The mysterious disappearance of a pregnant high school teacher has prompted a police search in Olney, Maryland. Montgomery County police say Laura Elizabeth Wallen, a 31-year-old history and law teacher, failed to show up for the first day of class Tuesday at Wilde Lake High School, NBC Washington reports. The day before, her family received what they say was a "troubling" text from Wallen about an hour after she was last seen, at 8:30am Monday at her condo complex.
Police aren't sharing that text message, but Sgt. Rebecca Innocenti told CBS Baltimore the message was "alarming enough that the family said, 'We need to call police.'" Witnesses say Wallen, who is four months pregnant, spent several days before the new school year began preparing her classroom. She is five-foot-five inches tall, weighs 200 pounds, and has blonde hair and blue eyes. Police are also searching for her car, a black 2011 Ford Escape with Maryland tag M522473. (More Maryland stories.)