http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080123/FRONT01/80123012 Fugitive Marine seen in Mexico, cousin says
ZAPOPAN, Mexico (CNN)--A cousin of suspected killer Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean told CNN Tuesday that he saw the wanted man near Guadalajara a week ago.
Juan Antonio Ramos Ramirez said he did not know at the time the Marine visited him at his liquor store in Zapopan that Laurean was being sought by authorities for murder.
"He stopped by--just a few days ago, last week," he said.
Asked what his cousin had told him, Ramos said, "Just 'Hi, I'm just passing by.' He told me he was here with some buddies for a few days and, you know, it's not the first time he's come by to visit, say hi to the family."
Also Tuesday, the FBI released photographs it said were taken within the past eight months showing the fugitive. Laurean has a tattoo of a phoenix rising from ashes on his left upper arm and a tattoo "possibly of a human skull layered over another image on his right upper arm," the agency said.
A law enforcement source told CNN Tuesday that, in addition to the letter he left for his wife at their house, Laurean has mailed her three others.
One letter is postmarked after Laurean left their North Carolina home on January 11 and drove to a motel in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, telling her he would be on the road, the source said. He wrote where he was leaving the truck and described the motel he was staying in, located near a mall the two had visited, the source said.
The letter was postmarked from Raleigh-Durham, the source said.
The FBI plans to circulate in Mexico either matchbooks or business cards with Laurean's photo. The Marine's wanted poster is on the FBI's Most Wanted List with a $25,000 reward.
Here's the alleged cousin, Juan Antonio Ramosa, from
ABC news
It seems that reporters were the ones who found this cousin, not Mexican authorities. According to Ramirez, they still haven't contacted him. I guess they're not too serious about capturing Laurean.
..."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.".....