Hey y’all, it’s Julie with Pushing Up Lilies. This week, we’re diving into the heartbreaking case of Laura Wallen, a 31-year-old beloved history and law teacher from Wild Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland. Laura went missing, and her family’s worst fears came true. In this episode, we’ll walk through the timeline of her disappearance, unravel the chilling details, and discuss how this case shook her community. I’ll also touch on how domestic violence and betrayal can hide in plain sight, often in relationships that seem picture-perfect. Join me as we explore Laura’s story, honor her memory, and shine a light on the important warning signs that sometimes go unnoticed. * Listener discretion is advised.
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0:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies.
0:08 I'm your host, Julie Mattson.
0:10 Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine tingling, unusual and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
0:24 Do I have some stories for you?
0:26 Are you ready?
0:31 Good morning, everyone.
0:32 I hope your week has been amazing.
0:35 It's been a busy one for me.
0:37 I've been off a couple of weeks at the ME’s office and so my first day back was yesterday and it's hard to get back into the swing of things when you've been off for a while.
0:48 It's like learning to ride a bike all over again.
0:51 It was hectic, but you know, we love what we do.
0:54 So we just keep on doing it.
0:56 Have y'all been driven crazy by flies lately?
1:00 I feel like everywhere I go; I am being literally attacked by flies.
1:05 I don't know what the deal is, but they are landing on me at night.
1:10 They're getting really ballsy like they're landing on my face and trying to land on my eye and I'm just like, get, you know, we see them on dead people all the time when we go on decom scenes.
1:22 And I guess that's what grosses me out too is because I think now more than ever, like, where has this sucker been before it landed on me?
1:31 I do not love flies.
1:34 I don't love bugs at all.
1:35 Mosquitoes love me as well because as some of y'all know, I got malaria when I was in Africa and literally had barely been there long enough to contract the den disease.
1:48 And then the doctors thought, well, there's no way you haven't been here long enough.
1:52 And when they tested me, sure as the world, I tested positive anyway, I don't know why bugs swarm me.
1:58 If anyone has ideas on ways to keep them away besides dousing myself.
2:04 Indeed.
2:04 I would love to hear them, but flies vomit digestive liquids when they land, especially when they land on your food and it's trying to break the food down and that allows them to actually lap up the food as a liquid.
2:22 To me, gross, I mean, how many times have I found bugs in my food or?
2:29 I found a ladybug in my salad one time I found a worm on lettuce the other day when I ate at a restaurant.
2:39 I know we eat a lot of bugs.
2:40 I know that when you look at all the FDA reports, they say that companies are allowed to put a certain percentage of bugs in our food.
2:49 I know it happens.
2:50 But if it's alive and it's like vomiting, digestive liquids on my food.
2:57 No, thank you.
2:59 A lot of times I'll see a fly and I think, oh, it's innocent, you know, and I'll just kind of shoo it away and keep eating.
3:04 Not anymore.
3:05 I mean, I'm not going to do that if anybody has secrets because the bugs are literally wearing me out.
3:12 This week I wanted to tell y'all a story.
3:16 I had a Botox party at my meds ball the other day and I always have friends and people that I meet at Botox parties, tell me about things that have happened to their friends and their loved ones or even their families.
3:32 They'll be like this is a good podcast episode.
3:35 Well, my friend Priscilla told me about a friend of hers who was murdered and they taught together, and I could tell that Priscilla loved this lady.
3:46 I mean, she sounded amazing and very well loved.
3:49 And so I thought, you know what, I'm going to cover her story.
3:54 I know that there has been something on Hulu about her, but her name is Laura Wallen, and she was a 31-year-old history and law teacher at Wild Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland.
4:08 Laura lived in Olney, Maryland on Rolling Meadow Way, which is a suburb about 20 miles north of Washington DC.
4:16 Laura was four months pregnant when she went missing on September 3rd of 2017.
4:25 And like I said, she was loved by students and parents.
4:29 She was named Wild Lake High senior class teacher of the year in 2016.
4:36 And we all have that teacher.
4:38 We just absolutely adore and will never forget.
4:42 And me, even at this stage in my life, I can name every one of the teachers that I had throughout my school years, starting from kindergarten.
4:53 They all gave me something.
4:55 I feel like I learned something from every single one of them.
4:59 One who just continues to remain dear to my heart is my fifth-grade teacher.
5:06 Her name is Janice Quisenberry.
5:10 She took our class on an educational field trip back in seventh grade along with a lot of other schools and students from other schools.
5:19 And it was so much fun.
5:21 We went to Hawaii; we camped on the beach at Waikiki.
5:25 We had our own mess tent, so we had cooks there that would cook for us.
5:30 But the purpose of the trip was to take us around the island and take us to museums and show us some of the sites and the history.
5:39 We went to Pearl Harbor, and we watched parades, and we just did all kinds of things.
5:47 Miss Quisenberry was always just such an amazing teacher.
5:53 I have teachers that I meet every day, and I always tell them I know summer burnout and are kind of questioning their career choice.
6:04 But I can tell you what there is going to be at least one child that you have touched and that will forever remember you.
6:12 I get the sweetest happy birthday messages on my Facebook private message every year from Miss Quisenberry.
6:20 And I just, I don't know that lady is so special and dear to me.
6:27 I just want all the teachers to know that someone there is someone at school more than one person who looks forward to seeing your smiling face every day.
6:37 Laura was very well loved.
6:41 She texted family members on Sunday, September 3rd, 2017.
6:48 After that time, family members were unable to contact her.
6:53 It was very unlike her to not be at school.
6:57 She was excited about the school year.
6:59 However, she missed the first day of school which was Tuesday, September 5th on September 5th.
7:08 Montgomery County.
7:09 Police issued a press release asking for help finding Laura.
7:14 Everyone knew that something was desperately wrong because she had spent weeks preparing her classroom and she could not wait for the school year to start.
7:23 When police checked her home, there were no signs of foul play.
7:28 There was no sign of Laura, nothing was out of place.
7:33 This even brought up more questions.
7:36 Police reached out to her boyfriend Tyler Tessier, and he said he didn't know where Laura was.
7:43 Police found her 2011 black Ford escape parked in a gated apartment complex in Columbia, Maryland.
7:50 And this complex was across the street from the school where she worked, volunteers handed out flyers and put up missing posters.
8:01 As you can imagine, someone who's so well loved.
8:04 Everyone is going to do everything they can to try to help find her.
8:08 Now, Tyler and Laura's parents took part in a news conference.
8:14 Tyler told reporters that he had known Laura for around 10 years, and he spoke directly to her during this news conference.
8:23 And he said, Laura, if you are listening, it doesn't matter what's happened, it doesn't matter what type of trouble, there's nothing we can't fix together.
8:33 There are so many people who were out who haven't slept, we haven't eaten.
8:39 We are just looking or praying that you are safe.
8:43 Now he tearfully pleaded for her safe return at this press conference alongside her parents.
8:50 But Laura's family believed from the very beginning that he was responsible for her disappearance.
8:57 As we see many times.
8:59 Not always, it's the husband or the boyfriend or a lover or in many cases when men are missing, it's the wife or the girlfriend or the lover.
9:11 Not saying that it can only happen to women, but Tyler provided a lot of inconsistencies and some information that he provided to the police.
9:22 The family had said, ok, let's go ahead and let Tyler speak in hopes that he would misspeak during this press conference or that they could get a little more information from him or that he would say something that would lead them to even more believe that he was responsible.
9:43 Now, after further questioning, Tyler told the police that Laura approached him asking for help and he told them that she wanted to disappear, saying that the father of her baby was a student of hers and that she was embarrassed and worried and needed help before anyone found out about it.
10:04 And this is what Tyler is saying that Laura said to him two days after the news conference on September 13th, Laura was no longer a missing person.
10:18 Police search the perimeter of a wooded area in Damascus after they were made aware that Tyler had gone there a number of times, they found what appeared to be ground that had been freshly dug in a secluded field and with the help of cadaver dogs, they found Laura's body buried in a shallow grave.
10:40 The autopsy revealed that Laura had been shot once in the back of the head.
10:45 Now, police believed that Tyler was the last person to see.
10:50 Laura, she had seen her family on September 1st and on September 2nd, she went on a trip with Tyler.
11:00 Laura sent a text to her sister and told her that Tyler was taking her on an adventure somewhere, but she didn't know where.
11:09 This is on September 2nd.
11:11 We know that she was with him on that day and the text that her sister read.
11:17 Tyler has me on an adventure in the country.
11:20 Not sure why, but it's for something waiting in a field.
11:25 Ok.
11:26 That's concerning if one of my relatives or friends text me that someone took them out in the middle of nowhere and they were waiting in a field, I would be a little concerned.
11:36 There was a transaction on her debit card for a purchase made at a Safeway grocery store near her home in Olney on September 2nd and this was between 8 39 30 PM.
11:50 This was made by her because surveillance video from the grocery store showed Tyler with her at the Safeway.
12:00 They were there that evening between 8:30-9:30.
12:06 It was later discovered that Tyler was also in a relationship with another woman.
12:12 And this as we know, could possibly have been a motive.
12:17 Laura and Tyler had been in an on and off relationship for about 10 years and when they would break up, they always ended up back together and we always know that couple in high school or even out of high school, it's like they break up, they're back together, they break up, they move in together, they move out, they get back together, it just back and forth.
12:37 You know, it's not a healthy relationship, but there's nothing you can do about it.
12:41 It just continues to happen over and over.
12:44 And this is kind of what happened with Tyler and Laura on and off on and off for 10 years.
12:49 Somehow, they always ended up back together.
12:52 Even though the relationship was rocky.
12:55 Laura was still looking forward to having her baby and the baby, everyone knew that, knew her, knew that it was Tyler's despite Tyler telling the police that Laura was pregnant with a student's baby.
13:10 I mean, how ridiculous it's obvious he was grasping at straws trying to think of a reason why she might be embarrassed.
13:19 But the reason was completely untrue.
13:22 Laura was unaware that on one of their dating breaks, Tyler had begun dating another teacher and moved in with her in 2012.
13:32 He stayed with her even when he got back with Laura.
13:36 He was continuing to see both women.
13:39 Neither woman knew about the other.
13:43 Laura's father Mark, asked Tyler what his intentions were when he found out that Laura was pregnant with Tyler's baby, he was aware that their relationship was off and on and he was aware of the rumors that there was another woman.
13:59 He asked Tyler, what are your intentions?
14:02 What do you plan on doing?
14:03 What does the future look like for you?
14:05 And Laura and Tyler assured him that he would look after Laura Tyler showed him an engagement ring and told him that he planned to propose, and he also told Mark that he had not seen the other woman in two years.
14:23 Big fat lie.
14:23 I mean, obviously, so he had this ring he showed to Laura's dad and he's like, hey, don't worry, I'm going to give her this ring.
14:32 I'm not seeing anyone else anymore and was probably very convincing police later discovered that the ring was used by Tyler to propose to the other woman.
14:45 Now, the other woman said yes, and the wedding was arranged for one month after Laura's baby was due and it became apparent that Laura may have discovered what Tyler had been up to shortly before her death.
15:00 Laura sent a text message to the other woman back on August the 28th asking if she would meet up with her.
15:10 She found out about her and wanted to talk, and Laura's text read, “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.”
15:30 Now that sounds very legit sounds very kind.
15:33 She's not attacking her.
15:35 She's not blaming her.
15:37 She just wants to talk.
15:39 She wants to find out what's going on.
15:40 She's pregnant with this guy's baby.
15:42 She's trying to figure out just life.
15:45 Now, police believe that Tyler began planning Laura's murder within days of the text message.
15:53 They believe that he convinced the other woman that Laura was crazy and was stalking him when she received the text from Laura.
16:01 She told Tyler and Tyler's reply to her in a text message was I could literally kill her.
16:10 Now, it's great to have these things in writing, right?
16:12 Because like we said, the police always go back through phones, especially after a murder has occurred to look to see if anybody said anything incriminating.
16:20 Obviously, here we have Tyler texting the other woman.
16:25 I could literally kill her.
16:27 Tyler initially denied that he was in a relationship with anyone other than Laura.
16:33 But when he was confronted with the evidence, he finally admitted it because there's no way out, there's no way out once you've been caught.
16:41 Police believe that Tyler brought Laura to a remote location with the intention of killing her to silence her.
16:50 Laura believed that she was going to that spot to look at land that Tyler wanted to purchase because she had hoped, I'm sure that the two would get married, especially since she was pregnant.
17:01 But it was an area that Tyler was familiar with because it was close to a farm where he had once worked.
17:09 When Laura texted her sister, you know, I told y'all earlier, she texted her sister about a trip that Tyler was taking her on her sister, and this is so smart.
17:19 Her sister asked her to take a picture, and she did, and the picture actually matched the location where her body was later found.
17:29 This was extremely smart.
17:31 Like where are you if you don't know exactly take a photo and send it to somebody.
17:37 And this is really any situation.
17:40 If you see a car that's suspicious, take a picture and send it to somebody.
17:44 If something happens, then there's a lead.
17:47 And I mean, I hate to be paranoid and say just go around taking pictures of everything.
17:50 But this was super smart.
17:52 Like where are you?
17:54 There may be some landmark or some way for people to later tell where it was.
17:59 This actually matched the location Tyler had taken her there twice once on September 2nd.
18:08 And remember that evening, they went to Safeway together between 8:30-9:30 but he took her back on September 3rd and police believe that that's the day that Tyler shot.
18:18 Laura Tyler texted a friend that same day and asked for a late-night ride to Baltimore, but the friend declined.
18:28 He told Tyler it was a bad idea and Tyler responded, “It probably is, I'm just trying to clean up a mess.”
18:36 Ok, again.
18:37 Thank goodness for text messages because this helped immensely.
18:42 They believe that after he shot Laura Tyler tried to hide evidence and cast doubt on who the father of Laura's baby was via text message.
18:53 He sent a text to her sister from Laura's phone, and it said I am like 95% sure Tyler is not the father.
19:03 I'm going to try and get a hold of Antoine and Laura's sister was confused because of course she thought it was.
19:10 Laura, she knew if Laura had any doubt about who the father was, she would have told her they would have had this conversation.
19:19 They got along, and they cared about each other and loved one another.
19:24 Laura had dated someone named Antoine two years prior to her death, but she's had no contact with him since then.
19:34 Of course, her sister was like, why would you contact Antoine?
19:38 And this is crazy, you know, so that threw up some red flags as well.
19:44 Tyler was arrested and charged with first degree murder, obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence and making false statements.
19:52 He only received one murder charge due to the fact that in Maryland, a child has to be viable outside of the womb before their murder can be considered actual murder.
20:09 That's why there was only one murder charge, even though Laura was four months pregnant.
20:14 Tyler, of course, initially denied being involved, but then provided a number of different accounts as to what could have possibly happened to Laura.
20:24 He claimed that during an argument on September 4th, Laura was upset, began crying hysterically and lunged at him with scissors.
20:34 At which time she ran into a post on the porch, she collapsed and became unconscious, and Tyler believed that she was dead.
20:45 He brought her to the field and buried her because that's what we would all do, right?
20:49 Like my friend just died, she injured herself.
20:51 So I'm going to go bury her in a shallow grave.
20:55 This is ridiculous.
20:56 He's obviously, I mean, we know he's not smart already.
21:00 But when the autopsy revealed that Laura was shot, here's what he added to his story.
21:06 He's like I was worried that I might have buried her alive.
21:11 So I went back and fired around at her to make sure that she was dead because I didn't want her to suffer.
21:19 Hello?
21:20 Like this is ridiculous.
21:22 Tyler also changed that story and then he told police that an African American man entered Laura's home and kidnapped both of them, forcing them to drive to Damascus.
21:33 And then Laura was shot, and he said the only reason he wasn't shot was because he pleaded with the man to let him go because he's such an outgoing phenomenal person that this guy should spare him.
21:49 The prosecution had no doubt that Tyler was responsible for Laura's death.
21:53 He successfully led a double life for years and knew that it was about to end because Laura found out about everything, he knew that the gig was up.
22:05 Tyler was due to spend the weekend on September 2nd with the other woman in Pennsylvania and he was supposed to go with her to look at bridesmaid’s dresses, right?
22:14 Because he proposed to her instead, he told her that he couldn't go because he hurt his knee while he was walking her dog.
22:22 And then that's when he arranged to take Laura to the remote field on this quote unquote adventure.
22:29 The prosecution knew that the murder was planned in advance, and they planned to take the jury to the field where Laura was found because it was very hidden.
22:38 It was very difficult to get to.
22:41 It required four-wheel drive vehicles because of the terrain.
22:45 This had to have been something that was planned because of the location.
22:49 This was not like I'm dumping this body.
22:51 This was I intentionally went out here where no one else would ever be.
22:57 They also wanted to show jurors a nearby animal processing facility close to the field where Laura was found because there was a skid loader on that property and that skid loader was believed to have been used to dig the shallow grave for Laura's body.
23:16 Laura's front license plate, the license plate from the front of her car and her cell phone were found in a dumpster on the property of the animal processing facility where the skid loader was located.
23:30 They planned to tell the jury that after Laura's body was buried, Tyler drove her car to the apartment complex where it was later found.
23:40 One of Tyler's friends confirmed that he received a call from Tyler asking for a ride from the apartment complex.
23:48 He also asked the friend to lie if he was ever asked about it.
23:52 Thank goodness that friend came forward and did the right thing.
23:56 Prosecutors were seeking a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
24:01 Now on September 6th of 2018 at 5 a.m. just hours before the trial were to begin.
24:07 Tyler's body was found in his cell.
24:10 He had hung himself at the Montgomery County Correctional facility in Rockville, Maryland.
24:16 He left five suicide letters on top of his bunk bed which indicated that he had been contemplating suicide for quite some time.
24:26 Laura's family never got to see her accused killer's face at trial.
24:31 Now Laura's mom, she found some sense of peace.
24:35 She said as awful as today is I feel at peace because I was worried for my family, and I was worried for my other two grandsons to have such a diabolical human if you call him that in this world.
24:50 And the assistant State's attorney said this murder was planned, it was deliberate, it was premeditated, and the state had no doubt that this defendant would have been found guilty of first-degree murder.
25:04 They had also said we were robbed this morning of the opportunity to allow the public to know the true nature and details of this crime.
25:12 There should be no question in anyone's mind in this country that this was Laura's killer.
25:17 I think today was where it was all going to crush down on him.
25:22 He knew the discovery, he knew the evidence and he knew today was the reckoning.
25:26 I think he took the coward's way out, which is exactly what this was.
25:31 And he had psychotic behavior that he carried on as he maintained a dual relationship with two women.
25:37 One for 10 years and one for seven years to Tyler Tessier lying was like breathing.
25:44 Now we all like to think that something good always comes out of something bad.
25:50 And in this case, a new law took effect in 2019 in Maryland to honor Laura and Reed and Reed would have been her baby's name.
26:03 Laura and Reed's law in Maryland now increases sentences for crimes against women known to be pregnant.
26:11 And this is an amazing law that went into effect because of this murder and because not only was Laura murdered, but it was also her poor little unborn child, raid prayers to her family and prayers to my friend, Priscilla and all the friends and loved ones who lost their sweet friend.
26:33 I hate that this happened.
26:35 And I'm glad though that we're not all having to pay to feed him in prison for the rest of his life.
26:42 But, you know, in some sense, you think it was nice.
26:46 You know, the family didn't have to go through the trial and relive all the horrific events.
26:52 But at the same time, he did take the coward's way out.
26:55 It was obvious that he was guilty.
26:58 Another sad story.
27:00 But you know, we were talking about people being buried and I can't really say too much.
27:06 But I know recently in our area, we have found a couple of people in shallow graves which, you know, maybe people that have been missing for a while.
27:15 So it's kind of crazy.
27:18 I guess people just, you know, I'm going to bury this person and then go on with my life and forget I ever did it.
27:24 But, you know, someday when they're found the day of reckoning is coming.
27:29 Anyway, I hope that this rest of this week is amazing.
27:36 I am headed off to work.
27:38 I hope everyone is safe.
27:39 Don't forget to look at my Patreon.
27:42 Go to my website PushingUpLilies.com, check out my murder Merch store and also stay tuned for upcoming videos and giveaways on my YouTube channel, brains, body bags and bedside manner.
27:59 Until next week.
28:00 See y'all soon.
28:00 Bye.
28:02 Thank you so much for joining me today on Pushing Up Lilies.
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28:16 Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at PushingUpLilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.