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.

(AP) Cesar Laurean in handcuffs after his capture in Mexico.

BREAKING NEWS!
Friday, April 11

5:12 pm: We went to the town where Cesar was living for the past several weeks in San Juan de Viña, Municipio de Tacambaro, in the State of Michoacan, and we talked to several residents who knew him.

They said he lived in a house in the mountains, and would come down almost every day to the Internet cafe, he would sometimes work there for cash also.

As he walked down the hill he would talk to people along the way, saying hello and making small talk. But he mostly kept to himself. We went to the house where he lived. It was a two-room wooden house. It still had food, a notebook where he kept a diary of his daily exercises, and smashed cardboard boxes he used as a bed.

He also talked with Claudia Rauda Botello a 18 year-old-girl that talks regularly with  Cesar and he told her that his uncle sent him to live up in the mountains and he lived alone there.

4:21 pm: The Mexican Attorney General’s office tells FOX News that one of the Mexican ministries is currently holding a private hearing and interrogation of Cesar Laurean in Mexico City.

The hearing is still in session as of 3:30pm ET. The hearing is part of the normal process, but it’s happening much quicker than usual.

2:08 pm: I just spoke to our contacts in Mexico and got some new info.

First Jorge went to the village where Laurean was hiding out. According to many villagers, no one knew he was a fugitive. He was living at a small farm surrounded by Alvocado and fruit trees. The house on the property was small and he apparently had mostly been living alone.

According to villagers he told them his uncle had put him up at the small farm and had him also doing odd jobs in and around the big city of Morelia.

Laurean frequented a small Internet cafe and also was frequently visited by an older women the villagers assumed was his mother.

Inside the small farm house was a workout plan written in English on a piece of paper and posted on the wall. It said stuff like, Mondays push ups etc.

People in the small village, while suspicious, are very surprised this guy was wanted in the U.S … for murder.

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Thursday, April 10

11:30 pm: EXCLUSIVE INFO AND DETAILS: THIS INFO JUST IN FROM A PRODUCER I WORK WITH IN MEXICO … JORGE. HE WAS AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE.

Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean was arrested at approximately 7:00 pm in San Juan de Vina, Municipio de Tacambaro, in the State of Michoacan. Jorge took down this quote …

“Strong cooperation between Mexican and U.S. authorities increasingly ensures that those who commit crimes in either country will ultimately face capture and prosecution no matter where they might try to hide.” Also Jorge tells me that Laurean spoke very slowly, unnatural when asked questions. He was wearing jeans and a shirt and looked like he was in a bit of a trance. Keep Reading …