be unaware of that protective order.

And who in the higher chain of command sat on this investigation, ignoring the protective order, pooh-poohing the flight risk and claiming that the perp and his victim were still "on friendly terms?"


There are many serious questions about the handling of this rape investigation.



And now we are dealing with a two brutal murders and a fugitive.