GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Missing Marine Cesar Laurean, wanted in the slaying of a pregnant colleague, visited relatives in Mexico last week, a man who said he was his cousin told The Associated Press Tuesday.
CNN first reported that Laurean had briefly stopped by the liquor store of Juan Antonio Ramos Ramirez in Zapopan, just outside Guadalajara. Speaking to The Associated Press late Tuesday from his store, Ramos Ramirez said Laurean walked into his store last Monday or Tuesday and the two cousins exchanged about 10 minutes of small talk about their respective families.
Laurean then told Ramos Ramirez, whose mother is Laurean's sister, that he had to get back to two friends waiting outside.
Days later, Ramos Ramirez saw a television report that Laurean was wanted in the U.S. for killing 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach.
Authorities have said they suspected that Laurean fled to Mexico, but the comments from Ramos Ramirez were the first public confirmation that the Marine had been in the country.
Jerry Allegood, Staff Writer
JACKSONVILLE - Investigators hope a pair of tattoos will help find the Marine accused of killing a pregnant comrade last month and then disappearing just before her body was found.
Relatives who live just outside Guadalajara, Mexico, told The Associated Press that Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, 21, visited them last week. He has been charged with murder in the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday released new photographs which show that Laurean has a tattoo on his left arm of a phoenix, a bird in Egyptian mythology rising from ashes, and a large tattoo on his right arm, possibly of a human skull layered over another image.
Additionally, investigators said, Laurean has a small mole on the left side of his face between his lower lip and chin. The photographs are thought to have been taken within the past eight months.
Investigators hope the new information and wanted posters translated into Spanish will assist in the effort to find him.
Laurean may be using the aliases Cesar Gudino, Cesar Sanchez, Cesar Armando Laurean-Ramirez or Armando Ramirez, according to the FBI.
Authorities launched an intensive search for Laurean after Lauterbach's bludgeoned and burned body was found buried in the backyard of Laurean's Jacksonville home. Laurean's abandoned truck was found last week behind a motel near Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Lauterbach had accused Laurean of raping her; Marine officials were investigating when she disappeared in mid-December.
Juan Antonio Ramos Ramirez spoke with The Associated Press late Tuesday from his store in Zapopan, Mexico, confirming Laurean walked into his store early last week and the two cousins exchanged about 10 minutes of small talk about their respective families.
Laurean then told Ramos Ramirez that he had to get back to two friends waiting outside. Ramos Ramirez told AP that he saw a television report days later that Laurean was wanted in the U.S. for killing 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach.
The comments from Ramos Ramirez were the first public confirmation that the Marine had been in that country.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to his arrest. Anyone with information concerning Laurean is asked to call the FBI tip line at (800) 225-5324 or submit tips on the FBI's Web site www.fbi.gov.
(Staff writer Marlon A. Walker contributed to this report.)
jerry.allegood@newsobserver.com or (252) 752-8411
Staff writer Marlon A. Walker contributed to this report.
” ... Laurean then told Ramos Ramirez, whose mother is Laurean’s sister, ...”
That has to be wrong. If Cesar had a sister who was the mother of this man, that would make Ramos Ramirez Cesar’s nephew, not cousin.
I’m betting that Ramos Ramirez’s mother is the sister of Elvira Ramirez Laurean, Cesar’s mother. But, of course, I can’t prove that, not having Mexican records to check.
Ramos Ramirez said he didn't contact police about his cousin because he believes Laurean is innocent.
"It didn't seem right to contact police," he said. "He is a normal person, with no tendency for doing bad things."
He said police still hadn't contacted him about his cousin late Tuesday, despite the international manhunt.
Officials in Jalisco state, home to Guadalajara, said they hadn't been formally notified of Laurean's warrant.
Ramos Ramirez said Laurean and most of the Marine's family moved to the U.S. more than 10 years ago, and he had seen Laurean only three other times since. The second time, five years ago, Laurean came for vacation and spent a few days with Ramos Ramirez's mother, Maria Ramirez.
Laurean hasn't contacted any other family members in Mexico, Ramos Ramirez said.
He said Laurean didn't stay long, and didn't say anything about why he was in Mexico or where he was headed next. Ramos Ramirez said he wasn't surprised by the brief visit because Laurean isn't very close to relatives in Mexico. His cousin seemed calm, he added.
"It was like any visit," Ramos Ramirez said