Ohio Couple Ambushed in Their Home: The Double Murder of Spencer & Monique Tepe

[MUSIC] Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Ray. Thank you so much for joining me today and if you're new to the show, then welcome. I'm happy to have you here. You guys, today we're getting into a case that is very, very fresh and it's one that has been requested so many times and there's finally enough information out there to cover it, I think. We're going to be talking about the very recent murders of Monique and Spencer Teppi and you may have heard it being referred to as the Ohio couple murders or the murder of an Ohio dentist and his wife and yeah, there's a lot of talk about it online for sure and a lot of, you know, in the early days of these cases, especially ones that get a lot of attention. There's a lot of misinformation out there and a lot of gossip going around so I want to, my goal today is to break down what we actually know so far, what has confirmed and also keep it concise because we could sit here for a long time and go over every little piece and speculate on every little detail and I don't think that's helpful and I want this to be a consumable length for the average person who wants to know what's going on with this case. Just so you know, the day that I am recording this episode is January 16th so this is everything that we know up until January 16th. As most of you guys know, I do have a bit of a lag between the time that I record episodes and the time that they go up. It's just the way that our process works and for the amount of editing that goes into my show. So that's why it is the way that it is, but I'm going to do my best to get you all the information that is up to date on the day that this makes it to you. Another important note I need to make before we jump in, everyone that I speak about today is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. It's very early on in this case. So yeah, just keep that in mind. Also, things may change as new information comes out. So yeah, just keep in mind, things are still developing here and with that, let's go ahead and get into this case you guys buckle up. It is really upsetting and also very confusing. So I want to start out by telling you about Monique or Moe. She liked to be called. So she was born on October 14th, 1986, in Chicago, Illinois to her parents Ignatius and Nureia. She had two siblings Joseph and Amanda. And although she was born in Chicago, she was raised in Worthing, Tino, Ohio. And Ohio had always been home to Monique and it's where so many of her best memories were. She grew up playing soccer and throughout her life she became really passionate about running, horses, reading, baking, and most of all she was passionate about children. Monique graduated from Ohio State University with a master's in early childhood education and it sounds like this was an obvious career choice for her. She was a super caring person bubbly, just the type of person you would imagine working with kids. She was known for having a super big heart that was often shared with others. People say that her smile was bright. Her laugh was just infectious and that she was a type of friend that you would truly be lucky to have. Which I think really comes across in photos of her. You know when you just look at a picture of someone and you think, wow, they look nice. They look like someone I'd want to be around. That's the type of vibe I get from Monique and obviously I didn't know her, but I don't know, there's just something about her that seems so warm and inviting. And it was all of these amazing qualities about Monique that attracted Spencer, Tepi to her. Now Spencer was two years younger than Monique. He was born on December 9, 1988 and Ohio was home to him as well. He and his sister were raised by his parents, Tim and Avon, in the city of Mason, which is just north and slightly east of Cincinnati. And like Monique, he also played soccer, but he also loved golf and really anything that led to some good healthy competition. He also loved to speak Spanish, which was even one of his majors in college. In 2012, he got his bachelor's degree in biology in Spanish from Ohio State University. And in 2017, he graduated from Ohio State's College of Dentistry. Dentistry was another huge passion of his and his career. And my sort of impression of him based on what I've been able to gather about him, which isn't that much of course, but it seemed like Spencer really was someone who loved to be of service to others, help others in need. And this was something I love to hear about him. Okay, so Spencer was a big brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program of Central Ohio. And he had been a mentor to one kid from the time that this boy was in first grade all the way through college. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is something that I think is extremely valuable to society. It's something that I'm hoping I have time to do at some point in my life. I have always been so interested in it. And a close friend of mine growing up was a Big Brother. And I used to play with the little boy. He was a Big Brother too. And I just saw the impact. And so I know how much work goes into this program, how much true dedication and what, you know, a difference it can make in someone's life. And I found this clip on the program's YouTube page and it's seriously, God, it made me choke up the first time I watched it. It's just so hard to watch now. But Spencer seemed to so deeply care about Hans, the boy that he mentored. And getting a glimpse at what that meant for both of them, it's just really special to see. Sometimes people have siblings and family at home that support them, but sometimes they need someone else, someone experience and they're there for you when you need them. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to have a role model, male and adult outside the house that he can share stuff if he needed to because a lot of times I feel that kids are not comfortable about talking to someone this stuff at home. Hans has been the easiest match I could have possibly imagined. Since day one, I've known him as a diligent student. He's been focused. He's always been really respectful kind. He's a really nice guy. He has a really like laid back and light-hearted attitude, but like when I need advice, he's always there for me. He's been the perfect model for Hans. He's been that person that, if I doubt on something, I will call him. I've just tried to remain a role model as best as I can and demonstrate the importance of an education and just really kind of encourage him to pursue more and to do more. When Hans was recommended for skipping seventh grade, first thing I did was call Spencer Spencer. What do you think? He's like, we're not going to keep him bored. He's going up. You know him. He can do it. He's mature. Oh my god. Okay. So I called the next day, the teacher and I said, okay, you can go. Up to that point is how much I trust Spencer. My favorite thing about being a big has been how I've become part of his family and he's become part of mine. And it's gotten to a point now where his extended family comes into town from North Carolina, from California and we all assemble, get together and break bread together and it's it's the most fun thing in the world. Anyone can be a good big brother, big sister. You just have to remain committed. You know, just be willing to show up and be available and be willing to listen. He's really almost been a role model for me and returned. So it's been a really, really nice experience. And Monique also ended up getting involved with Hans and his family over the years and yeah, I think it says so much about who they were. And I don't know exactly what year, but the two of them met online and in December of 2020, they got married in an intimate family ceremony, very low key and they actually got married in their house and a bunch of the photos that are circulating right now of the two of them come from that day. Monique's brother-in-law Rob was actually the one who photographed and videoed the whole wedding and man, did he really capture their love? I'll have it linked below if you want to check it out for yourself because I think it really tells you a lot about the two of them and how much they loved each other which is beautiful to see. Sources say that Spencer was Monique's biggest supporter and that he would always talk about how much he loved, admired her and both of them were honestly very admired by their friends and family as well. It's been said that they were really sort of the focal point of their social circle and everyone just loved them and they loved their friends and family too. They loved hosting people for get-togethers and parties and everyone just says that they were a very special couple. Even after five years of marriage, people say they still acted like newlyweds. Not to mention, they were said to be amazing parents as well. They had one daughter who was four and a son who was 17 months old and after they were born, Monique became a stay-at-home mom to look after them or closely. And as for Spencer, he continued working as a dentist, specifically at a practice called Athens dental depot in Athens, Ohio and mind you they were living in a house in a neighborhood just north of downtown Columbus. And this was a 75 mile commute for him. Which holy shit, that is a lot. And that is a lot of dedication on his part. And despite having to make this really long commute, every single work day, he was known to be incredibly reliable. So much so that on December 30th, 2025, very recently, when he did not show up for work, the alarm bells immediately went off at 8.58 a.m. So very early in the day, the first of several 911 calls was placed. And it was placed by Spencer's boss, who was on vacation at the time. And I'm about to play it for you. I would like to ask for a wellness check on an individual at their home. Well, I'm currently in the state of Florida on vacation, but this individual Spencer works with me and he did not show up to work this morning. And we cannot get a hold of him or his family. He didn't show up to work. Correct. Okay. So do you have medical problems? No, and he's been reliable. And we cannot get in touch with him. His wife, his family, anybody that lives in that house. I'm in Florida. I own the business. I was informed by my employees that he was not at work. And he runs the office. I think you guys received anything else like all's about him or like a car accident or something like that. Now sometimes people just don't show up to work. I mean, maybe they don't know. Now clearly that dispatcher, they did not think anything serious was going on. Anything serious could be going on, which is really frustrating. And yeah, to some degree, people are late for work. People don't show up. People ditch the day. But this was so different. I mean, Spencer is a dentist. He has a very serious job. And he's known for being very reliable. And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter any of the details. They called because they were concerned. And it is her job to make sure that they get help not to make a judgment call or to sound so judgmental over the phone. It's really frustrating. Either way, the fact of the matter is he, along with Spencer's other co-workers, knew that it would have to take something serious for him to just not show up and not tell anyone. Anyway, despite being brushed off by the initial dispatcher, Dr. Val Rose, his boss really pushed for them to go ahead and send someone out to Spencer's house for a welfare check anyway. And listen to how crazy this is though. Columbus PD sent an officer out to perform a welfare check. But he went to the wrong house at 9.22 a.m. in officer attempted to perform a welfare check at 1417 summit street in Columbus. But Spencer and Monique lived two blocks away at 1411 North Fourth Street. And I have no idea where this communication happened. But regardless of whose fault the bottom line is that nobody actually went to the Tepi's house. And because of that, obviously nothing stood out to that officer. So after knocking on the front and back door without seeing anything strange, he just left. His boss and co-workers who were concerned about Spencer though didn't know that the officer went to the wrong house. However, the guess good news here, if you can even call it that, feels weird to call it that, is that they decided they weren't waiting around to hear from the police. And if they had, they would have been told inaccurately that everything was fine. And it may have taken longer to find Spencer and Monique. Plus, and this might sound confusing at this point, but their kids would have been stuck in that house for. I don't even want to think about how long. But long story short, some of the concerned people ended up going to the Tepi's house themselves to see what was going on. And when they arrived, another 911 call was placed. Now, I'm still waiting for a bit more clarification, confirmation on who exactly that specific call came from, but it was placed pretty shortly after the first one at 9.56 AM. Now, some sources say it was a friend who made this call. Some sources are saying it was a colleague not totally sure at this point, but either way, you'll hear that he's outside of the house. And he says he thinks he hears one of the kids inside yelling. So take a listen. Okay, one for one one. One for one one. Yep. Okay, what's the emergency there? Police are medical. Maybe both, I guess. I don't know. I'm trying to be able to get a call out there. They're not on the front door back door multiple times, and there was no answer. Yeah, no answer. I can hear kids inside. And I swear, I think I heard one yell. But we can't get in. At this point, I don't know if I need to break the door in or just get in the house or what. Were you out there when the police is out there? I wasn't. I just got here about five minutes. Yeah. Okay, all right. Well, we'll send them back out to you. And then just two minutes later at 9.58 AM, it's been reported that another call came through expressing a similar concern, but like you just heard in the previous call, the dispatcher said that an officer was already being sent to the house. However, before police got there, an absolutely horrific discovery was made at 10.03 AM. So only five minutes after that last call, Spencer and Monique's friend, Alex Diddy called 911 to report that there was a body in the house. 911. What's location? We're emergency. 14 11 workforce. Okay, 14 11 workforce. We've got several calls on that. What's changed since the last person I talked to. Oh, there's a body. Here's a body inside. Yeah. Okay, hold on one second. Let me get you on the line with the medic. Okay? See you on the line. What is the address of your emergency? 14 11 workforce. Okay, 14 11? Yeah. All right, the house department. All right. What's the one on there? It's a body. Our friend was in insurance phone. We just took a long shift. We just came here and he appears dead. He's laying next to his bed off of his bed in this blood. I can't take closer to see more than that. Okay, so you can tell he's not breathing or anything? Yeah, he doesn't like that. I don't like, you know, because he looks like. Okay, I can't look. Okay, all right. I understand. Okay, and then what was last time somebody had looked for him? Like, yes. Yes, today I suppose. Yes, today. Okay. Yeah. How old is he? About 37. 37. Okay. Do you like to drug use or anything like that? No, no, no, no. Okay. All right, just just that's a really young. Yeah, I understand. Okay. All right, we're on our way. Okay, sir. Can you stay on the line for a minute and can you give me your name? Alex, did he? I'm sorry? Alex, did he? Alex, what did he show you last name? Now, if it wasn't obvious, there was some confusion about this at first, but Alex was physically in their house. He went up to the second floor and that is how he was able to see a body. But it's important to know that when he was in there, he only saw Spencer. And we do know that Monique was there as well. And tragically, both victims were found with gunshot wounds. It also wasn't believed to be a murder suicide because of Eskiers were unable to find the gun. Now, as for their wounds, it was initially reported that Spencer was shot multiple times and that Monique was found with a single gunshot wound to her chest. And based on deductive reasoning, people believe that Spencer was shot twice. And I say that because three nine millimeter shell casings were found at the scene. And if we know Monique was shot once, that leaves two for Spencer. And I just cannot even begin to imagine how devastating that scene was for anyone to see let alone a friend to have to walk in on. And oh, my God, thinking about the fact that a four year old and a 17 month old, like a one and a half year old baby was in the house during this. And the entire time until someone discovered their bodies, it just makes me feel sick. And thankfully, you know, neither of them were harmed physically, but the emotional damage that that is going to do. I don't know what the four year old witness, I'll go over what we do now in a second. But what they're going to have to process when they do get to an age where they're old enough to understand what they went through and what happened to their parents while they were there. It is just I don't even know what the right words are. It is sickening. It's inhumane. It's just horrific. It does sound like they were shielded from seeing what happened though, or at least the aftermath. I think all of it. Hopefully, and I'm grateful for that. You can actually hear it in in this 911 call, but Alex says, "Come downstairs, come downstairs." And I believe he managed to get them out without seeing their parents. And a family member has also confirmed that they don't think the children witness the murders either. They were described as, quote, "happy and unaware," which is just a huge relief to hear. There's more about the kids that I wanna talk about, but first I wanna get into what the investigation has looked like up until now. So right off the bat, very, very little information was being said publicly by law enforcement, which, you know, it's pretty typical for a case like this, but we basically knew that both victims died from gunshot wounds, that three shell casings were found, and that the children and the family dog, as well, were unharmed. And very importantly, that there was no sign of forced entry. That is obviously huge this case and remains to be a very big unanswered question at this point in time, but I'll get to that. But anyway, with disinformation and this horrific scene playing out, the public, specifically that community, were left pretty much spiraling, right, fully so. They didn't know if this was just some random attack, or if this was committed by someone who knew the victims, you know, if this was personal, people who live in the neighborhood have said that historically, that area hadn't always been the safest, but in recent years, safety wasn't proving, but now people were afraid, especially because police were being so tight-lipped. That being said, the Columbus Police Department was and is actively working on the case and seeking the public's help. On January 2nd, they asked people to please come forward with any information and specifically with any home security videos that they might have from the night of the 30th, between 12 a.m. and 9 a.m., and then I thought this was pretty cool. I don't know how common this is. I haven't seen this personally being done yet, really, really smart, but they put out a QR code that people could scan and upload any evidence that their home security cameras may have captured, and it turns out that a ton of neighbors did. In fact, have cameras and a lot of them were working. So for the next few days, the police received a bunch of valuable footage. However, they weren't publicly sharing that they had a ton of footage and not only sort of added to the fear that this case wasn't being solved. And this happens a lot where the police can't give out information yet, otherwise it'll compromise the investigation, but that rightfully leaves the community feeling scared and feeling in the blanks or feeling like, well, if they're not telling us anything, they don't have anything. And I imagine that nobody felt this sense of, will there be justice? Will we get answers? Will this be solved more than Spencer and Monique's family, right? Now Rob, the brother-in-law that I mentioned earlier, has really become a spokesperson for their family and provided a lot of the media and information. And he shared a statement on behalf of everyone calling their deaths tragic and senseless. It reads in part, together, Spencer and Monique shared a beautiful, strong and deeply happy relationship. They loved to travel, to laugh, to build a life rooted in love. They were proud parents of two beautiful children in their beloved Golden Doodle. And they created a home filled with warmth, happiness, and connection. We are heartbroken beyond words. While no outcome can ever undo this loss, our family is committed to seeing this tragedy fully and fairly brought to justice and to honoring Spencer and Monique by protecting the future of the children they loved so deeply. Rob has also said that their entire family has really struggled with a way to explain this to the kids. I mean, obviously their 17-month-old won't be able to understand but their four-year-old certainly will be able to. He says that she's just a ball of energy. She's inquisitive and intuitive enough to understand that something has happened. I mean, my daughter's almost three and a half and it's scary to even say something like that, but she would understand that something had happened and she would want answers and she would want them explained. I will say it's clear to me that this is an amazing family and the kids at the end of the day, they're in really great hands. So even if there's a small silver lining here, it is definitely that. I know that they're gonna be shown love for the rest of their lives by relatives who will forever tell them stories about how incredible their parents were, but still, it obviously will never be the same as it once was and it's really painful to think about. And it's especially painful to think about the fact that these murders were personal and right from the jump they knew that they were personal or at least they had a very strong suspicion and I'll speak more about that in a bit, but yeah, they suspected right from the beginning that this was done by someone who knew them. And police believed that that person just so happened to be captured on someone's outdoor home security camera that night. On January 5th, the police released a nest camera video that showed a man walking in the alleyway behind the teppies house between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on the night that they were murdered. And it was said that this individual was being sought out as a person of interest, but it was not said that they were an official suspect. So if you're an audio listener, only this footage shows a man wearing a dark hoodie and light pants walking with his hood up in his head down and he definitely looks sus. And early on, people questioned who it could be. It was so cold out people thought maybe this was just a guy walking home from the far or something, keeping his head down to stay warm, something like that. But as more time went on, it was believed that this was their killer. But when this footage was first released, law enforcement didn't say much else about it at the time. That is until January 8th, when the chief of police, Elaine Bryant, sat down for an interview with some local stations. Obviously, this is a national news case. Articators weren't diligently to close every single case that bring justice to every single family. In this case, in particular, what we do know is that obviously we received a call for a well-being check related to the two victims. There was an officer that was dispatched to go to that well-being check. Unfortunately, he did respond to the wrong location. And in him believing that he was at the right location, he did everything that he was supposed to do. We know that people are concerned, and we know that people have a lot of questions. What we're asking for is patients that are related to this investigation. We want to make sure that we don't compromise the integrity of this investigation. So when we finally identify a suspect and it goes to trial, or it goes to that we want to make sure that there's nothing that could cost this case to be dismissed or cost this case to be kicked. So we're looking at every single tip or every single information that comes in. We leave no stone in turn. We're investigating it, but there's only so much that we can share at this point. We released a video of the person of interest that we're looking for, the person that we know that was in the area at that time. We're asking the community, we're asking the public, if you have any information. If you think you know anything about this person, please contact us. So we are asking for tips. We have received numerous tips as it relates to this case, but we do not have at this moment a suspect that we have identified. - So like you heard her say, they have been investigating every single tip that comes in, and we know that a ton of video surveillance was submitted, as I said earlier, and a bunch of neighbors had working cameras, and there was even a crime camera on a utility pole, a few hundred feet away from their home. The typies also had some type of doorbell camera, maybe ring or another brand like it on their front door. So unsure at this point, if anything else was captured, I would be shocked. If nothing else was captured, I'm sure a whole lot else was, but just to give you an idea, lots of cameras were around. Now, in terms of other possible leads, we do know that law enforcement was looking into 2911 calls, one of which was from April of 2025. It came out that there was this 911 call from a woman, and it reportedly came from inside Spencer and Monique's house. There was a lot of confusion and discussion over this call. However, after listening to it, we now know that Monique's family has confirmed that it 100% was not her. He can take a listen. - Hi, there's 911. We just gotta hang up golf, is everything okay? - Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm okay. - Are you sure? - Yeah, I'm okay, I'm sorry. - Okay, well it sounds like you're crying. Do you need police fire medics or anything? - No, no, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm emotional, I'm okay, I don't need nothing. - Well, can I ask what had you called 911 in the first place? Like where you have it in an argument with somebody? - It's me, it's like me, I ain't got a clue, but I'm okay, I promise. - Did anything ever get physical? - No. - No. - You guys were just arguing nobody had each other? - Who's there? - Okay, all right man, well, I have the information here, I can go ahead and tell the officers to cancel, maybe to your address there at 14114. - Yes, yes, yes, yes. - Is anything changed at all? - Call us back. - Okay, I'm sorry. - Since this has now been debunked, I don't wanna spend too much time talking about it and confused you while more than you probably are. Belong story short, the chief of police has come out saying that this call just pinged dispatch to the wrong location. So it may have looked like she was in 1411 North Fourth Creek. but she was most likely at a house nearby, so it sounds like that call has nothing to do with this case after all, which, yeah, it was a really throwing a wrench in things there for a minute, and I unfortunately don't know any other details about that call, I hope that person is okay. But on that note, we have been told that there is no history of 911 calls from the Tepi's address, or even 911 calls related to the two of them, making all of this that much more confusing. And as for the second additional 911 call that has also been debunked at this point, 11 days before the murders, a neighbor had called 911 to report that someone was banging on their back door in the middle of the night, super creepy, but there was a lot of talk and, you know, discussion around maybe that's also connected to the case you can have a listen to that call. I can definitely see why people thought they might have been connected at the time without any more information. But yeah, it's not believed that the two are related anymore. And the reason for that is because this was no random attack, the attack on the Tepis. We now know so much more than we did just a couple of weeks ago or less, I mean, things have moved forward quite a bit here. A ton of information has come out recently and based on what we know up until this point, it appears that this was a cold calculated murder committed by allegedly Monique's ex-husband. And I have to say, as soon as this case came out and I think I'm sure a lot of people had this thought initially, as soon as I started reading the details, I was thinking ex-husband, ex-husband. It just screams that. And it is looking like that is the case, which is terrifying. So on Saturday, January 10th of 2026, Michael David McKee was arrested for the murders of Monique and Spencer Tepi. And on the 16th, he was indicted on four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary. That's right, her ex-husband, a literal surgeon, by the way, was arrested for this and the more details I have learned, the more baffled and disgusted I become, get this. It turns out, Michael didn't even live remotely close to them when this happened. He lived in an apartment in Chicago 325 miles away and the medical center he worked at was even further. He worked as a vascular surgeon at OSF St. Anthony in Rockford, Illinois, which is another 100 miles or so away. And he was actually in Rockford when they made the arrest. He had just finished his shift and was, I guess, grabbing a bite to eat at Chick-fil-A. So I am sure you are wondering if you have not been following this case. How did they initially connect her ex-husband who was 450 miles away to their murders? The surveillance footage. According to the arrest affidavit, "During the subsequent investigation, detectives were able to identify a suspect through neighborhood video surveillance. This suspect was tracked to a vehicle which arrived just prior to the homicides and left shortly after the homicides." Detectives were able to identify this vehicle further and link it to Michael McKee. Detectives located the vehicle in Rockford, Illinois and found evidence of McKee in possession of the vehicle prior to and after the homicides. Now, some people have taken this to mean that he was the owner of the car. That's kind of what I'm thinking, not totally sure, because others believe that possession might mean that it could have been a rental, although police have said it wasn't a rental. So pretty sure that's not the case. Maybe he borrowed it from someone. I'm not going to overthink it too much right now, though, because the important thing to note here is that he was the driver of the vehicle. They haven't shared all of the evidence that led them to this conclusion, but obviously they had enough to make an arrest. And my guess is they probably have a lot of evidence. I mean, the guy drove hundreds of miles. There's no way that he wasn't seen stopping for a bite to eat. Maybe he hit up another Chick-fil-A or was getting gas at some point. Maybe a toll camera along the way picked him up. I'm sure there's several videos or pictures of him along the way. And since his arrest, even more details have been shared about his alleged connection to this case. The chief of police shared on January 14th that after a search was conducted in Michael's apartment, they found several weapons, one of which was a preliminary match to the one used in the murders. And she's called this a domestic violence-related attack. We believe at this point, we have the person responsible for the murders of Monique and Spencer Tepi in custody, and that person is Michael McKee. This is still an active and ongoing investigation. Detectives are still going through evidence, tips, and videos. We can't speak to all the specific details related to this case, so we don't want to jeopardize the ultimate goal of conviction. But what we can say, this was a targeted attack. This was a domestic violence-related attack, as we know, McKee is the ex-husband of Monique Tepi. We can say that we have the suspect's vehicle on neighborhood video surveillance arriving just before the murders and leaving shortly after. Detectives were able to link this vehicle to McKee. The vehicle was located in Rockford, Illinois, and evidence was found that showed McKee in possession of the vehicle before and after the homicides. We can also say that multiple weapons were taken from the property of McKee, and there is a preliminary link from our niban to one of the weapons that ties it to the homicides. Something else that Chief Bryant said in this press conference, I was super interesting, and it's something that everyone has been talking about. People really want to know. I certainly want to know, although I think I'm pretty sure. I don't know. I guess I don't totally know, but my guess is the answer is yes. However, this is the answer she had to give, which I think kind of says a lot, but when Chief Bryant was asked if there was any contact going on between Michael and Monique, she said that she couldn't comment for investigative purposes. I would be rather surprised if there was no contact, at least on Michael's end. There are some things that we can't share for investigative purposes, but what I can tell you again is that we didn't have any reports or anything linked to that specific location as it relates to the ex-husband and Monique Tepi. She also wouldn't comment on a question about neighbors, saying that they saw Michael in the neighborhood on other occasions. Neighbors had said that they had seen McKee in the neighborhood and in front of the Tepi home days before the homicide, can you confirm that? At this time, we're unable to talk about specific information, but again, when we get additional information, we'll be more happy to share it. And there's a lot of that in this case, which I do think tells us that investigators know a lot more than they're letting on, which makes total sense. I mean, I'm almost certain of it, but the weapon stuff, that was a huge finding. And actually, he was indicted earlier today when I'm recording this January 16th, and we learned something else during that. According to an article from People, quote, "Those records also revealed that the weapon allegedly used to kill the couple was an automatic firearm or a gun silencer." So if he went out and got a gun silencer, talk about pre-meditation, right? I have just been refreshing my devices constantly because there's been a steady flow of information coming through. I do want to take some time to rewind though, because the context for Michael and Monique's relationship obviously matters a lot here. I'm sure you have a lot of questions. I don't have all the answers, but I'll tell you what we do know. So on paper, Michael seems like a guy who had a lot going for him. High school athlete, top five in his class, merit scholar, high paying job as a vascular surgeon. And while we don't know how they met, we know that he and Monique got married in August of 2015. But after they were married, they were only together for a couple of months. It sounds like by March of 2016, so only like seven months later, they were already separated. And then in May of 2017, she filed for a divorce. So to recap that, they were only married and together for seven months. Then they separated for a little over a year. And then within six weeks of filing for divorce in May of 2017, the divorce was finalized in June of 2017. There was a clerical error in June of 2025 where it showed that the case received a new hearing for September of 2025. But court officials have confirmed that it was in fact just an error. But these divorce papers don't provide a whole lot of insight into what led to their divorce in the first place. Obviously, there is a story there. I'm sure people who are close to them know. But it just says that the divorce was awarded to Monique on the grounds of incompatibility. When they officially split, Michael was awarded the house that they shared in Virginia where he was still living. But by then, then Monique was already back in Ohio. And I thought this was interesting too. Monique listed her wedding ring as separate property instead of marital property because she was the one who bought it. And in the documents, there's no mention of any domestic abuse or anything that would point to why he would want Monique and Spencer dead. Michael also has no criminal record outside of a few traffic violations. There was a standard neutral restraining order, but from what I learned, this is typical for the state of Ohio. However, with all that being said, and this is big, after Michael's arrest, Rob, the brother-in-law that I have mentioned already has come forward and shed some very important light on the situation, it turns out, according to him, Michael was not only emotionally abusive towards Monique while they were together, which, I think we all kind of figured, but he had even threatened her life multiple times in the past. In fact, Rob said that he tormented her and that she was willing to do anything to get out of there. It was so bad that he says the abuse changed her as a person. So super disturbing to hear all of this, I think it was kind of what everyone was thinking. It definitely makes things make a lot more sense. So take a listen to this clip from an interview that Rob gave. - She was terrified because he had threatened her life on multiple occasions when they were married. - Rob, Ms. LaSharing with NBC News, what he says Monique Tepi told him about her brief and troubled marriage to McKee. His account backed up by a second family member. - She wasn't shy about talking to people about traumatic experiences that she had with her ex and just how emotionally abusive he was to her. It affected her to this day. - Do you know if the abuse was ever physical? - I don't, if any of us had known that these threats were actually grounded in possibility, we all would have acted differently. - Even in Monique's wedding vows to Spencer, she talked about a wrong relationship and a waterfall of tears in her past and she just seemed very upset by what that relationship was. - Spencer, what can I say? From day one, I knew you were something special. - I had quite a journey to get to you. Countless bad bumble dates, a wrong relationships and waterfalls of tears. But it was worth every cringing second because it led me to you. - I also watched an interview with Angie Netlavi where she said that sources told her their marriage was not a good one. They said that Monique wasn't happy and that Michael wasn't kind to her. Plus that she was the one who wanted out of the relationship and that he didn't want it to end. And again, all of this information coming out is along the lines of what so many of us were thinking was the case with Michael. Michael seems to be exactly the type of guy that we have seen time and time again that would go in and kill his ex-wife and her husband 10 years after they were together. And now with Rob coming forward, I feel like that's damn good confirmation and it's also been confirmed that a private judge was hired to take care of their divorce case and that could mean a few things. One big benefit of private judges is that they can expedite the case. They can make the whole process go a lot quicker and I'm guessing that would mean that Monique needed it to happen quickly. And remember a little bit ago when I mentioned that their loved ones knew that this was personal right from the jump. Well, after Michael was arrested, her family came forward and said that they weren't surprised. They actually specifically said they expected it and that they were relieved when they heard the news that Michael had been arrested. They must have just known that it was him as soon as they heard what happened to them. And I think that tells us too that there's a lot, we don't know a lot of back and forth, a lot of details that will eventually come out with the time that led up to all of this. (upbeat music) But yeah, they said that they purposely didn't bring up Michael's name before his arrest because they didn't wanna compromise the integrity of the investigation, which makes total sense. And I will say when Rob was asked if he knew of any recent problems between Monique and Michael, he said there wasn't anything that the family was aware of. So maybe nothing had happened recently with him, but I'm sure they had not heard from this guy in the last 10 years. I'm sure there had been something. And yeah, I guess a lot of people in her life knew that her ex was a bad guy. This was known information. And a lot of people likely told that to the police. - From the moment that this happened, it sounded like from what I'm hearing from you that you all thought immediately that this was Dr. McKee that this was the guy. Did the family obviously say to law enforcement and the detectives that you've gotta go talk to this guy? - Yeah, absolutely. And not just the family. I know friends, former co-workers of Monique, a lot of people were aware. And she wasn't something that I really loved about Monique 'cause she wasn't shy about talking about these experiences. I think kind of as just maybe a therapy, I can't imagine how many tips they got that were leading to him. But we were fairly certain because of just what Monique had told us stories wise of her. She never called him by name. She would just call him her ex-husband and just how much of a monster he was, to be honest. And she did everything she could to extricate herself from that situation and met Spencer and lived a very happy life. - Here's her friend Gina explaining more of her thoughts on that as well. - Do you mind sharing what she told you? - I didn't even know his name. She never said Michael. She said my ex, she said he was bad, she said abusive. I don't think she ever said physically. I don't know, but I do know she would say quite a bit very verbally, mentally abusive. And I don't think I ever got the impression that she was afraid of him. I got the impression that she hated him and that she knew things were bad there. And I don't think it ever fully left her mind, which I don't like to say that. And I don't think anyone thought that this was gonna happen. I also don't think that she ever thought he would leave her alone with the rest of her life. - So I think a big question that a lot of people have is they divorced in 2017. It's been a long time, had he been contacting her or following her in Columbus since then that you're aware of? - Not that I'm aware of and not that most people that I've talked to are aware of, but he was that like, he's just that sneaky kind of sociopathic smart that I had heard a few rumors. I'm not sure I should like say exactly what, but things that it said to people are surrounding her. But I hadn't heard any like definite, definite things. - Do you have any idea why now after all of these years that he's accused of doing this heinous act? - Sorry, I think it's just because everything that you, like everything you see, you see the wedding video, everything that people see is who they really were. And they were so perfect and they were so wonderful. And I think he couldn't live with it. I think he could not fathom her happiness. And she was so happy, her kids were just playing with my kids and everything was perfect and wonderful. And you don't like to say perfect because nobody's perfect, but like to the naked eye, they were, they were. - We also very recently found out that a source who had worked with him at a hospital in Nevada said that when he was hired as a surgeon, he had, quote, "basically no experience" and that it was reckless for the people around him to allow him to perform certain high-risk surgeries, which is terrifying to think about basically no experience. What? That source also said that Michael's, quote, "downward spiral" began after a, quote, "series of alleged surgical mishaps." In fact, sources are now reporting that he even evaded a medical malpractice lawsuit for years before all of this. Here's a quote, "maquie a 39-year-old vascular surgeon allegedly failed to train a physician's assistant, leading to a patient being injured during treatment and needing emergency surgery in 2023," according to a Las Vegas-based lawyer, Dan Laird. According to his lawyer, Michael duped him for two years by giving him fake addresses and questionable state-issued phone numbers. So it sounds like the dude just basically vanished into thin air to allegedly avoid taking responsibility. So as these things are starting to come out now, as we're starting to see a much clearer picture, this guy seems to be a monster and the exact type of monster who would have done something like this. It is making sense in the most sick way. Personally, I feel that this is a case where someone's life was seemingly spiraling out of control and maybe in his sick, twisted mind he wanted revenge on the person or people that he blamed for his life going so. out. That's certainly what it seems like at this point. Again, that's just my speculation. And of course, tons of people have understandably pointed out that it seems strange that he would do something like this nearly a decade after the divorce. Of course, it is out of the norm. It is out of what's usually seen in cases like this, but it does happen. And man, people are capable of holding grudges for a long time. I'm definitely curious to learn more about whether or not they had any recent communication, or even just in the past couple of years, maybe he had been stalking them or maybe they had, you know, ongoing issues with him. I would not be surprised. I know a friend of hers did say that she didn't think they were speaking. I'm sure investigators will get confirmation on that. But God, I just have so many questions at this point. I know you feel the same. I'm sure. But I know one thing that we are all super curious about right now is how he gained access to their home. Because like I said, there was no sign of forced entry. And that's been a huge topic of conversation. When you look at the Tepi's house, there are two doors in the front, the main door, and then these French doors that have a small railing in front of them. And then there was also a back door and a basement window. But in order to gain access to the back of the house, Michael would have either had to jump the fence, which is a pretty tall fence, definitely would be possible. But it looks to me like a privacy fence possibly. It's hard to tell exactly how tall in the pictures, but either that or he would have had to gain access through their detached garage. Now, of course, it's possible that one of these three doors and maybe a window was left unlocked, even the most diligent of people can forget sometimes. It's very easy to do, especially when you wouldn't ever suspect that something like this could happen to you. I also learned that their doors had those keypad locks to get in. Well, maybe he somehow knew the code or was able to guess the code potentially. There's also the possibility that he knocked on the door in the middle of the night and just forced his way in. But based on what we know, I highly doubt Spencer or Monique would have just opened the door for him unless they didn't realize it was him, but I don't know. I'm just brainstorming here. So you can see why there's this big question mark at this point about how he got into the house. I will say though, if they had a working ring doorbell camera, that is probably going to have a ton of answers on it. In fact, they probably already have all of the answers to these questions that we are wondering. Plus, a lot of people have in-home security cameras, especially families with young kids. I mean, we have them all over our house. They may have even had a baby monitor that was picking up noise, at least, or something. And then, of course, you can't forget about things like Apple watches and Fitbits and Aurora rings. If either of them had any type of fitness monitoring device that they were wearing at the time, those devices can provide details such as when their heart rates may have been elevated, how long they were elevated for, and even what times their hearts stopped beating. Which I know is really disturbing to think about, but investigators have already declared publicly that they died at 3.52 a.m., which is very specific. So that tells me they must have some type of proof of that, whether that's one of those devices or security camera, something, or a combination of all of them. And speaking of electronics, you also have to wonder if Michael was dumb enough to bring his phone with him, which will have all kinds of data on it if he is. Or maybe like Brian Coburger, he turned it off at key times, which can tell us a lot too. I know that there's still processing a bunch of information and evidence at this point, and I know that these things can't happen overnight, so we just need to be patient. But I do feel very hopeful about this investigation and the direction that it's going in. I think, you know, you could never say for certain, but I have a good feeling that there will be justice for Monique and Spencer. Now, as for the direction that Michael is going, he's got a long right ahead of him. And I guess he apparently plans to fight the charges. After his arrest, he was booked into the Winnebago County jail. And on January 13th, he was in court for the first time where he waived his right to an extradition hearing. The hearing was very short, literally less than two minutes long. And the only thing that he said the entire time was his name. As for next steps, the court will work on getting him to Ohio, where he is facing trial. And according to that hearing, he is planning to plead not guilty. And the death penalty will be on the table too. So I'm very curious to learn more about what kind of sentence prosecutors will be seeking. Like I said, his charges were upgraded to aggravated murder with premeditation, but they haven't explicitly said what that premeditation was. Potentially, it could be the fact that he drove there. I mean, think about all the hours in the car, where he clearly had the intent to do what he did. It could also of course be something else. It could be a combination of several different things, some that we don't even know about yet. And I'm definitely interested to learn what if anything, Michael has told investigators. Apparently, when they first spoke to him, he provided them with an alibi that did not hold up at all. So I'm guessing there could be a lot more and pretty certain there's a lot more. It always does shock me when people like him who are so smart on paper end up being so dumb. I mean, so messy in the way they go about doing things. They're actually going to get away with something like this and that he can just make up a fake alibi. But at the same time, maybe he wasn't all that smart since it sounds like he barely was qualified to do his job and was terrible at it. I'm not complaining, of course, we love a dumb criminal because dumb criminals get caught. But apparently, his arrest did shock some people though, like his neighbor, Sheryl and Colorick, who happens to be a true crime author, has done a handful of interviews recently. And she said that she was shocked when she heard the news. She wasn't super close with him or anything though, but they lived in this nice, high-rise condo called the Pierre, which is right across from the Lincoln Park Zoo. And the kind of people that live there are not normally the kind of people that you would expect to be linked to anything like this. In fact, she said that she had spoken to him on several occasions that he seemed like a pleasant person. I mean, it's how ancient you him super well though. Geraldine, how did you know Michael McKee? I knew Michael McKee because here at the Pierre, we have a pool and we have a barbecue pit upstairs and last summer, I met him. He was a new resident and I introduced myself to him and he was a very pleasant man. We didn't discuss about jobs or anything like that. I just told him about the building and how nice it was and welcome to the Pierre and the air water show is the best place to see it in the city because they come right in front of us. And it was just very nice, very pleasant. And we would pass each other, you know, coming into the building and the elevator. And, you know, I even forgot his name, I'll be honest. And I would say hi and he'd say hi and I say, well, we'll tell you about long day and you know, yeah, long day. We never had any other conversations after that. And I didn't know that he was the suspect until last Saturday. My dormant told me that channel seven was outside there and he knew that I used to work for channel seven. So I came out and the reporter said that they've been trying to talk to other residents and everything about Michael McKee and I said, well, I don't know if I know or not. Show me a picture. When he showed me the mug shot, I said, oh my god, I know this man. And the matter of fact, I got a little chills now thinking about it. And you know, it was, it was a shock to me. And then the building put out a memo to all residents that there's going to be police presence in the building because of one, one of the residents. I'm still news inside me. So I went upstairs and Lord and behold, I saw a police officer seeing outside his door. He's got 24 hours and he lives only two floors above me. And I took video of them. And then the next day I went into my garage and Lord and behold, there's a crime lab van from Ohio and I walked upstairs and sure enough, I saw a police there and I met the, I met the officers ahead of the investigation and they were taking stuff out of his apartment and putting stuff into boxes. But what this man did or yes allegedly did is so unbelievably fouled that it just makes me sick to my stomach to think about. Especially when you think about how the kids were so close. I mean, just a few feet away in another room. And speaking of the kids, I said I would circle back to them and I definitely have a few things that I want to bring up. So like I mentioned, it's not believed at this point that they saw anything and let's all hope that that really is the case. But it's possible that they did hear something. Their son obviously isn't old enough to describe any kinds of sounds at 17 months, but their daughter likely is in that same engine at levy clip that I mentioned earlier. She did say that there are unconfirmed reports that the killer took steps to shield the kids from seeing anything. I don't know if that means he locked them in their room or what, but whether that's true or not, it's possible that the daughter could provide some kind of information or already has. It would be up to the family, of course, if they let her. There are people who specialize in forensically interviewing children. Really tough job I would imagine and that would be who they would bring in for something like that. And I'm sure that the decision to let her be interviewed is a really tough one. I don't know what the right answer would be. I mean, she could be potentially able to provide some really valuable information, but at the same time, it's also really traumatizing and is it worth it? I do trust that their family's gonna make the best decision though. And truly, their whole family has vowed to protect the kids and they trust that law enforcement is doing everything they can to bring justice to their parents. In a statement, following Michael's arrest, they said, quote, "Today's arrest represents an important step towards justice for a money-conspenser. Nothing can undo the devastating loss of two lives taken far too soon, but we are grateful to the city of Columbus Police Department. It's investigators and assisting law enforcement community whose tireless efforts help to capture the person involved. We thank the community for the continued support, prayers, and compassion shown throughout this tragedy. As the case proceeds, we trust the justice system to hold the person responsible fully accountable. Monique and Spencer remain at the center of our hearts and we carry forward their love as we surround and protect the two children they leave behind. We will continue to honor their lives and the light they brought into this world. And I fully believe that in fact, they have already started to honor them. A private family service was held on Sunday, January 11th, and it's been said that the focus was on highlighting Spencer and Monique for all of the joy they brought to those around them. This case really has been mind-boggling and things are changing so quickly. Every day that new information comes out and I feel like every time we learn something new, then there are 10 new questions that arise from that. For example, retired FBI agent Jennifer Covendaffer, who you guys might know from my channel and from an interview that I did with her on my Ohio podcast. She has been interviewed several times as it relates to this case. And I thought this was really interesting. She said that she was looking at Google search trends from before the murders occurred. And apparently someone was googling Spencer's name several times on November 30th. Someone was also apparently googling their home address on December 5th. And at this point, we can't say if that's connected yet, but it is strange. And stuff like that always just leaves me with a ton of questions. And also that clerical error from June of 2025, we know something like that would have sent out notifications to all of the parties involved. So if he's guilty, is it possible that a notification from the court is what set Michael off? That is a scary thought. I'm hopeful and confident that this investigation is going to answer all of those questions. And I just hope that justice comes as quickly as possible. Michael was initially scheduled for his next hearing on January 19th, but that actually got pushed because they weren't going to be able to extra-dite him in time, and in terms of more information being released, there's definitely a balancing act of sharing information with the public and not damaging the case. And given how little has been shared by law enforcement, I could see them continuing to keep things more on the private side, which is totally fair. You know, whatever is best for this case, it makes total sense. But that does leave a lot of room for what ifs, and people are gonna what if it up. But at the end of the day, if that means ensuring that a monster goes to jail forever, then that's absolutely what should happen. I'm going to leave a link to an official GoFundMe that was set up to help the kids. It's already gotten a ton of support, but I'd love to continue to see that grow. Also, my team will be reaching out to Rob. I totally understand if he is too overwhelmed and busy to get back to us right now, but we will be there if they're interested in getting a hope grant from higher hope. I would love to support this family in any way. I can, Monique and Spencer just seemed like really, really special, wonderful people. And this case is just heartbreaking with what we know so far. I can't imagine how much worse it's going to be when we know everything that there is to know. 'Cause I think there's a lot, a lot, that we don't know at this point. That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcast. It really does help me out. If you wanna watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendal Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. (upbeat music)