The Associated Press reported that the sheriff's department was slow to act and that Lauterbach continued to work alongside Laurean and endured harassment at Camp Lejeune. But Naval investigators said the pair had been separated on the job, and the rape case was progressing.
Brown and Onslow District Attorney Dewey Hudson said the rape allegedly occurred on the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base and not in jurisdiction of civilian agencies.
"This has nothing to do with Sheriff Brown or my office," Hudson said.
Lauterbach disappeared sometime after Dec. 14, not long after she met with military prosecutors to talk about her April allegation that Laurean raped her.
Her uncle, Pete Steiner, said that Lauterbach — stung by the harassment that eventually forced her to move off base — decided to drop the case the week before she disappeared.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jLAxQfkotgyOSgs3LXmXYW6hy6PgD8U4RDV80