Who Is Tyler Tessier? 9 Things To Know In Columbia Teacher's Murder

COLUMBIA, MD — After a beloved educator was found murdered this week, many have asked why. Laura Wallen, 31, was four months pregnant when she disappeared before the first day of school. A teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, she was enthusiastic about the coming school year.

Police said her sister, with whom she was in daily contact, reported her missing on Labor Day. Her body was discovered nine days later, on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

Her boyfriend, Tyler Tessier, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder.

As police continue to investigate a motive, prosecutors point to evidence that Tessier was involved in a love triangle — engaged to someone else while Wallen was carrying his child. Charging documents indicate both women thought they were in exclusive relationships with Tessier.

Over the weekend, Tessier spent his 33rd birthday — on Saturday, Sept. 16 — behind bars, after a judge in Montgomery County ruled he would be held without bond after a bail review hearing two days prior.

Although Tessier's defense attorney noted his client had no criminal record, the judge call Tessier a "danger to society." In addition to first-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life without parole, Tessier is charged with altering evidence and giving a false statement to a police officer.

Who is Tyler Tessier, and why do authorities say he killed Laura Wallen? Here is what we know.

He's the last person to see Wallen alive. Surveillance footage showed the couple together in the Olney Safeway, where Wallen was making a purchase, sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 2. Wallen used her debit card, which family said was typical, since she did not carry cash. The store was less than a mile from her condo on Rolling Meadows Way in Olney.

"This was the last known sighting of Wallen alive," police said in charging documents.

Police later said that investigators believe she died the next day, on Sunday, Sept. 3.

Tessier said Wallen was wearing a purple shawl or vest when he saw her last, according to police. A purple piece of fabric was "in plain view," protruding from the 10-foot-by-10-foot grave where Montgomery County police and cadaver dogs found her body in a field near Damascus, according to authorities.

He was Wallen's boyfriend: On Facebook, Wallen referred to Tessier as her "cowboy" and "T." After he gave her flowers and left her a love note last year, she posted pictures of both on her page.

Wallen shared this pic in October 2016, with a bouquet her "sweet cowboy" gave her "just because."

Wallen said her "Cowboy Love" left her this note between dishes, in July 2016.

During a press conference on Monday, Tessier said he and Wallen had known each other for 10 years.

Wallen's sister told police the two were together on and off for seven years, according to charging documents published by the Baltimore Sun.

He said he planned to propose to Wallen. Wallen's father, Mike, told police that after learning she was pregnant, Tessier asked for his blessing to propose to his daughter.

Over Labor Day weekend, Tessier told police that he took Wallen to a field in Clarksburg, where he was trying to buy property so he could build a house for them and their baby, charging documents state.

A reporter with NBC4 said Wallen believed Tessier was going to propose to her.

In a field near Damascus Laura Wallen texted her sister with whom she was in daily contact: "'Tyler has me on an adventure in the country...don't know why I'm here but it's for something,'" the text read, according to charging documents.

When her sister requested a photo, Wallen texted a picture of a field that "appears to be the same field where the clandestine grave was recovered," according to charging documents.

Police said that the autopsy report showed she had been shot in the back of the head.

He was engaged to another woman. Tessier was involved with at least two women, according to police.

"Despite attempts to deny having any other romantic relationships during the interview, Tessier later admitted that he is engaged" to another woman, according to charging documents. The documents also state that "...they both believed he was dating them exclusively" and knew the other one had been involved with him in the past.

He became engaged to Christina Wagoner after learning that Wallen was pregnant, according to WMAL.

Laura Wallen contacted the other woman on Aug. 28 and asked for a "face-to-face meeting, presumably to inform her about the baby," charging documents state.

Police said this is the message Laura Wallen sent: "It's important that some things are cleared up and I would imagine that if you were in my position, you'd want some answers as well. By no means is this an attempt at confrontation, just looking for an explanation...woman to woman."

Patch reached out to Wagoner for comment but did not receive an immediate response. Montgomery County Chief of Police Thomas Manger said Wednesday that the woman had been interviewed, and no further information was available.

"He was not honest with either of the women regarding the true nature of the relationship with the other," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said after charges were filed. "Obviously, there's a triangle going on here."

Tessier did not have a permanent address. Police said that Tessier stays in three places during the week. According to court records, Tessier lives in the 9100 block of Holsey Road in Damascus. That address is also listed for Wagoner.

For the week that Wallen was missing, police said Tessier paid several visits to a Damascus property in the 12400 block of Prices Distillery Road where a farm was surrounded by acres of woods and open fields. He has stayed there from time to time and described the resident as a "close friend," according to charging documents, which also noted that Tessier had "been spending a great deal of time at the meat processing plant located on this property during the time that Wallen has been missing." When police searched the area, tire tracks led them to nearby location where they found the body.

The resident was on vacation for Labor Day weekend and said nobody was home, according to police.

According to WUSA9, Tessier worked as a manager for landscaping firms and most recently worked in sales for a Frederick County farm equipment company. The station also reported that he studied agriculture at a college in Pennsylvania, was a 4-H judge at fairs and grew up in Brookeville. Members of his family declined to comment on the case.

He could not keep his stories straight. Tessier is charged with making a false statement to an officer.

Police said he became a person of interest in the case after authorities interviewed him several times and found several inconsistencies in his recounting of events from Saturday, Sept. 2, to Monday, Sept. 4.

He was interviewed four times between Tuesday, Sept. 5, and Monday, Sept. 11, according to charging documents.

The one thing he consistently told police was that he last saw Wallen alive at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 4, charging documents said.

Otherwise, prosecutors allege, he told police "hundreds of lies."

Here are some of the stories he reportedly told police about Labor Day weekend:

• He said the last time he saw Wallen was at 8:30 a.m. on Labor Day, and she was "'hysterically crying'" and wanted him to return his key to her condo or she was going to call police.
• He also said he arranged to meet Wallen at the Nordstrom cafe at The Mall in Columbia, where they could have a "less emotional conversation," charging documents state. But he waited for two hours, he told police, and she did not show up. He claimed he then drove to her apartment in Olney, where he said he could not get in because he had returned the key at 8:30 a.m. the day they had argued. According to charging documents, a neighbor allegedly saw Tessier walking Wallen's dog at 2:30 p.m. on Labor Day.
• He said he showed Wallen a property he was attempting to buy near Frederick County so he could build a home for her and the baby. When investigators asked if she might be there, he told them he had been back to the field "at least 10 times" since she was reported missing, charging documents state. Since her disappearance, cell phone records placed him nightly in the area where her body was found, McCarthy said.
• Tessier said he took Wallen's vehicle to the Gramercy Apartments and disposed of her license and iPhone "'to buy her time,'" because Wallen had told him that someone else was the father of the baby and she had to "figure out what she was going to do about [it]," charging documents state.

Her family did not like him: Wallen's father said that Tessier had been a liar their whole relationship.

"He is a monster, and he is a liar," Mike Wallen said.

"It was all we could do to be seen as a unified family with him," Mike Wallen told reporters after Tessier was charged, referencing the Sept. 11 press conference where the family, alongside Tessier and police, asked the public for help finding Laura Wallen. At the time, she was considered a missing person, and the family offered a reward for information.

Police later said the decision to include Tessier in the press conference, while he was considered a person of interest, was strategic and done in concert with the family, to see what Tessier would say.

"It defies description, the awfulness and the horror that we have been put through on this," Mike Wallen said.

"It was absolutely the hardest thing my wife could do would be to sit next to him and hold his hand. And she had to hold his hand with two hands because she was shaking so badly," Mike Wallen said.

_{Still from video of Montgomery County Police Department's Sept. 11 press conference.}

"We did it because...we were pretty sure it was Tyler but we didn't know where she was," Mike Wallen explained about the decision to have the joint press conference. "...someone doesn't go to prison for life on a missing person [report.]"

He said that the relationship with Tessier was the only thing that Laura and her family fought about.

Mike Wallen said he asked Tessier about the other woman, and Tessier assured him he had not seen or spoken with her in two years. "He lied to my face when I asked him about the other girl," Mike Wallen said.

He is accused of trying to mislead police. Tessier is charged with destroying, altering, concealing or removing physical evidence. That is a misdemeanor charge, and a conviction carries a maximum sentence of three years imprisonment and a fine of up to $5,000.

Tessier drove Wallen's Ford Escape to Columbia, backed it into a parking spot at an apartment complex, removed the front license plate and discarded her license and iPhone, according to charging documents published by the Baltimore Sun.

Police later found the front license plate in a plastic trash bag at the place Tessier was staying on Prices Distillery Road.

Tessier also said he sent text messages to Laura's sister on Labor Day. Posing as Laura, he made it seem as though Laura believed the baby she was carrying belonged to her ex-boyfriend, Antoine. According to charging documents, however, Antoine had not seen her for two years. In the text, Tessier misspelled the man's name, which police said was a clue that Laura Wallen was not doing the texting. During questioning, police asked Tessier how to spell Antoine, according to charging documents. The documents also allege that he sent the texts to "give the impression [Laura Wallen] was alive and well and discourage her family from looking for her."

The state's attorney went further, saying the intent was to divert attention and suspicion to the former boyfriend, who lives in a "distant city."

Tessier asked friends for help after Wallen disappeared. A male friend said Tessier called him on Sunday, Sept. 3, and asked if he could take Tessier to Baltimore to pick up a vehicle. According to charging documents, the friend "quickly refused" that request.

The friend thought it was "extremely strange that Tessier wanted to go to Baltimore and that, according to Tessier, he could only do this 'late night,'" charging documents stated.

Tessier texted the friend: "Sorry man. Didn't mean to make you feel like I was trying to put you in a bad spot." His friend replied that going to the city late at night was a bad idea. "It probably is," Tessier reportedly wrote back. "Just trying to clean up a mess."

Another friend of Tessier's agreed to give him a ride. After Tessier parked Laura Wallen's car at the Gramercy Apartments in Columbia, a friend drove him from there to Wallen's apartment in Olney. After Tessier talked to police, according to charging documents, he asked her to lie if authorities questioned her.

Police said that there was speculation but no concrete motive, and Tessier had not provided one. His next court appearance is slated for Oct. 13, by which time prosecutors said they hope to have an indictment.

Image via Montgomery County Police Department.

Get news alerts from Columbia Patch and like us on Facebook.