Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Mexican villagers shocked to learn cabin dweller was wanted Marine

SAN JUAN DE LA VINA, Mexico — People wondered about the bearded foreigner who moved into a rustic cabin weeks ago in the pine-clad mountains surrounding this picturesque village.

Some thought maybe he was a drug trafficker — something not unheard of in these parts. It was not until Friday when they saw Cpl. Cesar Laurean’s photograph in the local newspaper that they learned he was a U.S. Marine suspected of killing a pregnant colleague.

Police arrested Laurean, 21, on Thursday as he was walking along the main street in San Juan de la Vina in the municipality of Tacambaro, ending a three-month manhunt. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, 20, of Vandalia, Ohio, who had accused him of rape.

FBI Public Affairs Specialist Amy Thoreson said FBI agents were present at Laurean’s arrest in Mexico, but it was not clear what role they played.

Bearded and thin, Laurean told police he survived for months largely by eating avocados from the orchard in the mountains where he lived in Michoacan state.

Residents here said Laurean lived in a three-room wood cabin with a corrugated metal roof, where he slept on a bed of crushed cardboard boxes. On Friday, there was a notebook on the cabin’s floor showing that he kept a diary of his daily exercise routine, including push-ups, sit-ups and crunches. There were two shelves filled with canned tuna, instant soup and candy.

He walked to town daily, greeting those he passed, and spent hours at the local Internet cafe.

“He always seemed really happy to see us. He was serious, respectful,” said Tomasa Boteyo, 78, who lived near his cabin.

Then on Thursday afternoon, state police officers drove through town looking for someone, residents say. They spotted Laurean walking toward the Internet cafe.

Lorenza Olayo, 96, who would greet Laurean daily from her front stoop, said he did not fight back when officers grabbed him.

She said she did not know why the young man was taken away until she saw his picture in the local newspaper the next day.

Lucio Tapia, 22, said before his arrest, Laurean told him he had just returned from Spain and that his parents were punishing him by making him live on an avocado orchard in Mexico.

Laurean was born in Guadalajara but reportedly moved to the U.S. more than 10 years ago.

“I thought he was a drug trafficker,” Tapia said. “There’s a lot of drugs here, and drug traffickers hide out in the mountains here.”