Lauterbach family attorney, Merle Wilberding of Dayton, said they faced a two-year statute of limitations on the case and the filing coincided with the second anniversary of Lauterbach’s Dec. 14, 2007, disappearance.
“More than anything else, we do not want Cesar Laurean and Christina Laurean to profit in any way from this,” Wilberding said. “If we did not file this, they would be the only people who could give first-hand explanations of what happened.”
The lawsuit seeks in excess of $10,000 in damages. Mary Lauterbach is administratrix of her daughter’s estate.
The lawsuit seeks damages, including “compensation for Maria’s pain and suffering, funeral expenses as well as the present value to her next of kin for the loss of her income, services, protection, care, assistance, society, companionship, comfort, guidance, kindly offices and advice.”
The lawsuit alleges Christina Laurean conspired with her husband to assist him to flee to Mexico to avoid arrest. The woman told Onslow County sheriff’s investigators on Jan. 11, 2008 that her husband left their home at 4 a.m. Sheriff’s investigators obtained a search warrant of the couple’s residence and Lauterbach’s charred remains were found buried in a shallow grave beneath a backyard fire pit.
She was about eight months pregnant when she died, but DNA tests revealed that Laurean wasn’t the father. Lauterbach told Navy investigators that Laurean raped her in 2007, though she recanted her claim that Laurean fathered her unborn child.
Laurean, a former Marine who was extradited to North Carolina in April, pleaded not guilty June 8 in a Jacksonville, N.C., courtroom to first-degree murder. He also pleaded not guilty to robbery with a dangerous weapon, financial transaction card theft, attempted misdemeanor financial transaction card fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Laurean will go to trial on the criminal charges on June 28, 2010, but it won’t be in Onslow County. Last week, a judge approved change of venue but that venue has not yet been decided.
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