Charges have been upgraded against Michael David McKee, who was recently arrested in connection to the deaths of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, dentist Spencer Tepe.
McKee, 39, was initially arrested on Saturday, January 10, on murder charges, according to the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. However, authorities in Franklin County, Ohio, upgraded his charges to aggravated murder on Sunday, January 11, according to court documents obtained by People.
As Us Weekly previously reported, Monique, 39, and Spencer, 37, were found dead in their Columbus, Ohio, home on December 30, 2025. Their bodies were discovered when Spencer’s coworker grew concerned when he didn’t show up to work on time. After the coworker made several attempts to contact him, they called 911 and requested a welfare check.
The couple was then discovered dead in the upstairs level of their home, with Spencer having multiple gunshot wounds and Monique suffering at least one shot to the chest.
Spencer and Monique’s two children, as well as their family dog, were also found in the house at the time of the murders. However, they were all unharmed in light of the brutal murders.
Following their deaths, police released surveillance footage on Monday, January 5, that showed a figure in a dark hooded sweatshirt walking with their hands in their pockets. Alongside the footage, authorities said that the individual was a “person of interest” in the case.
McKee was later deemed a suspect in the couple’s murder case after authorities saw his car near the Tepe’s home, which was captured via surveillance footage. Detectives said the vehicle “arrived just prior to the homicides and left shortly after,” per court documents obtained by People.
The suspect was then arrested once authorities confirmed that McKee owned the vehicle at the time of Spencer and Monique’s deaths.
Monique and Mckee divorced in May 2017 after a brief marriage and it has been reported that their divorce was amicable, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
After McKee was arrested, Monique and Spencer’s loved ones hosted a gathering to reflect on the major development in the case.
“It was absolutely not a shock to anybody, we had all expected it, but we weren’t saying that, because we didn’t want to compromise the investigation,” one family member, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Daily Mail regarding McKee’s arrest. “We are all breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, because they got him.”
The family member went on to tell the outlet that Monique and Spencer had not said anything about having any issues with McKee in the weeks leading up to their killings.
After McKee was arrested, his neighbor Gera-Lind Kolarik admitted she was surprised by the entire situation.
“He did not seem like somebody who would do something like this,” she told ABC 7 Chicago. “I sat down with this man and talked with him at the pool, barbecuing, about what a beautiful day it is — and then he turns out to be [charged as] a killer. It’s kind of shocking.”
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