Ex-Marine Laurean Did Not Father Dead Colleague's Child

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A former Marine charged with killing a pregnant colleague in North Carolina was not the father of the woman's unborn baby, according to documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

In a report completed by the Department of Defense Armed Forces Institute of Pathology May 7, analysts concluded that DNA from former Cpl. Cesar Laurean did not match that of the unborn child of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach.

"Therefore, Cesar A. Laurean can be excluded as being the biological father of Baby Lauterbach," the report reads.

The tests are based on bone samples from Lauterbach's autopsy and samples taken from Laurean on April 27 after he returned to the United States.

Laurean is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Lauterbach, 20, of Vandalia, Ohio. Investigators believe he fled hours before Lauterbach's charred remains were found in January 2008, buried behind the house Laurean shared with his wife and young daughter.

Lauterbach, who was about eight months pregnant, worked with Laurean at nearby Camp Lejeune. She told Navy investigators that she was raped by Laurean in 2007, though later recanted her claim that Laurean fathered of her unborn child. Investigators never corroborated her rape claims.

Mexican authorities captured Laurean just more than a year ago in the small town of Tacambaro, Mexico. He was extradited to North Carolina last month after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Defense attorney Dick McNeil said he wasn't surprised by the results.

"This might help to negate some of the false rumors," he said.

Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he couldn't comment on the tests.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown did not return calls seeking comment. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service referred calls to Hudson's office.

Laurean was expelled from the Marine Corps on Wednesday because he "was unavailable to perform his mission," said Maj. Cliff Gilmore, a Second Marine Expeditionary Force spokesman. Gilmore said the Marine Corps would not release anything more specific, citing privacy rules.

McNeil said Laurean received an "other than honorable discharge." Laurean was notified April 17 and waived his right to appeal the discharge.

"They did this quick," McNeil said. "This is something we expected."