Victor Lauterbach is expected to deploy for four months. He leaves Thursday, April 23.
“I will go to the trial even if it falls during that time period,” his wife Mary Lauterbach told the Dayton Daily News Thursday.
Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean is expected back in the United States Friday to face charges of first-degree murder in the slaying of Maria Lauterbach, 20, said the Lauterbachs' attorney, Merle Wilberding.
Mary Lauterbach said she was surprised to learn the news.
“I was shocked. We had braced ourselves for a long-term wait,” she said.
Laurean was arrested in Mexico last April.
Lauterbach’s charred remains were found buried in the back yard of Laurean’s home near Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in January 2008. She has accused him of rape and was pregnant when she was killed.
Mary Lauterbach said the timing of her husband’s deployment will complicate things for the family if the trial occurs while he’s in Iraq, but she said they are all so proud of him for his service to his country.
“This is something he’s trained for 27 years to do,” she said.
Lauterbach wants to see justice served for her daughter so she plans to be there for the trial.
“There are a lot of questions I have about what happened. You never know how much of the truth comes out but I’m hopeful that some day we can come closer to the truth of what happened in the hours after I last spoke to my daughter.”
Wilberding said a Marine colonel alerted him late Wednesday evening that Laurean was in federal custody and in the process of being removed from a jail in Mexico City and taken to Houston, Texas. A court hearing will be held there, possibly Friday, to complete the extradition process and turn him over to North Carolina authorities.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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