Missing (Pregnant) Marine Dead, Authorities Say

KWTX ^ | 1/11/2008 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

January 11, 2008)--Authorities in North Carolina said late Friday morning pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach is dead.

They said she’s buried in a shallow grave, for which investigators are now searching.

They identified the suspect in the case as a Marine officer whom she accused of sexually assaulting her.

Police earlier were planning to interview a man who lived with her and said he would answer questions that "will shed a lot of light on the case."

Authorities said again Friday Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham isn't a suspect, but police believe he's the last person to speak with the Marine.

She disappeared Dec. 14 ahead of her expected testimony in a military investigation into her claim a senior officer had sexually assaulted her.

Court documents show the investigation went sour amid inconsistencies in the woman's story and allegations that she's bipolar and a compulsive liar.

Search warrants show she was facing a possible discharge from the service.

Lauterbach was eight months pregnant when she disappeared.

[freema]

From what Ed Brown said, I thought that the baby’s hand was intact, but burned off from the arm. But I think he backed away from this very fast, and I assumed it was because it was too graphic.

This quote says the baby was in the abdomen. I never gave thought to the amniotic fluid being a barrier to the fire, but I would certainly have no idea how long that would last.
I would think the farther from the DOD, the fluid would have naturally evaporated.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:Rp7PLXqmGOYJ:www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/12/missing.marine/+ed+brown+hand+burned+off&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

However this was rationalized in the mind at the time, the longer this goes on, and the more time passes, some one will snap, somehow.

There is no way the wife did not have a clue. What did he tell her, “Honey, I was going to paint the living room red for you, for Christmas, but the can exploded, first in the garage when I tried to open it, and then in the living room.”

[Lyn_2IDMom]

Now they are, I posted them at 6pm yesterday, but they didn’t come thru until after midnight....Thanks

[IamHD]

This is the only article that I can find that says that the baby was a girl:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4155874&page=1

[IamHD]

Lyn, I don't know if this is what's going on, but, if you are using the back button to go back to the thread after you have posted a reply and your post isn't showing, hit your refresh button. Try that if you have a problem again.

[maggief]

Slain Marine’s mom: No one would listen
While mother was waiting weeks for news about her daughter, suspect threw parties at home where body was buried

By Mary McCarty and Margo Rutledge Kissell

Staff Writers

Sunday, January 20, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — As far as Wanda and Richard Alander could tell, their next-door neighbors were a “perfectly normal family,” a Marine couple in a Marine town with a nice house and an 18-month-old daughter who “just doted on her daddy.”

The Alanders attached no significance to the fact that Cesar Laurean had recently borrowed a shovel from Richard. “He borrowed a rake before,” he said. Nor did Wanda think much of it when Christina Laurean told her they were repainting the interior of their house.

On Christmas Eve, the Laureans lit a bonfire in their backyard. The next day, the cars lined up on the street as they entertained friends and fellow Marines. They welcomed friends to their home again on New Year’s Day.

Life on Meadow Trail continued to appear normal right up until the morning of Jan. 11, when police crews descended on the house just before the world learned that a pregnant Maria Lauterbach was killed and buried in Laurean’s backyard fire pit, and that he was gone.

The night before, the Alanders saw their next-door neighbors sitting on their front porch. She didn’t think much of it at the time, but Wanda said she noticed Cesar kept walking into the backyard.

(snip)

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/01/20/ddn012008maria.html

//

Marine’s rape claim failed to raise red flags
Mother says slain lance corporal wanted to be sent to Iraq rather than be around alleged attacker

By Mary McCarty and Margo Rutledge Kissell

Staff Writers

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Mary Lauterbach was strolling out of Wal-Mart on May 10 when her cell phone rang. Maria again. Her oldest daughter, “strong as a bobcat,” had seemed lonely and vulnerable since being stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. It was, after all, the first time away from home for the 20-year-old Marine lance corporal from Vandalia. She called three or four times a day — so often that Mary found herself guiltily screening her calls.

Maria gasped out the words between sobs: “Mom, I was attacked.”

She didn’t reveal the name of her attacker, only that he was Hispanic, a married man with a child. She said the two Marines had been assigned to night duty together when the man locked all the doors and raped her.

“Maria, when did that happen?” her mother asked.

“April 10.”

“You realize you’ve lost all your evidence now?”

Then her mother got even more stern with her daughter: “Maria, you have to know you cannot make any false statements because that is one of the worst things you could possibly do. You could ruin somebody’s career, and you won’t be doing yourself any favors either when they find out.”

Mary Lauterbach had a solid reason for these words of motherly caution. While assigned to Marine Occupation Specialties School at Camp Lejeune in the fall of 2006, Maria told a disturbing lie to some of her fellow Marines, claiming her father had accidentally killed her 6-year-old brother by throwing a lamp at him. Lauterbach was placed in counseling after her mother assured authorities that Maria’s actual brother, nearly 9 at the time, was alive and well.

Now, Mary Lauterbach told her daughter, it was imperative to tell the truth about the rape allegations. “Maria, if this is true, you have to report it, to protect all the other female Marines there,” she said.

(snip)

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/01/20/ddn012008mariainside.html

[Girlene]

Wow, from your second link in the Dayton Daily News,Marine's rape claim failed to raise red flags this is a much different picture being painted than what I've read to this point.

..."Maria also told her mother about an ugly confrontation involving Laurean's wife, Christina. Maria said Christina called her a "b*tch," and said, "What are you doing to us?"....

Ruh-roh.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Yesterday was the first time I’d heard that the baby was a girl. Maria apparently believed from her sonogram that the baby she was expecting was a boy. The coroners are going to go back over their findings just to be sure. That is what I’ve heard.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Holy cow!!

[maggief]

The article if full of info, such as ...

Meanwhile, her Jan. 15 due date was fast approaching. During an appointment at the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital on Nov. 26, her obstetrician said her baby weighed more than 6 pounds.

Ashley Dupuis, 19, a friend from boot camp, called in early December to see how Maria was doing.

"She was really down and out," Dupuis recalled. "It was not like her."

Maria once loved the Marine Corps so much she had a USMC bulldog tattooed on her upper right arm.

Now, Dupuis said, "She didn't like it and she wanted to get out."

[Girlene]

There's a lot of information in that dayton link. Here's another tidbit.

...."Meanwhile, her Jan. 15 due date was fast approaching. During an appointment at the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital on Nov. 26, her obstetrician said her baby weighed more than 6 pounds."....

For a baby that is already more than 6 pounds on Nov. 26, it does not seem possible that her conception was May 14th. Her contention of the early/mid April rape makes more sense. This is a scathing enditment of how this investigation was handled. I'm glad the mother is finally setting some of the record straight.

[Girlene]

LOL. Two similar posts. We think alike.

[maggief]

^5
:)

[Girlene]

Finally, some answers about that Christmas party.

....."Mary Lauterbach's last conversation with her daughter occurred Dec. 14, when Maria called her about 2:30 p.m. at her office at the University of Dayton. Maria felt she needed to make an appearance at a command Christmas party, even though she knew Laurean would be there.

"Call me when you get home from the party," her mother said.

That night, Durham called, saying Maria had left a note, which stated, according to the Marine Corps, "I could not take this Marine Corps life anymore. So I'm going away. Sorry for the inconvenience, Maria."".....

So it appears Maria planned to go to the same party that Christina says she attended. I hope investigators have asked everybody who attended that party if Maria, Cesear, or Christina were at the party, saw them in the parking lot, whatever. This party may have been where Maria's and one or more of the Laureans crossed paths prior to her disappearance. I'd think Maria would have called her mom back, since she asked her to.

[IamHD]

It is people like Crystal Mangum and others that make it hard for a woman's allegation of rape believeable.

I believe that the initial calls by Maria to her mother are the truth. She knew that there would be "hell to pay." Why would anyone wish that upon themselves in a man's world? No wonder her stories were changing after the 1st report of rape. She was scared to death.

[sodpoodle]

thanks for this link http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4155874&page=1

excerpts;
******...initial autopsy results on Lauterbach’s burned body, found buried in a North Carolina field, indicate that Lauterbach was eight-months pregnant with a baby girl, the official said.

Earlier reports from Lauterbach’s hometown in Ohio had said the unborn baby was a boy, to be named Gabriel Joseph.

She had told her family she believed her unborn child was a boy based on an early sonogram. Officials say a second autopsy will be conducted by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.******
___________________________________________________________
I trust they can prove unequivocally - that the bodies are those of Maria and her baby - which is tragic enough - just please spare the families more torture.

[Girlene]

This article finally gives a voice to Maria, through her mom, that other reporters have failed to do with regard to the rape allegations. It puts a lot of things into perspective. She tells her mom on May 10 that she had been raped on April 10 by a coworker when the two were assigned to night duty. Her family still believes she was scared of Laurean.

....."She desperately wanted to be deployed to Iraq," her mother said.

Maria confided to her mother that her attacker was "very popular," and said, "I know there's going to be hell to pay for saying anything."".....

....."As the summer wore on, Lauterbach reported several incidents of harassment to her mother. In August, a man called Lauterbach's name and punched her in the face, knocking her down, she said. Lauterbach felt certain it was one of Laurean's friends but never filed a formal complaint.

Later in the summer, somebody keyed her blue 2006 Hyundai Sonata from the front door all the way back to the tail lights."......

I hope the mom keeps the heat on! She wants a change in the way rape charges are handled by the Marine Corps, one of which is to guarantee that the Marine changes bases. Makes sense to me.

[sodpoodle]

****Her family still believes she was scared of Laurean.

.....”She desperately wanted to be deployed to Iraq,” her mother said.

Maria confided to her mother that her attacker was “very popular,” and said, “I know there’s going to be hell to pay for saying anything.””.....***
___________________________________________________________
I so desperately wanted to believe Camp LeJeune’s report. Now -not so much.

[Girlene]

The link that maggie found to the dayton daily news gives a much clearer picture of an investigation that was going nowhere with either the Marine Corps or the sheriff's dept. until the mom and her brother started making lots of noise. And then this...

...."Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown scheduled a news conference at noon and hinted during nationally televised interviews that a positive outcome still seemed possible. That prompted Mary Lauterbach to call the sheriff to see if Maria had been found.

"If we find your daughter, you'll be the first to know," Brown assured her.

Shortly before noon, the sheriff called back with news of some "negative developments." In her dazed state, Lauterbach didn't think to ask what he meant. She found out along with the rest of the country when, in bold red letters, CNN bannered the headline, "Maria Lauterbach is dead.""......

Unfreakingbelievable. This poor mom found out her own daughter was dead by watching CNN!!!!!

[Sue Perkick]

How awful. There’s no excuse for that.

[sodpoodle]

So cpl.Laurean was *very popular* - just like some of the other sociopaths in the annals of crime.

Wonder how many *yuck yuck* buddies supported him against Lauterbach in the rape charges?

Do you suppose they also helped him get outta town?

They should be found and drummed out of the Corps and prosecuted with him. I don’t care if they didn’t help him, but if they heard him say anything incriminating about the rape charges they need to speak up.