Chicago-area doctor pleads not guilty in Ohio double slaying
A Chicago-area doctor appeared in court Friday and pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the shooting deaths of his ex-wife and her husband late last month in Columbus, Ohio.
Michael David McKee, 39, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary, according to Franklin County, Ohio, court records.
His ex-wife, Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37, were found fatally shot Dec. 30 in their Columbus, Ohio, home, the Columbus Police Department has said. The Tepes' two young children were found unharmed inside the home.
An arrest warrant for McKee was issued Jan. 10 in Ohio, the same day he was arrested in Rockford by the Winnebago County sheriff’s office.
Friday was McKee’s first court appearance in the case. He waived his right to have a bond and was held in custody.
The hearing lasted for less than two minutes as McKee, wearing a jail uniform, appeared in court via closed-circuit TV, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
McKee is a vascular surgeon with active medical licenses in Illinois and California and an expired license in Nevada, according to medical licensing records.
He was previously listed as a surgeon at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, but he no longer appears on that list. A spokesperson for OSF Healthcare did not say whether he was still employed, and said in a statement that, "OSF is cooperating with authorities who will provide further information.”
McKee graduated from the Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2014, records show.
McKee and Monique Tepe were married in 2015 and divorced in 2017 in Columbus, according to Ohio court records. The records list a Virginia address for McKee at the time of their divorce.
Columbus homicide detectives identified McKee and his car through neighborhood video surveillance, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Police found the vehicle in Rockford and found evidence that McKee had the vehicle before and after the killings, according to the newspaper.