April 11, 2008

Cesar Laurean arrested in Mexico

Cesar Laurean, the prime suspect in the killing of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine Maria Lauterbach, was captured in Mexico Thursday.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean was caught three months after fleeing North Carolina, the FBI announced Thursday. U.S. authorities are awaiting extradition to bring Laurean, who has been on the run since January, back to North Carolina.

Mexican authorities arrested Laurean at 7 p.m. Thursday in San Juan Vina, in Michoacan, about 120 miles west of the capital, after he approached a roadblock set up by the local anti-kidnapping task force, according to the Michoacan state attorney general's office.

Laurean gave authorities his real name, which was entered into a criminal database that alerted authorities to his fugitive status, authorities said. Laurean was detained in public without resistance.