Authorities seeking grave of missing Dayton Marine

Investigators were looking for blood and other
evidence inside the house Friday night.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Authorities searching for the shallow grave of a pregnant Marine placed a tarp and two white tents over a small patch of ground Friday and planned to begin slowly scraping the earth with garden tools in the morning.

Investigators described the site as an underground cavity in the backyard of a fellow Marine whom Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach had accused of rape.

Lauterbach, 20, originally from Dayton, Ohio, vanished three weeks ago, days after she talked to prosecutors about the rape case. Authorities said Friday that information from another woman, a former Marine, left them certain that she is dead.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown stopped short of saying investigators believe Lauterbach’s body had been found; he called the site a “center of interest.”

Yet he added, “We feel to search anywhere else to validate our suspicions will be useless. ... We have no plans to look anywhere else.”

Megan Melton, who lives about 100 yards from the area, said dozens of vultures had descended on the area in the past few weeks.

Authorities suspended their search of the backyard of Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean for the day shortly after 5 p.m. But investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation planned to move indoors Friday night and begin a search for blood and other evidence inside his one-story, brown brick ranch home not far from Camp Lejeune.

The search continued for Laurean, the key suspect. The 21-year-old man from Clark County, Nev., refused to meet with investigators and apparently left the area without telling his lawyers where he was going, the sheriff said.

“They don’t know where he is,” Brown said. “He’s gone.”

Lauterbach met with military prosecutors in December to discuss pursuing rape charges against Laurean, said Kevin Marks, supervisory agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Camp Lejeune. He said military prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to argue that the case should go to trial.

In court papers filed this week, prosecutors said the anticipated birth of the baby “might provide evidentiary credence to charges she lodged with military authorities that she was sexually assaulted.” Lauterbach reported the rape in April and was due to give birth in mid-February, authorities said.

Authorities said they were not concerned that Laurean would flee because they had information the pair carried on a “friendly relationship” even after she reported the assault to military authorities.

There is no indication Lauterbach asked the military to protect her after she leveled the rape allegations, investigators said.

Detectives received news of Lauterbach’s death from an unidentified female witness who is a former Marine, the sheriff said.

Evidence and statements the witness provided made investigators feel certain Lauterbach was dead, Brown said.

“I had my insides knocked out with this negative information,” he said. “I was about to cry.”

Laurean and Lauterbach worked in the same unit as personnel clerks.

Lauterbach was reported missing Dec. 19 by her mother, who last spoke with her daughter Dec. 14, authorities said. Her cell phone was found Dec. 20 near the main gate at Camp Lejeune, and she missed a Dec. 26 prenatal care appointment.

Television trucks lined the curb in front of the Lauterbach family home, in Vandalia, some 10 miles north of Dayton. The family released a statement through Dayton’s WDTN-TV late Friday afternoon:

“We would like to thank everyone for their prayers in this time of grieving. Maria has been a gift for her family and friends. The outpouring of love from family, friends, neighbors and the general community has been very touching.

“Please understand that the family needs time alone to deal with this tragedy. We wish to thank everyone for their love and concern.”

There were flower deliveries, and a steady stream of people came to visit the family, many bringing food.

At St. Christopher School in Vandalia, which Lauterbach attended from kindergarten through eighth grade, the principal said school leaders gathered the older pupils inside the Catholic church Friday afternoon to tell them the news of her death.

“We had a little prayer service,” said Sister Patricia Kremer. “It’s been a rough day. I watched her grow up.”

She remembered Lauterbach as “a tomboy with a lot of energy.”

“She was a good kid. She just had a really good heart,” Kremer said.

A neighbor, Kent Zimmerman, said he has known the Lauterbach family for 10 years and described Maria as a “very polite, very respectful” young woman who was a wonderful neighbor.

“We’re just shocked by the news, and just sickened by the outcome,” he said. “We were really praying for the best. We were hoping there was just a misunderstanding, that she would find her way home.”

Zimmerman said she was energetic and loved sports.

Lauterbach was assigned to the 2nd Marine Logistics Group of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune. She joined the Marines in June 2006 and had not been sent to either Iraq or Afghanistan.