Pregnant Marine Vanishes From Base  

A pregnant Marine missing from Camp Lejeune, N.C., was the victim of a crime and was to testify about it, the Onslow County sheriff told CNN affiliates.

A search is under way for 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who has been missing from Camp Lejeune since Dec. 14.

Sheriff Ed Brown told CNN affiliate WECT that other people in the military could be involved with the Marine's disappearance and that they may have tampered with her car and cell phone.

Brown told WRAL that investigators want to talk to a male roommate of Lauterbach's who may be on deployment and could be considered a person of interest in the case.

"Until you can interview him and eliminate, you still consider them as key people of concern," the sheriff said.

In a news release Thursday morning, the sheriff's office indicated progress was being made in the investigation.

"I do believe the answer is near. Open leads are still being investigated and more witnesses developed and interviewed. All these are bringing us closer to solving the mystery surrounding the disappearance of pregnant Marine, Maria Frances Lauterbach," the release from Brown's office said.

Lauterbach's phone was found at a Camp Lejeune gate on December 20. Her car was found at a Jacksonville bus station on Monday, the sheriff told WECT. But the car was not there during the weekend, he said.

"The more that we have suspicious things come up, the more concern we have that something is not right in this lady's disappearance," Brown said. Watch sheriff explain why authorities are concerned »

Lauterbach, of Montgomery, Ohio, was eight months pregnant when she went missing and may have recently given birth or be about to, Brown told CNN affiliate WITN.

Mary Lauterbach, the Marine's mother, reported her missing on December 19, and told the sheriff's department "that she was very suspicious that something bad may have happened to her daughter," the department said in a news release. Watch Lauterbach's mom say what raised her concerns »

Mary Lauterbach told the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday that she last spoke to her daughter on December 14 in what she called "a very normal conversation."

The mother told CNN affiliate WDTN that later that day she got a phone call from her daughter's roommate saying Maria had left their house. Calls she made to her daughter's cell phone after that went unanswered, Mary Lauterbach told the Dayton newspaper.

Investigators told the Marine Corps Times that a withdrawal from Lauterbach's bank account was made on December 14 and said there was "suspicious activity" on the account 10 days later.

The Raleigh News and Observer, citing Brown, reported that Mary Lauterbach said her daughter phoned home or her relatives up to 12 times a week and the mother became concerned when she did not hear from her daughter for five days.

A Facebook page established to help find Lauterbach says she was last seen December 14 in Jacksonville. "Call mom!!! You know the number," the page says. "All of us love you and we miss you. Please come home!"

The page contains pleas for contacts from fellow Marines and friends of Lauterbach in Ohio.

Lauterbach is a personnel clerk assigned to Combat Logistics Regiment 27, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, the Marine Corps said. She joined the service on June 6, 2006.