Years earlier than Monique Tepe and her husband Spencer have been gunned down in their Columbus, Ohio, home, the mom of two had a quick marriage to a physician named Michael David McKee.
Now, almost a decade after their divorce was finalized, McKee is in custody in Illinois after his arrest on two counts of homicide in reference to the Tepes’ deaths, information present. Charges towards him in Ohio have been upgraded by Monday morning to premeditated, aggravated homicide, information present.
The expenses have been upgraded as a result of “detectives believe they met the elements for him to be charged with Aggravated Murder,” the Columbus Division of Police advised NCS in an electronic mail. A spokesperson didn’t reply what particularly these components have been.
McKee waived his proper to an extradition listening to throughout a court docket look Monday in a listening to that lasted just some minutes. A public defender representing McKee requested a speedy return to Ohio to plead not responsible in the case.
McKee, who was introduced into the courtroom handcuffed and carrying a yellow jumpsuit, didn’t communicate apart from to determine himself to the decide. At the finish of the listening to, he and his lawyer talked quietly earlier than shaking arms.
Monique, 39, and Spencer, 37 – whose family members say “shared a beautiful, strong and deeply happy relationship” – have been memorialized Sunday throughout a joint celebration of life ceremony, in keeping with an obituary. The Tepes have been “warm and welcoming and handled each day with such enthusiasm,” Audrey Mackie, Spencer’s cousin, advised NCS affiliate WLWT.
“They lived for their children. Their lives became about their children and sharing their children with all of us and just loving them,” Rob Misleh, Spencer’s brother-in-law, advised WLWT.
Colleagues of Spencer, a revered dentist, had referred to as 911 the morning of December 30 after he uncharacteristically didn’t present as much as work.
The couple was found dead later that morning in the home the place they lived with their two youngsters, ages 4 and 1, simply north of downtown Columbus. Police say the youngsters have been found in the home unhurt.
Here’s what we know about McKee and his marriage to Monique Tepe.
McKee, 39, is a doctor and surgeon licensed in California and Illinois, in keeping with medical licensing databases in these states.
Most not too long ago, McKee was listed as a vascular surgeon at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois.
“OSF is cooperating with authorities who will provide any further information,” an OSF spokesperson stated in a press release to NCS on Sunday.
McKee additionally held a medical license in Nevada, which expired in June 2025. Records present no disciplinary historical past in any of the states the place he has practiced drugs.
In 2005, McKee started medical faculty at Ohio State University and interned at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center beginning in 2014, information present.
In 2020, he accomplished his residency at the Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion Residency Program. Later that 12 months, he started a fellowship in vascular surgical procedure at the University of Maryland Medical Center, which he accomplished in 2022.
Monique Tepe was 28 when she married McKee in August 2015, in keeping with Franklin County, Ohio, court docket information, which don’t point out any main conflicts all through the divorce proceedings.
The couple had no youngsters. Their divorce was finalized about a month after it was filed by Tepe – who was utilizing her maiden identify of Sabaturski at the time – in June 2017, the court docket information present.
The couple was separated at the time of the submitting, in keeping with the information, with McKee residing in Roanoke, Virginia, coinciding with his medical residency at Carilion Clinic.
Questions about how the killings unfolded and what motivated the assault intensified final week when Columbus police launched surveillance footage exhibiting “a person of interest” strolling in the alley close to the couple’s home in the Weinland Park neighborhood.
The video was taken throughout the timeframe investigators imagine the couple was killed, police stated at the time. They didn’t clarify why they have been looking for data about that individual.
Columbus police haven’t stated whether or not McKee is believed to be the individual proven in the video. NCS has reached out to authorities for extra data.
According to NCS affiliate WBNS, the video hyperlinks McKee to a automobile that detectives say arrived shortly earlier than the capturing came about and left moments afterward.
Police later situated the automobile in Rockford, Illinois, the place officers confirmed McKee was the registered proprietor, WBNS reported.
McKee was taken into custody “without incident” in Rockford on Saturday, in keeping with Columbus police.
McKee is in custody in Winnebago County, Illinois, inmate information with the sheriff’s workplace present.
McKee’s public defender requested a speedy return to Ohio to plead not responsible in the case.
Correction:
An earlier model of this story misstated the place Michael David McKee accomplished his residency in 2020. It was at Carilion Clinic-Virginia Tech Carilion Residency Program.