Texas: Hunt on for man wanted for murder of pregnant colleague

The nationwide manhunt for a US Marine wanted over the brutal killing of a 20-year-old pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape focused on Louisiana and Texas today, after he was apparently seen catching a bus.

Witnesses said they saw Cpl Cesar Laurean was seen at a Shreveport, Louisiana, bus station on Saturday night, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said.

The bus Laurean was on was heading to Texas, but police do not know if he continued on that route, he said.

Sheriff Brown said his detectives were still trying to confirm the sightings, backing away from earlier assurances that the witness accounts were genuine. But he was confident Laurean would soon be in custody.

On Saturday, authorities said they recovered what they believed to be the burned remains of Lance Cpl Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child from a fire pit in Laurean’s back garden in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where they suspect he burned and buried her body.

Those remains have been sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Chapel Hill for a formal identification.

State authorities issued an arrest warrant on murder charges for Laurean, 21, originally from the Las Vegas area. They believe he fled Jacksonville before dawn on Friday after leaving behind a note in which he admitted burying her body, but claimed Ms Lauterbach cut her own throat in a suicide.

Sheriff Brown has challenged Laurean’s claim that Ms Lauterbach killed herself, citing what he described as evidence of a violent confrontation inside Laurean’s home – blood spatters on the ceiling and a massive amount of blood on the wall.

He said evidence in the case “leads us to believe that he would be a dangerous and violent person if put in a corner”.

Sheriff Brown said Ms Lauterbach bought a bus ticket to El Paso, Texas, around the time of her disappearance. Shreveport is is about 24 miles from the Texas state line.

The FBI said Laurean was also wanted on a federal warrant charging him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Ms Lauterbach disappeared some time after December 14, not long after she met military prosecutors to talk about an allegation she made in April that Laurean raped her.

Naval investigators said the rape case was progressing and Laurean had been under a protective order to stay away from Ms Lauterbach.

Authorities received Laurean’s note about the purported suicide from Laurean’s wife, whom Sheriff Brown said was co-operating with authorities. Her family has described her as “heartbroken”.

Naval investigators said authorities did not consider Laurean a threat to Ms Lauterbach, or later a flight risk, because they had indications the pair were on friendly terms.

Laurean later refused to meet investigators and left town without telling his lawyers where he was going.