Marine murder sets off 'earthwide' search

Clint Van Zandt • Profile • E-mail

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown, the search for Corporal Cesar Armando Laurean, the prime suspect in the murder of fellow Marine Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child, has now gone “earthwide.”  While that may be a little stretch of the truth, Laurean’s face and description, thanks to the media and especially cable television, has been seen across the United States in efforts to find the fugitive.  The FBI has offered a $25,000 reward for Laurean’s capture.

Lauterbach was a young 20-year-old Marine who claimed to have been raped by Laurean, and was eight and a half months pregnant when she disappeared on Dec. 14 yet wasn’t reported missing until Dec. 19. According to Sheriff Brown, by that point she and her unborn child had already been murdered in a bloody assault in Laurean’s home, with her burned body buried in a shallow grave in Laurean’s backyard.

Complicating the search for the missing woman was information from her mother that she was bipolar, someone who lied, and someone her mother appeared to believe had simply run away. 
Investigation concerning Lauterbach's disappearance determined that in May she reported at least two prior sexual contacts with CPL Laurean, one in March and one in April, one of which she may have characterized as consensual, that she was believed to have conceived on or about May 14, and that in November she had reported that she no longer believed CPL Laurean to be the father of the child she was carrying.

On or about Dec 14 she withdrew $700 from her bank by use of her own ATM card, that she had purchased a one-way bus ticket to El Paso, TX (one never used, leaving her ATM card at the bus depot), that she had removed clothes from her residence, that she had left her roommate a note saying she was going away and that her cell phone had been found abandoned near the entrance to her military base.  Add to this the Christmas season when local United States Marine Corps (USMC) officials and the local sheriff’s office may have been off for vacation, and the trail grew initially cold concerning the whereabouts of the missing pregnant and troubled Marine.

Why had Laurean not been charged with the rape of Lauterbach and locked up, or at least why had the USMC not moved one or the other to another base until they completed the rape investigation? Lauterbach and Laurean allegedly maintained some kind of relationship after the alleged rape, so the Marines did not consider him a threat to her, nor, apparently, did they believe the victim’s story. In Lauterbach’s case, she had to remain strong to be both a Marine and a soon to be mother, while working on the same base as her alleged rapist and dealing with the rumors concerning her and her pregnancy.

Although at least 120 different Gulf War veterans have been implicated in murders since their return from combat, Cpl. Laurean, if he is found guilty, cannot blame Lauterbach’s death on anything other than anger and rage. Cpl. Laurean, who never saw combat, stands accused of the murder of Lauterbach and has become a fugitive.

On Tuesday, Laurean's truck was found outside a motel in Morrisville, N.C. Authorities confirmed the truck belonged to him, but are still searching for Laurean himself.

MORE FROM MSNBC TV COMMENTARY

MSNBC TV Commentary Section Front

Matthews: Commemorating Germany's freedom Van Zandt: Motive for mass murder at Fort Hood Jacobs: Failure and tragedy at Fort Hood Adubato: A new governor, now what? DeSoto: New Jersey faces voting machine dilemma Van Zandt: Suspected serial killer's "House of Horrors" Jacobs: Media winning the fight with the White House Van Zandt: Searching for Morgan Harrington Van Zandt: Who killed Somer Thompson? Green: Hope poster battle heats up MSNBC TV Commentary Section Front   Add MSNBC TV Commentary headlines to your news reader: