To voice your opinion on potential Fetal Homicide legislation emai us at ncwanted@ncwanted.com
Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown was noticeably pained when he announced that the charred remains of a pregnant Marine had been discovered in the suspect’s backyard.
Maria Lauterbach’s unborn child had been buried with her, in the fire pit where the killer tried to destroy evidence by setting both bodies ablaze.
Sheriff Brown described the fetus with a bewildered and saddened look on his face. The unborn child was developed enough that its hand was about the size of the sheriff’s thumb and its fingers had curled up as a shallow burning grave became its womb.
“One of the things that will 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,” Brown said.
“That is bizarre. That is tragic. And it’s disgusting.”
On Thursday, authorities announced that Lauterbach had not given birth to her child before her death, and therefore her killer would never be charged with an additional count of murder.
Investigators believe Lauterbach died on December 14 after suffering blunt force trauma to the head, possibly having been beaten to death with a crowbar.
She was eight months pregnant at the time.
Her murder has triggered an international manhunt for the suspect, Marine Corporal Cesar Laurean. It has also reignited an ongoing debate about the state’s need for fetal homicide legislation.
“The death of a viable, but unborn child does not constitute murder in North Carolina,” district attorney Dewey Hudson explained in a news conference Thursday.
Although fetal homicide legislation is currently being considered in North Carolina’s House and Senate, some have contended that the state is not doing enough to make a viable bill become law.
Senate Bill 295 was filed last February and is under review. It states that the murder of a pregnant woman that results in the death of the unborn child will result in a separate and additional charge of murder. It further stipulates that the law does not require the killer to be aware of the woman’s pregnancy in order to be punished for the fetus’ death.
House Bill 263, also filed last February and now under review, extends this definition to cases of manslaughter, assault on a woman and domestic violence, which cause the miscarriage or stillbirth of a fetus. This bill also stipulates it does not matter whether the perpetrator was aware of the pregnancy at the time of the crime
The questions of knowledge and intent – whether the killer was aware the mother was pregnant and intended to murder the child as well as the mother – are controversial aspects that likely must be resolved before either bill can pass.
Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby sat down with NC WANTED to discuss pending fetal homicide legislation. He argued that a killer’s knowledge of a woman’s pregnancy should actually be taken into consideration when he is charged and sentenced.
“If you get in a drunk-driving accident and kill a pregnant woman or kill the unborn child, should the punishment be enhanced when you didn’t know that person was pregnant?” he asked. “That’s certainly a different situation from when you kill someone who is eight months pregnant and showing and it’s obvious to the world that she’s pregnant.”
Other states' fetal homicide laws have been upheld even when the pregnant woman did not appear pregnant. In January of 2002, a judge upheld Utah’s 1983 law, rejecting the defense attorneys’ argument that - because the fetus was only 14 weeks old when the mother died - it should not be viewed as a person, because it could not have survived outside the womb.
In North Carolina, which is one of only 13 states without a fetal homicide law, the proposed bills and their supporters do not define the age of a fetus or the mother's appearance as factors.
“I don’t think there has been a real serious attempt to address this in the legislature in the past few years,” Willoughby said. “It usually comes up for discussion whenever we have a highly publicized case, but it just hasn’t caught the public’s attention enough to be addressed by the legislature.”
Sadly, there has been no shortage of murdered pregnant women in North Carolina to attract support for a fetal homicide law. Michelle Young, Janet Abaroa, Jenna Neilsen and now Maria Lauterbauch were all pregnant mothers murdered in North Carolina.
Jenna Nielsen, who was eight months pregnant with a boy they had named Ethen, was stabbed in the neck while delivering newspapers in Wake County.
Jenna’s father, Kevin Blaine, vocalized his support for a change in the law that would make the murder of a pregnant woman a double homicide.
“This child had a name. We were totally prepared for another grandson. It was just weeks away. He had a name. He had a life. He had a future. And all that was taken away,” Blaine said.
Opponents of fetal homicide bills have expressed concerns about the impact this law could have on the abortion debate. If the death of an unborn child by murder is a punishable offense, then why not the death of an unborn child by abortion?
Others maintain abortion legislation and the fetal homicide bills actually support a woman’s right to choose. If a woman wants to carry her child to term, then the fetus’ death was not her choice and that constitutes murder.
“From what I understand about the law, it’s all about pro-choice, abortion,” Blaine said. “But this is neither. This was a person who was eight months old, inside the mother’s womb. That’s a viable life, and that person took two lives that day. And why the law won’t see it that way, I don’t know. But the law has to be changed.”
If you have any information on cases in North Carolina, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your indentity can be kept confidential.
