Not A Lawyer

As investigators continue to look for the remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach in the backyard of the man she claimed had raped her, I can’t help but feel that this young woman has been victimized by many.

Lauterbach was 8 months pregnant when she disappeared. Her step-mother last spoke to her on December 14, and reported her missing on December 19.

In recent days, before the news came that Lauterbach was dead, the media had widely reported that her step-mother had told investigators that she was bi-polar and a compulsive liar.

Now, the fact that she is dead doesn’t change the fact that perhaps she did suffer from bi-polar disorder, and maybe she was a liar. However, stating these things to the media only led people to the conclusion that she had probably just run away, or that maybe she wasn’t even worth looking for after all.

Even friends of Lauterbach posted messages online urging her to call home, saying “you know the number.” These kinds of things, while filled with hope that she was still alive and able to call home, served to further smear the reputation of the Lauterbach. Did her friends actually feel that she was the type of woman who would leave before the holidays and not contact anyone to let them know that she and her baby were okay?

I feel that Lauterbach was victimized again and again.

First, she was allegedly raped by a superior, Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, who was never arrested for the rape. Police say that because he had a lawyer they could not question him. Marine officials say that there were inconsistencies in Lauterbach’s story as well and it was also noted that she was friendly with him after the report of the rape. None of this changes the fact that this woman said she was raped and no one did anything about it. Lauterbach also said that her unborn child was the result of that rape.

After reporting the rape, Lauterbach had to move off base because her car was vandalized and she was assaulted and threatened.

Then, at 8 months pregnant, her step-mother had a conversation with her, telling her that she should give up her baby for adoption because she would not be able to take care of it. This was the last conversation the step-mother had with Lauterbach, and of course this information that “she wouldn’t be a good mother” was also all over the news, further victimizing the victim.

Now, of course, we know that Lauterbach was most likely murdered, burned, possibly dismembered and buried in the backyard by her alleged rapist, Laurean. Laurean is now on the run, having left his wife a note saying that Lauterbach had killed herself and that he had buried her in back of the house. There is currently a search going on in his back yard, while police attempt to locate him.

While Laurean deserves whatever he gets and then some, Lauterbach was also victimized by the media, police, her friends, her step-mother and the Marines. No matter what her shortcomings were in life, she certainly did not deserve what happened to her, nor the things that have been said about her.

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Here’s a video of a former cop arriving in court. He is accused of the murder of his girlfriend, who was pregnant. He faces the death penalty if convicted of the murders.

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Jessica Hodges thought she was in labor, so she set off to the hospital in her car to try to get there in time. She was pulled over by police for going 57mph in a 35mph zone and charged with reckless driving.

Could the cop not see tell she was in labor? Maybe he didn’t believe her. Still she was detained long enough for the reckless driving ticket to be issued before she was able to make it to the hospital. Luckily, it was a false alarm.

She was found guilty of the charge of reckless driving. She was one of the first people in Virginia to be hit with an “abusive driver fee” of $1050 on top of the $100 fine for the ticket and the court costs.

The “abusive driver fees” range from $700 to $3000 and were designed to pay for Virginia’s transportation projects. And who better to pay for transportation projects than pregnant women on the way to the hospital?

I’m not the only one who thinks the fees are ridiculous. There have been 170,000 signatures to an online petition to repeal the fees. Even two Virginia judges have found them to be unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. If you don’t live in Virginia, they can not collect the outrageous fees from you, so they are only raping their own with these fees.

Hodges plans to appeal her conviction. She says she was rushed in court and did not get a chance to explain to the judge the circumstances of why she was speeding. She hopes to have the opportunity to explain to a new judge, who she also hopes will dismiss the case.

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