Grave
The dead body of Laura Wallen, 31, who went missing on Sept. 5, was found in a shallow grave in a secluded field in Damascus, Maryland, Sept. 13, 2017. In this photo, a police cordon encloses a clearing as police search woods at Redhill Farm in Redmarley for the body of Kate Prout in Ledbury, England, Nov. 18, 2011. Getty Images/ Sam Furlong - Pool

About ten days after a teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland, went missing, her body was found Wednesday in a shallow grave in a secluded field in Damascus. Police have arrested her boyfriend for her murder.

According to Montgomery State Police, Tyler Tessier, 31-year-old Laura Wallen's boyfriend, will be charged with murder, although the medical examiners are yet to perform an autopsy on the body to determine the exact cause of death, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Wallen was said to be four-months pregnant when she went missing Sept. 5 and she was last seen with Tessier. Both of them were captured together on surveillance video at a grocery store near Wallen's home on Sept. 2. A missing person’s report was filed in her name when she did not show up for work. Police believe she was killed on Sept. 3.

“This arrest does provide some answers, but I’m aware of the impact on Ms. Wallen’s community,” said Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger in a press conference on Wednesday. “I know many of you are grieving with Laura’s family tonight.”

After the high school teacher went missing, the case had received widespread attention. In the days leading up to the discovery of Wallen’s body, Tessier stood by Wallen’s family as the distraught boyfriend and appeared in a press conference on Monday claiming he knew nothing about his girlfriend’s whereabouts, reports said.

“I pray that she’s safe and that she comes back,” Tessier told the gathered reporters. “It’s just a complete shock.... I think leading up to the weekend that she’s missing, I don’t believe that anybody has any inclination to believe that something’s wrong.”

The police had been suspicious about Tessier's involvement in the murder. “The decision to allow him to participate in that news conference was a calculated decision made by the detectives in this case… done with the approval and knowledge of the victim’s family,” the police chief said.

Tessier rose to the top of the suspect’s list when the police discovered that there was a property on Prices Distillery Road in Damascus, owned by an acquaintance of Wallen’s boyfriend, where he would frequently spend time. After the police searched the open woods and surrounding grounds with a search warrant, they were led to Wallen’s corpse inside a freshly dug grave on a nearby property. The police also discovered tire tracks leading up to the grave.

According to the Washington Post, Wallen’s sister had received a number of odd texts from her sister on Sept. 4, which the police believe were sent by Tessier after he allegedly killed Wallen. In the texts, Wallen stated she was pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s child, not Tessier’s. Wallen also texted a friend, informing her that Tessier was taking her to the woods and she suspected it was because he wanted to propose her.

Around the same time, Tessier texted one of his acquaintances to help him “clean a mess," police said. The acquaintance refused to assist him. The police stated Tessier has already admitted to removing the front tag from Wallen’s car and disposing of her iPhone and driver’s license.

Although investigations are currently under way regarding the possible motive behind the murder, speculations are doing rounds regarding Tessier’s possible involvement with another woman, who was also interviewed by the police, Heavy.com reported.

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