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Mom to talk about daughter's experiences
Mother of Maria Lauterbach to testify before House subcommittee today.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
WASHINGTON — Mary Lauterbach, the mother of Maria Lauterbach, will testify before a U.S. House subcommittee today, July 31, about her daughter's experience in the military leading up to her slaying in December.
Mary Lauterbach will be a witness before the National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
She said she wants to talk about her 20-year-old daughter's experiences after she accused a colleague of sexual assault last year.
Lauterbach, a Vandalia native, was discovered Jan. 11 buried beneath the fire pit in fellow Marine Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean's backyard near Camp LeJeune, N.C.
Lauterbach, eight months pregnant at the time of her death, had accused Laurean of raping her in April 2007. Laurean has been charged with murder in Lauterbach's killing.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., this week introduced a bill listing issues regarding rape in the military that they would like to see the Department of Defense investigate.
The bill is expected to be a first step to further action on how to better address sexual assault in the military.
Turner, a member of the subcommittee, credited a visit to Capitol Hill by Mary Lauterbach earlier this year with spurring Harman's interest in the bill.
Among the ideas Mary Lauterbach would like to push: making it easier for victims of sexual assault to transfer to another base.
In the aftermath of her allegations, Maria Lauterbach often expressed a desire to transfer to another base.
"Maria would be alive today if that option were available," Mary Lauterbach said.
