Remains Thought To Be Missing Marine

Authorities say they believe they found the shallow grave of a pregnant Marine in the back yard of a comrade she accused of rape. A person close to the case says detectives were tipped off by a note in which the suspect insisted the woman had killed herself.

Authorities said late Friday, however, that evidence suggests Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach was murdered.

After some slight digging in a fire pit discovered in the yard of Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, detectives found what "appeared to be burnt human remains," Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said Friday night.

"We think we have found what will (contain) the skeletal remains of Maria Lauterbach," Hudson said. Authorities placed a tarp and two white tents over the area and planned to begin slowly scraping the earth with garden tools Saturday morning.

The 20-year-old woman vanished three weeks ago, days after she talked to military prosecutors about a rape case against Laurean. Authorities said Friday that information from another woman, a former Marine, left them certain that Lauterbach is dead.

A person familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that the witness is Laurean's wife.

That person said the Laurean gave his wife a note that said Lauterbach cut her own throat before he fled.

The person said Laurean said in the note that he had nothing to do with her suicide, but that he had buried her body.

But Sheriff Ed Brown said late Friday that crime scene investigators have found areas inside the home where there are visable blood stains and obvious signs of a cleanup. He said he is not treating the case a suicide, but as a murder.

"Evidence now is showing that what he claimed happened didn't happen," Brown said.

Laurean's wife Christina is "heartbroken," said her mother, Debbie Sue Shifflet.

"I feel sorry for the other family," Shifflet said. "It's horrible what they're going through. My heart goes out to them."

Authorities on foot and all-terrain vehicles searched Laurean's neighborhood near Camp Lejeune on Friday. Megan Melton, who lives nearby, said dozens of vultures had descended on the area in the past few weeks.

Although the outdoor search was suspended for the night, investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation moved indoors and began a search for blood and other evidence inside his one-story, brown brick ranch home.

The search continued late Friday for Laurean, a 21-year-old from Clark County, Nev., who had refused to meet with investigators and apparently left the area without telling his lawyers where he was going, the sheriff said.

"They don't know where he is," Brown said. "He's gone."

"We've done a search of his laptop, and a search has produced information that we want him to validate or tell us why it is there," Brown told The Early Show.

Lauterbach met with military prosecutors in December to discuss pursuing rape charges against Laurean, said Kevin Marks, the supervisory special agent for Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Camp Lejeune. He said prosecutors believed they had enough evidence to argue that the case should go to a court martial, the military equivalent of a trial.

In court papers filed this week, prosecutors said the anticipated birth of the baby "might provide evidentiary credence to charges she lodged with military authorities that she was sexually assaulted by a senior military person."

In a brief interview with reporters outside the family's home in Vandalia, Ohio, Lauterbach's uncle, Pete Steiner, said the rapist was the father.

Brown said Laurean refused to speak with detectives, on the advice of his attorneys. Authorities said they didn't consider Laurean a flight risk until Friday, because they had information the pair carried on a "friendly relationship" after she reported the assault to military authorities.

Steiner, however, said his niece didn't have any kind of relationship with her attacker, and that Lauterbach had been forced to rent a room off base because of harassment at Camp Lejeune.

"She was raped," Steiner said. "The Marines, unfortunately, did not protect her, and now she's dead."

The sheriff hinted Friday morning that a positive outcome was still possible. But that was before detectives received news of Lauterbach's death from the female witness, he said.

"I came out before y'all on cloud nine," Brown said. "Then I had my insides knocked out with this negative information. I was about to cry."

Evidence and statements the witness provided made investigators feel certain Lauterbach was dead, Brown said. "We have a tangible piece of evidence," he said, declining to elaborate.

The State Bureau of Investigation and the Marine Corps are assisting in the search for Laurean. Brown said authorities believe he has left Onslow County, about 120 miles southeast of Raleigh, and is traveling in a black, two-door pickup truck.

The State Bureau of Investigation and the Marine Corps were assisting in the search for Laurean, who had not been charged with Lauterbach's death.

Lauterbach, originally from Dayton, Ohio, was reported missing Dec. 19 by her mother, who last spoke with her daughter on Dec. 14, authorities said. Her cell phone was found Dec. 20 near the main gate at Camp Lejeune, and she missed a scheduled Dec. 26 prenatal care appointment.

Authorities found her vehicle at a bus station near the base on the Atlantic coast, and an employee there has told investigators it has been there since about the time of her disappearance. Brown said Friday she had purchased a bus ticket to El Paso, Texas, the day after she spoke with her stepmother, but the ticket has not been used.

Marine officials said Lauterbach was assigned to the 2nd Marine Logistics Group of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Lejeune. She joined the Marine Corps in June 2006, trained as a personnel clerk and had not deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Steiner said Lauterbach had four siblings. Worried about the difficulty of raising a child while a single Marine, she had talked with her family about putting the baby up for adoption, he said.

According to court documents filed this week, Lauterbach's mother told investigators that her daughter was bipolar and had a history of compulsive lying. Steiner said the family wanted to give authorities a fair and accurate impression, and that while Lauterbach tended to stretch the truth in stressful situations, "she was not a compulsive liar."

"We're all going to miss Maria horribly," Steiner said. "She was a big part of our lives. What I personally hope comes out of this is that victims of sexual assault in the armed services will be taken more seriously and this will be handled differently in the future."