From day one of the manhunt, Onslow County, NC authorities assured me the question was not “if,” but “when,” Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean would be arrested. And that seems to have been the attitude of their Mexican counterparts.

Their optimism appears to have been justified last night, when police in the rural Mexican township of Tacambaro arrested the prime suspect in the December murder of pregnant Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach.

I’m doing live shots from the Atlanta bureau while my colleagues, correspondent Marianne Silber and producer Brooks Blanton travel to Jacksonville, NC, where Onslow County authorities have scheduled a 2 PM news conference.

Adam Housley was recently in Mexico for an unrelated assignment. But he’s been able to gain some interesting details on this story from his law enforcement contacts there. Be sure to read his blog below.