Ex-husband of victim in mysterious Ohio double murder arrested, reports say
Police located the suspect’s vehicle in Illinois over a week after the shooting deaths in Ohio
The ex-husband of the woman fatally shot in Ohio alongside her dentist husband has been arrested and charged with two counts of murder, 10TV reported Saturday.
Michael McKee, 31, was booked just before noon at the Winnebago County Jail in Illinois on an out-of-state hold, according to online court records. His arrest comes more than a week after Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37, were found dead in their Columbus home on December 30 in a case that has gripped the nation.
Documents from the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas confirm McKee is Monique Tepe’s ex-husband, 10 TV reports. They married in August 2015 and divorced in May 2017, according to court records obtained by The Columbus Dispatch. McKee was listed as living in Virginia at the time, apparently for a surgical residency program.
Detectives identified the vehicle and linked it to McKee, later locating it in Rockford, Illinois, where they found evidence tying him to its ownership, according to court records.
McKee is set to appear in court on Monday.
Rob Misleh, Spencer Tepe's brother-in-law, released a lengthy statement to ABC 6 following McKee’s arrest, saying, in part, "Today’s arrest represents an important step toward justice for Monique and Spencer. Nothing can undo the devastating loss of two lives taken too soon, but we are grateful to the City of Columbus Police Department, its investigators, and assisting law enforcement community whose tireless efforts helped to capture the person involved.”
The Independent has contacted the Columbus Division of Police for comment.
McKee, an Ohio State-trained doctor, holds active vascular surgery licenses in Illinois and California, according to The Dispatch. His Nevada medical license lapsed in mid-2025, and he is one of several doctors named in an ongoing personal injury lawsuit in Clark County, the outlet said.
His arrest comes days after Columbus police shared surveillance footage of a hooded person in black and grey walking the streets near the Tepe’s home around the time of the murders, which detectives believe happened sometime between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Police had not publicly named any suspects or persons of interest but said they did not believe the couple’s deaths to be a murder-suicide.
The Tepes’ bodies were discovered after Spencer Tepe uncharacteristically missed work at Athens Dental Depot, prompting coworkers to call police for a welfare check. Columbus police released body cam footage earlier this week showing that the initial responding officer went to the wrong house.
About 40 minutes later, his coworkers arrived at the Tepe home and found their deceased bodies, again calling authorities.
The couple’s two young children, ages 1 and 4, as well as their Goldendoodle, were home at the time of the shooting, but were not harmed, with no sign of forced entry and no firearm found at the scene.
The kids have since been cared for by Spencer's brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, who told NewsNation earlier this week that he does not believe the kids were exposed to the murder scene as they “were just as happy and, unfortunately, unaware as they ever could be.”
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