Missing pregnant Marine was killed, sheriff says

JACKSONVILLE, North Carolina (CNN) -- Missing pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach has been killed, Onslow County sheriff said Friday.

Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach last spoke to relatives in the Dayton, Ohio, area on December 14.

The suspect in the case is a senior officer whom Lauterbach had accused of assault, Sheriff Ed Brown said at a news conference Friday.

The suspect is not in custody, Brown said.

Lauterbach had purchased a bus ticket the day she went missing from Camp Lejeune but never used it, Brown said earlier.

Brown said the ticket was from Jacksonville, North Carolina, to El Paso, Texas.

Roshaun Hames told CNN affiliate WNCT-TV on Friday that he sold the ticket to Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach around 5 p.m. on December 14.

Hames said he thought Lauterbach was alone when she bought the ticket and that she drove off after asking if she could leave her car at the station, WNCT reported.