SKOWHEGAN — Luc Tieman, accused of killing his wife, Valerie, in August and burying her body in his parents’ backyard in Fairfield, pleaded not guilty Friday to a charge of murder in Somerset County Superior Court.
Tieman, 33, who is being held without bail at the Somerset County Jail in East Madison, walked into the courtroom shortly after 9 a.m. wearing jailhouse grays, his hands cuffed in front of him, and sat next to his attorney, Stephen Smith.
Tieman’s mother, Laurelle Tieman, sat alone in the front row, the only person other than press and court officials who attended the arraignment. She declined to comment.
Superior Court Justice Robert Mullen told Tieman he was charged with intentionally or knowingly murdering his wife on Aug. 25.
“How do you want to plead?” he asked.
“Not guilty, Your Honor,” Tieman said.
Mullen said the state has asked for a bail hearing, and the court is continuing that request on a day-to-day basis. He told Tieman he would be held without bail until further order of the court.
As Tieman walked out of the courtroom, he looked back at his mother with no expression.
Outside the courthouse, as he was being escorted to a transport van by a sheriff’s deputy, a reporter asked if there was anything he wanted to say.
“God bless our families,” Tieman said. “God bless Donald Trump.”
Outside the courthouse, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Zainea said she did not know when a trial would be scheduled.
Tieman, an Army veteran, was indicted last month by a Somerset County grand jury in connection with the death of his wife, who was 34.
She was reported missing on Sept. 9 by her parents, who live in South Carolina, after they had not heard from her for more than two weeks. Luc Tieman did not report her missing. He initially told police she disappeared from his pickup truck outside Wal-Mart in Skowhegan but later said she died of an overdose.
In interviews with the Morning Sentinel, Tieman’s friends said he had been unfaithful to his wife and sought companionship with other women, telling them his marriage was ending around the time she disappeared.
An autopsy report from the state medical examiner’s office said she died of two gunshot wounds to the head and was found buried in the backyard of Luc Tieman’s parents’ residence off Norridgewock Road in Fairfield.
Buried with her body were a bottle of perfume, a bag of potato chips and a note reportedly apologetic in nature, according to the autopsy report.
At the time of her death, Valerie Tieman was heavily involved with the Recycled Shakespeare Company, a theater troupe based in Fairfield, according to her friends. Emily Rowden Fournier, whose family runs the Shakespeare company, described Valerie Tieman as a sweet, caring woman who attended dinner parties at the Fournier home with her husband, Luc.
Valerie and Luc Tieman were married two years ago in South Carolina. He had been married previously to Erin Merrin of Texas, whom he met while they were students at Messalonskee High School in Oakland. Merrin said after the slaying that she had been in touch with Valerie Tieman, as Luc was hoping to reconnect with his children, who live with Merrin. He and Merrin have four children together.
Merrin said that there had been domestic violence in their marriage and Luc Tieman was ordered by the court to have no physical contact with their children.
Luc Tieman told police he last saw his wife Aug. 30 at Wal-Mart in Skowhegan when he went into the store and she stayed in their pickup truck. Initially he said he believed she took off with another man. Her body was found Sept. 20, and he was arrested and charged with murder the next day.
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