Lejeune commander: Stay away from protesters

The commander of Camp Lejeune, N.C., ordered her leathernecks to stay away from an anti-military and anti-gay group that has promised to demonstrate at the base following the death of a pregnant Marine.

The Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church, which frequently pickets the funerals of military members, said it will demonstrate at the base at noon Saturday.

“God hates the U.S. Marines,” the group said in a statement.

Col. Adele Hodges, base commander, told her troops to “leave the area immediately” if they came into contact with the group.

“Do not attempt to engage in any verbal taunting or physical altercation with this group,” Hodges said, in a written message to the Marines. “We believe they want to generate additional publicity by provoking such a confrontation. Do not help them in this effort by engaging in any provocative behavior.”

Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, 20, was seven months pregnant when she was reported missing from the base Dec. 19. The burned remains of Lauterbach and her baby were found Friday in the backyard of Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, who is accused of killing her. A preliminary autopsy found the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Laurean is the subject of an international manhunt. He is a naturalized American citizen with ties to Mexico, where he was born.

The church group announced the planned demonstration on its Web site.

“The wonderful, spit-and-polish Marine [Lauterbach] is over eight months pregnant and says another wonderful Marine raped her, and … now she turns up dead,” the statement reads. “Based on our extensive experience with Marines for over a decade, we can testify that these are typical Marines.”

The fundamentalist church has received national attention in recent years for picketing military funerals, claiming that God is punishing the U.S. for allowing homosexuality.

In October, a Baltimore jury awarded the father of a Marine killed in Iraq $10.9 million in damages after finding that the church had inflicted emotional distress and invaded his family’s privacy by picketing the funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder of York, Pa.

The church has appealed the case, and one of its leaders, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said members would continue to picket military funerals.