By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times
Former Camp Lejeune Marine, Cesar Laurean has been found guilty by a Wayne County Jury of first degree murder in the death of Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach, WCNC.com has reported.
The five men, seven women jury also found Laurean, a Mexican national, guilty of financial card theft and financial card fraud, but was found not guilty of robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Laurean was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Laurean was on trial for the brutal murder of Lauterbach, a fellow Marine who was seven months pregnant at the time of her death. She had accused Laurean, the married father of one, of raping her and fathering her unborn child. DNA tests later confirmed that the 23-year-old Las Vegas native was not the father of Lauterbach's child.
Laurean and Lauterbach were assigned to the same Logistics unit aboard Marine Corp Base Camp Lejeune, NC and had been involved in an extra marital affair at one time. In December 2007, Lauterbach disappeared.
After an intense investigation, Onslow County Sheriff's investigators found Lauterbach's charred remains buried beneath a homemade fire pit in the backyard of the home Laurean shared with his wife, Christina in the Half Moon neighborhood of Jacksonville, North Carolina in January 2008.
District Attorney Dewey Hudson asserted that Laurean killed Lauterbach because she accused him of rape thus threatening his career and marriage. A friend of Laurean's testified in court that Laurean told him the sex was consensual.
Laurean fled the state of North Carolina before he could be charged with Lauterbach's death and was later captured in Mexico.
Mary Lauterbach, Maria's adopted mother read aloud a statement before the court. She told Laurean to look at his mother and see the pain in her face.
"I feel so sorry for your daughter. She will have to live with the shame that her father is in prison for murdering not one but two people," Mary Lauterbach said.
Defense lawyer Dick McNeil told the court Laurean would appeal. The judge ordered the state's appellate defender's office to represent Laurean's appeal.
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The five men, seven women jury also found Laurean, a Mexican national, guilty of financial card theft and financial card fraud, but was found not guilty of robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Laurean was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Laurean was on trial for the brutal murder of Lauterbach, a fellow Marine who was seven months pregnant at the time of her death. She had accused Laurean, the married father of one, of raping her and fathering her unborn child. DNA tests later confirmed that the 23-year-old Las Vegas native was not the father of Lauterbach's child.
Laurean and Lauterbach were assigned to the same Logistics unit aboard Marine Corp Base Camp Lejeune, NC and had been involved in an extra marital affair at one time. In December 2007, Lauterbach disappeared.
After an intense investigation, Onslow County Sheriff's investigators found Lauterbach's charred remains buried beneath a homemade fire pit in the backyard of the home Laurean shared with his wife, Christina in the Half Moon neighborhood of Jacksonville, North Carolina in January 2008.
District Attorney Dewey Hudson asserted that Laurean killed Lauterbach because she accused him of rape thus threatening his career and marriage. A friend of Laurean's testified in court that Laurean told him the sex was consensual.
Laurean fled the state of North Carolina before he could be charged with Lauterbach's death and was later captured in Mexico.
Mary Lauterbach, Maria's adopted mother read aloud a statement before the court. She told Laurean to look at his mother and see the pain in her face.
"I feel so sorry for your daughter. She will have to live with the shame that her father is in prison for murdering not one but two people," Mary Lauterbach said.
Defense lawyer Dick McNeil told the court Laurean would appeal. The judge ordered the state's appellate defender's office to represent Laurean's appeal.
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facebook.com/theblackurbantimes
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