Laurean house on the auction block

The former home of Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, where authorities say a year ago he beat, burned and buried a pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape, could go to the highest bidder this afternoon.

The ranch-style, 1,100-square foot house at 103 Meadow Trail will be auctioned off for cash at the Old Bridge Street entrance to the E.W. Summersill Courthouse Building at 2 p.m. There is no minimum starting bid.

The three-bedroom, two-bath house on a half-acre plot is owned by Laurean and his wife, who defaulted on their home loan, according to a legal clerk at Brock & Scott, PLLC, the Wilmington law firm handling the foreclosure.

Detectives with the Onslow County Sheriff's Department said they are not concerned by the sale of the house.

"Ownership is not an issue," said Sheriff's Capt. Rick Sutherland. "If we develop probable cause that we need to go back to the house, we will serve a search warrant on the current owner."

The buyer of the Laurean home assumes the structure "as is where is," according to the legal notice.

The buyer must pay 5 percent of the sale price or $750, whichever is greater, at the time of sale.  

Laurean, a Camp Lejeune Marine with deserter status, is fighting extradition back to the U.S. from a Mexican jail. He was arrested in Tacambaro, Mexico, in April.

He had been on the lam three months, living in a rundown shack and surviving on avocados. Sheriff Ed Brown declared an "earthwide" search for Laurean after he fled his home in mid-January 2008 as investigators zeroed in on him as a suspect in the disappearance of a coworker.

Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach disappeared in mid-December 2007 and became the focus of an intense search by authorities and the media in early January 2008. On Jan. 11, 2008, authorities found her and her unborn child's remains in a fire pit in the backyard of 103 Meadow Trail.

Authorities believe she was killed on Dec. 14, 2007, and buried shortly after that. Video surveillance footage shows Laurean buying paint, cinder blocks - which ended up lining the fire pit - and a wheel barrow from Lowe's Home Improvement on Dec. 16, 2007.

One neighbor said he remembered loaning a shovel to Laurean in mid-December 2007.

Laurean reportedly held a bonfire party in his backyard on Christmas Eve while his wife was out of town, according to several neighbors in the area.

Sheriff's Detectives found a large amount of blood splatter in the garage and traces of blood in another room in the house. There was also evidence that someone used paint to try to cover the blood splatter, authorities said.

Authorities said Laurean left behind a note saying Lauterbach had killed herself and he buried the body. A medical examiner later said Lauterbach had been beaten to death.

Contact crime reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456. Read Lindell's blog at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.