Saturday, January 19, 2008
Mexico doesn’t extradite anyone who might be
executed.
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
RALEIGH, N.C. — Onslow County sheriff’s investigators released a photo Friday that they believe shows Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean using the ATM card of a comrade whose body was later found buried in his backyard.
Investigators had earlier said that an unidentified man had used an ATM card belonging to Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach on Dec. 24, nine days after she disappeared. Lauterbach, who was about eight months pregnant, was found in a shallow pit last weekend; authorities say she died from one or more blows to the head.
Sheriff’s investigators say the photo released Friday was taken on Christmas Eve at an ATM machine in Jacksonville, outside Camp Lejeune where Laurean and Lauterbach worked. Authorities have previously said that an ATM card belonging to Lauterbach was found near the Greyhound bus station in Durham last Saturday, the day after Laurean disappeared.
Laurean, 21, who has been charged with first-degree murder, has not been seen since the day before Lauterbach’s body was found. Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation continued to hunt for him Friday, concentrating on Laurean’s home country of Mexico.
“We strongly suspect he’s in Mexico, but we haven’t confirmed it,” said FBI agent Newsom Summerlin. “We’re still, certainly, following up on any leads that he may be in the United States.”
This week, agents translated a “wanted” poster into Spanish. The FBI is considering printing business cards with Laurean’s photo to pass out to civilians in Mexico. They’re relying on Mexican authorities to check into tips about Laurean’s possible whereabouts in Mexico.
If Laurean is apprehended in Mexico, returning him to the United States could be tricky. Mexican authorities don’t extradite suspects wanted for crimes that could carry the death penalty.
Laurean’s abandoned truck was discovered Tuesday parked behind a motel in Morrisville, N.C., near Raleigh-Durham International Airport.