On Thursday, a Howard County, Maryland, judge denied bail to a man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend, a high school teacher loved in her community and adored by her students.

Tyler Tessier, 32, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with the murder of 31-year-old Lauren Wallen, a high school teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland. Authorities found Wallen’s body on Wednesday in a shallow grave in a remote area in Damascus, Maryland, off of Prices Distillery Road. According to cellphone records, Tyler frequented the area on several occasions shortly before he allegedly killed Wallen, his girlfriend who was four months pregnant with his child.

“He is a monster and he is a liar,” said Wallen’s father, Mark Wallen said after Tessier’s bond hearing. “It defies description, the awfulness and the horror we have been put through.”

Mark Wallen also described how difficult it was to sit by Tessier and pretend to support him during a press conference earlier this week. Authorities said they made a calculated decision to allow Tessier to speak at the conference in an attempt to study his words and his body language. They already considered Tessier a suspect at that point, after they caught him in a number of lies and inconsistencies about his whereabouts when Wallen diappeared.

“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,” Mark Wallen said. “We were pretty sure it was Tyler, but we didn’t know where she was, and you can’t put somebody away on a missing person. Someone doesn’t go to prison for life on a missing person.”

According to Montgomery County police chief, Tom Manger, the suspect shot Wallen in the back of the head. So far, authorities have not located the weapon.

The motive of the murder, at least on surface, seems to be what authorities are calling a “love triangle.” Tessier was engaged to another woman while professing his love to Wallen and asking her father’s permission to marry her. Wallen found out about the other woman and sent her a text message, asking to meet in person to discuss the situation. A week later, Wallen was dead.

As of Thursday, there was no record of an attorney on file for Tessier.

Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.

Additional Reading

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URGENT: Pregnant teacher’s car found days after she disappeared; family desperate for answers

[Feature Photo: Police Handout]