EVIL ;MISSING PREGNANT TEACHER FOUND DEAD AS BOYFRIEND IS CHARGED WITH HER MOTHER

The pregnant high school teacher who was missing from Maryland was found buried in a shallow grave on Wednesday, and her boyfriend has been charged with killing her.

Laura Wallen, an Olney, Maryland, resident who was four months pregnant, had been missing for nine days. A search and rescue team found the 31-year-old's body about noon Wednesday near Prices Distillery Road in Damascus, Maryland, Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said in a news conference Wednesday night.

Wallen's boyfriend, Tyler Tessier, 32, was arrested hours later and charged with first-degree murder. Police said Tessier was the father of Wallen's baby.

Tessier, of Damascus, spoke at a news conference with Wallen's family days earlier, holding his girlfriend's mother's hand.

"If somebody has her, please understand that you've taken away a huge person in so many people's life," Tyler Tessier said Monday. "I don't know where she is. I don't know. I pray that she's safe and that she comes back. That's all I care about."

Police had suspected Tessier's "involvement" since the investigation began, and allowed him to speak at the family's news conference as an investigation strategy, Manger said.

"The decision to allow him to participate in that news conference was a calculated decision made by the detectives in this case for the express purpose of hearing what he had to say. It was done with the approval and knowledge of the victim's family," the police chief said.

Police are still unsure of the motive for Wallen's murder and said the investigation is ongoing.

It could not immediately be determined if Tessier had an attorney.

Wallen was a beloved social studies teacher at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland. Her students and coworkers worried when she failed to show up for the first day of school on Sept. 5.

"She was exemplary," district superintendent Dr. Michael Martirano said early Thursday. "She led with her heart, care and compassion."

Grief counselors were available at the school.

Manger said Tessier was the last person known to have seen Wallen. Surveillance video showed the two together on Saturday, Sept. 2, at a grocery store near Wallen's home. Investigators believe Wallen was killed the next day, Manger said.

Manger said Wallen had texted her friend that Saturday night.

"She sent a text message ... saying that Tyler had taken her to an open field up in the Damascus area and she says, 'I'm not sure why we're up here, but he's taken me to this place in the middle of nowhere' -- something to that effect. The friend said 'take a picture' and she did," Manger said.

Her body was found in what appears to be that same field, police said.

Wallen's sister had previously said she received a "troubling" text message from Wallen on Monday, Sept. 4, but attempts to reach her failed. Manger said Tessier is believed to have actually sent the text, which read, "The baby isn't Tyler's."

"Laura is in the loving arms of God now," her father, Mark Wallen, told a News4 reporter via text message on Wednesday.

Manger said Tessier drove Wallen's Ford Escape to the Columbia area, and he admitted to getting rid of the front tag. Tessier also admitted to throwing out Wallen's driver's license and iPhone, Manger said.

Tessier texted an acquaintance asking for a ride to Baltimore and their help "to clean up a mess," Manger said. The person declined to help.

Wallen's Ford Escape was found Sept. 7 at an apartment complex in Howard County. The SUV was not far from Wilde Lake High.

Tessier was living in three different locations, Manger said, adding that police have interviewed everyone who he lived with.

Manger said the owner of the property where her body was found has no involvement with her murder.

An autopsy will determine Wallen's exact cause and manner of death.

Wallen's family said she was excited about her pregnancy and posted her sonogram on her refrigerator.