By Peter Biello
Wilmington, NC – The Ohio Congressman for the district where murdered pregnant Marine Maria Lauterbach's family lives says he disagrees with the procedures the Marines followed after her disappearance from Camp Lejeune Marine Base last December.
In a five-page letter to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Ohio Congressman Michael Turner says the Marine Corps needs to do a better job protecting female Marines.
The bodies of Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child were found buried in the backyard of a fellow Marine last December, the same Marine she had accused of raping her. Turner asks in the letter what the Marine Corps did to protect Lauterbach.
Marines Spokesperson T.V. Johnson says the Marine Corps did what it was supposed to.
"You can follow the rules and follow those regulations and still end up with a bad situation, so nobody here is faulting the command for the way it was handled. The perception here is that they did everything by the book."
Johnson says the rules don't necessarily need to be changed. He says the Marine Corps will respond to Congressman Turner, but would not say when.
Read the full letter here.
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