cesar laurean fled to mexico

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/101307714.html

Story Published: Aug 23, 2010 at 9:30 AM PDT
Story Updated: Aug 23, 2010 at 2:31 PM PDT
In this artist sketch, Spc. Ivette Davila is seen during a military court hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Monday, August 23, 2010.
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JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD -- An Army Specialist accused of killing two fellow soldiers and taking their baby has changed her plea to guilty.
Spc. Ivette Davila entered guilty pleas to two counts of premeditated murder and one count of kidnapping during a military court hearing Monday morning.

In exchange for admitting guilt, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

The judge, Col. Stephen R. Henley, was expected to sentence Davila to live in prison for the March 2008 killings of Staff Sgt. Timothy J. Miller and Sgt. Randi J. Miller at their home in Parkland, Wash. .

According to court documents filed in Pierce County before the Army took over the prosecution, Davila allegedly confessed to another soldier that she went to Randi Miller's home to kill her because she thought the woman was having an affair with Davila's ex-boyfriend.

Investigators, though, said it was not known if any affair was actually taking place.

During the hearing on Monday, Davila said she shot Randi multiple times with a silenced pistol while the woman was in bed and then shot Timothy six times while he was in the shower.

"I understood I was shooting them. I understood I was killing them, and I understood I was wrong," Davila said. "That's why I'm guilty."



Ivette Gonzalez Davila is seen in Pierce County Superior Court on Monday, March 3, 2008.


Davila allegedly drove to a hardware store after the shootings to purchase muriatic acid, which investigators say she poured over the two bodies in a bathtub in an attempt to dispose of them.

Court documents indicate that Davila then took the Miller's then 6-month-old baby girl and went back to her barracks at Fort Lewis where she was arrested.

Before her arrest, she had been serving as a chemical operations specialist with Fort Lewis' Headquarters and Headquarters Company, I Corps, as a member of the Fort Lewis ceremonial color guard.

Both Timothy and Randi Miller served in Iraq. Their baby was placed in the care of relatives.


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http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/23/north.carolina.marine.murder/

Former Marine convicted in North Carolina of killing female colleagueBy the CNN Wire Staff
August 23, 2010 6:47 p.m. EDT

Laurean was arrested in 2008, three months after police said Lauterbach's remains were found on his property.STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Former U.S. Marine shows no emotion in court
He is sentenced to life in prison without parole
He was convicted Monday in the death of a female Marine who was pregnant
The lawyer for Cesar Laurean says the case will be appealed

RELATED TOPICS
Maria Lauterbach
Murder and Homicide
U.S. Marine Corps
North Carolina
For more on this story, read the coverage from CNN affiliate WRAL.

(CNN) -- Former U.S. Marine Cesar Laurean was convicted in North Carolina on Monday of first degree murder in the 2007 death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who was eight months pregnant when she died.

An autopsy showed that Lauterbach, 20, died of blunt force trauma to the head. Police unearthed her charred body from beneath a barbecue pit in Laurean's backyard in January 2008. She had disappeared the month before.

Laurean, who was dressed in black slacks and wore a white shirt and black tie, did not show any emotion as the judge read his sentence. He either said or mouthed something to someone in the audience of the courtroom before he was led out in handcuffs, video showed.

Laurean and Lauterbach were stationed together at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

North Carolina prosecutors alleged Laurean killed Lauterbach on December 14 and used her ATM card 10 days later before fleeing to Mexico.Laurean was arrested there in April 2008. He holds dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico.

Before her death, Lauterbach told the Marines that Laurean had raped her. Laurean denied it, and disappeared just a few weeks before a scheduled rape hearing at Camp LeJeune.

The DNA of Lauterbach's unborn child did not match that of Laurean, according to law enforcement personnel.

Authorities found Lauterbach's body after Laurean's wife, Christina, produced a note her husband had written claiming the 20-year-old woman slit her own throat during an argument, according to officials.

Although a gaping 4-inch wound was found on the left side of Lauterbach's neck, autopsy results indicated that the wound itself would not have been fatal and may have occurred after death.

Asked by a Mexican reporter at the time of his arrest whether he killed Lauterbach, Laurean replied, "I loved her."

Laurean's lawyer said his client would appeal the decision.