Missing Marine was to testify as crime victim

Source: CNN

CNN -- A pregnant Marine missing from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was the victim of a crime and was to testify about it, the Onslow County sheriff told CNN affiliates.

Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach was eight months pregnant when she went missing on December 14.

A search is under way for 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who has been missing from Camp Lejeune since December 14.

Sheriff Ed Brown told CNN affiliate WECT that other people in the military could be involved with the Marine's disappearance and that they may have tampered with her car and cell phone.

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Lauterbach's phone was found at a Camp Lejeune gate on December 20. Her car was found at a Jacksonville bus station on Monday, the sheriff told WECT. But the car was not there during the weekend, he said.

"The more that we have suspicious things come up, the more concern we have that something is not right in this lady's disappearance," Brown said. Video Watch sheriff explain why authorities are concerned

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/01/10/missing.marine/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

More and more....

Missing Marine’s car found

By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 10, 2008 6:42:13 EST

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Lauterbach was a witness to an incident that occurred on base and was due to testify about it, according to sheriff’s officials in Onslow County, N.C. Marine Corps and sheriff’s officials declined to provide any additional details regarding the incident.

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Lauterbach was last heard from on Dec. 14, when she spoke to her mother by telephone, sheriff’s officials said. Several days later, her mother, Mary Lauterbach, of Dayton, contacted the sheriff’s department to file a missing persons report. The mother was “suspicious that something bad may have happened to her daughter,” sheriff’s officials said in a prepared statement.

Investigators found her cell phone discarded near the main gate at Camp Lejeune on Dec. 20. No calls have been made on the phone since Dec. 14, sheriff’s officials said.

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Lauterbach joined the Marine Corps in June 2006 and has not been deployed overseas, Marine officials said in a statement. She is currently assigned to the Group Consolidated Administration Center, Service Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force.





More:
http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/01/marine_missinggirl_080108/




Update: Missing Marine's Mom Makes Plea; Sheriff Explains Delay Save Email Print
Posted: 2:05 PM Jan 8, 2008
Last Updated: 6:28 AM Jan 10, 2008
Reporter: Bill Wilson



The mother of a missing Camp Lejeune Marine makes a plea for her daughter and grandchild's safe return, while lawmen explain why there was a delay in reporting her disappearance.

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Mary Lauterbach says her daughter has had a difficult pregnancy. She last talked to her on December 14th about plans for the mother to visit Jacksonville for the holidays. The mother says later that day Marie's roommate called and said something was wrong and the Marine was gone.

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Her mother told detectives that her daughter was a witness to an incident that occurred on Camp Lejeune and was supposed to testify in the case. The State Bureau of Investigation and the Navy Criminal Investigative Service have been called in to help with the investigation.

More:
http://www.witntv.com/home/headlines/13531467.html


Also:

Lauterbach’s friends and family have created an online page at Facebook.com, labeled “Help us find Maria Lauterbach.”

Here's a new report. Press conference at 2 pm today.

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2282672/

Stepmother: Missing Marine Assaulted by Officer
Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach

Posted: 11 minutes ago
Updated: 1 minute ago

Camp Lejeune — A pregnant Marine who disappeared three weeks ago from Camp Lejeune was assaulted by a superior officer, her stepmother told investigators.

Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach 20, was reported missing by her mother on Dec. 19, five days after the two last spoke, authorities said. Her car was found Monday night at a bus station near base – investigators said it hadn't been there long – and they found her cell phone on N.C. Highway 24.

According to documentation attached to a search warrant in the case, Lauterbach's stepmother told investigators that Lauterbach had been assaulted by a superior officer.

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Brown has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference to discuss the case. Watch it LIVE on WRAL.com.