SKOWHEGAN (NEWS CENTER Maine) — A state's witness poked holes in Luc Tieman's defense in day four of his murder trial.
Tieman was arrested in September 2016 and charged with the murder of his wife, Valerie Tieman, who had been missing for weeks before her body was discovered in a shallow grave behind Luc's parents home in Fairfield.
► TIMELINE | The Murder of Valerie Tieman
Luc's younger brother, Samuel Tieman, took the stand Thursday afternoon to testify against his brother. Luc had told police that Sam had helped him bury Valerie, but Sam told jurors he had nothing to do with it. In fact, the 28-year-old was working two hours away and had his work log to prove it.
Sam told the court that he heard his brother told police he had been an accomplice and he took it upon himself to confront Luc about it. When he asked Luc why he told police what he did, Sam claims Luc said, "what else do you do with a dead body?"
An audio recording from the day Luc was arrested shed light on how the defendant reacted when he was told his wife had died from gunshot wounds.
"So who shot her?" one of the officers asked. "She has two bullets in her brain."
"Seriously?" Tieman replied.
"Yeah, seriously," the officer said. "The game is up Luc … we want the truth."
Tieman continued to defend himself, even asking the officers, "if I killed my wife why would I leave a note down there [buried with her body] incriminating myself?"
Instead, he stood by the story he gave to police when they found Valerie's body; that he watched her die in their bed after overdosing on heroin. However, this time he said she injected suboxone into her system as well.
Police continued to question him about who shot Valerie, even pointing the finger at Luc's brother Sam and his parents.
"They wouldn't be able to do something like that," Luc told them.
The officers questioned whether Luc may have "blacked-out" due to his PTSD. He had previously told police that sometimes his PTSD would cause him to break out in a rage that he wouldn't remember.
The courtroom also heard testimonies from the computer forensic analyst who looked at Luc and Valerie's cell phone records. The records showed Valerie's phone was no longer in use after Aug. 25, 2016 — the day police believe she was murdered. The detective spent most of his time explaining the procedure for tracking cell phone usage and how that can help them determine where someone was at the time of a call.
According to the records, the day Luc allegedly "had sex" with his "new girlfriend" Billi Jo Hawes was the same day Valerie had called him 31 times. Luc would only answer the last phone call, which lasted just over 13 minutes. Police believe he was home by the time the phone call ended.
The next morning, Valerie would receive a message from another woman about Luc cheating on her. She wouldn't be heard from again after that.
Tieman's defense questioned the phone records for Aug. 26, 2016, between Luc and Valerie. The detective couldn't confirm who the message was actually sent from, alluding to the fact it could have possibly been Valerie.
Jurors were also shown a video of Luc driving in his truck, focusing on the blanket in the backseat.
Texts were also read, which included Tieman saying "Val is out of my life now … so there's nothing holding me back."
It is not clear if Tieman will be testifying or not. If convicted he faces 25 years to life in prison.