Laurean Spotted in Louisiana; Headed Towards Texas

Well, it looks like we were right on target Friday afternoon. Laurean has been seen in Alabama -- headed towards Texas.

The NY Daily News reports: Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, lead suspect in the slaying of a 20-year-old pregnant marine, is on the run in Louisiana, say authorities. The nationwide manhunt for a Marine wanted in the brutal slaying of a 20-year-old pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape focused Sunday on Louisiana and Texas, after he was spotted at a bus station.

Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean was seen at a Shreveport, La., station Saturday night, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said. The bus Laurean was riding was headed to Texas, but police don’t know if he continued on that route, he said. "It will be a short trip — a short vacation — for Mr. Laurean," Brown said. "His vacation may be short, his travel may be long, but I hope we’ll be there to help him return."

On Saturday, authorities said they recovered what they believe to be the burned remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child from a fire pit in Laurean’s backyard, where they suspect he burned and buried her body. Those remains have been sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Chapel Hill for a formal identification. That same day, state authorities issued an arrest warrant on murder charges for Laurean, 21, of the Las Vegas area. They believe he fled Jacksonville before dawn Friday after leaving behind a note in which he admitted burying her body but claimed Lauterbach cut her own throat in a suicide.

Brown has challenged Laurean’s assertion that Lauterbach killed herself, citing what he described as evidence of a violent confrontation inside Laurean’s home — blood spatters on the ceiling and a massive amount of blood on the wall. Brown said Sunday that evidence in the case "leads us to believe that he would be a dangerous and violent person if put in a corner."

"What I’ve seen and what we’ve discovered indicates he does have a real heinous behavior about him," he said. Brown has said Lauterbach purchased a bus ticket to El Paso, Texas, around the time of her disappearance, but said Sunday authorities are not in possession of the ticket. Shreveport is roughly 950 miles southwest of Jacksonville, and is about two dozen miles from the Texas state line and more than 800 miles east of El Paso.

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