MEXICO CITY (AFP) — A US Marine suspected of murdering a pregnant fellow soldier has been arrested in Mexico after three months on the run, the US ambassador to Mexico said.
"I congratulate the Office of the Attorney General of the state of Michoacan and the Mexican Federal Police (SSP), who today arrested Cesar Armando Laurean, a US Marine who is accused of killing Maria Lauterbach, a pregnant fellow Marine, in North Carolina last year," ambassador Antonio Garza said in a statement posted on the US embassy website late Thursday.
Laurean was arrested at about 7:00 pm in San Juan de Vina in the western state of Michoacan, some 120 miles (200 kilometers) west of the Mexican capital. He faces extradition to the United States where he is charged with murder and fleeing North Carolina to avoid prosecution, the statement said.
"This is a clear message to all would-be fugitives from US law that Mexico will not provide them refuge," the statement said.
Mexican authorities had worked closely with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in capturing Laurean, it added.
Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach's charred body was found beneath a fire pit in Laurean's backyard near the Camp LeJeune military base in North Carolina in January.
Police believe that Laurean killed Lauterbach on December 14 before fleeing to Mexico.
Lauterbach had accused him of raping her, and it remained unclear if the accused Marine was the father of her fetus, US media reported.
Asked whether he killed Lauterbach, Laurean reportedly told a Mexican reporter: "I loved her."
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