02x02 - I Know What the Devil Looks Like

[bunniefuu]

-[♪ ominous music playing]
-[distant quiet chatter]

[narrator] Do you have a picture
with your favorite teacher?

The one that changed your life?

Many students at Wilde Lake High

are lucky enough
to have one with their fave,



She just lit up the room.

[narrator] And she loves
to capture every moment.

Every interaction, every smile, memory,

she captures in a photo or a text,

especially on the first day of school.

First day of class,
Ms. Wallen was at the door,

and I'm like,
"Yeah, this gon' be different, bro."

[school bell ringing]

[narrator]
So, when the school bell rings

on September 5, 2017,

and she doesn't make it to class,

dark secrets bubble to the surface.

-[♪ tense music playing]
-[texts beeping]

I was like,
"Why are we bringing up Antwan?"

Like, he knows something.

[narrator]
Her students and community won't rest

until the truth is revealed.

I ain't never gonna give up.
I ain't never gonna give up.

[narrator] And when mounting suspicion
points to photo evidence,

Laura's final message unveils
a k*ller too close to home.

That was a defining moment. We knew
this is exactly how he k*lled her.

I know what that devil looked like
when he walked in, man.

[♪ tense crescendo]

[speaker 1] She solved her own m*rder
from beyond the grave.

[speaker 2]
The fitness app on the phone.

It was overwhelming evidence.

♪ I've been haunted by the visions ♪

♪ That I've seen with my own eyes ♪

♪ And the only way to find you ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪

[speaker 3]
She did help catch this k*ller.

[♪ energetic music playing]

[narrator] Just west of Baltimore
lies Columbia, Maryland,

a family-friendly suburb known
for its great sense of community.

It's the end of summer,
and teachers at Wilde Lake High

prep for the first day of school.

No one is more excited

than 31-year-old social studies teacher
Laura Wallen,

a passionate educator
who goes above and beyond for everyone.

So, when Laura doesn't show up
on the first day of school,

it sets off alarm bells with her students.

[Saquan Maxwell] My name's Saquan Maxwell,
and I'm a former student of Laura Wallen.

[echoing clap]

I graduated from Wilde Lake
High School in May of 2017,

so I'm a year removed at this point.

And I'm getting these messages like,

"Yo, there's word that
Ms. Wallen's missing, bro."

Like, it's all over Snapchat.
Like, all the kids, they're posting it.

I'm like...

"Huh? I just talked to Ms. Wallen,
like, two days ago, bro.

She's missing?"

[narrator]
This isn't like Laura at all.

Her ghosting raises eyebrows
outside the school

and for her fellow teachers inside, too.

[Jessica Nichols]
My name is Jessica Nichols,

and I was a coworker of Laura Wallen

for the entire time she was
at Wilde Lake High School.

I remember just walking
past her classroom,

and I noticed the kids were outside.

Wallen was never late on
the first day of school,

and so I sent her a text. I was like,
"Hey, girl, are you okay?"

Didn't hear anything.

[narrator]
Minutes pass, and then hours.

And even though her class
is covered by a sub,

the sense of dread swells.

[Saquan]
And I'm like, "This is weird."

Ms. Wallen stayed in contact
with me after graduation.

I call her, and I text her,
like, "Ms. Wallen, I need you.

I need to talk to you about something."
I made it like it was a important message.

♪♪

She never responded.

[Jessica]
If Laura Wallen wasn't physically there,

something had to have happened to her.

Something was desperately wrong.

[♪ somber music playing]

[narrator] It's not just the teachers
and students at Wilde Lake High

who feel something is wrong.

Laura's sister, Jen,
hasn't heard from her in over 24 hours,

and she calls the police.

♪♪

[Paul Reese]
My name is Detective Sergeant Paul Reese

with Montgomery County Police.

[narrator]
Investigators learn from Laura's family

that she lives in
a condo in Olney, Maryland,

about 20 minutes from the school.

We were given access
to the house by the Wallen family.

One of my detectives went to the house,
did a quick look around.

There was nothing that was out of play.

There was no signs
of a struggle whatsoever.

[narrator]
The responding police officers take note

that Laura's black SUV
is not in the driveway,

and her apartment looks untouched.

What they do find
are many photos of Laura

surrounded by friends and loved ones,

evidence of a woman
who captures special moments

with those she cares for.

Laura Wallen had a beautiful family.

That included her dad,
and her mom,

and her wonderful sister.

On her social media,
she posted inspirational things,

and you could clearly see
how much Laura loved her family.

[narrator] Aside from capturing moments
with her family and friends,

the other thing that brings Laura
pure joy is teaching.

It was at Wilde Lake, she got to,
she used to say,

"Live the dream
of being a high school teacher."

[Gregory Drinan-Bowes]
My name is Gregory Drinan-Bowes,

and I am a student
and a friend of Laura Wallen.

Laura Wallen was a young, hip teacher

who knew all the slang terms
that we were using.

She was emotionally invested in her work,

and she just lit up the room.

Laura could spot kids, uh, in school

that were obviously having trouble.

And I was one of those kids.

[narrator]
Laura goes out of her way

to give extra care
to students who need it most.

♪ You should be scared ♪

[Saquan] I grew up in West Baltimore,
like the roughest part,

and I was expelled from
every school in Baltimore City.

I didn't think I was gonna graduate
from Wilde Lake.

Ms. Wallen would just talk to me,
like, this high-pitched, like,

soothing voice and just, like,
just remind us that it's school, bro,

and there's a lot more to come after this.

Ms. Wallen helped me find out who I am.

[narrator] Laura stays
in touch with many students

after they've left Wilde Lake,

and they know
she's always just a text away.

But on this day,
Laura isn't responding to anyone.

-And when the dismissal bell rings...
-[bell rings]

...there's still no sign of her.

The day was over, and everybody left.

And I got a phone call
from my student aide,

and she was like,

"Her parents reported her missing."

And it was like the air
got sucked out of my lungs.

[police radio chatter]

[narrator]
When word gets out that police

are now investigating
Laura's disappearance,

her students begin
their own search effort.

[Saquan]
I walked over to the UPS store.

I literally asked, like, if you can
front us a couple flyers,

and then we'd come back
and pay you, like...

So, they gave us 100 for free,
and we went out that day.

We start calling everybody we know.
"Yo, meet us at Wilde Lake."

[narrator] While Saquan
and his friends hit the pavement,

-detectives retrace Laura's steps.
-[phone ringing]

The last time anyone heard
from her was this past weekend.

Laura was out with her boyfriend, Tyler.

Laura and Tyler had this
on-again, off-again relationship.

♪♪

They would do the country
rodeo thing together,

and Laura loved it.

She called him her cowboy.

[narrator]
Tyler had a job transporting cows

for local cattle farmers,
so the title fits.

But now, they're even more excited
about an upcoming arrival.

♪♪

She had announced to the department
that she was having a baby,

and we were all like,
"Oh, my God, that's great!"

[laughs] You know,
because we all just thought

this kid is getting
the best mom on the planet.

[narrator]
Laura is four months pregnant,

and she's already named
her baby, a boy.

We were all so excited for her.

[narrator]
But that excitement has turned to worry.

Laura's sister, Jen,
shows investigators a text exchange

between her and Laura from Saturday,

when Laura was on a date with Tyler.

[texts whooshing]

[Paul]
Jen and Laura were extremely close.

And there was never a day
they did not speak.

On the night of Saturday, September 2nd,

the text messages from
Laura were extremely happy.

But then, on Monday,

these text messages
became completely dark.

♪♪

Laura was making references
to a person by the name of Antwan.

[text dings]

The text message alluded to
the fact that she was pregnant

and that her boyfriend at the time, Tyler,
was not the father of the baby.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[narrator]
Has Laura left an unearthed clue?

A hidden meaning or a final message

that will lead investigators
to her whereabouts?

What does Laura mean by "living a lie"?

And who is Antwan?

As the Wilde Lake community
forges ahead on their search,

they'll uncover more secrets
and more lies,

until they unlock
the biggest secret of all.

I was extremely shocked,
looking at the picture

and trying to match the picture up.

Like, my heart just, like, sunk.

[♪ dramatic crescendo]

[♪ mysterious music playing]

[narrator] Popular high school teacher
and mother-to-be Laura Wallen

has the entire community
on pins and needles

when she doesn't show up
for the first day of school.

I think everybody's state at that point
was just pure confusion.

Like, everybody was confused.

[text dings]

[narrator] There's no time to waste,
so investigators start unpacking

a series of concerning text messages

sent from Laura to her sister, Jen,
over the Labor Day weekend.

♪♪

[Katie Leggett]
My name is Katie Leggett,

and I'm a detective
in Montgomery County, Maryland,

and I'm assigned to
the Cold Case/Missing Person Unit.

On Labor Day weekend,
there was a text message

that Laura sent to her sister, Jen,

and raised Jen's suspicions

that something was wrong.

[narrator]
The text suggests Laura's boyfriend,

Tyler Tessier, is not
the father of her baby.

[Paul] I called Tyler Tessier
to come to the office

to tell us exactly what
was going on with his girlfriend.

He came in very quickly, um,

and wanted to give up as much information
as he possibly could.

[narrator] Tyler makes it clear
that his relationship with Laura

isn't so picture-perfect.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[Katie] They were having problems prior
to her finding out she was pregnant.

In fact, they had broken up.

And when she found out she was pregnant,

Tyler assured her
he was in for the long haul.

♪♪

[narrator]
Tyler says with a baby on the way,

he and Laura are committed
to working things out.

And over the Labor Day weekend,

they went out to explore
the vast countryside,

envisioning a perfect spot
for their future dream home.

[narrator] That Saturday night,
Tyler had big plans,

-but the baby had other ideas.
-[texts dinging]

Laura had morning sickness.

He had mentioned that he was
going to propose that night,

but when she became ill,

he decided to put that off.

They stopped at the Safeway in Olney

to buy some seltzer water
for her that she liked,

I guess to calm her stomach.

Then, they went back to the condo.

[narrator] The following day,
when Laura was feeling better,

Tyler says he presented her
with a diamond engagement ring.

Tyler thought that Laura would be happy,

but she wasn't.

[Paul]
He was very confused

about why she didn't wanna
be married to him.

♪♪

[narrator] Tyler says he got in touch
with Laura later that evening,

and they made a plan
to talk things over on Monday.

He was gonna meet with her
on Monday, Labor Day,

at the cafe inside of Columbia Mall.

But she never showed up.

[narrator] That same morning,

Laura sent the troubling
texts to her sister,

and that was the last time
anyone heard from her.

Did Laura spurn Tyler's proposal

because someone else
is the father of the baby?

Someone by the name of Antwan?

[text dings]

I asked him, "Is there a possibility
you're not the father?"

[♪ tense music playing]

Tyler said she does not
have any boyfriends

that he knows about,
and he never said the name Antwan.

[narrator]
Tyler may not know who Antwan is,

but now that investigators know more

about his last interaction
with Laura this past weekend,

they can further dial in on their search.

Tyler had mentioned that they had been
at the Safeway in Olney that night.

One of the detectives from our unit

watched footage

and, in fact,
did find them on the footage,

and they had bought exactly
what Tyler said they had bought.

♪♪

[narrator] It's been 48 hours
since anyone heard from Laura,

and investigators turn their attention

to the mysterious Antwan.

-Laura's texts suggest the unthinkable.
-[text dings]

Did she get too close
to one of her students

and cross the line?

We met with the principal
and met with a school resource officer,

and we started going through records.

[♪ tense crescendo]

And there was a student named Antwan.

We ended up finding
a student who was very young,

with braces, and sweet, and quiet

and absolutely was not having
an affair with a teacher.

[echoing footsteps]

♪ I can't live without you,
so where do I begin ♪

♪♪

♪ I can't go back ♪

Maybe one of them knows
about another Antwan,

someone Laura was dating
outside of school.

My principal goes, "Hey, we need you
in the conference room."

And there's a bunch of police officers.

They asked me,
"Well, what do you know about Antwan?"

And I was like... "Antwan?

You mean the, the guy that
she was dating, like, years ago?"

♪ Why am I never satisfied? ♪

I didn't really know Antwan at all.

I just remember Laura telling me

that this wasn't gonna work out,

and then, like, Antwan just...

faded into the ether
'cause he moved away.

[text dings]

[narrator] Could it be
that this is the same Antwan

who is somehow back in Laura's life?

The problem for investigators

is that no one knows where Antwan lives

or his full name.

We had detectives looking
into where he was located,

but we needed time
to figure out Antwan's last name.

[narrator] By now,
word of Laura's disappearance

is all over the local news,

and everyone from Wilde Lake High

to the Columbia lakefront
are on the lookout.

[Jessica] The kids were making
appeals on social media.

[texts whooshing, phone keys clacking]

They knocked on doors.
They passed out flyers.

They had to fight for Ms. Wallen.

♪♪

If you care about something
and you believe in what that is--

Like, people plant flowers
and grow gardens all the time.

Like, I'm waking up every day,

pouring water on this seed, on this soil.

Ms. Wallen had that.
She had that. We was her garden.

We was all doing this in hopes
of still finding Ms. Wallen.

[narrator] Then, three days
after Laura went missing,

investigators receive a phone call
that changes everything.

On September 7th, a call comes in

from the Gramercy Apartments in Columbia.

And it's the grounds manager

saying that he had found
Laura's driver's license by a dumpster.

[♪ curious music playing]

We scrambled many detectives and officers

from Montgomery County
to the apartment complex.

[narrator]
The location is just across the street

from Wilde Lake High School.

And when officers arrive,
they make a shocking discovery.

We located Laura's car
in the parking lot, near the dumpster.

♪♪

That was probably the first
"Oh, my God" moment that we had.

♪♪

Your gut can tell you something's wrong,

and we, at that point,
know something bad is coming.

[narrator]
Will this new bombshell discovery

lead the investigators closer to Laura?

Will the teacher who has
captivated the minds and hearts

of those young and old be found?

As investigators read between the lines
and inch closer to the truth,

what they find will rock
the dreams and fears

of everyone involved.

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator] Three days after
Laura Wallen's disappearance,

investigators are called
to an apartment complex

close to the high school
where she teaches.

In the parking lot,
they find Laura's black SUV.

[shutter snaps, flash whirring]

There was no blood.
There was no evidence of a struggle.

There was no damage on the car.

But the front license plate was removed.

[narrator]
A cleverly concealed car?

A conveniently removed license plate?

Did someone take Laura's car

and move it here,
hoping it's never found?

We believed at that point
foul play was involved

and that this was gonna start
leaning towards a homicide.

[♪ tense sting]

[narrator]
By nightfall, word quickly spreads.

Laura's car has been found, but not Laura.

♪ Let me take you back ♪

[students chattering]

[Kareem Press] When we were hearing, like,
on the news when they had found her car,

not even that far away
from the school,

we knew that Ms. Wallen was in danger.

When I found out, ugh,
like, my heart just, like, sunk.

It was just,
it was complete shift of energy.

I know I saw teachers
who were bawling their eyes out.

Like, it was just crazy because I've never
seen teachers react so much.

Hearing that news,
it was completely devastating.

♪♪

[narrator] Laura's car doesn't give up
any clues about her whereabouts.

And investigators still
don't know the identity

of her mysterious ex, Antwan.

-[texts dinging]
-Could Laura have run away with him?

Or did Antwan do something to her
when he found out about the baby?

We kinda went down the rabbit hole
of looking for this man named Antwan.

[narrator]
As detectives hunt for the elusive Antwan,

a tip from Laura's brother-in-law, John,

sends the investigation
in a new direction.

-[phone ringing]
-I got a call, and John Kadi said to me,

"Are you aware
of Tyler's other girlfriend?"

[narrator]
Investigators are stunned.

Apparently, there's another
woman in Tyler's life,

and her name is Chrissy.

All John Kadi knew about Chrissy
was that she may be a teacher

and that maybe they were
still in a relationship.

♪♪

[narrator]
Could a love triangle be at the core

of Laura's disappearance?

Investigators quickly track down
Tyler's other woman.

One of my detectives,
I sent to a, a middle school

in Gaithersburg, Maryland,
where Chrissy was working at.

Asked the principal to bring
Chrissy in for an interview

in one of their conference rooms.

So, then I called Tyler and I said,

"Tyler, I need to speak
to you right away."

And Tyler went white as a ghost.

He knew at that point
we knew who Chrissy was,

and that's when he admitted that,
yes, he was with Chrissy.

But he told us that
we just didn't understand, though,

because he was in love with Laura.

He knew she was pregnant.

He wanted to be the father of the baby.
He wanted a life with her.

But he just couldn't be
with Chrissy anymore.

[narrator]
Little does Tyler know,

investigators are getting
Chrissy's side of the story

at the exact same time.

I received a text message
from my detective that stated,

"I'm sitting with Chrissy.
She's got a ring on.

They're engaged, and they live together."

♪♪

Chrissy told my detective that basically

Laura was someone who
was after her boyfriend

and that Laura was crazy.

[narrator]
During Chrissy's interview across town,

she says she received
an unexpected DM on Facebook

just a few days before Laura went missing.

Laura found Chrissy's profile,

and she wanted to talk
woman-to-woman.

-[message dings]
-[♪ tense music playing]

[Katie]
Laura reached out to Chrissy,

asking, "Hey, we need to get together."

[narrator]
Chrissy tells police she never responded

because she was afraid of Laura.

According to Chrissy,

Tyler had some pretty nasty things
to say about Laura.

Due to the fact that there was this
love triangle that we had uncovered,

Chrissy having some involvement

was a theory that had to be run out
like everything else.

[narrator] When asked about
her whereabouts Labor Day weekend,

Chrissy says she was
gearing up for a big day.

[Katie]
Chrissy said she was dress shopping

with her bridal party in Pennsylvania

on the weekend that Laura disappeared,
for her and Tyler's upcoming wedding.

[narrator] Tyler insists that Laura

is the only one
he's actually in love with,

and he has no idea where she is.

But the detectives aren't buying it.

We don't have any evidence that Tyler

had done anything to Laura
at that particular point,

um, except for, again,
the lies about his girlfriend.

That's when the case took a complete 180,

and we took a different approach

to how we were gonna handle Mr. Tessier.

[school bell ringing]

[narrator] Detectives come up with a plan
to put Tyler under the spotlight.

Katie Leggett put together
a press conference with our media section.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

If I ask Tyler to do a press conference
and he says no,

he's gonna assume that
we think he's guilty.

If I ask him to do a press conference
and he says yes,

we're gonna get something good.
It's worth a shot.

♪♪

[narrator] It's now seven days
after Laura's disappearance.

Once transfixed by her
encrypted text messages,

investigators now find themselves
on the edge of their seats.

Face-to-face in front of the cameras

and with the eyes of
the community upon him,

will Tyler reveal anything
about Laura's fate?

Or will this entire ruse
be all for nothing?

[♪ dramatic crescendo]

[♪ solemn music playing]

[narrator] Laura Wallen has been
missing for seven days,

and her boyfriend, Tyler,
stands face-to-face with the media

during a cleverly
orchestrated press conference.

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator] Detectives believe
that Tyler knows something

about Laura's disappearance,
so they staged the press conference

to see how he responds
to questions about Laura.

[♪ tense crescendo]

[Katie]
He took a deep breath,

and he completely did not
answer the question.

He knew something.

So, for me, it was just
one extra layer of evidence

to try to get, in case he decided
he was gonna stop talking to us.

♪♪

[narrator] Tyler may not
have incriminated himself,

but the press conference
produces an unexpected ally:

Tyler's fiancée, Chrissy.

Chrissy was with all of her coworkers
when this news broke,

and she's watching the press conference

and learns at the same time
as the rest of the country

that Tyler's girlfriend is pregnant.

After the press conference,
Chrissy did fully cooperate

with detectives in this case.

[narrator] Little by little,
Tyler's world crashes down around him,

and after the press conference,
detectives apply more pressure,

and they bring him in
for another interview.

By this time, state prosecutors
are following the case closely.

[Donna Fenton] My name is Donna Fenton,
and I am one of the prosecutors

who handled the case
against Tyler Tessier.

[echoing clap]

From a prosecutorial standpoint,

we want Tyler Tessier to keep
talking as much as possible,

because following the press conference,

the story changed minute to minute.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[narrator] Investigators ask Tyler

to clear up some discrepancies
in his earlier statements.

Tyler advised us at that time
that he was gonna meet with Laura

on Monday, Labor Day,
at the Columbia Mall.

[♪ tense music playing]

But she never showed up.

[narrator] But surveillance video shows
that Tyler was not there waiting for her

like he claims.

[narrator]
Then, hours into the interview,

Tyler offers up a completely
new version of events.

He's saying that Laura
was asking for a fresh start,

and he was helping her
so she could go start a new life

with the baby's real dad.

It was garbage from the start,
and everybody knew it,

because Laura would
never leave her family.

Laura would never leave her school.

Tyler got more specific

with his allegations
of not being the father.

♪♪

[narrator]
This is the first time

that Tyler has admitted
to knowing the name Antwan.

However, Tyler is unaware
that the police have finally caught up

with the only person connected
to Laura by that name.

One of my detectives tracked down
her ex-boyfriend, named Antwan.

♪♪

We found out he was in the Army,

and we learned that Antwan
was in Massachusetts

during the time of Laura's disappearance.

[narrator]
The holes in Tyler's story keep growing,

but he keeps doubling down.

He now claims that Laura told him

to send the text about Antwan
from her phone.

He just kept talking.

He just kept digging himself
in deeper and deeper.

[narrator]
Tyler's statements are incriminating,

but he still won't admit
if he knows where Laura is.

So, the detectives dig deeper
into the last known interaction

Tyler had with her.

They look back at one of their
first pieces of evidence:

Laura's texts to her sister, Jen,
over Labor Day weekend.

Laura had been texting with her sister

through Saturday evening.

At that time, Jen thought
that they were so unusual,

because Laura was telling Jen

that, "Tyler has me in a field."

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[narrator] So unusual,
that Jen asked Laura to prove it.

In typical Laura style,

she captures the moment
and snaps a picture.

-[text dings]
-[Donna] Laura Wallen snapped a photo

with her phone
of the area that she was with Tyler.

Tyler told Laura that, "This is
the property I'm gonna buy for you,

so we can build a house
and start our life together."

[♪ dramatic sting]

[narrator] Tyler said that they were near
a town called Frederick at the time,

but police can't trust
anything Tyler says.

They also don't have Laura's phone

to reveal location coordinates
from the photo.

That field could have been anywhere
in the state of Maryland.

We learned that Tyler worked at a farm
in Damascus, Maryland.

So, we started to come up
with a theory to look

in Damascus where he worked.

♪♪

[narrator] Tyler works part-time
at a meat processing facility

located on a huge sprawling farm
with wide open spaces.

So, on September 13th,

wrote a search warrant to search the farm.

[narrator]
In a far corner of the property,

an officer finds a tree line

that matches Laura's photo perfectly.

When they got to this back field,

they observed what they believed to be...

tracks from machinery,
and that was very unusual.

-[twigs snapping]
-[quiet chatter]

[narrator] As officers move closer,
something catches their eye.

[Paul] An officer noticed a patch of dirt
that looked a little fresh

and saw a small, dollar-bill-sized piece
of purple clothing

protruding from the dirt.

We found Laura Wallen's body
in a shallow grave.

[♪ somber music playing]

[narrator]
Laura is the victim

of an apparent g*nsh*t wound
to the back of the head.

If she hadn't sent her sister
the photo of the field,

her body would have never been found.

♪ Hit the ground ♪

Across town in Columbia,

students and faculty gather
for a moment of solidarity...

♪ The dark is comin' after you ♪

[narrator] ...only to have their hearts
crushed with breaking news.

♪ You hear that voice ♪

[Saquan] September 13th,
we was hosting a candlelight vigil

at the Wilde Lake Interfaith Center
right across from the high school.

And someone in the crowd went,

"Yo, they just tweeted that
they found Ms. Wallen's body!"

♪ No hope left ♪

♪ This is where it ends ♪

It sucked the air out of it,

and it just turned from, like, confusion
and upset, to, like, anger.

Like, I never felt momentum
shift like that.

Like, "Not Ms. Wallen."
That's what you were hearing in the crowd,

like, "Not Ms. Wallen.
Ms. Wallen not dead. Y'all tripping."

Like, you hearing kids getting mad,
you hearing parents crying,

and it was like so many emotions going on,
and I'm just standing there, stuck.

[♪ somber sting]

[hushed chatter]

It was devastating.
It was traumatic.

And we got a notification on our phones,
the press release from the police.

"Tyler Tessier has been charged
with the m*rder of Laura Wallen."

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[narrator]
With Tyler now under arrest,

it's time for the investigators
to confront him one final time.

[Katie]
I had been good cop up until that point,

but I've really had enough of this crap.

I need answers.

♪♪

[Paul]
So, Detective Katie Leggett

interviewed him at headquarters.

He was shown multiple pictures
of Laura while she was alive,

and then they showed
pictures of her in the grave.

[narrator] Buckling under the pressure,
Tyler finally reveals

his last captured memory of Laura's fate.

Tyler says he was kidnapped with Laura.

[narrator]
And it's unbelievable.

He said, "I cried like a b*tch
and was able to beg for my life."

There's truth in every lie, and that
was another "oh, my God" moment.

[♪ tense music playing]

[♪ grim music playing]

[narrator]
After eight days of searching,

the race to find Laura Wallen,

beloved teacher, friend,
and expectant mother,

ends in tragedy.

Laura's photo that she sent to her sister
over Labor Day weekend

leads the investigators to her body,

buried in a shallow grave
on a rural property

where her boyfriend Tyler works.

Based on what the people on the scene
were seeing once they got her out,

we knew that she was shot
in the back of the head.

[narrator]
With Tyler in custody,

detectives confront him with the evidence,

hoping for a full confession.

Instead, Tyler has a brand-new tale
to tell.

Tyler had said that
he was kidnapped with Laura

by three masked men and brought
to the farm in Damascus.

[Katie] Tyler said they shot her
in the back of the head...

-[g*nsh*t]
-[♪ dramatic music playing]

...and makes him watch,
but they spare him.

He said, "I cried like a b*tch
and was able to beg for my life."

♪♪

[Katie] There's truth in every lie,
because when he said

they shot her in the back of the head,
that's exactly what he did.

That was a defining moment where we knew
this is exactly how he k*lled her.

[♪ tense music playing]

[Paul] His stories were so crazy
that they didn't make sense.

None of the stories were even close
to what had really taken place that day.

[narrator] But investigators have enough
evidence to reconstruct the m*rder.

Tyler Tessier was essentially lying
to both of these women.

Tyler would tell Chrissy
that Laura was stalking him.

He then also told Laura
that Chrissy was the exact same thing.

[narrator]
The catalyst for the m*rder

was Laura contacting Chrissy
through Facebook

a week before Laura went missing.

[Katie] Laura was asking,
"Hey, woman-to-woman,

we need to get together."

[phone dings]

Now, the thought was that she was gonna
tell Chrissy about the baby.

[♪ tense crescendo]

[narrator]
Believing this was more stalker behavior,

Chrissy shows the message to Tyler.

If there was any chance
that Laura was gonna tell Chrissy

that she was pregnant with Tyler's baby,

his entire cover was gonna be blown.

The walls were starting to close in.

I think at that point, he thinks--
he decided that, you know,

that he was gonna end Laura's life
because he didn't wanna lose Chrissy.

[narrator] Tyler knew Chrissy
was going to be on a shopping trip

with her bridesmaids over
the Labor Day weekend.

He knew his employer,
who owned the farm

where Laura's body was found,
was also going to be away.

And he knew where the g*ns were kept.

The g*n that was used in her m*rder

was found in a barn

that was used by the farm
to put down animals.

Tyler used that r*fle
to basically k*ll Laura.

[muffled g*nsh*t]

[narrator]
The evidence suggests that Tyler

planned to k*ll Laura on Saturday evening,

around the time Laura
was texting with her sister, Jen.

Her sister said,
"Send me a picture."

And that's when she sent
the picture of the tree line.

Now, that is, I believe,
when she told Tyler,

"I'm texting with my sister."

That spoiled his plan.

But I think he brought her
back there on Sunday morning.

[narrator] Tyler lured Laura in
with the promises of the perfect family

and the wedding of her dreams.

I truly believe she thought

he would have a surprise for her
and that she was going to get engaged.

I don't believe she saw it coming.

[muffled g*nsh*t]

He's a coward.

[narrator]
After k*lling Laura,

Tyler used her phone
to text her sister Jen.

[texts dinging]

Tyler's attempts to confuse
investigators worked briefly,

but ultimately failed.

In the end,
the picture Laura sent to her sister

was the key piece of evidence
that solved the case.

[♪ somber music playing]

One year after Laura's m*rder,

Tyler Tessier's trial is set to begin.

My phone rang at a little
after 5:15 that morning,

and it was Detective Frank Colbert,

who told me Tyler Tessier
just hung himself

at the Montgomery County
Correctional Facility.

I was absolutely flabbergasted.

[Jessica]
I was so angry,

because Tyler stole Laura
from us the first time.

[♪ indistinct soft singing]

And he stole from us when
he decided to end his life

instead of facing up to what he did.

He's just a thief.

[Gregory]
I was glad that he was dead and gone,

but completely diminished any justice

that we were ever gonna
get from the situation.

Before I became a police officer,
I was a teacher. I taught third grade.

I know how attached I got to my kids,

as well as the kids being attached to me.

I know how those kids must have felt
when their teacher was gone.

♪ I'm already off the ground ♪

It was truly devastating.

[narrator]
In the wake of the tragedy,

Laura's family fights
to preserve her legacy

and that of Laura's unborn son, Reid.

♪ I am strong enough ♪

Laura Wallen's family worked tirelessly

in the Maryland legislature
to enact Laura and Reid's Law.

♪ I can get through it all ♪

If the state can prove
that the perpetrator

knew that the woman was pregnant,

an additional 10 years
can be added to that sentence.

[narrator]
Laura Wallen's greatest legacy

is the one carried on
by her former students,

like Saquan, who's now a youth advocate
in Baltimore City.

I find myself talking to Ms. Wallen,
like, "I know you with me."

Like, "Tell me what this boy needs,
Ms. Wallen,

"and I'ma keep your dream alive.

Like, I'ma keep your dream
of keeping all these children going."

Like, whatever it is that I felt
like Ms. Wallen would do,

[clicks tongue] that's what we doing.

[narrator] Laura also inspired her
former student Gregory to pay it forward.

I'm now a young adult peer mentor
for 16 through 22-year-olds,

and I try to be a Laura Wallen

to every client that I have.

The world lost a lot of light
when she was taken from us.

[narrator] Laura Wallen went above
and beyond in every sense of the word.

When she disappeared,

an entire community
sprung into action to find her.

Her endless devotion,

her willingness to stay in touch,

and one simple photo
became the driving force

that caught her k*ller.

♪♪

♪ I don't know where my head is lately ♪

♪ Have I lost my mind? ♪

♪♪

[exhale]

♪ But I know that I have a secret ♪

♪ And it's only mine ♪

[♪ vocalizing]

♪ And the only way to find me ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪