Day One of Laurean testimony wraps up

GOLDSBORO, N.C. -- The first day of testimony in the Cesar Laurean murder trial is finished.

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Kim Busick managed the day care the Laurean's took their daughter. She says Cesar usually brought their daughter to day care early in the mornings but after January 2008, she never saw him again.

She said Christina Laurean, Cesar's wife, told her about an event that had happened. The judge didn't allow Busick to say what event. Busick said that after "it" happened, she never saw Cesar again.

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The Greyhoud Bus Station Manager, Roshaun Hames, says he sold Maria Lauterbach a ticket to El Paso.

The ticket was purchased for Saturday, December 15th, the day after Lauterbach went missing.

He says Lauterbach told him that she was going to be with her boyfriend that worked on base, a man she claimed was the father of her child.

He said a distraught Lauterbach told him about how things had gone bad between her and her boyfriend. She said she and her boyfriend weren't supposed to be together, but implied that she wanted to anyways.

He says once she left, he didn't notice her car there again until Monday, December 17th.

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The supervisor of Maria Lauterbach says she was thinking about giving up her baby for adoption.

He says Lauterbach battled depression, after she said she was raped. He said Lauterbach told him she didn't want to go through life with a baby that was a product of a rape.

He says Lauterbach never said that she had contact with Laurean after the rape allegations were brought up and a subsequent military protective order was filed.

Other witnesses said they saw Laurean and Lauterbach together well after that time.

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Pamela Chavis is unemployed now but she worked at the Marine Corps Exchange on base back in 2007. Chavis says she saw Laurean and Lauterbach together at the exchange, shopping for crystal for Laureans grandmother, just days before Lauterbach disappeared.

Chavis said at the time she had seen the two together on multiple occasions. She says the last time she saw the Lauterbach was "very pregnant." 

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LCP Blake Costa, former NCO of Laureans company at Camp Lejeune, has testified that Cesar Laurean wanted Maria to move to Mexico, so he could discredit her in the Marine Corps.

Costa said Laurean told him this after Lauterbach had alleged that she was raped by Laurean. Costa says Laurean denied ever sexually assaulting her but did say he and Lauterbach had consentual sex. He alleges that Laurean wanted Lauterbach to move to Mexico and become a deserter. Costa says Laurean told him he would send Lauterbach money but he wanted he out of the country.

He wanted Costa to bring Maria to a store so that Laurean could "bump into her," and try to talk to her. Costa says he told Laurean to find a civilian attorney.

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Mary Lauterbach, the mother of murdered marine Maria Lauterbach, broke down in court this morning, as investigators discussed finding her daughters body.

On the stand, Investiagtors described finding human remains in Cesar Laureans backyard. SBI Investigator Chip Coble said the remains were found in a fire pit surrounded by cinderblocks. With those remains, they also found the body of an infant.

Coble took the stand just after 10:00 this morning.

Coble says they noticed the 'fire pit' on the first day they started processing the scene, but didnt process the pit until the next day.

As the State attempted to admit some of these graphic pictures into evidence, the defense objected, but the judge overruled saying the pictures were not "overly prejudicial."

Earlier Coble discussed what he saw in the home and in Laurean's garage. He says when he entered the garage he saw something he though to be dried blood on several storage containers there.

Coble says he also noticed small droplets of blood on the floor and the walls of Laureans garage.

As he talked about finding the blood Maria Lauterbachs mother Mary broke down in tears.

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Opening arguments began shortly after 9:30 Thursday morning in the murder trial of former Marine Cesar Laurean.

DA Dewey Hudson took just a few minutes to outline the series of events to the jury that led to the discovery and ultimately, the arrest of Laurean in Mexico.

Husdon says the DNA evidence will show Laurean is guilty.

Laurean's attorney, Dick McNeil, then began his opening statements. During his opening statements, Hudson objected multiple times about McNeil's statements regarding Lauterbach's tendencies to lie.

The judge allowed McNeil to continue.

McNeil says the defense will prove there is reasonable doubt as to who killed Lauterbach and accusations of premeditation.

First to take the stand was Marine Corps Sergeant Dan Durham.

Lauterbach lived with Durham off base while she was pregnant.

He says the last time he heard from her was December 12, 2007.

She left a not for him saying she was tired of the Marine Corps life and she was going away for a while.

He says he tried to get in touch with her, her friends and her mother before reporting her absence to the Marine Corps.

After Sargent Durham's testimony, SBI Special Agent Chip Coble took the stand. Coble is walking the jury through a series of maps and diagrams showing the layout of Laurean's house.

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Jury selection ended on Wednesday.  It took only two days for a jury to be put place.

The jury will be made up of seven women and five men; three alternate jurors were also selected.

The attorney's in this case say having a jury set so soon doesn't come as a surprise.

However, Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson says it may have been a different story if the trial had stayed in Onslow County.