DAILY NEWS STAFF
The creator of an Internet memorial site for a pregnant Marine who authorities say was killed by a colleague in mid-December received online death threats from at least two Marines this week.
"Shut up or get cut up," a post made in the name of Ron Parikh appeared on the MySpace memorial for Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach on Feb. 5.
Marine Corps officials confirmed that Lance Cpl. Parikh, a personnel clerk currently assigned to a training command in California, was under investigation for several MySpace.com postings.
"Parikh is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division for information posted on the Internet about Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach," said Capt. Neal Fisher, public affairs director for Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twenty-nine Palms, Calif.
Another Marine, Lance Cpl. Jonathan Cole, is also under investigation for comments he made on the internet, Marine officials said.
Cole is assigned to a unit in the 2nd Marine Division which is based at Camp Lejeune, said Lt. Col. Curtis Hill, public affairs officer for II Marine Expeditionary Force.
"(Cole's) command is aware of the MySpace issue and is taking appropriate action," Hill said.
Communicating "certain language expressing a present determination or intent to wrongfully injure" someone is a violation of military law, according to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
If such communications were "of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces" then Parikh, Cole and any other Marines involved could potentially face even more trouble, according to Article 134 of the UCMJ.
"If Marines were caught doing something inappropriate in uniform or their photograph was associated with something inappropriate online, that is a violation of the UMCJ," said Sgt. Paul Robbins, a public relations officer at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
A photograph of Parikh in dress blues serves as an icon picture on his MySpace account.
Jacksonville resident Miley Collier said she started the memorial page about a week ago as a way to remember Lauterbach and allow other people the opportunity to tell people what Lauterbach meant to them.
"I have received thousands of messages from people saying how Maria's story has touched their lives," Collier said. "I never expected to be threatened for setting up a memorial site."
Collier said she was petrified and worried given her geographic closeness to some of the Marines being investigated for their comments.
"You should be slapped in the face for talking about things that should be left alone. I'm not gonna sit here and watch you talk s--t," a post made from Parikh's MySpace account said. "I will do you like Laurean did if you don't take this page off."
Authorities say Lauterbach was killed by Cpl. Cesar Laurean Dec. 14. She was in the third trimester of a pregnancy at the time of her death and had accused Laurean of rape.
Laurean has been on the run since he fled Onslow County in mid-January. Authorities say Laurean left notes behind with his wife saying Lauterbach killed herself by slicing her own throat and he just buried her body behind the Half Moon home shared by the couple.
Posts attributed to Parikh's MySpace account claim Parikh knows Laurean and supports Laurean's purported version of events including that Lauterbach killed herself.
Lauterbach's autopsy revealed that she died of a blow to the head and cuts made to her neck were done post-mortem.
The section of the memorial site with the posts under investigation has been removed from the Web. Collier said she did not take the posts down but was informed by law-enforcement officials that portion of her site might be temporarily taken down during the investigation.
The memorial for Lauterbach can be viewed at MySpace.com/Maria_Lauterbach_Memorial.
Contact police reporter Lindell Kay at
lkay@freedomenc.com or 910-554-8534. To comment on this story or to read others' comments go to jdnews.com.
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