Chris's Crime Forum

Marine slaying suspect to be returned from Mexico
CNN) -- The suspect in the death of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine will be returned to North Carolina to face charges in her slaying, a Mexican judge ruled Thursday, according to North Carolina authorities.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, 21, who was arrested in Mexico in April, could be returned to Onslow County, North Carolina, within a week, the county sheriff's office said in a statement issued Thursday. Federal authorities will handle his transportation to the North Carolina jail.

Laurean has been indicted on first-degree murder and other charges in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. Her charred body and that of her fetus were found beneath a fire pit in Laurean's backyard near Camp Lejeune, where both were stationed, in January, a month after she was last seen.

Prosecutors allege that Laurean killed Lauterbach on December 14 and used her ATM card 10 days later before fleeing to Mexico to avoid prosecution.

Laurean was arrested in April in San Juan Vina, in the Mexican state of Michoacan. Because he holds citizenship in the United States and Mexico, he could not be immediately deported and had to go through the extradition process, authorities said.

Asked by a Mexican reporter at the time of his arrest whether he killed Lauterbach, Laurean said, "I loved her."

As part of the effort to apprehend Laurean, authorities seized a computer belonging to his sister-in-law that Laurean's wife, Christina, was using to communicate with him, a law enforcement official had said.

If convicted, Onslow County prosecutors said, Laurean would face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Mexico's extradition policy prohibits U.S. authorities from seeking the death penalty against fugitives it hands over.

Authorities found Lauterbach's body after Christina Laurean produced a note her husband had written claiming that the 20-year-old woman slit her own throat during an argument, according to officials.

Although a gaping 4-inch wound was found on the left side of Lauterbach's neck, autopsy results indicate that the wound itself would not have been fatal.

Prosecutors have said there was no evidence that Christina Laurean was involved in or aware of Lauterbach's slaying before she gave the note to authorities.

Lauterbach had accused Laurean of raping her, and it is unclear whether he was the father of her fetus, although her relatives have said they believe him to be. He had denied the rape allegation and said he had had no sexual contact with her.

Mary Lauterbach, the young woman's mother, has said she's unconvinced that the Marine Corps took her daughter's rape allegation and other allegations of "harassment" seriously. Her daughter's car was keyed, she said, and she was assaulted.

"Those particular actions should have been taken much more seriously because the Marines were aware of them," she said Friday.

In a statement issued after her death, the Marine Corps said Laurean's denial "was believed to be significant evidence.
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CNN) -- The Marine accused of killing Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who was more than eight months pregnant, was not the father of her unborn child, a law enforcement source close to the murder investigation said Saturday.

The source, who has seen a report completed earlier this month by the Defense Department's Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, said Cpl. Cesar Laurean's DNA does not match that of the unborn child, who also died.

Laurean and Lauterbach were stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

An autopsy showed that Lauterbach, 20, died of blunt force trauma to the head. Police unearthed her charred body from beneath a barbecue pit in Laurean's backyard in January 2008. She disappeared the month before.

Laurean was 22 when he was arrested in Mexico in April 2008. At the time, a Mexican reporter asked Laurean whether he had killed Lauterbach. The Marine replied, "I loved her." Laurean has been indicted on charges that include first-degree murder, financial card transaction fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses.

North Carolina prosecutors allege he killed Lauterbach on December 14 and used her ATM card 10 days later before fleeing to Mexico. He holds dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico.

The law enforcement source familiar with the case said a DNA swab was taken by court order from Laurean after he was extradited from Mexico in March to face charges in North Carolina. Mexican authorities agreed to the extradition, in part because prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. Mexico does not have a death penalty.

Before her death, Lauterbach told the Marines that Laurean raped her. The month before she disappeared, Lauterbach's mother says Maria told a military investigator that she no longer believed Laurean was the father of her unborn child. However, Lauterbach's mother, Mary, says her daughter remained adamant that Laurean raped her.

Laurean denied it. A few weeks before a scheduled rape hearing at Camp Lejeune, Lauterbach disappeared.

Dewey Hudson, district attorney for Onslow County, said Laurean is scheduled for arraignment in early June, and is expected to enter a plea.

"I cannot comment on any of the tests," Hudson said. He would not say how the DNA results might affect his case against Laurean.

Through her attorney, Mary Lauterbach said the DNA test results don't answer bigger questions she has about whether the Marines did enough to protect her daughter or moved quickly enough to investigate her claims.

"We do not believe that the result will have any effect on the continuing investigation or the trial," said Lauterbach's attorney Merle Wilberding.

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