NC WANTED Staff

Posted: Jan 18, 2008
Updated: Jan 18, 2008

ONSLOW COUNTY — The Marine suspected of killing a pregnant comrade told friends he would flee to Mexico to avoid being convicted of raping her, and investigators said Wednesday they are working with Mexican authorities to track him down.

A wide-ranging manhunt for Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean began last week, after authorities said he fled North Carolina and left a note in which he admitted burying the body of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, but said she committed suicide. The 20-year-old had accused him of rape.

Investigators found Lauterbach's burned remains, and those of her child, in a fire pit in Laurean's backyard and concluded she did not kill herself.

Court documents filed this week by the FBI state that Laurean, 21, told members of his Marine Corps unit he would flee to Mexico if it appeared he would be found guilty of rape. Laurean's wife also told authorities she believed he would head to Mexico if he was in trouble.

"We strongly suspect, but have not confirmed, that Laurean may be in Mexico," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington. "We have a strong working relationship with law enforcement partners in Mexico and we're working with them to locate and apprehend him."

Laurean, 21, of Las Vegas, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico and still has some family there, authorities said.

The court documents are included with an FBI criminal complaint charging Laurean with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He is also wanted in North Carolina on a state arrest warrant for murder.

Laurean appears to have mailed letters back to his wife in North Carolina, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

It was not immediately clear what the letters said, how many of them were sent or where they were sent from, but one of the officials said at least one of the letters was postmarked from Houston.

Authorities have said Laurean's wife, Christina Laurean, is cooperating with authorities and provided them with the note her husband left before skipping town.

Lauterbach died of "traumatic head injury due to blunt force trauma," according to autopsy results released Tuesday. But authorities said the exam failed to answer all the questions detectives have about Lauterbach's death, including whether she gave birth before her death and of the identity of the father.

Authorities believe Lauterbach was killed around December 15. Marine officials have they attempted to find her after she failed to report to work on December 17, but had evidence - including a note left for her roommate in which she wrote she was tired of the Marine Corps lifestyle - that led them to believe she left on her own.

If you have information on cases in North Caroilna, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.

From the U.S. Marines Press Conference - A Fresh Timeline

Marine Corps officials released new details Tuesday in the murder investigation of Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, whose charred remains were found in a shallow grave over the weekend in the backyard of suspected killer Corporal Cesar Laurean.

News had been steadily breaking in the case Tuesday, when Marines spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Hill offered new insight into the timeline of the case, and why military investigators did not seek disciplinary action against Laurean.

Lauterbach, who was eight and a half months pregnant at the time she disappeared, had accused Laurean of raping her on May 11, 2007. She went missing December 14 and her body was discovered a month later in Laurean's backyard. Laurean's wife submitted a note to investigators from Laurean claiming that Lauterbach had committed suicide by slitting her own throat and Laurean had buried her body.

Authorities announced Tuesday, however, that the autopsy confirms she died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Hill explained that the Marines have withheld making media statments until they could ensure the information they provided was accurate and would not impact ongoing investigations.

The Marines offered the following timeline in the events leading up to Lauterbach's disappearance:

May 11: Lauterbach confides to her superior officer that she was raped by Laurean. She files a formal complaint with NCIS regarding two incidents of sexual assault in March and April. She is given a full medical examination and the results of her pregnancy test come back negative.

NCIS opens a rape investigation against Laurean.

May 12: Lauterbach is assigned to a new duty location to reduce her contact with Laurean. Typically, Hill explained, the accused is relocated instead of the victim, but Lauterbach's relocation allowed her to be closer to the uniformed victim's advocate assigned to her after the rape allegations.

At this time, Laurean was not considered a threat or a flight risk and continued his normal duty without exhibiting any unusual behavior.

May 18: Laurean is interviewed by NCIS. He denies any sexual contact with Lauterbach.

May 24: A formal protective order is issued against Laurean. Hill stressed that the order was issued to "protect the integrity of the (rape) investigation," not because Laurean was considered a threat to Lauterbach's safety.

Throughout NCIS' investigation, Lauterbach continually stated that she did not feel threatened or frightened by Laurean.

June 24: Protective order renewed.

June 27: Lauterbach becomes ill and discovers she is pregnant. Her doctor estimates her conception date to be May 14. She claims Laurean is the father.

September 20: The protective order against Lauterbach is reissued until December 24. At this time, there is no indication of contact between Lauterbach and Laurean and military investigators have no reason to believe that Laurean has violated the protection order.

October 18: NCIS decides that no disciplinary action will be taken against Laurean in the rape case until DNA tests can be performed on the child.

Lauterbach requests that the case be sent to a military hearing with witness testimony and legal counsel provided for Laurean.

November 5: Lauterbach moves off base to prepare for the birth of her child. She rents a room from Sergeant Daniel Durham. At this time, Lauterbach retracts her allegations that Laurean was the father of her child, but maintains that he raped her.

December 14: Lauterbach reports to work as usual. She does not attend a non-mandatory Christmas party on base. After returning from work, Durham finds a note from Lauterbach stating she can longer tolerate being in the military and is "going away."

She withdraws $700 from an ATM in Jacksonville. Surveillance videos confirm that the withdrawal was made by Lauterbach herself.

December 15: Greyhound Bus records show that Lauterbach purchased a one-way ticket to El Paso, Texas. Her ticket is never redeemed. Her car was later found in the Greyhound Bus terminal parking lot, but investigators have received differing reports on how long the car had been there.

From that point on, Lauterbach was considered to be on  "unauthorized absence," but foul play was not suspected.

Hill said that military investigators were not notified that Lauterbach's mother had filed a missing persons report until December 27.

On January 4, Hill said, Lauterbach's mother contacted a Marines first sergeant to inform the command that she would be coming to Jacksonville on January 7 to discuss her daughter's disappearance. At that time, Hill said, she gave no indication that she suspected foul play or that she believed Laurean was involved in her daughter's disappearance.

The Marines were not informed of a $400 ATM withdrawal made by an unidentified male on December 24 or that Lauterbach's cell phone had been discovered on the freeway until January 9, he continued. In that January 7 meeting, military investigators mistakenly informed Lauterbach's mother that her daughter had attended her December 26 prenatal appointment when she actually had not. On January 9, the military hospital corrected that information.

From December 24 until January 7, there was a lapse in the protective order issued against Laurean.

Laurean was brought to NCIS to be questioned by the Onslow County Sheriff's Office as a witness  on January 8. He was not issued his Miranda Rights and was not considered a person-of-interest in the case at that time. He requested that he be allowed to retain an attorney before being questioned by the sheriff's office.

On January 11, Laurean didn't report to duty or respond to phone calls from his superiors.  Onslow County authorities announced that they believed Lauterbach had been killed and buried, naming Laurean as a suspect in the case.

Until that point, Hill said, Laurean had not been considered a flight risk because he was accused in the rape investigation only, and had not yet been implicated in Lauterbach's murder. Throughout the rape investigation, Laurean continued to show up for work and behave normally.

Laurean is believed to have fled Jacksonville in the early morning of January 11.

Lauterbach's ATM card was found in Durham on January 14 and Laurean's car was found in a hotel parking lot in Morrisville on January 15.

Laurean remains at large, and investigators believe he is in hiding, no longer on the run, and may be receiving help from friends or family in the Triangle area.

If you have information on this case, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.