What is known about killing of Ohio parents at home as their young kids slept

More than a week after an Ohio dentist and his wife were found fatally shot in their home, the woman’s ex-husband was arrested on suspicion of murder.

A friend’s discovery Dec. 30 of the bodies of Spencer and Monique Tepe in their Columbus home, where their young children were unharmed, set off a search for a person captured on video in a nearby alley.

After the arrest Saturday, Jan. 10, of Michael McKee, police did not say whether he is thought to have been the person in the video.

Here is what is known about the case.

THE SUSPECT

McKee, 39, is licensed as a vascular surgeon, and an Illinois database said he works at a hospital in Rockford. He is also licensed to practice in California and until last year held a medical license in Nevada.

In August 2015, he married Monique Sabaturski, who was then 28. The couple had no children, and they divorced in June 2017, while McKee was a resident at a Virginia hospital.

In 2020, Monique Sabaturski and Spencer Tepe were married. Spencer Tepe was 37 and his wife 39 at the time of their death; their children are 1 and 4 years old.

THE TIMELINE

Dec. 30

8:58 a.m.: Spencer Tepe’s boss calls the police from his vacation in Florida to request a wellness check. He says employees told him Tepe, who had been seen the previous day, hadn’t shown up for work and they’ve been trying to reach him since around 7 a.m. The boss tells the police: “We are very, very concerned. This is very out of character for him. We can’t get in touch with his wife, which is probably the more concerning thing.”

9:22 a.m.: An officer reports conducting a welfare check and leaving after nobody answered the door. Nothing seemed amiss at the home, the officer said. It is later revealed that the officer went to the wrong home.

9:56 a.m. and 9:58 a.m.: Two 911 calls are received from colleagues or friends of the couple who have gone to the house. One says he can hear children inside.

10:03 a.m.: A friend of Spencer Tepe’s calls 911 and says he has seen a body in the house.

10:04 a.m.: Officers are sent to the home. At 10:11, both victims are pronounced dead.

Jan. 5

Columbus police release security video showing a person wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and light pants in an alley near the Tepes’ home in the early hours of December 30. They issue a public call for any information on the “person of interest.”

Police say the Tepes are believed to have been killed between 2 and 5 a.m. Dec. 30, but they don’t say how they came to that determination.

According to Columbus TV station WBNS, detectives were seeking a vehicle that was seen in the neighborhood for a short time in the early hours of Dec. 30.

Jan. 10

Michael McKee was taken into custody “without incident” in Rockford, which is about a 7-hour drive from Columbus. WBNS said the suspicious vehicle was found in Rockford and determined to be registered to McKee.

As of Jan. 10, McKee was being held in Illinois, with a court date scheduled for Jan. 12.

The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.