Christina Laurean also didn’t help her husband, Cesar, when he fled to his native Mexico weeks after clubbing Lauterbach to death with a crowbar and burning her corpse in a backyard firepit.
Cesar Laurean was convicted of first-degree murder in August and sentenced to life in prison.
Hudson said he decided to issue a statement because the Marine Corps had ordered Christina Laurean not to speak and she would not defend herself against accusations.
Her husband’s defense attorney suggested during the trial that Christina Laurean might have been involved in the slaying.
“There is no credible evidence that Christina Laurean was involved with the murder of Maria Lauterbach or assisted her husband in avoiding arrest,” Hudson said in a statement. “She cooperated with the law enforcement officers who investigated this brutal murder and assisted in the apprehension of Cesar Laurean.”
Authorities had described Christina Laurean as a cooperating witness and never charged her with any crime. But her involvement in the case has never been fully explained. She chose not to testify at her husband’s murder trial.
A North Carolina rule prevents prosecutors from using spousal communications, so that information was never shared with jurors.
Christina Laurean’s attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Chris Welch, did not return calls seeking comment.
In December, Dayton lawyer Merle Wilberding filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Lauterbach’s family against both Laureans . The lawsuit contends Christina Laurean found Lauterbach’s wallet after her disappearance.
Wilberding said the family understands Hudson’s position and continues to be grateful for his prosecution of Laurean.
The decision not to prosecute Christina, however, will have little immediate bearing on the wrongful death lawsuit, Wilberding said: “Hudson is speaking from the prosecution standpoint where the standard is 'beyond a reasonable doubt.’
“From the terms of a civil suit, the standard is very different. We still plan to pursue our discovery of Christina, as to what she knew and when she knew it. The most troublesome time period for Christina is between Dec. 14 and Jan. 11, when they lived in the house together and the body was either in the garage or the back yard.
“That’s where we need to go to find out more about what happened.”
The Laureans and Lauterbach were all Marines based at Camp Lejeune at the time of the killing in 2007. Lauterbach and Cesar Laurean had been assigned to the same logistics unit.
Lauterbach had accused Cesar Laurean of rape, then recanted her claim that he was responsible for impregnating her. DNA tests revealed Laurean wasn’t the father.
Lauterbach was in her third trimester of pregnancy when she disappeared.
Prosecutors said Cesar Laurean killed to remove the threat of a trial on rape o r other sex charges that could sink his military career.
Cesar Laurean claimed Lauterbach killed herself, but that he buried the body while in a panic. He fled the Camp Lejeune area in January 2008 after leaving his wife a farewell note, which Christina Laurean gave to investigators hours after he fled.
Information in the note helped detectives uncover Lauterbach’s body and start a manhunt for Cesar Laurean.
Prosecutors and detectives said during Cesar Laurean’s months in Mexico, his wife stayed in contact by e-mail and a social-networking site at the request of investigators.
She refused his pleas for help, and his efforts to stay in contact with his wife and family eventually led law officers to arrest him on a street in the small town of San Juan de la Vina in Tacambaro.
He was born in Guadalajara, but moved with his family to Las Vegas more than 10 years ago.
Hudson said previously that evidence from Christina Laurean’s computer enabled detectives to identify the Internet cafes Cesar Laurean was visiting.
His farewell note, the e-mails they traded while he was on the lam, and anything they discussed when she visited him in a Mexican jail after his arrest could not be presented in court.