Mary Lauterbach, the mother of Maria Lauterbach, who was killed by a fellow Marine who she’d accused of rape in 2007, talks to airmen at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, July 12.
Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Jelani Gibson
The mother of a pregnant Marine murdered in 2007 by a colleague she’d accused of rape talked about sexual assault in the ranks at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, earlier this month.
The burned remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child were found in a fire pit in the yard of Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean about a month after she went missing from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
The prosecutor in the case said Laurean had faced losing his career after Lauterbach accused him of rape. Laurean was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison for her killing.
Lauterbach’s mother, Mary Lauterbach, told Sheppard airmen they could learn from her daughter’s death, according to an Air Force story. “I want people to be a little bit more mindful about the assumptions that they make,” she was quoted as saying.
“I can see people are coming to a deeper understanding of the problem,” she said. “They realize the deep impact it has. It affects the whole community.”
