Reward Posted for Marine Murder Suspect

Jan. 14, 2008 — -- Police indicated today that the Marine sought in the murder of a pregnant soldier who had accused him of rape was allowed to remain free for weeks after she disappeared because of questions about the validity of the sexual assault allegation.

The manhunt for Cpl. Cesar A. Laurean, 21, escalated today with wanted posters distributed nationwide and a $25,000 bounty for information leading to his capture. He is wanted for the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, 20, whose charred bones were discovered buried in a fire pit behind his house.

Sheriff Ed Brown of Onslow County, N.C., said his investigation has determined that Lauterbach was murdered Dec. 15, the day after she was last seen by her roommate, Sgt. Daniel Durham. Durham reported to the woman's family that Lauterbach had gone missing on Dec. 16. A formal missing person's report was made Dec. 19 and Lauterbach's military status was changed to "unauthorized absence."

Brown struggled to explain why the Marines had never taken Laurean into custody or shared information about the rape allegations even after Lauterbach was reported missing. The sheriff indicated that Marine officials in her unit had doubts about Lauterbach's claim of being raped by Laurean last April. She was eight months pregnant at the time of her death.

Brown said commanders at Camp Lejuene whom he'd spoken to were not aware of the rape accusation until he told them about it on Jan. 9. He also explained to the military commanders that Laurean's lawyers were preventing police from questioning him. The probe into Lauterbach's accusations had been handled at a low, or "downhill," level, Brown said.

"In the initial report, the incident on the base was being played down because of the validity of the behavior that was being attached to Maria Lauterbach," Brown said.

Doubts about Lauterbach's accusation may have been fueled by the Marine's mother who had told sheriff's authorities that her daughter had a history of lying and suffered from a mental illness.

Nevertheless, Brown said that suspicions about Lauterbach's character should not have stopped military officials from contacting the sheriff's office after she was reported missing. "Once she became a reported person, that should have caused someone to come to us and tell us, 'This is what's going on on the base,'" Brown said.

The U.S. Marine Corps said it is reviewing its handling of Lauterbach's case, specifically looking at how information was shared among officials at Camp Lejeune.