Michael McKee, Vascular Surgeon: Tepe Killings, Indictment, and Defense

Michael McKee, a 39-year-old vascular surgeon most recently practicing in Rockford, Illinois, was indicted in January 2026 on four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary in the shooting deaths of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, Dr. Spencer Tepe, inside their Columbus, Ohio home on December 30, 2025. He pleaded not guilty at his January 23, 2026 arraignment and is being held without bond in the Franklin County Jail.¹²

What Happened at the Tepe Home

On the morning of December 30, 2025, Columbus police went to a house in the Weinland Park neighborhood for a wellness check after Spencer Tepe’s employer reported him missing from work. A friend accompanying officers found Spencer’s body on the second floor beside a bed, in a pool of blood. Monique was found dead nearby. The Franklin County Coroner’s Office ruled both deaths homicides by multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body, and investigators recovered three 9-millimeter shell casings at the scene.³⁴

The couple’s two young children, ages four and one, were unharmed inside the home along with the family dog. There were no signs of forced entry and nothing was stolen. Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant called the killings a “targeted attack” and a “domestic violence-related attack.”⁵⁶ Police estimated the shootings occurred around 3:50 a.m.⁷

Who Michael McKee Is

Michael David McKee grew up in Zanesville, Ohio, attended Bishop Rosecrans High School, and enrolled at Ohio State University in 2005. He graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine and began an internship at the university’s Wexner Medical Center in 2014. He completed his residency at the Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion program in Roanoke in 2020, then a vascular surgery fellowship at the University of Maryland Medical Center in 2022.⁸⁹

McKee accumulated medical licenses in Ohio (2014), Virginia (2017), Maryland and California (2022), Nevada (2023), and Illinois (2024). He worked for Las Vegas Surgical Associates in Nevada until his license there expired in June 2025, then moved to Illinois and joined OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford as a vascular surgeon. At the time of his arrest he held active licenses in Illinois and California.⁸ OSF Healthcare removed him from its staff directory by January 11, 2026, and said it was “cooperating with authorities.”¹⁰

His Marriage to Monique Tepe

McKee and Monique married in August 2015. Their separation agreement was filed in April 2017, and the divorce was finalized the following month. The couple had no children together. Neither party received spousal support, and McKee retained the couple’s $230,000 home in Roanoke, Virginia. Court records at the time described the divorce as “mundane and civil.”¹¹

After the killings, family members told reporters that McKee had “tormented” Monique during their marriage.¹¹¹²⁴

What Investigators Say Links Him to the Killings

Court filings and public statements from Columbus police describe several categories of evidence tying McKee to the scene.

Neighborhood surveillance captured a person walking down a dark alley alongside the Tepe home the night of the killings, and a silver SUV linked to McKee arriving in the area shortly before and leaving shortly after. Chief Bryant said police had evidence of McKee “in possession of the identified vehicle both before and after the killings.”¹³ Separate footage from December 6, 2025, roughly a month before the murders, allegedly shows McKee entering the Tepes’ yard and leaving hours later. Court records note that Monique returned early from a Big Ten Championship game that day and was upset about an issue involving her ex-husband. Prosecutors have cited the December footage in alleging that McKee stalked the couple in the weeks before the killings.¹⁴

A firearm recovered from McKee’s Chicago condominium produced a preliminary ballistic match to evidence at the scene. Prosecutors allege the weapon was fitted with a suppressor, which is the basis for the aggravated burglary count.⁷¹

McKee’s cell phone showed no activity for roughly 17 hours spanning December 29 and past noon on December 30. According to ABC7 Chicago, the phone had been left inactive at his place of employment.¹⁵ Investigators tracked his silver SUV from Columbus back to Rockford and noted it had been outfitted at various times with a stolen Ohio plate and an Arizona plate. Police also described “fresh scrape marks” on a window where a sticker had appeared in earlier footage.¹²

Arrest, Indictment, and Where the Case Stands

McKee was arrested in Rockford on January 10, 2026. Two days later he appeared in a Winnebago County courtroom and, through public defender Carie Poirier, waived his extradition hearing and consented to return to Ohio.¹⁶

On January 16, 2026, a Franklin County grand jury indicted him on four counts of aggravated murder (two per victim, based on prior calculation and design) and one count of aggravated burglary involving the firearm suppressor.¹⁷ At his January 23 arraignment, held via closed-circuit television in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, McKee pleaded not guilty through attorney Diane Menashe, who waived any bond request “at least for now.”¹⁸

The Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office has said that if convicted, McKee faces a minimum of life in prison with parole eligibility after 32 years and a maximum of life without parole. The office has not indicated it will seek the death penalty.¹⁹ Judge Kim Brown was assigned to the case.⁷ A pretrial hearing was held April 16, 2026, though McKee did not appear in person and the proceedings took place in chambers. A follow-up hearing was scheduled for June 17, 2026. No trial date had been set as of the April hearing.²⁰

The Nevada Malpractice Case

Separately from the murder charges, McKee is a defendant in a medical malpractice suit in Clark County, Nevada. The complaint alleges that during a July 2023 procedure at Las Vegas Surgical Associates to treat a patient’s lower extremity venous insufficiency, roughly eight and a half inches of plastic catheter tubing broke off and was left inside the patient, who required emergency surgery and allegedly suffered bleeding, edema, pain, and disfigurement. The amended complaint accuses McKee of failing to properly train or supervise the physician’s assistant who performed the procedure.²¹

Plaintiff’s attorney Dan Laird said his process servers made at least nine unsuccessful attempts to serve McKee and that McKee’s former employer provided what Laird described as a fake address and a phone number connecting only to a fax machine. In October 2025, a judge granted a declaration of due diligence allowing service by newspaper notice; Laird said he traced McKee’s new license to Rockford in November 2025 but still could not reach him, telling reporters McKee had “just disappeared.”²² On January 6, 2026, four days before McKee’s arrest, a judge approved formal service by publication. The malpractice case is set for trial in July 2027.²³

His Defense Attorney

McKee is represented by Diane Menashe, a Columbus trial lawyer who filed her notice of appearance on January 22, 2026.²⁴ Menashe began her career in the Ohio Public Defender’s death penalty unit and has handled several high-profile central Ohio cases, including her 2022 co-counsel role for Dr. William Husel, the former Mount Carmel physician acquitted on 14 counts of murder.²⁵ She has not made public statements about her defense strategy in the McKee case.

1
CNN. Tepe Murders Not Guilty Plea Ohio
2
Court TV. Ex-Husband to Be Arraigned in Tepe Murder Case
3
NBC Chicago. What We Know About Michael McKee and the Tepe Murders
4
The Columbus Dispatch. Spencer and Monique Tepe Autopsy Details
5
CNN. Columbus Ohio Dentist Wife Killings Clues
6
CNN. Michael David McKee Motive Tepe Murder
7
The Columbus Dispatch. Michael McKee Left Phone at Work Before Tepe Killings
8
USA Today. Michael McKee Monique Spencer Tepe Columbus Murders
9
CNN. Ohio Mom Parents Dead
10
WLWT. Who Is Michael McKee: What We Know
11
WBZ NewsRadio. Clerical Error Reopened Divorce Case Months Before Man Killed Ex-Wife and Her Husband
12
WOSU. Affidavit in Tepe Murder Case Alleges McKee Abused Ex-Wife Before Double Homicide
13
People. Michael McKee Indicted on 4 Murder Counts
14
Court TV. New Video Allegedly Shows Michael McKee Stalking Tepes Weeks Before Double Murder
15
ABC7 Chicago. Ohio Dentist Wife Killed: Booking Video Released for Michael McKee
16
WIFR. Michael McKee, Man Accused in Ohio Killings, to Appear in Winnebago County Court
17
CNN. Michael McKee Murder Indictment Ohio
18
The Columbus Dispatch. Tepe Murders Suspect Michael McKee Court Update Ohio
19
WOSU. Franklin County Prosecutor Shayla Favor to Take on Tepe Murder Case
20
ABC6. McKee Has Pretrial Hearing Thursday in Common Pleas Court
21
NBC4i. Tepe Murder Case: Michael McKee Named in Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Las Vegas
22
ABC3340. Michael McKee ‘Just Disappeared’: Nevada Lawyer Tried to Track Doctor Months Before Murders
23
People. Doctor Accused in Tepe Murders Sued for Malpractice Three Months Prior
24
The Columbus Dispatch. Michael McKee Attorney Diane Menashe
25
Columbus Monthly. Columbus Defense Attorney Diane Menashe