A Maine prosecutor says two gunshots – not a heroin overdose – claimed the life of a woman whose Army veteran husband is now on trial for murder.

Luc Tieman, 34, first told investigators that his wife had disappeared in September 2016 while he was inside a Walmart, but then changed his story when her body was found in a shallow grave in Fairfield.

The husband claimed that he procured heroin at his wife’s request, watched Valerie Tieman shoot up and overdose. The next day, Luc buried the woman with his brother’s aid. He denied shooting her. 

FILE- In this Sept. 23, 2016, file photo, Luc Tieman enters Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan, Maine. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday, April 2, 2018, in the trial of Tieman, who is charged with killing his wife and burying her in a shallow grave. (Michael G. Seamans/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP, File)

FILE- In this Sept. 23, 2016, file photo, Luc Tieman enters Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan, Maine. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday, April 2, 2018, in the trial of Tieman, who is charged with killing his wife and burying her in a shallow grave. (Michael G. Seamans/The Central Maine Morning Sentinel via AP, File)

Under questioning, Tieman said of his late wife: ‘I loved her like Christ loved the church.’

An autopsy showed the 34-year-old Valerie had ingested opioids but died from gunshot wounds to the head and neck.

Valerie Tieman had been buried behind the home of her husband’s parents with a bag of potato chips, a bottle of perfume, a Mason jar, an empty Sweet Tart box and an apologetic note.

The trial started Monday. If convicted, Tieman faces 25 years to life in prison.

Luc Tieman’s defense attorney has petitioned the judge to introduce evidence pointing to an alternative suspect.

Valerie Tieman was reported missing by her parents on September 9, 2016, after her mother had been unable to reach her for two weeks.

Sara Jean Harmon said from the witness stand on Monday that she last heard from her daughter on August 10, which was her birthday.

‘She told me she loved me and wished me a happy birthday,’ the victim’s mother told the jury.

On August 25, Harmon called Valerie but no one picked up. Two days later, her son-in-law texted her that he and his wife of two years were ‘good’ and that he loved her ‘so much.’

After a missing person report was filed sparking a search for Valerie, her husband told police during an initial interview that she had vanished on August 30 from the parking lot of the Skowhegan Walmart.

He added that Valerie wanted to leave him and he did not report her as missing.

Valerie’s body was unearthed on September 20 in a wooded area located a few hundred feet behind a property in Fairfield belonging to Luc Tieman’s parents.

Tieman, an Iraq War veteran who has been described as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, has pleaded not guilty to murder. 



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