A Maryland woman’s family and friends are extremely worried about her after days of not knowing where she is. Police found her SUV on Friday. News4’s Jackie Bensen spoke with a friend of the missing woman.
Montgomery County police have recovered a missing pregnant teacher's SUV.
The SUV was found Thursday night in a parking lot in Columbia, Maryland, blocks away from Wilde Lake High School, where Laura Elizabeth Wallen, 31, teaches history and law.
Montgomery County police took the car, a black 2011 Ford Escape, for processing. They confirmed the car belongs to Warren on Saturday.
Officers and investigators canvassed the area in an apartment complex parking lot on the 10600 block of Gramercy Place, near Wallen's work and the Columbia Mall.
Police spent Friday morning searching Wallen's home. Neighbors believed police were searching for clues about her disappearance.
Wallen was last seen at the Olney, Maryland, condo about 8:30 a.m. Monday. Her family said they received a "troubling" text message from her about an hour later but attempts to reach her have failed. Police have not released the contents of the text message she sent.
Her father said he went to her condo but didn't find her.
She also failed to show up for the first day of classes Tuesday. Her father, Mark Wallen, said that set off alarms for him.
"You feel so helpless at that point, because you don't know where your child is," he said.
He suspected someone is responsible for his daughter's disappearance.
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"Well, we're reaching out to, of course, family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and also other strategies I don't want to get into at this time," Montgomery County police Capt. Paul Starks said.
"This is like an alternate universe," said Laura Wallen's sister, Jennifer Kadi. "It just doesn't seem real."
Laura Wallen is four months pregnant, and her family said she was excited about it and posted her sonogram on her refrigerator.
"That obviously puts an enormous amount of worry on us, because she is out there, somewhere, and she has a baby, so that's a really scary thing," Kadi said.
"It's like a TV drama you wish you could shut off but you can't," Mark Wallen said.
Laura Wallen is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 200 pounds and has blonde hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information about Laura Wallen's location should call police at 301-279-8000.
