Slain Marine Was Probing Embezzlement

A Quantico Marine Corps corporal shot to death earlier this week was assisting an inquiry into an alleged embezzlement scheme involving personnel assigned to the helicopter squadron that serves President Bush, law enforcement sources said Thursday.

The sources said Cpl. Estella Pearson, 26, who was killed Monday in a parking lot in Woodbridge, Va., was investigating a scheme apparently linked to the payment of travel money for trips never taken by military personnel.

One of those charged with Pearson’s murder was aware that she was part of the inquiry, according to a criminal complaint.

Police in Prince William County, Va., charged Markeithia Reene Reeves and Tania Theresa Morton with first-degree murder Wednesday night in the slaying of Pearson. Reeves is a civilian clerk employed at the Quantico Marine Corps Base and Morton is a civilian clerk and typist for the Department of the Navy in Alexandria, Va.

The Quantico Marine Corps public affairs office confirmed that the Naval Investigative Service was probing the alleged embezzlement scheme, but declined to name suspects or give other details.

According to a criminal complaint filed with a magistrate by Prince William County police, Reeves admitted to being involved in the murder. Reeves, the complaint said, “lured the victim . . . from the Marine Corps base . . . with the intent to kill her.”

A complaint filed against Morton said that she “also admits to participating with Reeves in an embezzlement scam and was aware that Cpl. Pearson was investigating that same embezzlement.”

Officials at the Quantico base, 45 miles south of Washington, D.C., started the embezzlement inquiry after a Marine complained that money had been authorized for a trip he never took, a source said.

Pearson, whose responsibilities included reviewing financial files, apparently was compiling records about the matter. She worked as an administrative clerk assigned to Helicopter Squadron One.

The squadron performs several duties, including transporting Bush and government officials, evaluating and testing military helicopters and providing support training for military exercises.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that none of the people involved in the case had “access or clearance” for sensitive information or the helicopters serving the President.