He hopefully will feel the full weight of the law come down on his evil shoulders.....May God have mercy on his soul but I pray also he will suffer here on this earth for the horror he inflicted on Maria Lauterbach and her child....
RALEIGH, N.C. --- A Marine personnel clerk wanted for the brutal slaying of a pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape was arrested Thursday night in Mexico after a three-month international manhunt, authorities said.
FBI agents and Mexican authorities arrested Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean about 7 p.m. EDT. He is charged with murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, a native of western Ohio. Her burned remains were found in January in the back yard of Cpl. Laurean's home near Camp Lejeune, where both were stationed.
The FBI did not say when or where in Mexico Cpl. Laurean was arrested, but said he is awaiting extradition to the U.S.
"Laurean's swift arrest in Mexico was due to the diligence and dedication of the Mexican government and our law enforcement partners," Nathan Gray, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Charlotte office, said in a statement.
"This was truly an international effort, and we will do all we can to ensure Laurean is brought back to Onslow County (N.C.) as quickly as possible to answer the charges against him," he said.
Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said after Cpl. Laurean's arrest was announced that "it could be a year or two" before authorities are able to bring him back to North Carolina if he decides to fight the extradition process.
"The extradition process is one where you have a right to appeal," Mr. Hudson told The Associated Press. "I have no idea whether he would waive extradition."
Authorities think Cpl. Laurean killed 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Lauterbach, who was eight months pregnant when she died, in mid-December.
Detectives have said he left behind a note for his wife in which he denied killing Lance Cpl. Lauterbach but admitted to burying her remains.
In the note, Cpl. Laurean said Lance Cpl. Lauterbach committed suicide by cutting her own throat.
Authorities rejected the assertion, saying evidence indicates Lance Cpl. Lauterbach died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Tipped by the note, and not long after authorities went public in their search for Lance Cpl. Lauterbach, detectives discovered the charred remains of the missing Marine and her fetus in a shallow grave in Cpl. Laurean's backyard.
Phone messages seeking comment left at Lance Cpl. Lauterbach's parents' home in Vandalia, Ohio, with her uncle Pete Steiner, and with family attorney Chris Conard were not immediately returned late Thursday. A woman who answered the phone at the home of Lance Cpl. Laurean's father-in-law, Bruce Shifflet, near Prospect, Ohio, hung up without commenting.
Should Cpl. Laurean be returned to North Carolina to stand trial, it would be unlikely he would face the death penalty. Mr. Hudson agreed not to seek an execution in order to win the cooperation of Mexico authorities, who refuse to send anyone back to the U.S. unless provided assurance they won't face a death sentence.
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