Laurean
Lauterbach
Posted on 01/12/2008 8:48:09 AM PST by Kaslin
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. - Authorities detailed gruesome evidence of a pregnant Marine's death Saturday as they excavated a fire pit where they believe a comrade she accused of rape burned and buried her body after a horrific attack.
Investigators have found blood spatters on the ceiling and a massive amount of blood on the wall of the home of Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said. It appeared that someone had tried to wash and paint over the blood, he said.
"I believe this is going to be a bizarre discovery today," Brown said. "The blood splatters indicate a violent, violent attack."
A nationwide search for Laurean continued Saturday, a day after Brown identified him as the key suspect in the death of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach. She disappeared in December, just days after meeting with military prosecutors to talk about her allegation that Laurean raped her.
Before fleeing Jacksonville early Friday, Brown said, Laurean left a note that said Lauterbach had "come to his residence and cut her (own) throat." Brown confirmed Saturday that authorities received the note from Laurean's wife, Christina, around 8 a.m. Friday, about four hours after they suspect he fled.
Laurean wrote in the note that he had nothing to do with Lauterbach's suicide, but that he had buried her body, the sheriff said.
Authorities have dismissed the idea that Lauterbach killed herself, pointing to the blood stains and the obvious signs of a cleanup inside Laurean's one-story, brown brick ranch home. Brown challenged Laurean, who has not been charged with a crime, to come forward and defend his claims of innocence.
Brown declined to comment when asked if authorities thought Christina Laurean was involved or even aware of her husband's actions.
She is "heartbroken," said her mother, Debbie Sue Shifflet.
"I feel sorry for the other family," Shifflet said. "It's horrible what they're going through. My heart goes out to them."
In the backyard of Laurean's home, authorities found what "appeared to be burnt human remains" in the fire pit, District Attorney Dewey Hudson said. State investigators planned to use garden tools to slowly scrape dirt from the site, protected overnight by a tarp and two white tents.
"We think we have found what will (contain) the skeletal remains of Maria Lauterbach," Hudson said.
Brown said Saturday there had been no sightings of Laurean, 21, of the Las Vegas area. He had refused to meet with investigators and left without telling his lawyers where he was going, the sheriff said.
Lauterbach met with military prosecutors last month to discuss pursuing rape charges against Laurean, said Kevin Marks, supervisory agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Camp Lejeune. He said military prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to argue that the case should go to trial.
In court papers filed this week, prosecutors said the anticipated birth of the baby "might provide evidentiary credence to charges she lodged with military authorities that she was sexually assaulted." Lauterbach reported the rape in April and was due to give birth in mid-February, authorities said.
In a brief interview Friday night with reporters outside the family's home in Vandalia, Ohio, Lauterbach's uncle, Pete Steiner, said the rapist was the father.
Authorities said they were not concerned that Laurean would flee because they had information he and Lauterbach carried on a "friendly relationship" even after she reported the assault to military authorities. There is no indication Lauterbach asked the military to protect her after she leveled the rape allegations, investigators said.
Steiner, however, said his niece didn't have any kind of relationship with her attacker, and that Lauterbach had been forced to rent a room off base because of harassment at Camp Lejeune.
"She was raped," Steiner said. "The Marines, unfortunately, did not protect her, and now she's dead."
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Lauterbach was reported missing Dec. 19 by her mother, who last spoke with her daughter on Dec. 14, authorities said. Her cell phone was found Dec. 20 near the main gate at Camp Lejeune, and she missed a Dec. 26 prenatal care appointment.
Lauterbach was assigned to the 2nd Marine Logistics Group of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune. She joined the Marines in June 2006, and had not been sent to either Iraq or Afghanistan. Laurean worked in the same unit, where both were personnel clerks.
It’s front page news to All Marines.
Terribly sad.
Jesus Christ....
Unless she was on leave after Dec. 19, it’s incredible that no one reported her missing until now. I’m sure she was missing duty and yet, no one investigated?
I know there is nothing new under the sun, but the depths of depravity humans are capable of still sickens me.
I’m betting this punk is already dead.
Prayers to her family.
This is just the most unusual case.
Yesterday I was hearing, early in the morn, that this woman’s “stepmother” had told investigators that her stepdaughter was bipolar and tended to tell lies.
Then the sheriff or some poohbah from the law enforcement folks around Lejeune was on TV all morning telling he would soon have “good” news about Lauterback.
I was shocked when all the information came out about a grave, burned remains and I wondered about this loving stepmother saying all that awful stuff when her daughter was laying dead and burnt up beneath this guy’s lawn.
So okay....I keep reading and wow. First, the victim accused this guy of raping her, according to the story, in April of 2007 I must assume. she was due to give birth February of 2008.
Using the old-fashioned finger counting method I deduce that the alleged rape, reported in april but could have occured before that, was NOT when the baby was conceived.
Because a baby conceived in April would be due for birth in December. Obviously a baby conceived before April 2007 would be due for birth sooner than December 2007.
so the baby due to be born in February next month would have been conceived in May of 2007 or thereabouts.
Now if this alleged rapist is the father of the baby, as I read in the article, this would mean that the victim had been with this soldier AFTER he raped her. In the biblical sense, I mean.
Further, I must wonder what the victim was doing at the guy’s house. He allegedly raped her! How many rape victims go to the rapist’s house? I suppose he could have taken her there against her will, I’ll allow.
You know what I think? and don’t lambaste me because I’m speculating here. I’m a bit of a True Crime afficiando so forgive the speculation but I think this how thing is a personal matter between those two.
Of course the guy killed Lauterback and that makes it murder, duh. but I think that Lauterback (please forgive my spelling for now) wanted this guy to leave his wife, which he evidently did not do. I think Lauterback might have told authorities that he raped her in retribution for the guy’s refusal to leave his wife and marry her. I think finally she got pregnant on purpose and still hoped he would leave his wife.
The disappearance around the time for the sworn testimony could have been the impetus to have her go to his house...a “if you don’t do what I’ll want I’m going ahead with the testimony” kind of thing.
Hey, Lauterback is a victim. I understand this. Whatever she may have done in her torment, she did not deserve to be burned up and buried in this guy’s back yard. For sure her baby deserved to live.
But the timing of that rape report and her pregnancy just doesn’t jive.
Thus I speculate what I think is going on here.
Opinions, brickbats, sarcasm?
They worked together in personnel, it is entirely possible that he doctored the Morning Report to cover her absence.
Perhaps one of her last acts on this earth was to purchase a bus ticket to El Paso Texas.
Her car and cell phone were found near the Bus Station.
She may have been on pre-deployment leave, same as my son was on right around the Christmas holidays. He only went back to Lejeune on the 6th, so if she was on pre-deployment leave, that may be why no one there noticed her absence.
Laurean
Lauterbach
Documents: Missing Marine Claimed Officer Raped Her, Family Says History of Lying>
-- snip --
The woman made the allegation to her stepmother, who also told investigators looking for the 20-year-old lance corporal that her stepdaughter was bipolar and had a history of compulsive lying, the documents filed this week state.
-- snip --
Her mother lives in Ohio according to the other article, which link I posted.. It doesn't say where the step mother lives
Your evidence can, indeed, lead to the conclusion you offered. At the very least, if she carried on a “friendly relationship” with her rapist that would make the rape accusation suspect.
(2) The accused rapist is Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean who is married to a fellow Marine, the former Christina Shifflett.
(3) According to the accused rapist's mother-in-law, Debbie Sue Shifflett, Maria Lauterbach was a compulsive liar and suffering from bipolar disorder. This woman also claims that Maria Lauterbach and her accused rapist had a friendly relationship after she reported the rape.
Maria Lauterbach's uncle Peter Steiner contradicts this claim, saying that Maria Lauterbach was living off the base because she was being harassed by the accused rapist.
(4) The last time any of Maria Lauterbach's family set eyes on her was December 13. The last member of her family to speak to her on the phone was her mother, Mary Lauterbach, in a conversation on December 15. Mary Lauterbach reported Maria Lauterbach missing on December 19.
(5) At some point after December 19 Maria Lauterbach's abandoned cell phone and vehicle were recovered, and authorities contacted Cesar Laurean to ask him about Maria Lauterbach's disappearance. His attorney apparently directed him not to cooperate with investigators.
(6) Between the time of Laurean's refusal to cooperate and January 10, Laurean penned a note to his wife, Christina Shifflett Laurean, in which he alleges that Maria Lauterbach committed suicide by slitting her own throat and that he buried her body in a panic.
(7) Since the receipt of that note, Christina Shifflett Laurean claims to have neither seen nor heard from her husband. His vehicle is missing. According to state police, Mrs. Laurean has been cooperating fully with the investigation.
(8) On January 10 blood was found in Laurean's house and a burned body was found on his property.
My personal analysis: Maria Lauterbach may have had an affair with a married fellow Marine and may have accused him of rape. It seems entirely likely that Laurean may indeed have raped her, perhaps in anger after she broke things off.
After the incident, Laurean probably approached her to get her to change her account of the incident, hence Debbie Sue Shifflett's claim that Maria Lauterbach and Cesar Laurean were friends after the incident. She probably refused to change her testimony and moved off base.
She was days away from giving testimony against him that would end his career and possibly get him an other-than-honorable discharge, plus she was carrying his child and would likely be petitioning for the requisite child support. I can't imagine any of this having a good impact on his marriage or on his wife's career.
Most likely Laurean had told his wife and his mother-in-law that Maria Lauterbach was lying, was mentally unstable and that the child she was carrying wasn't his.
Yet a postnatal DNA test that would prove he fathered the child was just weeks away.
He snapped.
I hope they locate him and I hope he does not survive their attempts to take him into custody.
It is. Sheriff’s Department doing the job NCIS won’t do.
Her mother reported her missing on December 19.
I am glad you clarified this. Terrible how many have beenr eady to blame Maria.
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