Merle Wilberding, the attorney for the family of slain Marine Maria Lauterbach, is with a Dayton, Ohio, law firm. He is a native of Breda in western Iowa and has long been involved with high-profile military legal cases, most notably the My Lai massacre prosecution during the Vietnam War. As part of his work with the Lauterbach case, a sensational murder investigation, Wilberding has advocated a change in culture in the military to prevent sexual assault on women.