Missing (Pregnant) Marine Dead, Authorities Say

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

[Sue Perkick]

Exactly

[Sue Perkick]

I think we’ve just about reached the point where nothing would be surprising anymore.

[sodpoodle]

Thanks Sue.

This thread topic is taking up too much of my sanity...will be back in the morning...I’m quite sure.

G’nite all

give joy and take care
sod

[Girlene]

Regarding the note that Maria left at her apartment, jdnews: Laurean's vehicle found in Morrisville, near RDU airport

....."Meanwhile, investigators say they doubt the validity of a note Lauterbach has been reported as leaving for her roommates on the day she disappeared, telling them she was “going away” and apologized for “the inconvenience.”

"Sgt. Daniel Durham, Lauterbach’s roommate, reported Lauterbach missing to the Marine Corps on Dec. 15, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said."....

...."When Lauterbach did not show up for work Dec. 17, Marine officials called her home and her cell phone and sent Marines to look for her at her house, said Lt. Col. Curtis Hill, spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force.

“At that time, there was no reason to believe anything other than she had voluntarily placed herself in Unauthorized Absence status,” Hill said.

Sheriff’s Department investigators say they have reason to believe the note was not genuine.

“We have sent that note off to handwriting experts to determine whether (Lauterbach) actually wrote it or not,” said Capt. Rick Sutherland of the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department."

[IamHD]

Thank you!! I’m glad that the note is being checked out by a handwriting expert!

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

What is the protocol for a single female pregnant Marine about to deliver? I assume medical leave is granted, with full care at the Navy hospital and some kind of quarters allowance for recovery.

[Rte66]

Ha, I’ll *let* everybody else do the work on this one! Still sweating that 1/28 inquest date for my Case Name List deadline - people (especially atty’s) just keep popping up all over the place who require even more additions and tracking than I already had to do. Ugh.

*I’ll just read here, thankyouverymuch!*

[freema]

Joyner, the Microtel hotel clerk, said she thought they were asking about an older silver and black Ford Bronco that was parked next to Laurean’s black F150 pickup. The silver and black Ford Bronco, which looks to be am old surplus NC Highway Patrol vehicle with no license plates, has been there for three weeks said Joyner.

However, Laurean’s truck was driven there only recently, she said.

“It wasn’t the Bronco,” she said. “I noticed [Laurean’s pickup truck] here yesterday around 3pm.”

http://www.raleigh2.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=Default&mad=No&sdetail=377&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2502&hn=raleigh2&he=.com

[NCjim]

From

http://www.wnct.com/midatlantic/nct/news/local_news.apx.-content-articles-NCT-2008-01-15-0034.html

Meantime, hundreds of people turned out for a candlelight vigil in Vandalia, Ohio last night.

They prayed for Maria Lauterbach and her unborn son who would have been named Gabriel Joseph, and the man accused in both their deaths.

Friends says she was a strong willed woman who took pride in being a Marine.

And this morning, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown announced he is stepping aside from the case and will no longer be addressing the media. He's not off the case. He's just not talking with media right now.

It has been a long couple of weeks for the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department but specifically for Sheriff Ed Brown.

The amount of media attention this case is receiving is simply overwhelming.

Today, Sheriff Brown said after tonight's news conference he will be stepping out of the media spotlight. Taking over for him will be Captain Rick Southerland.

Again, Sheriff Brown will still be working on the investigation but he says the stress is just too much.

"I have never in 41 years of law enforcement reached the level of stress, reached the level of fatigue that I reached last Thursday evening,” said Sheriff Brown.

Obviously, the investigation will continue but as for Sheriff Brown's media presence, it will be left to someone else to keep updating the media.

This case is getting so much attention, from across the country.

And Sheriff Ed Brown is taking a lot of criticism from national media outlets.

So the question is, are you satisfied with the job the Onslow County Sheriff's Office has done investigating this case?

Just answer the question right here on WNCT.com in our Viewer’s Voice web poll.

[IamHD]

On Nancy Grace, they’re saying that Laurean bought large amounts of charcoal.

[NCjim]

Unreal. I hope that he fries.

[IamHD]

That would probably be why the neighbors didn’t smell anything odd while he was burning her body. Just like the sheriff, I can’t get the image of that tiny baby’s fist out of my memory. I wish that he would have kept that to himself. :(

[najida]

Ya know,
One thing to get mad and hit someone in a fit of anger and accidentally kill them.

Another to do everything Laurean has done.

[NCjim]

Not to diminish what he did but I believe others are complicit in the murder and subsequent crimes.

[Girlene]

What is the protocol for a single female pregnant Marine about to deliver? I assume medical leave is granted, with full care at the Navy hospital and some kind of quarters allowance for recovery.

I have no idea. Freema, do you?

[NCjim]

Update from WRAL story

Paul Ciccarelli, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said authorities were working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI to determine whether Laurean was headed to Mexico. Laurean was born in Mexico but was a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Las Vegas before enlisting in the Marines, officials said.

[Girlene]

Thanks, for that link on the truck, freema. So the truck was there only recently. Monday afternoon, 3pm, at the latest.

[NCjim]

Jacksonville Daily News:

District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he was not sure whether Lauterbach gave birth before her death.

Garrett said he signed Lauterbach’s death certificate and listed the cause of death as homicide.

“The cause of her death will not change,” Garrett told The Daily News. “She did not fall down and hit her head or anything of the sort — she died at the hands of another.”

[Girlene]

Now that ICE is involved, who's left - the CIA?

Here's the report on her pregancy/rape info from the Marine Corps from WRAL

..."Marine officials on Tuesday laid out a timeline of events in the case from their perspective to answer questions as to why the search for Lauterbach and questioning of Laurean didn't occur more quickly after her disappearance.

Lt. Col. Curtis Hill, spokesman for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, said military officials felt that Lauterbach had left voluntarily until they received information from Onslow County authorities on Jan. 9 about the recovery of her phone and car.

Hill said Lauterbach had left a note for her roommate on Dec. 14, the last day that she was seen, that said, "I couldn't take this Marine Corps life anymore, so I'm going away." Some of her clothing and some toiletries were missing from the apartment, he said, and $700 was withdrawn from an automated teller machine in Jacksonville.

"All indications led (base) command to believe that Cpl. Lauterbach placed herself in an unauthorized absence status," he said.

Lauterbach told military investigators in May that she had been raped by Laurean, Hill said. After initially telling authorities that her pregnancy resulted from the rape, she later backed off that claim when physicians estimated her conception date at May 14, he said.

Still, Camp Lejeune officials issued protective orders to keep Laurean away from Lauterbach that stretched from mid-May until mid-December, he said. Officials also transfered Lauterbach to a different position on base so the two wouldn't cross paths, he said.

Ciccarelli said Lauterbach told investigators that she and Laurean had a consensual sexual encounter last March and that they had another encounter in April while on duty. The case was investigated as a rape because that was her initial claim, he said, noting she later told investigators there was no force or coercion used in the April encounter.

Onslow County investigators tried to question Laurean as a witness – not a suspect – in Lauterbach's disappearance on Jan. 8, but he asked for legal representation and refused to answer questions, Ciccarelli said.

"Between the 15th of December and the 11th of January, he had been at all the appointed places that were required," said Col. Gary Sokolosky, staff judge advocate for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. "There was no indication he was a flight risk."

Laurean most likely fled Jacksonville before dawn Friday, according to authorities. He left behind a note in which he said he buried Lauterbach after she had committed suicide by cutting her throat.

Authorities previously rejected the idea that Lauterbach had committed suicide, saying blood evidence found inside Laurean's home pointed to a violent crime. The autopsy results confirmed their suspicions, they said."....

[najida]

Oh I agree,
it appears at least his wife and maybe even others are involved.

Buying charcoal to dispose of a body is so awful though.