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.
WTF!
Why kill the 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.
Okay.
I know that this isn't the first time that american troops have had these kinds of issues.
Why do they keep coming up?
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.
This is a lesson for future fugitives.
If you burn someone, hide the evidence.
Don't you love how these stories teach future fugitives how to cover their tracks,
so that they can't get caught.
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.
Yeah, I mean it couldn't have been the people involved, or that it was a murder...
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.
Avacados?
After his arrest Thursday, a slightly disoriented Laurean spoke briefly with The Associated Press while being held by Mexican police.
I don't know why he would be disoriented.
"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.
An explanation would be nice here.
Asked what he would do next, he replied, "Do I have a choice? ... I don't know."
Good point.
He doesn't have much of a choice.
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.
Okay. And what purpose does this serve?
Is he going to make a workout video in prison?
He walked to town daily, greeting those he passed, and spent hours at the local Internet cafe.
Okay. So he seemed like a good person.
Who really cares?
"He always seemed really happy to see us. He was serious, respectful," said Tomasa Boteyo, 78, who lived near his cabin.
Well duh!
If he acted like the killer he is, then you would have been suspicious.
If he acted like the killer he is, then you would have been suspicious.
Gosh.
Then on Thursday afternoon, state police officers drove through town looking for someone, residents say. They spotted Laurean walking toward the Internet cafe.
Well, there was a manhunt for him.
I am guessing this is how they found him.
Wow. So exciting.
Lorenza Olayo, 96, who would greet Laurean daily from her front stoop, said he did not fight back when officers grabbed him.
He didn't want to look like a fugitive.
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.
Yeah. Things like that make news headlines.
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.
Aparently it wasn't that bad on the orchard.
He lived there a few months.
Laurean was born in Guadalajara but reportedly moved to the U.S. more than 10 years ago.
Woohoo. Guadalajara.
I don't have a real reason to like it there.
I just like the name.
"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."
What is with thinking that all people taken by the police are drug dealers?
There are other ways to make good money.
Like Ebay.
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.
Duh it was taken.
It had evidence.
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.
Yeah.
I kinda already knew that.
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."
So she did the right thing.
This story is getting boring.
Christina Laurean fully cooperated with investigators, he said, "and got us to the point where we are today."
Maybe she wanted him to be taken away.
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.
Great. He could be coming back.
Another reason to hate the United States.
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.
This guy should face execution.
Even though some people claim that it is inhumane.
Well, that basically defines America for you.
Authorities believe that on Dec. 14, Laurean killed Lauterbach, who was eight months pregnant, after forcing her to remove money from her bank account.
Gosh. He could have just smuggled her to another country.
He didn't have to kill her.
At least, not while she was pregnant.
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.
I am pretty sure he is the daddy.
He raped her! Aparenty that doesn't mean much here.
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.
Either way, he is involved in the case.
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.
Yeah, there are a few differences between those two methods of death.
It is obvious to tell if she slit her throat.
And that is a lot different than being beatten to death.
Maria's mother, Mary Lauterbach, said Friday that a sheriff telephoned her with news of Laurean's capture.
"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. "At the same time, we know that Maria would want justice to be done in this case."
Yes. Now we wait.
And see what will await him...
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