Marine Newlyweds Missing From SoCal Base

April 4, 2008 — -- A pair of Marine newlyweds are missing in California and while investigators believe, for now, the two took off on their own, the bride's family fears the woman was taken forcibly by her new husband.

The U.S. Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, Calif., confirmed that the status of Lance Cpl. Margaret McMahon and Pfc. George "Kevyn" Reid II was officially changed to "unauthorized absence" Tuesday morning, a day after the husband and wife failed to show up at their respective posts for work.

The Marines' family members were notified of the disappearance Monday, according to the release from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton.

Escondido, Calif., police reportedly told McMahon's family that $400 was withdrawn from her bank account Tuesday night around midnight in Hazelwood, Mo., 1,900 miles away from the Southern California military base.

McMahon's mother, who fears she may have been abducted, filed a missing person's report with the Escondido Police Department, the town where the couple shared an apartment about 20 miles from the base.

Investigators searched the couple's apartment Thursday, Lt. Robert Benton of the Escondido Police Department told ABC News, and found no evidence of foul play.

"We don't have any information that suggests that there's any suspicious circumstance other than they are voluntarily missing," Benton said.

Benton said the couple's Chevrolet Cavalier, which is either white or silver in color, is also missing.

McMahon, 20, is identified as a communications staff member at Camp Pendleton's headquarters, while Reid, 22, works as a communication employee at Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar.

Both have served as Marines for 10 months, according to the release, and neither has been deployed for combat. Reid, however, was scheduled for deployment to Iraq this summer, according to Miramar spokesman 2nd Lt. Gregory A. Wolf.

A spokesman for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which has also joined the investigation, said that department had found "no evidence of foul play."

Runaways or an Abuction?

While the Marines, the police and naval investigation unit describe the pair as "missing," family members of McMahon suggest that the woman was taken from the military base by Reid against her will.

Heather McMahon, Margaret's sister, approached her local congressman, U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., who represents McMahon's Long Island hometown of Sag Harbor.

"Heather's family believes that she was unwillingly taken by her husband," Bishop wrote this week in a letter to the Department of Defense in which he asked that officials step in to coordinate the various agencies involved. A spokesman for Bishop said defense officials responded to the letter, pledging to work on the case.

A message left by ABC News at McMahon's family home in Sag Harbor was not returned. But McMahon family members told Newsday that Margaret was last seen Monday morning when she left to file paperwork to change her name legally after her January marriage to Reid. One relative said she had been in an argument with her husband Sunday night.

Since the couple's disappearance, calls to Margaret McMahon's phone have gone straight to voice mail and she has not logged into her MySpace page, in which she identifies herself as "Mrs. Reid" and describes her first thought upon waking up in the morning as "Where's Kev?" To the question "What country would you like to visit most?" she responds, "Not Iraq."

Reid's MySpace page has been logged into this week, as recently as Thursday. In his bio, he describes North Carolina as his home, announces his summer deployment for Iraq and shares his hope that his time in the military will land him a better job.

"I like to think of myself as a fun, outgoing, charming, smart, talkative, friendly person," he writes. "Though many people tell me I am different. They say I come off cocky and arrogant." He also apologizes to interested women for his recent nuptials. "Sorry ladies, I'm happily married."

Kathy McMahon, Margaret's mother, told Newsday that the newlyweds seemed to argue often and that Reid had a jealous streak that she warned her daughter about.

Lauterbach-Laurean Murder, Manhunt

Another recent missing Marine case -- this one out of Camp Lejeune in North Carolina -- turned into a homicide investigation in January and an still ongoing manhunt for a Marine wanted with murder.

Cpl. Cesar Laurean, 21, was indicted in January for the December murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, 20, a pregnant Marine who had accused Laurean of rape.

Lauterbach's remains were found buried in a fire pit in Laurean's backyard Jan. 12, a day after he disappeared and nearly a month after she was last seen.

Laurean's truck was recovered about 135 miles from Camp Lejeune and an international manhunt initially focused on Mexico. Laurean, however, remains on the run and there have been no developments in the case, according to Capt. Rick Sutherland, a spokesman for the Onslow County Sheriff's Office.

Video surveillance at a Lowe's home improvement store captured Laurean buying items that could have been used to build the fire pit in the days after Lauterbach was killed by blunt force trauma to her head.

At the time of Lauterbach's disappearance, military investigators were probing rape charges the Marine had lodged against Laurean, her senior co-worker at the military base.