A Marine wanted in the brutal slaying of a pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape was arrested Thursday night in Mexico after a three-month international manhunt, authorities said. FBI agents and Mexican authorities arrested Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean around 7 p.m. EDT. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, whose burned remains were found in January in the backyard of his home near Camp Lejeune.
"You know my name. You know who I am," Laurean told The Associated Press while being held at the Michoacan state Attorney General's Office in Morelia, the state capital. Asked if he wanted to say anything, Laurean simply said, "Proof," but wouldn't explain. Laurean appeared slightly disoriented. Asked what he would do next, he replied: "Do I have a choice? ... I don't know."
Magdalena Guzman, a spokeswoman for the Michoacan, Mexico, state prosecutors office, said police carrying out an anti-kidnapping operation stopped Laurean as he wandered on a street in the rural township of Tacambaro, Michoacan, because they thought he looked suspicious. When they realized he didn't speak Spanish well, they became even more suspicious. After running his name through a computer, they realized Laurean was wanted in the United States to face charges in Lauterbach's death.
Guzman said Laurean told the arresting officers he had only 10 pesos (about US$1) in his pocket, and that he had been surviving by eating avocados and other fruit he found in the fields of the farming community where he was found. The FBI said Laurean, 21, is awaiting extradition to the U.S., although local prosecutors in North Carolina cautioned the process could take a year or more. "Laurean's swift arrest in Mexico was due to the diligence and dedication of the Mexican government and our law enforcement partners," Nathan Gray, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Charlotte office, said in a statement. "This was truly an international effort, and we will do all we can to ensure Laurean is brought back to Onslow County (N.C.) as quickly as possible to answer the charges against him."
Friday, April 11, 2008
Rapist / Murderer Cesar Laurean Captured in Mexico
Friday, January 11, 2008
Who Is Cesar Armando Laurean? Where Is He?
The blogosphere is already developing a picture of who Cesar Armando Laurean is. Here is what we have gathered thus far. [This information will be updated as we obtain more data on Corporal Laurean -- in hopes someone will put everything together and offer investigators a substantial lead in the case.]
Name: Cesar Armando Laurean (earlier reported as Lauren or Lauran)
Age: 21
Occupation: Personnel Clerk
Employer: US Marines; Stationed at Camp LeJeune, NC
Address: 103 Meadow Trail, Jacksonville, NC
Physical Appearance: Hispanic male
Height: 5'9"
Weight: ~165 lbs
Previous Address: Clark County, NV
Education: Graduated from Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas, NV in 2004
Marital Status: Unknown; Was married to Christina Sue Smith in 2005 (Marriage license# 2005-00001647)
[Laurean listed himself on MySpace as "Single". However property records in Onslow County show a Cesar and Christina S. Laurean as homeowners -- with a resident near the area where police are searching for Maria Lauterbach's body.]
Children: 1 known - Female - Abrianna Sue; Born 2006
We are still betting that Cpl. Laurean is heading towards El Paso, TX. I doubt he would try to make it to Las Vegas as that would take days and days of driving. My guess is that he either forced Maria Lauterbach to purchase a bus ticket to El Paso or persuaded her to run away with him. Then, either something went wrong or he deliberately killed her. We should know within the next 48-72 hours -- as he will be caught or Lauterbach's body will be found. I am quite confident of that.
Cesar Armando Laurean Sought in Double Murder of Lauterbach and Unborn Child
UPDATED: 3:58pm ETWe have obtained a picture of the 2004 black Dodge Ram quad cab pickup truck Laurean used to flee the Jacksonville area earlier today. The truck is registered in North Carolina with tag number TRR-1522 on the plate.
[We would bet on Laurean heading towards El Paso, TX. State police are likely patrolling I-95 South, and I-20 West in North and South Carolina, looking for Cpl. Laurean. If he follows normal driving, the cops should be able to pick him up somewhere around Birmingham, Alabama. If he sleeps a few hours during the day, my next guess would be Jackson, MS or possibly even Shreveport, LA. Now that he is being hunted, he will likely want to travel at night.]
An ABP was put out for Laurean's arrest as the primary suspect in the Lauterbach case after a local female, who is a former Marine, offered Sheriff Ed Brown "tangible evidence" that Lance Cpl. Lauterbach was dead. Currently, law enforcement officials have not located Lauterbach's body. They are scouring an area off Gum Branch Road and North Bryan Road, in Jacksonville, for a shallow grave.
If you see Cesar Laurean or his truck, you are urged to contact the Onslow County Sheriff's Department at (910) 455-3113 or the NC State Bureau of Investigation.
Maria Lauterbach Dead - Cpl. Cesar Laurean is Prime Suspect
A nine-month pregnant Marine missing for nearly a month is dead, and investigators were seeking another Marine whom she had accused of sexually assaulting her, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said Friday midday.
[To make sure everyone gets the story straight, Lauterbach originally stated that a senior officer has raped her. Later, it was determined that a fellow enlisted Marine was the perpetrator.]
Authorities had not recovered the body of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach, but believe she was buried in a shallow grave off Gum Branch Road (near North Bryan and Meadow Trail in Jacksonville, NC), Sheriff Brown said. Police are also likely checking a nearby creek.
Brown and an NCIS officer both stated that a witness (identified only as a female) came forward early this morning with tangible evidence that led them to believe Lance Cpl. Lauterbach and her unborn child are dead. Law enforcement spokesmen said the mother & child were killed on or shortly after December 20, 2007.
Maria Lauterbach had originally 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 during an Article 32 proceeding. Brown said the Marine, now identified as Corporal Cesar Armando Laurean 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." According to Brown, Cesar Laurean left Jacksonville this morning in a black Dodge pickup truck (NC tag has 1522 in it).
Brown said Lauterbach may have been due to give birth January 8. The police reports, however, said she was due on February 14 and did not show up for a prenatal medical appointment December 28.
Lauterbach's cell phone was found on a roadside near Camp Lejeune on December 20. Her car (a 2006 Hyundai Sonata) was found Monday in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant (near the bus station), Brown said, and apparently had been there since December 15.
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 military person."
