Detention order issued for Marine in homicide

If the suspect is arrested, he could be extradited or deported to the U.S. for trial.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican officials have ordered police to arrest a U.S. Marine suspected of killing a pregnant colleague from Ohio and fleeing to Mexico, a U.S. Embassy official said Tuesday.

The Embassy official, who wasn’t authorized to give a name, said Mexican officials issued a provisional arrest warrant for Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean on Monday at the request of U.S. officials. The order was first reported by CNN.

An arrest could lead to Laurean’s extradition or deportation to the United States, where he is being sought on an indictment charging him with the first-degree murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach of Vandalia in western Ohio, who had accused Laurean of rape.

Mexican authorities have been working with the U.S. for weeks on the assumption that Laurean is in Mexico. A cousin told reporters last week that Laurean visited his liquor store outside the western city of Guadalajara in mid-January, but left without saying where he was headed.

Lauterbach’s charred remains were found earlier this month with those of her fetus in a fire pit in Laurean’s back yard in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Both were stationed at nearby Camp Lejeune.

Laurean left a note for his wife, Christina, saying Lauterbach slit her own throat and he buried her in the woods near their home. An autopsy found that Lauterbach died of blunt force trauma to the head.

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, Mexico was hesitant to extradite foreigners, but U.S. officials have praised increased cooperation in recent years. State Department officials said Mexico extradited 73 suspects to the U.S. in 2007, most to face drug or murder charges.

Sometimes Mexico will forgo the traditional extradition and deport a suspected criminal for entering the country illegally — a much quicker process. More than 150 U.S. citizens were deported from Mexico last year.

However, Mexico won’t extradite anyone facing possible execution. Prosecutors have pledged not to pursue the death penalty if Laurean is found in Mexico.