Spencer Tepe: The Murders, Michael McKee, and the Charges

Spencer Tepe, a 37-year-old Columbus, Ohio dentist, was shot and killed alongside his wife, Monique Tepe, 39, inside their Weinland Park home in the early morning hours of December 30, 2025. Monique’s ex-husband, Michael David McKee, a 39-year-old vascular surgeon living in Chicago and working in Rockford, Illinois, was arrested on January 10, 2026, and later indicted on four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. The couple’s two young children, four-year-old Emilia and one-year-old Beckham, were found alive inside the home.

What Happened Inside the Weinland Park Home

Prosecutors allege McKee drove roughly seven hours from Rockford to Columbus on the night of December 29, 2025, arriving at the Tepe residence on the 1400 block of North 4th Street before dawn. They put the time of the killings at approximately 3:52 a.m. on December 30.¹

Both victims died of gunshot wounds. Spencer sustained seven; Monique sustained nine.¹ Authorities believe the firearm was equipped with a silencer or suppressor.²

The bodies were not found for hours. A co-worker called police after Spencer failed to show up for work. An officer dispatched at 9:03 a.m. for a wellness check first went to the wrong address, knocked on doors for about 10 minutes, and left.³ Officers reached the correct home about an hour later. Paramedics declared Spencer and Monique dead at 10:11 a.m.¹ Their two children were inside the house, unharmed but alone. Beckham, the one-year-old, had been in his crib for hours.⁴

How Investigators Identified Michael McKee

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant described the killings as a “targeted” and “domestic violence-related attack.”⁵ Detectives reviewed neighborhood surveillance footage that showed a silver SUV linked to McKee near the home shortly before the shootings and leaving shortly afterward. The SUV had been fitted with stolen license plates, first an Ohio plate and then an Arizona plate, and carried a distinctive sticker on one of its windows.⁶

McKee’s cell phone showed no activity for roughly 17 hours around the time of the killings, restarting around the time he would have arrived back in Rockford. Prosecutors allege that is consistent with a deliberate effort to avoid electronic tracking.¹

On January 9, 2026, Columbus detectives located McKee’s SUV in the parking lot of the Rockford hospital where he worked. The sticker from the surveillance footage had been removed, leaving fresh scrape marks on the window.⁶ Federal agents arrested McKee in Rockford the next morning.⁷

A subsequent search of McKee’s Lincoln Park condominium in Chicago turned up multiple weapons, including a firearm that Chief Bryant said was a “ballistic match to evidence at the scene.”⁸ Investigators at the Tepe home documented 29 pieces of evidence, 15 sets of fingerprints, blood and DNA swabs, and more than 400 crime-scene photographs under a search warrant signed less than 90 minutes after the bodies were discovered.⁹

Years of Alleged Threats, Abuse, and Stalking

McKee and Monique were married in August 2015 and divorced in 2017. They had no children together.¹⁰ Court documents in the murder case describe threats and abuse that allegedly stretched across the years before and after that marriage.

According to a probable cause affidavit, witnesses told detectives McKee made “numerous threats on her life during and after their marriage.” One witness said McKee told Monique he “could kill her at any time and would find her and buy the house right next to her, that she will always be his wife.”¹¹ Another said Monique had described being strangled and subjected to “forced unwanted sex” by McKee.² Family members said Monique had been “very vocal” about what she called emotional abuse during the marriage.¹²

Rob Misleh, Spencer Tepe’s brother-in-law, said after the arrest that Monique had confided in him about McKee’s behavior. “Myself and many others were well aware of kind of the negative impact that he had on her,” Misleh said. “She was willing to do anything to get out of there.”¹³

Prosecutors also allege McKee stalked the couple in the weeks before the killings. Security footage from December 6, 2025, allegedly shows him at the Tepe home while Spencer and Monique were out of town in Indiana for the Big Ten Championship game, remaining at the property for several hours.² Monique reportedly left the stadium early that day, and Spencer told friends she was “upset about something involving her ex-husband.”¹⁴ The available reporting does not indicate that any formal police reports, restraining orders, or criminal charges were filed against McKee before December 30.

The Charges and Where the Case Stands

McKee was initially charged with two counts of murder at the time of his Illinois arrest. An Ohio grand jury later returned an indictment in January 2026 on four counts of aggravated murder, two for each victim, covering both prior calculation and design and the commission of the crime, along with one count of aggravated burglary involving a firearm suppressor.¹⁵

McKee waived extradition and was transferred to Ohio on January 20, 2026, where he was booked into the Franklin County jail.⁶ At his January 23 arraignment before Judge Kim Brown in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, he pleaded not guilty to all charges. His defense attorney, Diane Menashe, waived any request for bond, and McKee has been held without bond since.¹⁵

The case moved through discovery in 2026. A hearing originally set for February was rescheduled to April 16, and a further court hearing was set for June 17, 2026.¹⁶ No trial date had been publicly set as of that time.

Who Spencer Tepe Was

Spencer grew up in Ohio and attended Ohio State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology with a double major in Spanish. He graduated from the Ohio State University College of Dentistry in 2017 with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree.¹⁷ He practiced at Athens Dental Depot in Athens, Ohio, focusing on comprehensive dentistry and dental implant therapy. Practice owner Mark Valrose said he would “be deeply missed by our team and the many patients he cared for over the years.”¹⁸

He was also a longtime mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio. Match support specialist Jessica Rodriguez said Spencer’s mentorship of a young man named Hans Flores spanned from first grade through college. “I get asked all the time for success stories, and this is one of the best,” Rodriguez said. Flores’s mother, Norma Hernandez, called Spencer and Monique “the perfect couple.”¹⁹

Monique, 39, was described by family as an “amazing mom” to Emilia and Beckham. Less about her professional background has been publicly reported.²⁰

The Children and the Family Response

Emilia and Beckham are with family members who are working with professionals to help them process the loss of both parents.⁴ A GoFundMe launched on January 4, 2026, by Spencer’s cousin Audrey Mackie to provide “stability and care” for the children raised more than $213,000 from over 2,000 donors within about a week, against a $250,000 goal.²¹

Speaking after McKee’s arrest, Rob Misleh called it “an important step toward justice,” but added that “nothing can undo the devastating loss of two lives taken far too soon.” He said the family’s focus was on protecting Spencer and Monique’s children: “We will continue to honor their lives and the light they brought into this world.”²²

1
The Columbus Dispatch. Monique Spencer Tepe Search Warrant Details
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NBC News. Michael McKee Monique Spencer Tepe Ohio Dentist Murder
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WOSU. Ex-Husband Charged in Homicide of Spencer and Monique Tepe in Weinland Park
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People. Murdered Ohio Dentist’s Baby Son Stuck in Crib for Hours
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CNN. Michael David McKee Motive in Tepe Murder
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The Columbus Dispatch. Michael McKee Left Phone at Work Before Tepe Killings
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The Columbus Dispatch. Arrest in Monique Spencer Tepe Murder Case
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WBAL-TV. Michael McKee Indicted in Columbus Double Homicide
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ABC 6 On Your Side. Unsealed Warrant Lists Evidence Removed From Weinland Park Home
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NewsNation. Michael McKee Tepe Ohio Murders Abuse Stalking
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ABC News. Doctor Allegedly Threatened to Kill Ex-Wife at Any Time
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People. Michael McKee Allegedly Threatened Monique Tepe Years Before Slayings
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ABC 6 On Your Side. Brother-in-Law Speaks Out on Monique and Spencer Tepe
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KOMO News. Monique Spencer Tepe Killings
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Court TV. Ex-Husband To Be Arraigned in Tepe Murder Case
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ABC 6 On Your Side. McKee Has Pretrial Hearing in Common Pleas Court
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Athens Dental Depot. Spencer Tepe
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The Columbus Dispatch. Athens Dental Depot Mourns Dentist Spencer Tepe
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ABC 6 On Your Side. Spencer Tepe Remembered as Devoted Mentor
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WLWT. Family of Spencer and Monique Tepe Speak Out
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Primetimer. Spencer and Monique Tepe GoFundMe Raises Over $210,000
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NBC News. Ex-Husband Arrested in Murder of Ohio Dentist and Wife