Pregnant Marine missing

Missing Marine’s car found

Posted : Thursday Jan 10, 2008 6:42:13 EST

Authorities investigating the disappearance of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., found her car abandoned in the parking lot of a nearby bus station.
Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach, who has been missing from her post for more than three weeks, is a native of Dayton, Ohio. She is more than eight months pregnant.
Lauterbach was a witness to an incident that occurred on base and was due to testify about it, according to sheriff’s officials in Onslow County, N.C. Marine Corps and sheriff’s officials declined to provide any additional details regarding the incident.
Lauterbach was last heard from on Dec. 14, when she spoke to her mother by telephone, sheriff’s officials said. Several days later, her mother, Mary Lauterbach, of Dayton, contacted the sheriff’s department to file a missing persons report. The mother was “suspicious that something bad may have happened to her daughter,” sheriff’s officials said in a prepared statement.
Investigators found her cell phone discarded near the main gate at Camp Lejeune on Dec. 20. No calls have been made on the phone since Dec. 14, sheriff’s officials said.
Bank records show a withdrawal from her account on Dec. 14. Ten days later, on Christmas Eve, records show “suspicious activity” on her account, investigators said.
“There are several findings and pieces of evidence that have been discovered that cause law enforcement to be concerned with the circumstances surrounding Maria’s disappearance,” sheriff’s officials said in the statement.
It is unclear how long her car, a blue Hyundai, has been parked at the Jacksonville bus station, sheriff’s officials said.
Lauterbach joined the Marine Corps in June 2006 and has not been deployed overseas, Marine officials said in a statement. She is currently assigned to the Group Consolidated Administration Center, Service Company, Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force.
Lauterbach is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes and a Marine Corps tattoo on her upper right arm, according to sheriff’s officials.
Lauterbach’s friends and family have created an online page at Facebook.com, labeled “Help us find Maria Lauterbach.”
“All of us love you and we miss you,” wrote her sister, Anne Lauterbach, on the page.