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.

[usmcobra]

I can only guess that having the restraining order paperwork with her made her feel safe.

The NCIS was dumping information designed to make the Victims look bad in the press before the bodies were found.

[freema]

Nothing would work better for NCIS than for this Marine to be found dead. No mo questions. And don’t think he doesn’t know it.

He might have buried and burned her, but I wonder if there’s ANY evidence he is the actual murderer.

NCIS needs Marines to look bad. In addition to Haditha and Hamdandia, the MARSOC thing is looking pretty stupid.

Sadly, no, I don’t have my tin foil hat on.

Again, I wonder when her housemate, Dan Durham was sent to California. Apparently, it was after she went missing, because he called her family to say she was gone.

[sodpoodle]

Great summary of all the contradictions.

It has been hard to get a handle on the dynamics of the two marines and how much it influenced the investigation.

Maria Lauterbach may have felt pressured to back off filing charges, for several reasons. I suspect we will never know her state of mind and fear.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Oh cool! C’mon into Texas, son. Yee-haw!

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Things will roll uphill in the Marine Corps.

Did Maria have legal counsel representing her? Just wondering.

[Girlene]

The parking lot where Maria’s car was found is sandwiched in between the bus stop and a fast food restaurant/bread store(I think it’s an outlet bread store). That’s why there is confusion there.

That makes sense on why they said the car was found at the bus stop and then the fast food place----they were connected. What is curious is the statement that they found the car on Monday, January 7 (?), but the car had not been there on the weekend. Wonder where the car was that whole time? Wonder if investigators bothered to check the suspect's house/lot?

[debm29palms]

Someone posted here that they had seen a report that stated a neighbor finally came forward and said they saw Maria’s car at Laurean’s house.

Not sure though. There are a whole bunch of questions without answers right now......

[usmcobra]

I read that as well, if so it would mean that to drop off the car someone would have to follow in another vehicle (the truck).

[Girlene]

Someone posted here that they had seen a report that stated a neighbor finally came forward and said they saw Maria’s car at Laurean’s house.

Yes, I remember reading that, as well. I would think investigators would have immediately started questioning the suspect with a rape allegation, especially with the family's information that she was scared of him. Here's some pictures of his house. Even without a search warrant, it would be easy to see a blue car unless it was in the garage. The garage appears to be a one-car garage only. A flyover by a helicopter would have shown if there were any cars in the backyard, even without a search warrant. A little suspicion would probably have gone a long way to solving this case earlier.

[Girlene]

Did Maria have legal counsel representing her? Just wondering.

That's what is so confusing here. I'm assuming she had military legal counsel. There was a rape accusation. A hearing was to take place in a few days w/regard to the accusations, then some have said she was backing off from the case. Either way, how did the information that her mother had provided to investigators get to the media so quickly? I'm going to assume this was from an interview with NCIS investigators unless Maria had another ongoing case. Military investigators had to have released/leaked this information. Why? They must not have thought she was truly in danger, but had taken off on her own.

[debm29palms]

Except nobody became immediately suspicious of anything. In fact, Ed Brown was telling Maria to stop running away until the wife came forward.

I live in Jacksonville, about 16 miles from this house. Marines go off on deployments and it is very common for them to leave their vehicles in someone’s backyard. Right now where I live I can drive down the main street of my subdivision and see at least 3-4 parked in someone’s backyard. It wouldn’t seem strange.....UNLESS THEY WERE LOOKING FOR MARIA’S VEHICLE.

[usmcobra]

There is a lot of talk about how the sheriff found the burial site, it seems he used divining rods made from coat hangers (hers?) to locate where she and her child were buried.

I sometimes scoff at drowsing, but given the size of the yard he was either lucky or good.

[StarCMC]

That story is sad all around. I can’t help but wonder though, if the wife (or someone associated with her) of the guy accused did it and he’s covering for her, knowing he’d be a prime suspect. That’s just where my thoughts went. It also seemed bizzare that the local law enforcement didn’t know that there had been a restraining order, but since I don’t know much about how the military LEOs work with the local LEOs I thought maybe it was just me. If she had remained living on base, I could understand the locals not knowing. But since she moved off base, it seems that the logical move would be for the military to notify the local LEOs since off-base it would be their jurisdiction. Is that wrong?

[usmcobra]

They released the Bipolar angle to ruin the victim, pregnant women don’t run away from their baby doctors.

As soon as I heard of this I knew she was dead, the NCIS painted her as unstable to cover their incompetence, and the press once again was all to willing to allow them to do so.

[Yaelle]

I’ll bet Vince Foster could have done it.

I heard that he wanted to, but he didn't like to get ANY dirt on his shoes. Even on the soles.

[StarCMC]

Someone posted here that they had seen a report that stated a neighbor finally came forward and said they saw Maria’s car at Laurean’s house.

I saw an interview on FoxNews yesterday with a neighbor who saw her car. He stated that he noticed because it was the same kind of car his ex-wife drives, so it caught his eye. I'll look on FoxNews and see if I can find the exact statement.

[sodpoodle]

I saw the interview (on Fox) with a neighbor of the Laureans, who stated he saw a blue Honda at their house. The reason he noticed it - his ex-wife owned a similar vehicle.

He also commented that the Laureans were a quiet, normal couple who played in the yard with their small daughter.

[sodpoodle]

ESP!

I searched Fox video lists - couldn’t find it. Will keep trying. I remember the neighbor was a white, heavy set guy with moustache & chin hair(?) about 35-40 years-old.

[StarCMC]

Did this ever get explained:

“The sheriff’s department was studying “sensitive information” from activity on Lauterbach’s bank account Christmas Eve, nearly a week after she was reported missing on Dec. 24, according to a report in the Jacksonville Daily News.

“Bank records indicate the victim made a withdrawal on 12-14-07. There was suspicious activity on her account on 12-24-07, but none since,” according to information from the Sheriff’s Department.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,321188,00.html

[NCjim]

How long does it take before the USMC declares him AWOL? You would think that as he is on active duty they would be looking for him. Does not add up...