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TV show to air segment on accused Marine

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — A corporal on the run from the law over accusations that he murdered a pregnant Marine from his unit will be featured in a segment of “America’s Most Wanted” on Saturday night.

Cpl. Cesar Laurean has been a subject on the popular show before, and this time around he’s being pegged as “the worst of the worst.”

“He has been elevated to the ‘dirty dozen’ list,” said Angeline Hartmann, an “America’s Most Wanted” correspondent. “It’s a whole show of our dirty dozen. These are the 12 people we hate most.”

Laurean fled the Camp Lejeune, N.C., area on Jan. 11, just hours before local authorities found the charred remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her unborn baby buried in his back yard. An autopsy revealed she died from blunt force trauma. Laurean has been charged with 1st degree murder.

Lauterbach reported last May that she had two sexual encounters with Laurean. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened a rape investigation.

Lauterbach last reported to work Dec. 14, and authorities believe she was murdered shortly after she disappeared. She was in her third trimester of pregnancy.

Laurean left a note for his wife the morning he went on the run, saying that he had buried Lauterbach after she committed suicide by cutting her own throat. Federal authorities believe he may be hiding out in his native Mexico, where a relative said he saw Laurean weeks after he fled North Carolina.

The segment on Laurean will review the original crime, what led up to it and information about Laurean, Hartmann said.

A segment on Laurean first aired on the show on Jan. 19. Hartmann would not reveal how many tips were called into the show when the segment aired.

“I can tell you that there was a big response,” she said. “We had lots of calls that came in that night.”

“America’s Most Wanted” will air at 9 p.m. Eastern time on FOX.

“The more people tuned in, the more chances we have of catching the guy,” Hartmann said.

Tips called into the show have led to the capture of nearly 1,000 fugitives, according to its Web site.