Murdered Marine: You call this an investigation?

Randi Kaye of Anderson Cooper 360 makes some EXCELLENT points in her blog post from earlier this morning...
Today, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown announced he won't be talking to the media anymore, until Corporal Cesar Laurean is caught. Laurean is the U.S. Marine charged in the brutal murder of fellow Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child. He's been on the run since last Friday. Police believe they recovered Lauterbach's charred remains in a fire pit behind Laurean's home over the weekend along with those of her baby.

Sheriff Brown has been holding press conferences daily and doing one-on-one interviews with local and national media. Now he says it's time to get back to work and we shouldn't expect a word from him until Laurean is behind bars. I've never heard of holding a press conference to announce you're NOT going to hold press conferences anymore. But nothing in this case has been business as usual.

The Marines knew Maria Lauterbach had accused Cesar Laurean of rape and didn't give the Sheriff his name until January 7th, TWENTY days after she disappeared.

The Marines knew Laurean was forbidden to go near Lauterbach. A military protective order was issued in June 2007. It had expired in September 2007, but the Marines never even told Sheriff Brown about it. He told me he wasn't aware of it until last weekend when his deputies found the paperwork in Lauterbach's car.

Can you imagine?

Turns out there is no protocol in place for the Marines when it comes to sharing information with civil law enforcement. Read on...

EDITORIAL: It seems to me that the Lauterbach family has grounds for a precedent-setting lawsuit against the Marine Corps. There is ZERO EXCUSE for the military police not sharing information with the sheriff's department once Maria Lauterbach went missing. It is INTOLERABLE that they did NOTHING to assist -- and even thwarted law enforcement efforts -- in the missing persons case.

As for the civilian authorities, Sheriff Brown and his deputies need to charge Christina Laurean as an accessory to murder (minimally) or a co-conspirator (more likely) in the deaths of Lauterbach and her unborn child. I can't fathom how Cesar Laurean's wife could not have known a violent murder took place in their home. Come on! He washed and painted the walls without any previous decision on both their parts. What husband does that?!? [Some records indicate Christina Laurean said she assisted Cesar with painting the walls.]

Also, why would Christina S. Laurean not question a fire pit freshly dug in the backyard; a large fire burned Christmas Eve (odd time for a fire) -- and then another fire (neighbors says Christina called it a "bonfire with friends") Christmas night?!? I may be wrongly accusing her of being involved, but I just don't see how the facts could prove otherwise.