A twist in the case of the pregnant Maryland high school teacher allegedly murdered by her boyfriend: He was already engaged to someone else, say police. Per the Baltimore Sun, cops say both Laura Wallen, 31, and the unnamed other woman initially thought they were dating 32-year-old Tyler Tessier exclusively, though that ruse appears to have started to unravel. Police documents say the four-months-pregnant Wallen, whose body was found Wednesday in a shallow grave in Damascus, sent a text message to the other woman in the days before her death, saying that "by no means is this an attempt at confrontation" and that she was "just looking for an explanation ... woman to woman." "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," she added.
Cops say Tessier also confessed to sending texts posing as Wallen to her sister, with "Wallen" saying she was "like 95 percent sure" Tessier wasn't the father of her baby—an ex was, though police say the person named in the text hadn't seen Wallen in two years. One "calculated," but legal, step taken by law enforcement: allowing Tessier, already a person of interest to cops, to speak at a Monday press conference pleading for Wallen's safe return. Experts say that's a technique sometimes used to see if suspects act odd or overly emotional or mistakenly refer to missing persons in the past tense. "He is a monster and he is a liar," Wallen's father, Mark, told reporters about having to act united at that presser, noting it was the "hardest thing" for his wife, whose hands Tessier gripped throughout, per the Washington Post. Tessier is being held without bond until his next court date on Oct. 13. (More Maryland stories.)
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