Mexicans recall Marine suspect in cabin
SAN JUAN DE LA VINA, Mexico (AP) - April 12, 2008 Some thought maybe he was a drug trafficker - something not
unheard of in these parts. It was not until Friday when they saw
Cpl. Cesar Laurean's photograph in the local newspaper that they
learned he was a U.S. Marine suspected of killing a pregnant
colleague.
Police arrested Laurean, 21, on Thursday as he was walking along
the main street in San Juan de la Vina in the municipality of
Tacambaro, ending a three-month manhunt. He is charged with
first-degree murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria
Lauterbach, 20, who had accused him of rape.
Lauterbach's burned remains were found in January in the
backyard of his home near Camp Lejeune, a coastal North Carolina
base that is home to roughly 50,000 Marines.
FBI Public Affairs Specialist Amy Thoreson said FBI agents were
present at Laurean's arrest in Mexico, but it was unclear what role
they played.
Bearded and thin, Laurean told police he survived for months
largely by eating avocados from the orchard in the mountains where
he lived in Michoacan state.
After his arrest Thursday, a slightly disoriented Laurean spoke
briefly with The Associated Press while being held by Mexican
police.
"You know my name. You know who I am," Laurean said. Asked if
he wanted to say anything, Laurean answered, "Proof," but would
not explain.
Asked what he would do next, he replied, "Do I have a choice?
... I don't know."
Residents here said Laurean lived in a three-room wood cabin
with a corrugated metal roof where he slept on a bed of crushed
cardboard boxes. On Friday, there was a notebook on the cabin's
floor showing that he kept a diary of his daily exercise routine,
including push-ups, sit-ups and crunches. There were two shelves
filled with canned tuna, instant soup and candy.
He walked to town daily, greeting those he passed, and spent
hours at the local Internet cafe.
"He always seemed really happy to see us. He was serious,
respectful," said Tomasa Boteyo, 78, who lived near his cabin.
Then on Thursday afternoon, state police officers drove through
town looking for someone, residents say. They spotted Laurean
walking toward the Internet cafe.
Lorenza Olayo, 96, who would greet Laurean daily from her front
stoop, said he did not fight back when officers grabbed him.
She said she did not know why the young man was taken away until
she saw his picture in the local newspaper the next day.
Lucio Tapia, 22, said before his arrest, Laurean told him he had
just returned from Spain and that his parents were punishing him by
making him live on an avocado orchard in Mexico.
Laurean was born in Guadalajara but reportedly moved to the U.S.
more than 10 years ago.
"I thought he was a drug trafficker," Tapia said. "There's a
lot of drugs here and drug traffickers hide out in the mountains
here."
On Friday, Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said
Laurean and his wife, Christina, sent Internet messages to each
other through the MySpace social-networking service. Christina
Laurean used her sister's computer, which was seized, Hudson said.
Christina Laurean did not break any laws by communicating with
her husband as long as she did not provide him with money or aid of
any other kind, Hudson said.
Onslow County Capt. Rick Sutherland said Cesar Laurean
"repeatedly asked for resources from family members" and that his
wife "specifically denied those resource when she was asked."
Christina Laurean fully cooperated with investigators, he said,
"and got us to the point where we are today."
The FBI said Cesar Laurean, of Las Vegas, is awaiting
extradition to the U.S., although local authorities in North
Carolina cautioned the process could take a year or more if he
decides to fight it. They encouraged him Friday to waive
extradition, saying the process - however lengthy - will inevitably
lead to his return. Laurean was being held at a Mexico City prison.
Hudson, the district attorney, agreed not to seek the death
penalty against Laurean in order to win the cooperation of Mexico
authorities, who refuse to send anyone back to the U.S. unless
assured they will not face execution. Hudson said Friday that
Mexican law requires an extradition process that will take at least
60 days to complete.
Authorities believe that on Dec. 14, Laurean killed Lauterbach,
who was eight months pregnant, after forcing her to remove money
from her bank account.
On Friday, Navy investigators said they would wait until Laurean
is returned to the United States to perform a paternity test to
determine if he was the father of the unborn child, because they
want a reliable DNA sample from him.
Lauterbach and Laurean were both personnel clerks in a logistics
unit at Camp Lejeune. Detectives have said Laurean left behind a
note for his wife in which he denied killing Lauterbach but
admitted burying her remains.
In the note, Laurean said Lauterbach committed suicide by
cutting her own throat, an assertion authorities have rejected,
citing evidence that she died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Maria's mother, Mary Lauterbach, said Friday that a sheriff
telephoned her with news of Laurean's capture. She told the Dayton
(Ohio) Daily News that she was shopping for prom dress with her
daughter Katie when she got the message.
"This has been a terrible tragedy, not only for our family but
for Cesar and Christina and Laurean's family," she said as she
backed out of her driveway at her Vandalia, Ohio, home.
In a separate statement released through her attorney,
Lauterbach added that "nothing can replace the pain" of Maria's
death but that her daughter would want justice done.
"There have always been huge question marks in my mind of what
actually happened," she told the Dayton newspaper. "I don't know
if we'll ever totally know."
---
Associated Press writers James Hannah in Vandalia, Ohio, and
Estes Thompson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.