A Maryland man currently behind bars for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend is now reportedly claiming he only shot her after he feared he buried her alive.

The Washington Post reports that Tyler Tessier, 32, is facing first-degree murder charges for the 2017 shooting 31-year-old Laura Wallen, a beloved Wilde Lake High School high school in Columbia, who was found buried in a shallow grave Damascus, Maryland, off of Prices Distillery Road.

After his arrest last year, Tessier initially denied any involvement in Wallen’s murder. He allegedly said four black men kidnapped Wallen, who was four months pregnant at the time. He later recanted and reportedly said Wallen tried to attack him with scissors, but he got away while she “ran into a wooden post on the porch and collapsed,” court documents state.

“The defendant stated he did not call for help and that he believed she had died from striking her head on the porch post,” prosecutors stated. “When he grew concerned perhaps she was not deceased and that he had buried her alive, he stated he shot her once in the back of the head, to ensure she wasn’t suffering.”

The suspect’s lawyers are now trying to suppress his statements, claiming that Tessier’s rights were violated when authorities interrogated with the presence of his attorney.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Montgomery Police Department announced on September 13, 2007, that Tessier was arrested and charged for the murder Wallen, the mother of his unborn child.

Tyler Tessier Murder Charges by Leigh Egan on Scribd

According to authorities, Laura sent a text message to her sister on September 9, 2017, indicating that Tessier had taken her to an open field but she wasn’t sure what for. Her sister asked her to take a pic of the area, and Laura sent back a photo of an open field with a tree line that looked similar to the area authorities later found the teacher’s body at. The following Monday evening, Laura’s father, Mark Wallen, drove over to her Olney condominium to check in on her. No one was home.

On September 10, 2017, the family became increasingly worried when Laura failed to show up for the first day of school at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia.

RELATED Reading: Murdered pregnant teacher’s boyfriend was engaged; victim wanted to meet up with the ‘other woman’

Police found Laura’s body at around noon in a shallow grave in an open field in Damascus, near Prices Distillery Road the following day. They located a patch in a secluded, wooded area of “freshly dug ground” after cadaver dogs hit on human remains scents.

Tessier had apparently been to the field on several recent occasions prior to the incident, located close to the property where an acquaintance of his lived. He also was the last known person to have seen Laura.