Md. man indicted in murder of pregnant girlfriend won’t be charged with murdering unborn baby

yler Tessier and Laura Wallen — The 14-week-old fetus is considered ‘not viable’ under Maryland state law.

When beloved Columbia, Maryland, high school teacher, Laura Wallen, 31, was reported missing on Labor Day, her 33-year-old boyfriend Tyler Tessier, appeared on a televised news conference where he teared up and pleaded for her safe return. The missing Wilde Lake High School social studies teacher was 14-weeks pregnant with Tessier’s baby at the time of her disappearance. Tessier was eventually arrested and indicted on October 12 with Wallen’s murder; but according to Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, Tessier cannot be charged with an additional count of murdering Wallen’s 14-week-old fetus, because under Maryland law, “a 14-week old fetus is considered ‘not viable’ independent of the mother,” per a report from WJLA.

From that September 11 press conference, Tessier already considered by police to be a suspect in Wallen’s disappearance, went before TV cameras to plead “Laura, if you’re listening, it doesn’t matter what’s happened. It doesn’t matter what type of trouble. There’s nothing we can’t fix together,” as shared by The Washington Post. Two days later on September 13, Tessier was arrested, jailed and charged with Wallen’s murder after her body was discovered in a shallow grave in a Damascus, Maryland, field.

Police claim that Tessier lured his pregnant girlfriend to that field where he shot her in the back of the head and then buried her. After the medical examiner confirmed Wallen’s pregnancy, officials wanted to charge Tessier with an additional count of murder in the death of his unborn baby. But at an October 13 press conference, Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said that Tessier could not and would not be charged with the murder of his unborn child.

“The defendant is not charge-able” in connection to the unborn child, McCarthy said at an October 13 news conference. “We are bound to follow the law.” Tessier’s trial date has not yet been set.

(Cover image credit: Montgomery County Police)