Marine murder sets off 'earthwide' search

Sightings of Laurean later refuted
Sightings have been reported, and later refuted, that Laurean was seen at a bus station in Shreveport, La., perhaps boarding a bus to Texas where he had relatives, and where the U.S.-Mexican border might have been a target for the man on the run. Another report indicates that Lauterbach’s ATM card had been found at a bus station in Durham, N.C., and that Cpl. Laurean’s black Dodge pickup truck had been seen in the local area. Most investigators know that eye witness identifications are challenging at best.  People want to help find a suspected killer, and in their desire they sometime see the fugitive in the face of a totally different person.

Although fingerpointing will continue concerning the when, why, and how of the rape investigation and why Cpl. Laurean was allowed to slip away, what is of concern now is his capture. All of his friends and family should have been contacted by investigators by this time, and surveillances will be in place should he try to sneak into one of their homes.  His credit cards will be watched, his cell phone monitored, his vehicle sought after, and pictures will be made showing him wearing perhaps a wig, a cap, sunglasses, or other means to conceal his identity. It’s not easy to be a man on the run, looking over your shoulder every few seconds to see who is approaching, watching a police car pass and looking to see if it turned around and was coming after you.

Lauterbach and her unborn child, like so many pregnant women and children before her, has apparently become the victim of the person impregnating her, an unfortunate statistical probability when you consider crimes against pregnant women.  While Cpl. Laurean may be hiding out in some flop house motel, or the basement of a friend’s house, or even camping in the desert, he can’t hide forever.

Some may be motivated to turn him in for the reward money, while others will do it simply because it’s the right thing to do. It appears that few either believed Lauterbach or actually stood up for her in her many months of need before her brutal murder. Perhaps now, even in death, while over 800 mourned her death in her Ohio home town, her story may be proven to be true and the dead mother and fledging Marine will finally be vindicated. 

Clint Van Zandt is a former FBI agent, behavioral profiler and hostage negotiator as well as an MSNBC analyst. His web site, www.LiveSecure.org provides readers with security-related information.

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