A surgeon has been charged with the brutal murders of his ex-wife and her new husband, a crime that has left a quiet Ohio neighbourhood in shock and two young children orphaned.
Neighbour's Disbelief at Murder Charges
Michael David McKee, 39, now faces two counts of murder for the killings of Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37. The couple were found shot dead in their Weinland Park, Ohio, home in the early hours of December 30. A neighbour of McKee from his upscale Illinois apartment block expressed profound shock at the allegations.
"I sat down with this man, I talked to him at the pool, barbequing. It's kind of shocking," Gera-Lind Kolarik told ABC7. "He didn't seem like somebody who would do something like this." Her thoughts immediately turned to the couple's children, a one-year-old boy and a four-year-old daughter, who were discovered unharmed inside the home. "Those are the real victims of this whole case here, the children," she said.
A Grisly Discovery and a Cross-State Manhunt
The tragedy unfolded after Spencer Tepe, a dentist, failed to arrive for work. Concerned colleagues requested a welfare check. A friend, Alexander Ditty, arrived at the $700,000 home and, hearing a child inside, urgently called police. Officers discovered a harrowing scene: Spencer had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and Monique had been shot once in the chest.
Police found three 9mm shell casings but no murder weapon and no signs of forced entry. They quickly ruled out a murder-suicide. Eerie surveillance footage released by investigators showed a hooded figure walking through a snowy alley near the Tepe home around the time of the murders.
This footage was pivotal. An affidavit states detectives identified a vehicle that arrived just before the homicides and left shortly after. They tracked this vehicle to Rockford, Illinois, linking it to McKee and finding evidence he was in possession of it before and after the killings. He was arrested without incident on Saturday, January 10, and booked into Winnebago County Jail.
A Past Marriage and a Swift Divorce
Court documents reveal McKee and Monique, then Monique Sabaturski, were married briefly from August 2015 to March 2016. Their divorce, filed in May 2017, cited incompatibility. The separation agreement, finalised by June 2017, included a clause requiring Monique to repay McKee $1,281.59 for miscellaneous debt, with a 23 percent interest penalty if not paid by July 2018.
The documents also included a standard mutual restraining order, forbidding harassment or bodily harm. At the time of the divorce, McKee, a vascular surgeon, lived in Virginia while Monique lived in Ohio. The charging of McKee comes just a day before friends and family were due to gather for a visitation and celebration of life for the Tepes in Columbus.
In a statement, the Tepe family said the arrest "represents an important step toward justice for Monique and Spencer," while acknowledging that "nothing can undo the devastating loss of two lives taken far too soon." The community remains traumatised, with one neighbour describing the killings as a "violation of our peace" and the couple as "lovely, wonderful people."
