VANDALIA, Ohio — Family and friends wept and prayed Saturday at a funeral Mass for a pregnant Marine slain in North Carolina.
The service for Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach drew hundreds of mourners to St. Christopher Catholic Church near Dayton.
Four uniformed Marines wheeled Lauterbach’s coffin down the aisle to the strains of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” A small silver casket bearing Lauterbach’s unborn child, whom she had named Gabriel, was placed next to it.
Federal authorities have said the man suspected of killing her, Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, has probably fled to Mexico. Lauterbach failed to show up for work in mid-December, and last month, her burned remains were found with those of her fetus in a fire pit in the backyard of Laurean’s house in Jacksonville, N.C.
Six Marines saluted at Calvary Cemetery in Dayton and carried Lauterbach’s flag-draped casket to her gravesite. A Marine unit gave Lauterbach a rifle volley, and taps was played.
