http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22610434/
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. -- The 20-year-old missing pregnant Marine is dead, officials said Friday, but they aren't calling it murder.
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Maria Lauterbach who vanished last month before she was to testify in a military probe, had said she was sexually assaulted by a senior officer but that the investigation had gone sour, according to court documents.
Authorities made the annoucement about her death Friday afternoon after interviewing her roommate, Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham. Officials said Durham sn't a suspect in the case. But they 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.
When asked whether he believed the case would be resolved Friday, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said: "I wouldn't step over that line. I am still in the middle of the road, but leaning toward the positive."
He has stressed the case remains a missing-person investigation.
The woman, a lance corporal, 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 woman's allegations because of inconsistencies in her account. Still, 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."
The Associated Press had identified the missing Marine before the allegations of sexual assault became public. The AP generally does not identify people who allege they are victims of sexual assault.
Authorities said Thursday they planned to question the superior officer at Camp Lejeune she accused of rape. 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.
The woman, originally from Dayton, Ohio, was reported missing Dec. 19 by her stepmother, who last spoke with her stepdaughter on Dec. 14, authorities said. Her cell phone was found Dec. 20 near the main gate at Camp Lejeune, and she missed a scheduled prenatal care appointment on Dec. 26.
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.
During an initial interview with investigators, Durham told authorities 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, an 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 either Iraq or Afghanistan.
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. -- The 20-year-old missing pregnant Marine is dead, officials said Friday, but they aren't calling it murder.
Discuss This Story
Maria Lauterbach who vanished last month before she was to testify in a military probe, had said she was sexually assaulted by a senior officer but that the investigation had gone sour, according to court documents.
Authorities made the annoucement about her death Friday afternoon after interviewing her roommate, Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham. Officials said Durham sn't a suspect in the case. But they 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.
When asked whether he believed the case would be resolved Friday, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said: "I wouldn't step over that line. I am still in the middle of the road, but leaning toward the positive."
He has stressed the case remains a missing-person investigation.
The woman, a lance corporal, 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 woman's allegations because of inconsistencies in her account. Still, 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."
The Associated Press had identified the missing Marine before the allegations of sexual assault became public. The AP generally does not identify people who allege they are victims of sexual assault.
Authorities said Thursday they planned to question the superior officer at Camp Lejeune she accused of rape. 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.
The woman, originally from Dayton, Ohio, was reported missing Dec. 19 by her stepmother, who last spoke with her stepdaughter on Dec. 14, authorities said. Her cell phone was found Dec. 20 near the main gate at Camp Lejeune, and she missed a scheduled prenatal care appointment on Dec. 26.
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.
During an initial interview with investigators, Durham told authorities 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, an 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 either Iraq or Afghanistan.