Naman Shrestha
Hulu’s ‘How I Caught My Killer’ dives deep into several true crime cases, including the gruesome murder of a soon-to-be mother, Laura Wallen, in 2017. The second episode of the sophomore season covers all the intricate details of the case, starting from her disappearance and her body’s discovery to the apprehension and conviction of the perpetrator responsible for her death. When the news about the murder broke out, it shattered the community’s sense of safety and caused immense grief to the loved ones of the victim. The episode also consists of in-depth interviews with Laura’s family and friends, giving us insight into her life and their life after the tragedy.
Laura Wallen Was Pregnant When She Was Killed and Dumped in a Shallow Grave
Gwen and Mark Wallen gave birth to Laura Elizabeth Wallen on February 10, 1986. Laura attended church regularly as a child and continued doing so into her adult life as well. She had a sister named Jennifer Kadi, with whom she shared a close-knit bond. Although she considered herself a work in progress, she used to always find good in others, which helped her become a favorite teacher to many of her students at Wilde Lake High School in Howard County, Maryland. She was a social studies teacher and had changed the lives of many of her acquaintances.
When Laura was not teaching students at school, she used to make jewelry. Unfortunately, the light to so many people who personally knew her was blown out when she failed to show up for the first day of school on September 5, 2017, having spent about a couple of weeks preparing her classroom. When her father learned that she hadn’t even requested a substitute teacher that day, he was all the more concerned and worried about her whereabouts and well-being. When she went missing, all of a sudden, she was also four months pregnant. A few days later, on September 13, 2017,
Laura Wallen’s body was discovered in a shallow grave in Damascus, Maryland. But the police were of the opinion that the victim had been dead since September 3, 2017. According to the autopsy results, Laura Wallen was shot in the back of her head. After the tragic news, Laura’s desperate parents put up a $25,000 reward money for any kind of information that could lead to their daughter and her killer who was responsible for the murder of Laura Wallen. Without wasting any time, the detectives launched a homicide investigation to capture the perpetrator and bring him to justice.
Laura Wallen Was Ambushed by Someone Close to Her
As the investigation intensified, the investigators learned that on September 2, 2017, Laura had sent a text to her beloved sister, letting her know that her on-and-off boyfriend, Tyler Tessier, was taking her to an open field in the Damascus area but did not know the reason behind the trip. Laura even took a picture of the place, which had proven vital to locating her body in the wooded area. Around the time of Laura’s passing away, Tyler was involved with another woman and used to stay at three different locations, something she had known about her partner. On September 2, he and Laura were seen together at a grocery store.
Tyler also allegedly admitted to driving her car to the apartment complex in Columbia, disposing of the front license plate, and throwing away her driver’s license along with her cell phone in a dumpster. The police believed that he was engaged to another woman at the time. All these pieces of information made the detectives look at Tyler as a primary suspect. The suspect had also asked an acquaintance for help cleaning up a mess, but they refused to lend a helping hand. Moreover, Tyler was spotted visiting the area where Laura’s body was eventually found with the help of cadaver dogs. Given all this evidence against him, he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder of his girlfriend, Laura Wallen, on September 13, 2017.
Apart from murder, Tyler was also charged with altering physical evidence in a criminal proceeding and providing an officer with an untrue statement. Awaiting his trial, on September 6, 2018, the accused was found hanging at a jail facility in Clarksburg, Maryland, just a few hours before the start of his murder trial, almost a year after his arrest. Laura’s family and friends had mixed reactions to the news. Her father, Mark Wallen, stated, “We were robbed of the trial.” Meanwhile, her brother-in-law added, “He stood our family up for the last time today.”
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