Remains of slain Marine escorted to Dayton

A Marine colleague
suspected in the homicide
is being sought in Mexico.

DAYTON (AP) — A motorcade led by Marines, the U.S. Air Force and a volunteer group escorted the remains of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine to a local funeral home Friday.

The burned remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach of nearby Vandalia were found with those of her fetus earlier this month in a fire pit in the back yard of a Marine colleague’s house in Jacksonville, N.C. The colleague, Cpl. Cesar Laurean, is being sought on an indictment charging first-degree murder in Lauterbach’s death. Both were stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The motorcade accompanied Lauterbach’s body from Wright-Patterson, where a contracted airlift arranged by the military arrived Friday morning, to the Westbrock Funeral Home in Dayton about 15 miles away.

Visitation and funeral will be held at St. Christopher’s Church in Vandalia. No times had been set.

Lauterbach’s father, Victor Lauterbach, is an Air Force Reserve master sergeant in the 87th Aerial Port Squadron, part of the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson.

Wright-Patterson security personnel assisted with the motorcade, Wright-Patterson spokesman Derek Kaufman said.

Nearly 20 members of the Ohio Patriot Guard Riders accompanied the body and a Marine honor guard to the funeral home in cars and motorcycles, the group’s state captain, Robert Woods said Friday. The volunteer group, which includes veterans, provides such services to show respect when members of the military are deployed, when they arrive home and when deceased members of the military and veterans are returned home for burial.

The group will provide similar services at the funeral and burial.

Maria Lauterbach, who had accused Laurean of raping her, disappeared Dec. 14.

The FBI is leading the international manhunt for Laurean, 21, who is thought to be in his native Mexico.

Capt. Rick Sutherland of North Carolina’s Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said Friday he had no new information on the search.