Laurean manhunt progress in the mind of the beholder

Has a flurry of international paperwork, a Mexican arrest warrant, a cash reward and a switchboard buzzing with phone tips put authorities any closer to finding Cesar Laurean?

The answer depends on whom you ask.

Federal and local authorities believe Laurean fled to his native Mexico on Jan. 11, and they are working hard to get their message through to Mexican officials that Laurean needs to be arrested and sent back to the United States to stand trial. But a reporter on the ground in Guadalajara, Mexico, says all the talk is getting lost in translation.

Laurean, a Camp Lejeune Marine corporal, was indicted last week on charges of first-degree murder in the slaying of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. Laurean, who Lauterbach had accused of raping her, had told his wife and fellow Marines he would flee to Mexico - his country of birth - if he thought he would be found guilty of rape, according to the FBI.

The Wilmington resident agency of the Charlotte FBI field office is coordinating the manhunt for Laurean, but Newsom Summerlin, a special agent with the Charlotte Division of the FBI, said the search involves several federal, state and local agencies.

The FBI, the Onslow County Sheriff's Department, U.S. marshals, the State Bureau of Investigation, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security are all trying to track Laurean down, he said.

"This really is a joint effort, and each agency brings to the table different assets and re-sources," Summerlin said, adding that the FBI has legal attaches in 70 cities worldwide, including Mexico City.

"We have established relationships with law enforcement overseas and use those pre-existing partnerships to help catch fugitives," he said. "We have been reaching out to Mexican authorities through the U.S. Embassy."

The FBI has also offered a $25,000 reward available to anyone in the world who provides information that leads to the apprehension of Laurean, said Summerlin.

In U.S. dollars, that reward is equivalent to 272,538 Mexican pesos, according to the international exchange rate. According to the World Bank, Mexico is classified as a middle-income country with a per capita income of roughly $7,300 in U.S. dollars.

The online Spanish version of the FBI wanted poster for Laurean and related press releases have received thousands of page hits since being posted Jan. 15, Summerlin said.

The 1-800-CALL-FBI hotline set up the same day has generated 265 tips, and the Onslow County Sheriff's Department continues to receive information concerning Laurean on a daily basis, said Capt. Rick Sutherland of the Sheriff's Department.

"We pass along any information that might help federal authorities with the search for Laurean, and federal authorities pass along to us any information that needs to be checked out here in Onslow County," he said.

Sutherland said that at the end of each day, he has a conference call with FBI officials and they go over which tips were credible and need to be investigated further.

When Laurean fled Onslow County, investigators say, he left behind a note with his wife, Christina, claiming Lauterbach killed herself before he buried her in the woods near the Half Moon community home the Laureans shared. He rode a bus into Mexico within days after fleeing the area, said Dewey Hudson, the district attorney for the 4th Prosecutorial District, which includes Onslow County.

Laurean crossed the border at Laredo, Texas, a source in the FBI told The Daily News.

A law enforcement source in Texas told CNN on Monday that Laurean boarded a bus in North Carolina on Jan. 11 and arrived in Houston the following afternoon. The source also said Laurean bought a bus ticket in Houston to San Luis Potosi, Mexico, probably arriving Jan. 13 in Guadalajara, where a cousin of Laurean's told reporters last week that he spoke to Laurean a week earlier.

Steph Watts, a producer for the Fox News show "On the Record," has been in Mexico for several days trying to locate Laurean. Watts told The Daily News that he couldn't see any indication Mexican authorities were looking very hard to find Laurean, even in Zapopan, the city where Laurean was last spotted.

Summerlin said several law enforcement agencies in the United States were busy trying to get other countries, especially Mexico, to look for Laurean.

A representative with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico announced Monday that a Mexican judge had issued a provisional arrest warrant for Laurean based on extradition paperwork filed by the Onslow County District Attorney's Office.

Interpol also sent out an all-points bulletin for Laurean to law enforcement agencies in more than 180 countries - including Mexico.

"The State Department has had numerous successes extraditing drug kingpins and accused murderers from Mexico back to the states," Summerlin said.

The possibility that Laurean may still retain his Mexican citizenship might complicate extradition though, said Joseph Gutheinz, a criminal defense attorney who teaches criminal law at a college in Alvin, Texas.

Laurean was born in Mexico. He became a U.S. citizen in 2003 and joined the Marine Corps in 2004. He would not have been required to give up his Mexican citizenship when he joined the U.S. military, said Staff Sgt. Brian J. Griffin, a spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command.

Even if Laurean did renounce his citizenship, the Mexican government still most likely would consider him a national, Gutheinz said.

"Mexico interprets nationality liberally to include those with dual citizenship and even those who have a Hispanic surname," he said, adding that Mexican authorities may choose to keep Laurean and try him there for Lauterbach's death.

Summerlin said the goal right now is to locate Laurean, but once that happens, the U.S. government wants to see him returned to stand trial in Onslow County.

Contact police reporter Lindell Kay at lkay@freedomenc.com or 910-554-8534. To comment on this story or to read others' comments, go to jdnews.com.