U.S. & World

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (CBS) ― The key suspect in the brutal slaying of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine was spotted in Louisiana and could be headed into Texas, authorities said Sunday as federal officials said they had issued a fugitive warrant for his arrest.

Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean was seen getting on or off a Greyhound bus in Shreveport, La., Saturday night, said Shreveport police Chief Henry Whitehorn Sr.

"We're working with the U.S. Marshal's Service and other law enforcement agencies trying to locate him," Whitehorn told The Associated Press. "We don't know if he is still in the area. We believe it may have just been a pass through. We received information he may be headed into Texas."

Earlier on Sunday morning, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said Laurean was not in North Carolina "and in fact (was) some states away." Brown would not say specifically where Laurean was spotted, only describing it as a "transit" sighting. He declined to say whether Laurean was still in the black four-door pickup truck in which they believe he skipped town.

"I do feel comfortable that Mr. Laurean will be located," Brown said, adding that the evidence in the case "leads us to believe that he would be a dangerous and violent person if put in a corner."

Brown said the FBI, federal Marshals, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation are hunting for Laurean. Sheriff's investigators at the scene are spending much of their time on developing evidence in the investigation, he said.

"While finding him is a main concern, the major concern is that we continue the investigation to clearly find the truth in what happened," he said.

On Saturday, authorities said they recovered what they believe to be the burned remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child from a fire pit in Laurean's backyard, where they suspect he burned and buried her body. Those remains have been sent to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill for a formal identification.

That same day, authorities issued a murder warrant for Laurean, 21, of the Las Vegas area. They believe he fled Jacksonville before dawn Friday after leaving behind a note in which he admitted burying her body but claimed Lauterbach cut her own throat in a suicide.

The federal warrant announced Sunday charges Laurean with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, said FBI officials in Charlotte. Bureau spokesman Newsom Summerlin said that while investigators don't have any reason to believe he's fled the country, that remains a possibility.

Lauterbach had disappeared sometime after Dec. 14, not long after she met with military prosecutors to talk about her April allegation that Laurean raped her. Naval investigators said Saturday the rape case was progressing and Laurean was under a protective order to stay away from Lauterbach.

In Louisiana, Whitehorn said he didn't know whether it was another passenger on the bus who had spotted Laurean and notified police. Shreveport is roughly 950 miles southwest of Jacksonville, and is about two dozen miles from the Texas state line.

In North Carolina, Sheriff Brown has challenged Laurean's assertion Lauterbach killed herself, citing what he described as evidence of a violent confrontation inside Laurean's home - which he said left blood spatters on the ceiling and a massive amount of blood on the wall.

Authorities received Laurean's note about the purported suicide from Laurean's wife, whom Brown has said is cooperating with authorities. Her family has described her as "heartbroken."

Lauterbach's mother reported her daughter missing Dec. 19. She had been placed on "unauthorized absence" status by the Marine Corps and was listed that day in a national law enforcement database as a "missing person at risk."

Naval investigators said authorities didn't consider Laurean a threat to Lauterbach, or later a flight risk, because they had indications the pair were on friendly terms. Laurean later refused to meet with investigators and left town without telling his lawyers where he was going.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)