"She would have been alive today"

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - A mother says changes in the military's sexual assault policy would have saved her daughter's life.

Mary Lauterbach, whose daughter Maria was killed by fellow marine Cesar Laurean, and her lawyer Merle Wilberding spoke exclusively to 2 NEWS Thursday.

They say they're pleased with the changes announced by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to deal with the 3,200 sexual assaults reported yearly in the military and the roughly 16,000 others that officials think go unreported.

Employees who help victims, victim advocates, will be expected to meet national training standards and any talks victims have with them will be privileged.

More money will be spent on making sure investigators and lawyers can find and prosecute offenders.

Panetta also ordered an assessment of how military leaders are trained in sexual assault prevention and response.

Mary Lauterbach told 2 NEWS one thing in particular in the changes could have saved her daughter's life and that's making base transfers possible for victims.

She says Maria asked about a transfer but was told don't even bother applying because it won't happen.

"Now she would have had a much greater chance and they're guaranteeing a 72-hour response that they would have to answer her, so it would have been much more likely she would have gotten the base transfer," Lauterbach says. "She would have been alive today because of that."

Mary and her lawyer say more can be done, but they think these are important steps.

They're heartened by the fact the Secretary of Defense was the one talking about the changes.

"What they're trying to do is change the culture of the military and that's ingrained and it has to have a high visibility to make that effective," Wilberding says.