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Adult, fetus found in shallow grave may be missing Marine

JACKSONVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) — The remains of an adult and a fetus were found Saturday in a shallow grave in the backyard of the primary suspect in the death of a pregnant Marine, Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown announced.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean in the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach.

He is charged with first-degree murder, although authorities have not positively identified the body as hers.

This is consistent with what we were looking for: A pregnant lady who is the victim Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child, Brown said.

The body was charred, and the fetus was in the victim’s abdomen, Brown said, describing the scene in gruesome detail.

The fetus was developed enough that the little hand was about the size of my thumb. The little fingers were rolled up, he said.

One of the things that will probably stick with me for a long time, and forever, is that little hand, the way those fingers were turned, that had been burned off the arm. That is bizarre. That is tragic. And it’s disgusting. Watch Brown describe the scene

The remains were taken to the Onslow County medical examiner’s office. They will next be sent to the chief medical examiner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for DNA testing and comparison with dental records.

Lauterbach, 20, disappeared, when she was eight months pregnant, from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in mid-December, not long before she was to testify at a military hearing about her rape accusation against Laurean.

Laurean is believed to have left the base at 4 a.m. Friday, and a nationwide manhunt is under way. Watch authorities search for a grave

Lauterbach’s relatives believe her pregnancy was the result of the alleged rape, said Lauterbach’s uncle, Peter Steiner, a Kentucky psychiatrist.

Investigators told CNN that Laurean vanished four hours before his wife, Christina, approached Brown with a note from her husband claiming that Lauterbach had committed suicide and he buried the body.

We believe our suspect has fled the state of North Carolina; removed himself as far from here as he can get, Brown said Saturday. Watch Brown describe the cavity where the body was found

Brown said Friday that blood spatter evidence was found inside Laurean’s home, even on a ceiling. There was evidence of an attempted clean-up, including an attempt to paint over the blood spatter, he said.

Evidence now is saying what he’s claiming happened did not happen like he said it happened, Brown said of Laurean.

Lauterbach’s mother, Mary Lauterbach, reported the young woman as missing from Camp Lejeune on December 19. Mary Lauterbach said she had not talked with her for five days. Watch police face unanswered questions

Laurean, 21, of Nevada, is believed to be driving a black Dodge pickup with North Carolina license plate TRR1522. Laurean repeatedly refused to meet with investigators, finally telling them that his attorney wouldn’t let him.

The sheriff described him as dangerous, especially if cornered.

Military officials said Laurean was not taken into custody after Lauterbach reported the alleged rape because there was information the two carried on some sort of friendly relationship after she filed the complaint against him.

The information … leads us to believe that she still had some kind of contact with him, said Paul Ciccarelli, agent in charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Camp Lejeune, this week.

Because of that, Laurean wasn’t considered a flight risk, he said.

Steiner disputed that, and said his niece had no relationship with Laurean.

Ciccarelli also said the rape investigation is still active. See a timeline of the case

On Friday, authorities questioned Lauterbach’s roommate, Sgt. Daniel Durham, but said he had no apparent ties to her disappearance or death. Authorities have not released any details from that interview.
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Buddy Holly’s widow may sue over ‘Peggy Sue’ memoirs

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Buddy Holly’s widow is trying to keep the woman whose name was made famous by the 1950s hit song Peggy Sue from selling a book about her friendship with the rocker.

Maria Elena Holly says Peggy Sue Gerron’s Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue? is unauthorized and will harm her late husband’s name, her own reputation and that of her company, Holly Properties.

It’s very interesting that this woman makes up all these stories, Maria Elena Holly said Friday from her home in Dallas. He never, never considered Peggy Sue a friend.

Gerron, who lives in Lubbock, said she and another woman wrote the 283-page book because 2008 is the 50th anniversary of the release of Peggy Sue. Buddy Holly also recorded Peggy Sue Got Married.

Gerron said material for the book came from about 150 diary entries she wrote during the time she knew the singer, she said.

I wanted to give him his voice. It’s my book, my memoirs, she said from Tyler, where her publishing company held a news conference Friday defending Gerron’s right to pen her biography. We were very, very good friends. He was probably one of the best friends I ever had.

Maria Elena Holly said she would sue if excerpts she’s read online appear in the book, which is due in bookstores later this month.

I don’t understand why people do that, especially when she knows that people know the truth, she said.

This week, her attorney, Richard Wallace, sent a cease-and-desist letter to TogiEntertainment Inc., an Oklahoma City-based publishing house. Wallace declined to comment Friday.

Buddy Holly died February 3, 1959, in a plane crash that also killed singers Ritchie Valens and J.P. The Big Bopper Richardson. Holly was 22.

Maria Elena Holly, who married the singer just months before the crash, has for years owned the rights to her late husband’s name, image and related trademarks, and other intellectual properties, the letter said.

No one involved in the book’s publication sought consent to use Buddy Holly’s name or image — his likeness will be featured prominently on the book’s cover and the subtitle reads, Memoirs of Buddy Holly’s Peggy Sue, according to the letter.

Confusion and tarnishment of Buddy Holly’s name and Ms. Holly’s reputation are likely to result from this unauthorized book, the letter states.

It demands the ceasing of promotion and sale of the book, removal of the subtitle and cancellation of all book orders. It also asks for refunds on any deposits for the book and for an accounting of revenues from any sales.

Mark Faulk, chief executive officer of TogiEntertainment, said the threat of a lawsuit won’t deter Gerron or his company.

It’s obvious that they do not want the work released, he said. My feeling is that Maria Elena fears the truth will come out about Buddy Holly. If there is a lawsuit, our belief is that it will be totally frivolous.

Buddy Holly’s brother, Larry Holley, said Peggy Sue was not the original name in the song. Buddy Holly initially intended to use Cindy Lou, his niece, Larry Holley said.

Maria Elena Holly said her husband changed the name after Crickets drummer Jerry Allison asked him to because he had a crush on Gerron. Allison and Gerron married in July 1958.
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Washington mayor: City failed 4 slain children

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The mayor of Washington and other officials said Friday that city government failed four children whose decomposing bodies were found this week in their mother’s home.

Mayor Adrian Fenty called the lapses egregious, saying at a news conference that social workers prematurely closed their files on a family that struggled on the fringes since arriving in the city in December 2005.

The parents asked for food stamps and were turned down. They asked for housing assistance and were turned down again, officials said.

And, during repeated contacts with city agencies, there were warning signs that the family was in deep trouble, Fenty said.

Those red flags included reports from a nurse in July 2006 that both parents were substance abusers and that the children were living in a van, the mayor said. The case was closed because the family did not have a fixed address — the opposite of what should have happened, Fenty said.

In March, the children stopped attending school after their father died in a Maryland hospice.

In May, the mayor said, a suspicious school social worker alerted Metropolitan Police that the mother might be holding a truant child hostage. But the officer reported back that the children appeared to be healthy and were being home-schooled.

Then the family dropped off the social service agency radar.

On Wednesday, the family surfaced again, tragically, when four decomposing bodies were found by U.S. marshals serving an eviction notice.

The mayor said the city is conducting an audit of all 306 cases that were closed in 2007. He said city employees could face firing if they are found to be responsible for lapses in policy and accepted agency practices.

Banita Jacks, 33, was charged Thursday with three counts of felony murder and one count of first-degree murder while armed. She told police she believed the children were possessed by demons, according to court documents.

Court documents said Jacks identified the victims as her daughters Brittany Jacks, 17; Tatianna Jacks, 11; N’kiah Fogle, 6; and Aja Fogle, 5.

Marie Pierre-Louis, Washington’s chief medical examiner, said all four girls had been dead for at least 15 days.

Jacks is being held without bail. Her next court appearance is scheduled for February 11. If convicted, she could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Jacks told police that each daughter died in her sleep during a seven- to 10-day period, court documents said. Aja died first, she told police, then N’kiah, Tatianna and Brittany.

She said that as the first three younger children died, she placed them side by side in the room in which they died, according to court documents.

She reported that all the deaths occurred sometime before the electricity in her house was disconnected, which records show was September 5, documents said.

Jacks said she never tried to call authorities to remove the bodies because she didn’t trust either agency and because she thought if she notified emergency personnel, that would cause her more problems, the documents said.

She also said she had not fed her daughters food for a substantial period of time prior to their deaths.

No one besides herself or the children had been in the home since May, Jacks said.

Pierre-Louis ruled the deaths homicides, according to a court document. Watch the medical examiner describe the condition of the bodies

Preliminary findings are that Brittany was stabbed to death and that Aja died from blunt-force impact to the back of her head and possible ligature strangulation.

Both Tatianna and N’kiah also had apparent ligature evidence on their necks that was somewhat more defined than that noted on Aja Fogle’s neck, court documents said.

However, the documents said, further tests are needed to confirm the causes of the deaths.

All four children were wearing white T-shirts and were discovered in unfurnished bedrooms — three in one and a fourth in another, the documents said.

What appeared to be a metal steak knife was found next to the fourth. Also, the fourth body was found in a bedroom with hardwood floors, and a T-shirt with duct tape was found at the bottom of the bedroom door, filling the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door when it was closed.

A witness told police they saw Jacks treat Brittany differently from her other children, sometimes withholding food from her while feeding the others, court documents said.
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Bush arrives in Kuwait on Mideast peace mission

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (CNN) — President Bush arrived Friday at the first of five Arab nations on his Mideast mission to seek support for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned not to expect an outpouring of public support from those countries for the president’s initiative.

There isn’t going to be a blinding flash in any of this — not on this trip, not on the next trip, Rice told reporters aboard Air Force One, as they traveled to Kuwait. See Bush’s itinerary

But this is a process that’s moving forward, she said, noting the long-standing disagreements between the two sides.

There will be a period of time, undoubtedly, in which the two sides continue to be very far apart, she said. But over time they’ll move together.

She added, So much has already happened in this process that I think there is reason to be hopeful.

Bush’s eight-day trip to the region — his first as president — is centered on the ambitious task of sealing a long-stalled peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.

For the past three days in Israel and the West Bank, Bush met with top Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He called on Israel to pull out of the territories it has occupied since 1967, and on Palestinian leaders to dismantle terrorist infrastructures. Bush challenged both sides to begin peace talks immediately.

Bush is looking for Arab support as negotiations move forward, specifically asking for those nations to reach out to Israel. It is an appeal Bush has said he will look to emphasize during his visits to Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. See images of Bush’s historic trip

Upon Bush’s arrival in Kuwait City, children presented him with flowers along a red carpet trimmed with gold.

Bush is scheduled to visit the palace of Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, leader of the country that his father, President George H.W. Bush, helped free from Iraqi occupation in 1991’s Persian Gulf War.

Used as a base for U.S. forces, Kuwait will host Bush as he meets with Iraq war commander Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. troops.

Bush also is scheduled to join a roundtable discussion with Kuwaiti women on democracy and development.

Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bid farewell to Bush Friday at Ben Gurion Airport in a red-carpet ceremony, where Bush accepted Israel’s invitation to return in May.

On that visit, he will check on peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians and celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary, White House officials said.

The president spent his final day in the Holy Land visiting Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, where he laid a wreath for millions of Jews killed by Nazi Germany during World War II. Watch Bush’s solemn moment at the memorial

Memorial chairman, Avner Shalev told The Associated Press: Twice, I saw tears well up in his eyes.

According to AP, Shalev also described how Bush said Allied forces made a mistake in not attacking the Auschwitz death camp, where from 1.1 million to 1.5 million people were killed.

We should have bombed it, he said, according to Shalev and reported by AP.

Wearing a yarmulke, Bush placed a red-white-and-blue wreath on a stone slab that covers ashes of Holocaust victims, according to AP. Bush then lit a memorial torch.

The president also flew via Marine One on Friday to Galilee, where he visited several biblical sites, including Capernaum, and Mount of the Beatitudes.

A major challenge for Bush’s mission has been focusing the trip on Israeli-Palestinian peace while other issues — Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and soaring oil prices — dominate headlines and serve as reminders of the region’s instability.
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Choi leads by three at Sony Open

HONOLULU, Hawaii (AP) — A different week, a different island and a much different view for K.J. Choi.

Seven days ago, Choi was bringing up the rear in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, last among 31 winners at Kapalua going into the weekend.

On Friday, he closed with three straight birdies for a 5-under 65 and a three-shot lead in the Sony Open.

With half of the field on the course in the afternoon, Choi set the target.

He was at 11-under 129, three shot clear of Stephen Marino among those who played in the morning. Marino was atop the leaderboard for most of the morning until his momentum stalled with a bogey on the easiest hole, although he recovered for a 67.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames and Jon Mills of Oshawa, Ont., sit in a tie for 44th, nine strokes behind Choi. Ames shot a 2 under, while Miles fired a 1 under to finish the second round.

Fred Funk, aided by a tip from his wife, finished birdie-eagle for a 64 to give the 51-year-old a decent chance before leaving the kids to play on the Champions Tour in Hawaii the next two weeks. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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