Lauterbach honored in closed memorial service
BY JENNIFER HLAD2008-02-28 19:48:00 DAILY NEWS STAFF
Friends, family and fellow Marines honored Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach on Thursday in a memorial ceremony closed to the media.
A spokeswoman for the 2nd Marine Logistics Group confirmed the ceremony took place, but she offered no details about the service or why it was kept secret.
Lauterbach was a personnel clerk with Combat Logistics Battalion-27, 2nd MLG when she disappeared Dec. 14. Her body was found Jan. 12, buried in the backyard of fellow CLB-27 Marine Cesar Laurean, whom she had accused of rape.
Lauterbach’s story struck a chord with people across the country, who posted hundreds of comments on The Daily News’ Web site and other sites set up in the Marine’s memory. The story also hit home for Michael Warren, a Marine who retired in 2004.
Warren, the owner of Gunny’s Chevron Shop in Jacksonville, wanted to do something for the family, he said. So he created a shadowbox containing a dress blue uniform jacket with the medals and rank Lauterbach wore, as well as an American flag and a female Marine symbol. Thursday, he presented it to CLB-27, which presented it to Lauterbach’s family at the memorial service.
“I was watching the news … I wanted to do something about it,” he said. “I wanted to give something to the family.”
The service at Camp Lejeune’s Catholic Chapel was limited to CLB-27 and Lauterbach’s family, Warren said.
When the shadowbox was presented to the Lauterbach family, Warren said he gave Maria’s mother, Mary Lauterbach, “a big old hug.”
Warren said he thinks the gift will be meaningful to Lauterbach’s family, and he hopes it will bring a little closure.
“I did it for my heart,” he said. “I was given a gift by God, and I decided to use that gift … to help bring closure. The rest is up to the man upstairs.”
Lauterbach in May accused Laurean of rape, and II Marine Expeditionary Force spokesman Lt. Col. Curtis Hill said she was moved to a different office, “basically across the base” from Laurean’s.
In June, Lauterbach learned she was pregnant and said the pregnancy was a result of Laurean raping her, according to an official statement Hill gave in January. She altered her statement in November, Hill said, maintaining that Laurean had raped her but saying she was no longer sure the baby was the result of that rape.
She was in the third trimester of pregnancy when she went missing in December. In the January statement, Hill said she reported to work as usual on Dec. 14 — a Friday — but did not attend an optional unit Christmas party that evening.
That same day, her roommate found a note he believed was left by Lauterbach, saying she was “going away,” Hill said. She did not report to work the following Monday, Dec. 17, and unit officials tried to contact her because they were concerned for her welfare, Hill said.
Jan. 11, Laurean did not show up for work and was reported as on unauthorized leave status. Later that morning, the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department named Laurean a “person of interest” and learned from Laurean’s wife that he had fled, leaving behind a note claiming Lauterbach had taken her own life and he had buried her body behind their home.
Investigators began searching the Half Moon-area home and found large amounts of blood inside the house. Jan. 12, they unearthed Lauterbach’s body and that of her unborn child in a shallow pit in the backyard. Autopsy results revealed she died of blunt force head trauma.
Laurean has been on the run since Jan. 11, and was indicted on first-degree murder and other charges for Lauterbach’s death. Authorities have said they believe he is in Mexico, where he has dual citizenship, but they have not offered any new details on the case in weeks.