Laura Wallen was a 31-year-old high school teacher from Olney, Maryland, reported missing on September 4, 2017, after failing to arrive for the first day of school. She was four months pregnant at the time. Family concern followed unsuccessful contact after a text exchange on September 2; the last confirmed sighting that day showed Wallen with her boyfriend, Tyler Tessier, at a Safeway grocery store.

Wallen’s body was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area in Damascus, Maryland, on September 13, 2017. An autopsy determined she had been shot in the back of the head. Investigators say Tessier was the last person known to have been with her, made several visits to the area where her body was found while she was missing, drove her car to another location and removed the front license plate. Prosecutors say Tessier was leading a double life and that a love triangle — including a fiancée who was unaware of Wallen’s pregnancy — provided motive. Tessier was arrested and charged with first-degree murder; his trial was scheduled for September 2018 but he was found dead in his jail cell the morning it was to begin.

Wallen’s parents have since pushed for Laura and Reid’s Law, a bill to allow homicide charges for the death of a non-viable fetus in violent crime cases. If anyone knew Laura, Reid, or has information about the events of early September 2017, please come forward.