The Tepe Murders: The Case Against Michael McKee

She chose love again. She chose parenthood. She chose a partner who mentored kids and showed up for his community every day. She chose joy while carrying years of alleged terror. That's not foolishness. That's the most courageous thing a human being can do. This is the final episode of our five-part series on coercive control—and it's for everyone still building. But building doesn't mean the fear...

If something in this episode sounds familiar—not from a case file, but from your own life—that recognition is the first step. According to witnesses closest to Monique Tepe, her seven-month marriage to Michael McKee allegedly progressed from overwhelming devotion to death threats, strangulation, and forced sex. There is not a single police report. No restraining order. No documented complaint. Fro...

Spencer mentored kids through Big Brothers Big Sisters. Monique was described as a devoted mother by everyone who knew her. They went to football games. They celebrated birthdays. They built a home. And Monique did all of it while carrying years of alleged fear from her previous marriage to Michael McKee. She didn't wait for the fear to leave before she started living. She built alongside it. That...

Spencer married Monique knowing she was afraid. According to family members, she talked about being terrified of her ex-husband for years. He took that on. He lived in the house that allegedly became a surveillance target. He loved someone whose nervous system never stopped scanning for danger. This episode examines the aftermath of coercive control — the PTSD, the hypervigilance, the December 6th...

She recognized it fast. She got out fast. She filed for divorce. She moved. She did everything right. And according to prosecutors, it wasn't enough. This episode takes on the question that every survivor dreads and every outsider asks: "Why didn't she just leave?" We dismantle each assumption behind it. The financial traps. The custody threats. The restraining orders that don't restrain. The trau...

The McKee-Tepe relationship looked normal from the outside. Photos. Events. Friends. A medical student and a young professional building a life. Then, allegedly, seven months of living together revealed something the courtship had concealed. This episode maps how coercive control escalates — from love bombing to monitoring, from charm to cage. We trace the McKee-Tepe timeline and break down why th...

"At least he doesn't hit me." That's what millions of people tell themselves to survive another day inside a relationship that's slowly dismantling who they are. No bruises means it's not abuse. No police report means it's not real. No one on the outside can see it — so maybe you're the problem. You're not the problem. According to witnesses, the abuse Monique Tepe allegedly survived during her se...

Monique Tepe left her marriage to Michael McKee after approximately seven months. The divorce was finalized in June 2017. According to friends and family who spoke with investigators, the marriage allegedly involved strangulation, sexual violence, and death threats that continued after separation. An unsealed Franklin County affidavit states McKee told Monique he could kill her at any time, would...

Everything investigators have been building is now on paper. The affidavit in the Michael McKee case has been unsealed and the Franklin County Coroner has released full autopsy reports for Spencer and Monique Tepe. The evidence spans eight years of alleged obsession and ends with sixteen gunshot wounds in a bedroom where two children slept feet away. Spencer was struck seven times. Monique was str...

Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke—Chief of the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program—delivers comprehensive behavioral analysis on the McKee/Tepe double homicide and the Nancy Guthrie abduction in this full interview. The McKee/Tepe autopsy findings are brutal. Monique Tepe shot nine times, including once in the face at close range. Spencer Tepe shot seven times, with defens...

The autopsy results are in. Spencer Tepe was shot seven times—including defensive wounds to his hand and arm that suggest he may have been trying to shield his wife in their final moments. Monique Tepe was shot nine times, including once in the face at close range. Both were dead within seconds to minutes. The shooter emptied what appears to be a full magazine and walked out while two young childr...

According to the unsealed affidavit, witnesses told investigators Michael McKee strangled Monique Tepe during their marriage, forced unwanted sex on her, and told her directly he could end her life whenever he wanted. She divorced him in 2017 after seven months. No police report. No protective order. She told friends and family she was afraid—then got up every morning and lived anyway. That's the...

The evidence against Michael McKee looks damning. Surveillance footage allegedly linking his vehicle to the Columbus home where Spencer and Monique Tepe were found shot to death. A firearm from his Chicago condo matched through national ballistics databases. Witnesses describing years of alleged threats—that he could "kill her at any time," that Monique would "always be his wife." His phone going...

For eight years after their divorce, witnesses say Michael McKee made threats to Monique Tepe. That he could kill her at any time. That she would always be his wife. That he'd find her wherever she went. She didn't report them. December 6th, 2025: Monique and Spencer Tepe are at the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. According to court documents, surveillance cameras captured McKee at their Col...

Monique Tepe told friends what Michael McKee said to her over the years. That he could kill her at any time. That she would always be his wife. That he'd find her and buy the house right next to hers. Now Monique and Spencer Tepe are dead—sixteen gunshot wounds between them. Monique can't take the stand. But her friends can. And those three statements might be the most powerful evidence prosecutor...

The unsealed affidavit in the murders of Spencer and Monique Tepe exposes both the evidence and the alleged mindset behind the killings. Witnesses told investigators that Michael McKee made three statements to Monique during and after their marriage: that he could "kill her at any time," that he would "find her and buy the house right next to her," and that "she will always be his wife." These wor...

Defense attorney Eric Faddis provides comprehensive legal analysis on the McKee/Tepe murder case alongside coverage of the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping and Charity Beallis family deaths. Spencer and Monique Tepe were shot to death December 30th in Liberty Township, Ohio. Michael McKee—Monique's ex-husband—is charged with aggravated murder. The unsealed affidavit documents what prosecutors describe as...

Spencer and Monique Tepe were shot to death in their Liberty Township, Ohio home on December 30th. Michael McKee—Monique's ex-husband—has been charged with aggravated murder. The unsealed affidavit documents what prosecutors describe as eight years of alleged obsession: surveillance footage, stolen plates, threats to kill, and digital silence during the murder window. Defense attorney Eric Faddis...

Two cases. Two women who tried to survive. Two systems that failed them. Monique Tepe allegedly carried the knowledge for eight years that her ex-husband had threatened to kill her. According to the unsealed affidavit, witnesses said Michael McKee strangled her during their seven-month marriage, forced unwanted sex, and told her he could end her life whenever he wanted. She divorced him in 2017. S...

The autopsy reports are out. Spencer Tepe was shot seven times. Monique Tepe was shot nine times. Every single wound was to their upper bodies — chest, neck, face, arms, hands. Both had defensive wounds consistent with trying to protect themselves or each other. The trajectories tell a story of movement — they weren't standing still. They tried to escape. And whoever was shooting kept pulling the...

The evidence the state has presented is substantial: surveillance footage, a ballistics match through NIBIN, a cell phone that went dark during the murder window, and years of documented threats against Monique. Michael McKee pleaded not guilty anyway. He waived bail but reserved the right to revisit it — a calculated procedural move, not a concession. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott wrote "The Mind...

The unsealed affidavit in the McKee case contains details that should have triggered intervention years before Monique and Spencer Tepe were killed. Witnesses told investigators Michael McKee strangled Monique during their marriage, forced unwanted sex, and told her he could end her life whenever he wanted. She divorced him in 2017 after just seven months. She told friends and family she was afrai...

Defense attorney Bob Motta examines the Brendan Banfield conviction in depth and analyzes the Michael McKee murder case — two cases raising serious questions about evidence, defense strategy, and what happens when juries make their decisions. Brendan Banfield is going to prison for the rest of his life. The former IRS agent was convicted of aggravated murder after the jury believed the au pair's t...

Michael McKee has pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of Spencer and Monique Tepe. Given what investigators have made public — surveillance footage, ballistics evidence, witness statements documenting years of alleged threats, and a cell phone that went dark during the murder window — that plea raises a critical question: What kind of mind fights when the e...

Michael McKee has been arrested for the murders of Monique Tepe and her husband. The case against him looks strong — surveillance footage, phone records, witnesses who say Monique told them he'd threatened her for years. But defense attorney Bob Motta's job is to look at evidence the way a jury should, not the way the internet does. Today we examine the McKee case through a defense lens. Not to ar...