USMC types - missing Marine question.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

The fact that a person and foul play is suspected is terrible. However this sounds as if there is more going on. Allegations of rape by a superior officer, suggestions that the baby has been born, the mother saying the Marine is bi-polar and is a habitual liar, her old male roommate being returned from deployment to answer questions. Just seems odd. Does anyone have any scuttlebutt on this?

I checked, didn't see a thread on this when I searched.

[usmc-sooner]

I don't know anything. I doubt the Marine Corps is going to cover anything up.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Oh, not suggesting a cover up. Things are trickling out - slowly. Just real sad, but the story just gets odder and odder.

[usmc-sooner]

ok I just read an article about it. It is wierd.

a couple of questions I would have would be why is a LCpl living with a Sgt?

why did he not report her missing, he knows she can't go just not show up.

was it him that tried to use her card?

Either she went UA, or it sounds pretty bad for that Sgt.

[colleyvillesooner]

Just saw this by the AP:
Sheriff: Pregnant Marine is dead

By MIKE BAKER
Associated Press Writer
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JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A pregnant Marine missing for nearly a month is dead, and investigators were seeking a senior officer she had accused of sexually assaulting her, a sheriff said Friday.

Authorities had not recovered the body of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach, but they believed she was buried in a shallow grave, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said.

Lauterbach had claimed a superior officer sexually assaulted her, and she was worried that the investigation was going nowhere, according to court documents. She vanished last month before she was to testify in a military probe,

Brown said the officer had declined to meet with investigators, who no longer knew his whereabouts.

"They don't know where he is," Brown said of the suspect. "He's gone."

The court papers said the anticipated birth of the baby "might provide evidentiary credence to charges she lodged with military authorities that she was sexually assaulted by a senior military person."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) - A pregnant Marine missing for nearly a month is dead, and investigators were seeking a senior officer she had accused of raping her, a sheriff said Friday.

Authorities had not recovered the body of the 20-year-old woman, but they believed she was buried in a shallow grave, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.

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[TheHumanAlphabet]

So the senior office is missing and suspected of killing her, may have fathered the baby.
The suspect is — Cpl. Cesar Armando Lauren, 21. Would a Cpl be consider a "senior officer"? I wouldn't think so. The way they spoke of this I was suspecting a fraternization issue, I wouldn't think this would be an innapropriate contact (obviously excluding the "alleged" rape) unless he was her supervisor.

[jeremy885]

the mother saying the Marine is bi-polar and is a habitual liar,


Mother of the year candidate

[usmc-sooner]

So the senior office is missing and suspected of killing her, may have fathered the baby.
The suspect is — Cpl. Cesar Armando Lauren, 21. Would a Cpl be consider a "senior officer"? I wouldn't think so. The way they spoke of this I was suspecting a fraternization issue, I wouldn't think this would be an innapropriate contact (obviously excluding the "alleged" rape) unless he was her supervisor.
no a Cpl is not a Sr. Officer. This case is weird, I'd hate to be in her chain of command.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Perhaps that is why she was complaining of foot dragging by the investigative arm. I'm surprised the Officer in Charge did not seperate them and do some sort of administrative hearing quickly. Hell, I was part of an investigative team (safety officer) that drummed out a CG SR out of the USCG for knocking over a "historic" wall in about 2 months...


no a Cpl is not a Sr. Officer. This case is weird, I'd hate to be in her chain of command.

Great, fantastic journalism in titling a Cpl as a "senior officer".

[Desert Sapper]

From CNN:



JACKSONVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) -- Evidence shows Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was killed on December 15, four days before she was reported missing to local law enforcement authorities, the Onslow County sheriff said Monday.
http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/CRIME/01/14/missing.marine/art.lauterbach.jpg

Lauterbach's burned body was believed to have been found Saturday in a pit in the backyard of the home of Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean.
Lauterbach, 20, had accused Laurean of raping her last year. Authorities are awaiting an autopsy to confirm the body as Lauterbach's.

Lauterbach was eight months pregnant when she disappeared and a fetus was found with the body buried and burned behind Laurean's house near Camp Lejeune.

Laurean, who faces murder charges in the case, is the subject of a nationwide search.

Shreveport, Louisiana, became the focus of that search during the weekend after a report that Laurean, 21, was sighted at a bus station there.

Sheriff Ed Brown of Onslow County, North Carolina, said Sunday that "several witnesses ... validated" a report that Laurean was in a bus station in Shreveport.

Brown said someone who looked like the 5-foot, 9-inch, 160-pound suspect was seen either on a bus or getting off a bus that was heading to Texas, but cautioned, "That doesn't mean he has to be tied to going that same direction."

However, Chief Deputy Charlie Caldwell of the Shreveport Marshal's Office told CNN affiliate KSLA-TV that he knew of no evidence that Laurean was in Louisiana.

"We haven't had any confirmed sightings of [that] individual," he said.
Earlier Sunday, Brown's office said it had received "numerous pieces of information that we believe are credible," some of which "put us less than two hours behind the fugitive."

The sheriff qualified that statement on Sunday afternoon, saying, "I'm not going to put a timeline on anything we do.

"I feel like that the law enforcement agencies in this country are on his trail, and I'm not going to tell you that he will be here tonight, but I do feel comfortable that his vacation may be short," the sheriff said.
Laurean, 21, of Nevada, is believed to have been driving a black Dodge pickup with North Carolina license plate TRR1522.

Brown said Monday there had been a sighting of a pickup matching that description in a location he described as "a curiosity to us."
The sheriff described Laurean as "dangerous," especially if cornered.
Brown described the scene authorities found in Laurean's back yard, a charred body with a fetus.

The fetus was developed enough that the "little hand was about the size of my thumb. The little fingers were rolled up," he said.

"One of the things that will probably stick with me for a long time, and forever, is that little hand, the way those fingers were turned, that had been burned off the arm. That is bizarre. That is tragic. And it's disgusting."

The remains were taken to the Onslow County medical examiner's office. They were to be sent to the chief medical examiner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for DNA testing and comparison with dental records.

Lauterbach disappeared from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, shortly before she was to testify at a military hearing about her rape accusation against Laurean. http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/interactive.gif See timeline of events in the case » (http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/14/missing.marine/index.html#cnnSTCOther1)

Lauterbach's relatives believe her pregnancy was the result of the alleged rape, said Lauterbach's uncle, Peter Steiner, a Kentucky psychiatrist.
Laurean, of Nevada, is believed to have left the base at 4 a.m. Friday.
Investigators said that Laurean vanished four hours before his wife, Christina, approached Brown with a note from her husband claiming that Lauterbach had committed suicide, and he buried the body.

Brown said Friday that blood spatter evidence was found inside Laurean's home, even on a ceiling. There was evidence of "an attempted cleanup," including an attempt to paint over the blood spatter, he said.

"Evidence now is saying what he's claiming happened did not happen like he said it happened," Brown said of Laurean.

Lauterbach's mother, Mary Lauterbach, reported her as missing from Camp Lejeune on December 19. Mary Lauterbach said she had not talked with her daughter for five days.

Military officials said Laurean was not taken into custody after Lauterbach reported the alleged rape because there was information the two carried on "some sort of friendly relationship" after she filed the complaint against him. http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gif Watch how Marines have handled rape case » (http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/14/missing.marine/index.html#cnnSTCVideo)

Steiner disputed that and said his niece had no relationship with Laurean.


In a statement issued Sunday evening, the Marines said they are investigating what information Lauterbach's superiors had and what steps were taken regarding the case.

"It is premature to discuss those actions until the review is completed," said Lt. Col. Curtis Hill, a Marine Corps spokesman.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/14/missing.marine/index.html

It's all so tragic. I hope they get this Cpl. Laurean. He needs to face the music.