Pregnant Teacher Love Triangle Death: Boyfriend Engaged To Another Woman

COLUMBIA, MD (Updated at 9:50 p.m. Thursday) — Missing teacher Laura Wallen, whose body was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area of Damascus, was shot in the back of the head, authorities said Thursday night. Wallen's boyfriend was arrested for her murder, while Montgomery County Police said the autopsy showed the gunshot wound was the cause of death. Wallen, 31, of Rolling Meadow Way in Olney, was four months pregnant and a teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia.

Wallen's boyfriend and her unborn child's father, 32-year-old Tyler Tessier of Damascus, was arrested at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Montgomery County Police said Tessier is engaged to another woman.

"This is just one of those tragic cases where you have an absolutely innocent victim, and it's just senseless, senseless killing," Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said at the press conference. "These are the kind of cases that so often have a significant impact on the community where they occur, and that was certainly the case with this investigation. We were very saddened. We had a real sense of dread that this was how it was going to end up." (Get news alerts from Columbia Patch and like us on Facebook.)

Wallen, who taught social studies at Wilde Lake, was voted senior class teacher of the year in 2016 and was popular among her students. Some of them even pitched in to help locate the popular educator. On Saturday, they went around Columbia posting flyers with her picture on them and the word "MISSING." They also spoke with her neighbors in Olney, according to WJLA.

"...[I]f one of us was in this situation," organizer Saquan Williams told WJLA, "she would've been head-on attacking it and in the streets just like we are."

Wallen's sister reported her missing to the Montgomery County Police Department on the evening of Monday, Sept. 4, police said. Her sister said she last saw Wallen on Friday, Sept. 1 and was unable to contact her after numerous attempts. Investigators confirmed that Wallen was not present on the first day of school Sept. 5.

Wallen sent a text message to her sister on Saturday, Sept. 2 saying Tessier had taken her on an "adventure" to an open field in Damascus, but that she was unsure why they were there. She also sent a picture of a field that appears to be the same one where her body was found, police said.

Police said Wallen's body was located around noon Wednesday in a shallow grave of "freshly dug ground in a secluded area of a field."

Tessier was the last known person to be with Wallen since her family reported her missing 10 days ago, police said. The two were seen on surveillance camera video at a Safeway near Wallen's home on Saturday, Sept. 2. The last known transaction on Wallen's financial accounts was a Safeway purchase that was made between 8:30-9:30 p.m, police said.

On Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4, Wallen's sister received a text message from Wallen's phone. Detectives determined the text was actually sent by Tessier. Police have not disclosed the contents of that message.

On Thursday, Sept. 7, an employee at an apartment complex in the 10600 block of Gramercy Place in Columbia found Wallen's license in front of a dumpster. The employee recognized Wallen's picture from a Facebook post and called police.

Wallen's black 2011 Ford Escape was recovered at the apartment complex, which is about 20 miles from her Olney condo and less than a mile from Wilde Lake High School, police said. The car was backed into a parking spot, and the front license plate had been removed.

"Between September 5 and 11, detectives interviewed Tessier multiple times. In each interview, he provided conflicting statements regarding Wallen’s disappearance," police said.

Tessier admitted that he is engaged to another woman. He also admitted that he drove Wallen's car to the Columbia area, took off the front license plate and disposed the car. He said he threw Wallen's driver's license and iPhone in a dumpster, police said.

Police located an acquaintance of Tessier, who told investigators Tessier called her and asked her to give him a ride from the apartment complex where Wallen's vehicle was located. Tessier allegedly asked the friend to lie to police if they ever asked her about picking him up in Columbia.

Tessier also texted an acquaintance late Sunday night asking for a ride to Baltimore. He said he needed help "to clean up a mess." The acquaintance declined to help him.

The break in the case came when it was determined that Tessier made several trips to an acquaintance's property in the 12400 block of Prices Distillery Road in Damascus, police said.

See Also:

• Missing Wilde Lake Teacher's Vehicle Found: Report
• Wilde Lake Teacher Missing, School Offers Support

Investigators showed up at the property — a farm surrounded by acres of open fields and woods — with a search warrant on Wednesday, Sept. 13. An investigation had revealed that Tessier had spent a great amount of time at the property after Wallen’s disappearance, police said.

During the search, investigators saw tire tracks on a nearby property and observed freshly dug ground "some distance from the property that they were originally searching."

Investigators spoke with the owner of that property and were ultimately able to recover Wallen's body. The owner of the property where Wallen was found has no involvement with the case, police said.

At a press conference Monday, Tessier — who said he had known Wallen for 10 years — addressed his comments to her directly.

"Laura, if you're listening, it doesn't matter what's happened. It doesn't matter what type of trouble, there's nothing we can't fix together, with myself and your family," Tessier said.

"There are so many people that miss you," Tessier continued. "We haven't slept. We haven't eaten. We're just looking; we're praying that you're safe."

Before she disappeared, Tessier said, there were no signs anything was amiss.

"It's a complete shock," Tessier said.

Police said Wednesday that the decision to have Tessier speak at Monday's press conference was a "calculated decision made by the detectives in this case with the purpose of hearing what he had to say."

The family knew he was a person of interest at the time of Monday's press conference, police said.

Tessier has lived in three different locations throughout the week, police said. Everyone he has lived with has been interviewed — including the other woman, police said.

Tessier is in Montgomery County Police Department custody and being held without bond, police said. He was charged with first-degree murder.

"I can't talk about motive because I don't know what the motive was," Manger said Wednesday. "I know that people have speculated [about] the fact that he was in another relationship, people have talked about the fact that the victim is pregnant. That's all speculation."

Photo: Montgomery County Police Department