COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A Fort Carson soldier was being held without bond Tuesday on suspicion of first degree murder and sexual assault after the man apparently led them to the body of a teenage woman who had been missing since Friday.
Robert Hull Marko, 21, a Fort Carson specialist from Decatur, Mich., was booked into the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center on Monday.
Judilianna Lawrence, 19, was reported missing Friday from her Stratmoor Valley home south of Colorado Springs. An autopsy to verify identity of the body was pending, said sheriff’s Lt. Lara Sevene.
Marko had befriended Lawrence online, Sevene said.
Marko led investigators to the body in a wooded area behind Colorado Springs’ Broadmoor neighborhood, said Sgt. Robert Jaworski of the El Paso County sheriff’s investigations division.
Marko is a mortarman with the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division. He served in Iraq from January 2007 to February 2008.
Dozens of investigators searched for Lawrence in the North Cheyenne Canon area over the weekend after Lawrence’s mother, Aekyong Lawrence, discovered Lawrence had been exchanging e-mails with Marko. One e-mail said Lawrence and Marko were to meet for the first time Friday, Aekyong Lawrence said.
“She’s such a good girl,” Aekyong Lawrence said. “She never dated. She doesn’t even drive. She would never run off with someone.”
Marko is due back in court Monday.
