I spoke with a law enforcement source about the wallet. Here’s the deal from their end.
Christina found a wallet in the Meadow Trail home - I believe the bedroom, but am not 100 percent on that - and asked Cesar about it. He supposedly told her the wallet belonged to a friend who must have left it and took the […]

An article from The Examiner sent to me by the National Association of Chiefs of Police:

The Department of Defense’s Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services recently submitted its congressionally-mandated report to the secretary of defense.  The report — obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police’s Sex Crimes Committee – finds DoD […]

Here is a press release from Rep. Mike Turner who is continuing his campaign to strengthen protections for military personnel who claim sexual assault. Remember, Turner has been vocal about this since Maria Lauterbach was found dead and it became public that she had previously accused the man suspected of killing her of rape.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Rep. […]

Like I told y’all last week, Jacksonville lawyer Dick MeNeil filed a change of venue today in the Cesar Laurean case.
He claims The Daily News, WITN-TV and other media outlets covered the case so much that his client wouldn’t get a fair trial in Onslow County.
Read the news here.
McNeil’s entire motion is attached to the […]

- Sheriff’s detectives charged Michael Deaver and Randall Tefft with burning a house after a break-in. Tefft is also charged with stealing guns and gold from his mom.
Leave it to Deaver.
- The father of the child whose toes were gnawed off by a pit bull puppy last month is due in court tomorrow. Not sure what […]

WITN has a video package online of a special report recapping the Laurean case. WITN’s Jacksonville Bureau Chief Chelsea Donovan also talks with lawyers on both sides - District Attorney Dewey Hudson and public defender Dick McNeil - about the possibility of a plea bargain.

Check it out.

The deal won’t close for 30 days, but RE/MAX has someone under contract to buy Cesar Laurean’s home.
Read news here.
And a nod to WITN’s Chelsea Donovan for beating me to the story… this time.
———————————————-
Mike McHugh sent me these photos of Chelsea and I at 103 Meadow Trail when the house was foreclosed. Click on the […]

Okay, so we all know Laurean is a big fan of The Daily News. He read an online article about Maria’s disappearance before he disappeared in mid-January 2008. And law enforcement tracked him through IP addresses viewing jdnews.com from Mexico.
So how ironic is it that he can’t read the newspaper now? Well in Ed Brown’s […]

Former Marine Cesar Laurean will enter a plea of not guilty today at his arraignment, according to his attorney Dick McNeil.
The entire thing is sort of anti-climatic because we all already know what will happen. The judge will read him his rights; he will plead not guilty; the prosecution will announce that they will not […]

A DNA test has confirmed what I reported more than a year ago on the blog.
Cesar Laurean is not the father of Maria Lauterbach’s onborn child.
Read the news here.

Read news here.
He has been “administratively separated.”

“By agreement of the State and defense, the arraignment in the Cesar Laurean case has been rescheduled from May 18, 2009 to June 8, 2009,” District Attorney Dewey Hudson said in a statement to the press today. 

Senior Resident Onslow County Superior Court Judge Charles Henry issued a gag order in the case of state v. Laurean. The order was added to the public record this morning and I was there to pay my $2.75 and pick it up for y’all.
 
Read news here.
Here is a shot from a couple of weeks ago […]

I lifted this post from another section and put it here to start a new thread. Mike McHugh who is sifting through a file compiled by a private investigator for a Newsweek correspondent had this to say:
I started pouring over the documents Lindell received from a Newsweek reporter regarding background studies of Christina and Cesar […]

As reported the other day, authorities believe Laurean gave a crowbar to a friend Dec. 16, 2007. Once that friend realized the significance of the crowbar, he turned it in to detectives.
Mike and I spoke to him Tuesday. The last several days have been so crazy, I am just now able to take the time […]

Jacksonville attorney Dick McNeal looking through boxes of evidence discovery material in his client’s case. Prosecutors plan to show Cesar Laurean killed Maria Lauterbach.

The materials were handed over by Senior Assistant Distict Attorney Mike Maultsby on Tuesday. The state would not supply McNeil with discovery until Laurean was back in North Carolina.

UPDATED
The story is now Online with information from a search warrant served today that fills in some of what happened in mid-December, how detectives got their hands on what they believe is the murder weapon, who the guy in the Lowe’s video is, and I get into whether Laurean was extradited because of due process […]

UPDATED
Laurean was delievered to the Onslow County Jail at 8:05 p.m. by Sheriff’s Inspector Rick Sutherland and other members of law enforcement.
He appeared before a magistrate and was booked.
Read news here. 
———————————————————————— 
Okay, strange is becoming surreal.
I have heard from a source close to the investigation that Laurean is headed for Miami, not Houston.
I don’t know whether the change is […]

Based on a thing or two I know I can’t report, I would expect him back in Onslow County much sooner that later.
Read news.

Everyone is talking about the impending media circus, but I don’t see it. Laurean’s 1st appearance in court will be important and we might see a few extra reports for that, but […]

Cesar Laurean will be returned to the U.S. by Friday.
Read breaking news.

More information as soon as possible.

Robert Sharpe, a former intern at the D.A.’s Office, has been indicted on an embezzlement charge that he stole a copy of the Cesar Laurean file.
Read news here.
Authorities said he planned to sell the 6,000 plus pages and electronic files to an undercover Onslow County Sheriff’s Deputy posing as a Newsweek reporter.
That is all I have to say […]

Read this news report about a North Carolina prosecutor and a state senator pushing to see the law changed to make the death of an unborn child a seperate crime when the mother is killed or injured. Some say the law would go too far; some say the law falls short.
You can also read this […]

The Inspector General of the Department of Defense has been asked to postpone an investigation in how the military handled the rape investigation of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach — a decision local law enforcement said was wise.
The D.A. and the Sheriff agree now is not the time to be investigating the rape allegations, now is […]

103 Meadow Trail went on the auction block Monday to a resounding silence. Looks like no one is prepared to pay $102,000 for that house of horrors.
Read news here.
A very somber photo of the Laurean residence last January:

Comments to this blog are unmoderated. Any questionable comments should be reported to localdesk@freedomenc.com or the newsroom at […]

Almost one year exactly from when Maria Lauterbach’s body was found and authorities announced her assailant had fled to Mexico, history is repeating itself just north of here.
The missing Sampson County woman I told you about Friday is dead.
Authorities found her body in a wooded area not far from her home this weekend, like my […]

It was one year ago today that authorities found Maria Lauterbach and her unborn son in a shallow grave behind Cesar Laurean’s Half Moon community home. Laurean was already on a bus bound for his native Mexico.
There were many, many law enforcement officers who took part in that investigation and made Laurean’s arrest in Mexico three […]

The sale of the Laurean home was postponed.
Read about that here.
I did have a chance to look inside as potential buyers checked it out before the auction.
I took a few photos.
The garage:

Carpet in one bedroom:

View of the backyard from the master bedroom:

103 Meadow Trail to be sold today.
The site of a brutal 2007 homicide and the gruesome temporary burial site of a pregnant woman will be on the auction block today.
 
Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach vanished Dec. 14, 2008; the day authorities believe she was beat to death with a crowbar in Cpl. Cesar Laurean’s garage. Laurean […]

Friday, Jan. 11, 2008, was an altogether simultaneously sad and hectic day. There was literally more happening in the Lauterbach case than the newspaper could report.
Late Thursday, Sheriff Ed Brown was in a good mood, convinced that when Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham’s plane touched down he would tell them where Maria was hiding and everything would […]

Mike McHugh swung by 103 Meadow Trail and snapped this shot of the legal notice taped to the front door:

The property will be auctioned off Monday on the courthouse steps. Bidding starts at one penny.
Mike described the property this way:
“The grass is high and unkept. The swimming pool is still in the backyard and the perimeter fence […]

For those of you who have been speculating about and timelining the events immediately before and after the death of Maria Lauterbach, Cecil Jones will become very important to you.
He found Maria’s cell phone on the side of the road allowing detectives to piece together a very important corner of the puzzle.

The way he found […]

The second article in the real time timeline is Online now.
From the article: “A computer in the Laurean home accessed pornographic Web sites, including some featuring pregnant women, the afternoon of Dec. 14, 2007, according to a source close to the investigation.”
Whatever happened that day, it is sad to think while Maria was loading her […]

The Daily News has begun a Lauterbach investigation timeline which will run in the print edition each day for the foreseeable future. The information will be available Online at jdnews.com.
Tomorrow’s article is already up. The first report is to catch readers up to where the situation existed on Dec. 13, 2007.

Sunday’s article will detail the events of […]

The Half Moon community home of Cesar Laurean, and site of a grisly discovery in January, is up for sale.
Read article here.

A photo of the house from earlier this year.

A Dateline crew was at The Daily News today to interview me about the William Miller cold case.
Here is a photo by Dave Melvin of freelance cameraman Kevin Bond filming me looking at a bunch of photos on my laptop:

Bond was the cameraman that shot rolls of film for Dateline when they were going to do […]

The Onslow County District Attorney’s Office is reporting that Lance Cpl. Christina Laurean has returned to Camp Lejeune from her visit to see her husband, a murder suspect held in a Mexican jail.
Hey, Ed C., you owe me five bucks.

A story is Online now about Christina Laurean going to Mexico for a possible conjugal visit with her husband Cesar.
Read it here.
D.A. Dewey Hudson’s press conference Thursday on the steps of the Onslow County Courthouse:

Dick McNeil and Dewey Hudson discuss the case, the 2012 presidential race and where to get a good burger in Jacksonville… Hell, […]

A profile article on Jacksonville attorney Dick McNeil is Online now.
A FreedomENC photo of McNeil, Vaughn Jones and P.I. Jerry Waller:

Read it here.
Waller and McNeil outside the Craven County Courthouse:

A tidbit of the story:
McNeil said he did not know whether Cesar Laurean would ever be returned to the U.S. to stand trial.
“If he is, I […]

District Attorney Dewey Hudson has called for a press conference at his office in Onslow County for tomorrow to provide an update on the Cesar Laurean case.
More when I know it…

A high-ranking government official confirmed to me tonight that the Marine Corps has approved Christina Laurean’s leave request to visit her husband Cesar Laurean who is in a Mexican jail awaiting word on his extradition.
She will travel to Mexico sometime in November. I don’t know the exact dates.
I talked with a few local officials who […]

Mary Lauterbach was on the Today Show this morning talking about Cesar Laurean’s extradition appeal.
Watch.
The Lauterbachs’ lawyer said the “real tragedy of case - this is a murder that could have been avoided; it’s an escape to Mexico that could have been prevented. Those things concern us because there were opportunities that would have saved […]

The Daily News has an article Online about Cesar Laurean fighting extradition back to North Carolina.
Read it here.

A source within the federal government tells me the Marine Corps has denied requests by Christina Laurean to visit her husband in Mexico. Now that it could more than a year before his return, I wonder whether the Corps will let her […]

In a comment to a previous post, Uncle Bill said I refer to a source close to the investigation “in virtually every story you write.”
Huh? I have been writing for The Daily News since April 2007. In that time (not counting a repeat of something already published) I have quoted an unnamed source a grand […]

There was an article in today’s Daily News about the Sheriff and the D.A. taking steps to prepare for Laurean’s return to Onslow County from Mexico.
Read it here.
I have it from a pretty good source that he may fight extradition. We will see.
A previously unreleased tidbit I know: A military source close to the case told […]

UPDATE: It is 10:45 p.m. It took me all night, but I finally heard it from a special agent in the FBI - Laurean could be back here as soon as Wednesday.
Of course, it could take longer. But lets just say the feds are talking arrival plans.
—————————————————-
Cesar Laurean is set to return to Onslow County, Sheriff Ed […]

An excellent column by Mike McHugh appeared in today’s edition of The Daily News.
Read it in its entirety here.
Excerpt:
The person responsible for young Kayla’s death, Carolyn Futrell, was charged with her murder and tried in a court of law. She was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. But because […]

A report is Online at jdnews.com about Onslow County Superior Court Judge Charles Henry revoking the probation of a man previously convicted of sex offenses and sending him to prison for nearly two years. Read it here.
The defense attorney said his client’s probation shouldn’t been pulled because the intern accused of document theft in […]

“It’s unacceptable and inappropriate for anyone to pretend to be a reporter,” Newsweek attorney Steve Fuzesi told the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, “but even more inappropriate for a law enforcement person to use that as a tool — if the allegations here are true.” Fuzesi said Newsweek is looking into the reports.
The […]

Daily News content editor Jennifer Hlad’s article about Robert Sharpe’s first appearance in court Monday is Online.
Read it here.