Witness says missing pregnant Marine is dead 
A pregnant Marine who was prepared to testify against one of her superiors before going missing a month ago is believed to be dead, and a senior officer she accused of rape is now a suspect in her death, investigators said Friday.
Onslow County, N.C. Sheriff Ed Brown said investigators had "tangible evidence" that 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach is dead, although they have not found her body. They believe she was buried in a shallow grave.
Authorities named 21-year-old Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Lauren a key suspect in the case, according to a televised press conference Friday.
Brown said detectives had tried to speak with Lauren, but he refused to do so, on the advise of his attorneys. Authorities said they didn't consider Lauren a flight risk until Friday, because they had information the pair carried on a "friendly relationship" after she reported the assault to military authorities.
Investigators say Lauren is now on the run in a black 2004 quad cab Dodge pickup with a North Carolina license plate No. 1522.
The State Bureau of Investigation and the Marine Corps were assisting in the search for Lauren, who had not been charged with Lauterbach's death.
Lauterbach had claimed a superior had sexually assaulted her, and she was worried that the investigation was going nowhere, according to court documents. She vanished last month before she was to testify in a military probe,
The court papers 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."
Earlier updates are below:
The sheriff investigating the disappearance of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine said he expected a break in the case Friday once detectives further interview a man who lived with her.
"He's going to answer some questions that I think will shed a lot of light on this case," Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said early Friday, promising a "major announcement" around midday.
The roommate, Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham, isn't a suspect in the case. But authorities believe Durham to be the last person to speak with the missing woman, who is due to give birth in mid-February, and may have been monitoring the case while on a training mission in California.
Brown had stressed the case remains a missing-person investigation.
Lauterbach made the allegation to her stepmother, who also told investigators that her stepdaughter was bipolar and had a history of compulsive lying, according to the documents filed this week.
The documents state Naval investigators had struggled to investigate the Lauterbach's allegations because of inconsistencies in her account.
Authorities said Thursday they planned to question the superior officer at Camp Lejeune. Her stepmother said the officer threatened the missing woman's career, and search warrants filed this week state the woman was facing a possible discharge from the Marine Corps. No reason was provided.
Lauterbach, originally from Dayton, Ohio, was reported missing Dec. 19 by her stepmother, who last spoke with her five days earlier, authorities said. The Marine's cell phone was found Dec. 20 near the main gate at Camp Lejeune, and she missed a 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.
Durham told authorities during an initial interview that he didn't report his roommate as missing because some of her personal items were gone from the residence.
According to court documents, state authorities searched Durham's laptop because they believe the woman may have used it to search for directions on the Internet, as well as her cell phone records and the residence she shared with Durham.
The warrants said a white male tried to use the missing woman's ATM card on Christmas Eve and attempted to cover the ATM's security camera with a rag. Brown declined to say where the card was used.
Brown has declined to comment on the rape allegations, as have officials at Camp Lejeune. Wayne Mixon, a Naval Criminal Investigative Service special agent at Camp Lejeune, declined to discuss specifics of the case, other than to say the agency is assisting the sheriff's department with investigative leads in the Marine Corps.
Camp Lejeune officials said the missing woman, who is assigned to the 2nd Marine Logistics Group of the II Marine Expeditionary Force, joined the Marine Corps in June 2006, trained as a personnel clerk and had not deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Developing...
(with wire reports)
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