The suspect in the murder of pregnant Marine Lance Cpl.
Maria Lauterbach, declared missing by her mother on December 15, has been
tracked in Louisiana,
according to several witnesses.
The authorities have a warrant out for the 21-year-old
Corporal Cesar Armando Laurean, of Nevada,
for killing Lauterbach in mid-December.
According to several witnesses, a man who appeared to be
Laurean was seen boarding a Greyhound bus in Shreveport, LA
on Saturday night, the Detroit Free Press reported. The witnesses’ sightings
are currently being analyzed so that police could confirm if the man was
Laurean, said Onslow County Sherriff Ed Brown according to local media sources.
The bus was headed to Texas.
“It will be a short trip—a short vacation—for Mr. Laurean,” if the man would
prove to be Laurean, Brown said. “His vacation may be short, his travel may be
long, but I hope we'll be there to help him return.”
Investigators in the case discovered the remains of an adult and a fetus
Saturday in a shallow grave in the backyard of Laurean. The “definite human remains”
were sent to the chief medical examiner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
for DNA testing and comparison with dental records.
Describing the scene of the grave, Brown said at a news conference the body
was charred and the fetus was in the victim’s abdomen. The fetus was in his
eight month and well-developed as his “little hand was about the size of my
thumb. The little fingers were rolled up,” Brown said.
“One of the things that will probably stick with me for a long time, and
forever, is that little hand, the way those fingers were turned, that had been
burned off the arm. That is bizarre. That is tragic. And it's disgusting,” he
further added.
Lauterbach, of Dayton,
disappeared when she was eight months pregnant, on December 14 from the Camp
Lejeune Base, not long before she was to testify at a military hearing about
her rape accusation against Laurean. Laurean was not taken into custody
after the girl reported the rape because there was information the two carried
on “some sort of friendly relationship” after she filed the complaint against
him.
During the investigations, Laurean repeatedly refused to meet with
investigators, telling them that his attorney would not allow him.
Lauterbach’s family believes that her pregnancy was the results of the
alleged rape, Lauterbach's uncle, Peter Steiner, a Kentucky psychiatrist said, according to
CNN. Lauterbach had received a military protective order against Laurean in
July, which expired in September, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities also questioned Lauterbach’s roommate, Sgt. Daniel Durham but he
seems to not have any connection with her disappearance or death.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is helping North Carolina authorities also in the
search for Laurean, announced Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Nathan T. Gray of
the Charlotte Division of the FBI, the El Paso Times reported.
“The murder of this young Marine is a tragedy and the FBI will work with our
law enforcement partners in North
Carolina to locate and arrest Laurean. We will
utilize the worldwide capabilities of the FBI to assist in this investigation,”
Gray said.
