Hey y’all, it’s Julie Mattson, and in this week’s episode of Pushing Up Lilies, I’m sharing the tragic and unsettling story of Spence Tepe and his wife, Mo’ Tepe, a case that shook their community and left behind far more questions than answers. Spence was a dentist. A professional, a husband, a man with a life that appeared stable from the outside. Mo’ was his partner, his wife, and a woman whose story is too often reduced to headlines instead of remembered for who she was. Together, their lives ended violently, and the circumstances surrounding their deaths continue to raise disturbing questions about trust, relationships, and what may be hidden beneath carefully constructed appearances. In this episode, I walk through what is publicly known about the case, the timeline leading up to their deaths, and the lingering mysteries that remain. This is not just a story about how two people died, it’s about the complexity of human relationships, the warning signs we sometimes miss, and the devastating ripple effects left behind when violence enters a home. * Listener discretion is advised.
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00:06
Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I'm your host, Julie Mattson. Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine-tingling, unusual, and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner.
00:24
Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hey guys, we're back to Pushing Up Lily's and so, excited to be back this week. I hated taking those few weeks off around the holidays, but I just needed them.
00:42
And hopefully y'all like me are kind of getting back into the swing of things. It's been busy since Christmas. I feel like I've been busier since I retired than I was when I worked. School is, I've got seven weeks of my class left.
01:00
It's my last class. I need to start looking into getting all my immunizations and getting all that done before I head back into the clinical realm. That'll be 10 weeks of clinical, and I'll be doing those here locally.
01:17
Of course, $0 an hour. You don't get paid for that. And that's the hardest thing after you've worked as a nurse for 30 years to come to the realization that you have to give your time to someone for 10 months without money.
01:33
But I guess I'll be learning and it's a necessary step to getting my nurse practitioner license. So, all is good. I'm excited to get it over with and I will not be going back to school after this. Just say that if nothing else so far, this has taught me that I do not want my PhD.
01:52
So, I'm sure those of you who are in NP school or are even considering it can definitely understand where I'm coming from. Remote is hard. I have to say that it's easier for me now than going to a classroom, but it takes a special kind of self-discipline to force yourself to put the time in that you need to.
02:18
And I feel like the homework is more difficult because you have to figure it out on your own. And I'm learning still. And so, this one class is, it's called Family Three. And it's kind of like just advanced MP skills.
02:37
It has been a journey. And so, I'm sent to graduate, I think around spring of 2027. And again, I am not going to work for anyone else. I'm going to work strictly for myself at the Med Spa that I own. And also, I have another little business endeavor.
02:58
But I'm about to start onboarding at American Forensics in Garland, working for my friend Amy Grzecki, doing some remote death investigations for her business. I've worked for her before. She's amazing.
03:14
And so, I'm super excited about that. It'll just allow me to keep my foot in the door. And yeah, so it's been exciting. But once I get my onboarding done and I get this class over with and start kind of gradually inching my way into clinicals and being a little more comfortable in that setting, hopefully things will calm down.
03:38
We got Christmas over with and Valentine's Day is right around the corner running a lot of specials at the med spa. Just took a quick road trip to St. Louis over the weekend with my husband to pick up a new machine that I purchased.
03:53
And life is laughing. That's for sure. This week, I want to talk to y'all about the story of Spencer and Monique Tepe. The story kind of begins quietly, the way a lot of devastating cases do, but it happened in their home on a normal night.
04:13
And their house sat in the near east side of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Their children lived with them. They were a married couple, ending their day believing they were safe in our own home. And I don't know if I've talked about this before, y'all.
04:28
I go through and lock all my doors even after I know that my husband's done it. It's not because I don't feel safe in our home. It's just because I'm aware. I'm aware of my surroundings. I'm aware of bad things that happen.
04:43
Maybe overly aware being in the death investigation business. But sometime between 2 and 5 in the morning on December 30th, 2025, their house no longer was safe. Investigators believe that Spencer Tepe, a 37-year-old dentist known for his reliability and his routine, and Monique Tepe, 39-year-old devoted mother and wife, were both shot and killed inside their bedroom.
05:14
And there were no signs of forced entry. There was no glass shattered indicating that a window had been broken. There were no locks broken, no weapons in the residence that were visible. Their one-year-old son and four-year-old daughter were inside the house at the time, and they survived the night physically unharmed.
05:39
But they were alone for hours in the home when both of their parents lay dead. Now morning came and something felt wrong to the people who knew Spencer. Around 9.03, a co-worker called police for a welfare tick.
05:58
And we've talked about this before. A lot of people are found when they don't show up for work. It's not their normal routine. They're usually there. They're never late. And so, everyone just knows when they're not there on time that something is wrong.
06:14
Spencer was always on time. He always called and the silence from him alarmed everybody. And so, an officer went to the wrong address the first time. So, it was 9.57. Another call came in. A man at the Tepe's home could hear children inside.
06:37
And so, at 10.05, a friend called again saying that he could see Spencer's body through the bedroom window. Police returned to the correct home this time and confirmed what no one wanted to hear. Spencer and Monique were both found dead.
06:56
Now the children, thankfully, were alive. In the days that followed, police shared very little publicly. And that's what they do in a homicide. They don't want to give the public too much information, not because it's a secret, but because there are certain things that only the perpetrator would know.
07:21
And so, they don't want to release any of that. And that just kind of helps them when they're investigating the case. There was no suspect initially. There was no motive. But what they did release was video.
07:35
There was some surveillance footage from an alley near the home, and it showed a person walking through the dark during the same early morning window that investigators believed the murders occurred. The person in the video had on a dark hooded top and some lighter colored pants.
07:57
Their hands were in the pockets. You could not see the face. It wasn't anything dramatic. The person wasn't running. There was no obvious weapon. They were just seen moving in the video. It was enough to unsettle everyone.
08:15
And so, of course, the police asked for tips, and they watched the clip over and over trying to recognize the person or the stride or the silhouette. Just something, something to help them try to figure out who this person could have been.
08:35
Now, as investigators worked, another detail surfaced. In April of 2025, just months before the murders, a 911 call came in from the TEEPS address. Now, the call disconnected. Dispatch called back.
08:52
A woman answered. She said that she and her partner had argued, and she said she was okay. She said that she didn't need the police there. She didn't need any medical assistance. The call lasted about a minute and that was it.
09:11
The call ended there. Now, after the murders, police confirmed they were reviewing that call. Now, normally in death investigations, earlier disturbances matter. That's a question we always ask the police, especially when it's a murder-suicide, or we suspect that it's partner violence, is have there been any previous police calls here?
09:44
Even in child death, we always asked, are there any previous CPS calls to this residence? Has this parent been turned into CPS for any reason? It's important because if they have, we know that there's a history of violence of some sort.
10:02
And so, it does matter. It does kind of point you one direction or the other. To understand this case, you have to understand a little bit about Monique's past. So, before she was Monique Tepe, she was Monique Sabaturski.
10:18
Now, before Spencer, there was another marriage. And that was in August of 2015. She married Michael David McKee in Ohio. And by May of 2017, so two years later, the marriage ended in divorce. They had no children.
10:39
There was no public drama. McKee was highly educated. He was a vascular surgeon. He was highly accomplished. He was raised in Zanesville, Ohio, where he stood out because he was just academically successful.
10:53
He won science competitions, spelling Bs, and honors. He attended Ohio State University. He got his medical degree and got his Ohio license in 2014. After the divorce, his career took him kind of across the country to Virginia and then California and then Maryland and then Nevada and Illinois.
11:17
And by 2024, he lived near Rockford, Illinois and practiced vascular surgery. On the surface, there weren't really any warning signs. There were no red flags. There was no criminal background or no criminal record.
11:35
11 days after Spencer and Monique were killed, police arrested Michael David McKee. Now, the charges were severe, two counts of aggravated murder with premeditation. Investigators said the case turned on surveillance, not just of a person walking in the alley, but of a vehicle.
11:57
So, cameras actually showed a car arriving near the Tepe's house shortly before the time that they think they were murdered and leaving shortly after. But that vehicle actually appeared on multiple cameras as it traveled out of Columbus.
12:13
It got on the highway and then eventually back to Rockford, Illinois, which is guess who lived there, McKee. So, police said this was not random. It was very direct. Now, from an investigation standpoint, the lack of forced entry does matter.
12:32
That always kind of suggests access or familiarity. The missing weapon mattered. It suggested that the shooter arrived prepared and left intentionally. So, killing both Spencer and Monique mattered. In intimate partner violence cases, killing the current spouse reflects control, killing both partners actually reflects erasure.
13:03
What does it remove? It removes witnesses. It removes the future. And it sends a message about possession. You moved on without me. I didn't want to. You were not allowed to. You didn't get permission.
13:23
This is not what I wanted. Very much control. Timing mattered too. And so, five days after Christmas, a holiday centered on family and tradition and togetherness, dates like that hold a lot of emotional weight.
13:41
We have a lot of homicides and a lot of suicides during the holidays. Investigators always look at anniversaries and any kind of milestone and holidays because people act when they're reminded of things that are sharp, reminded of things in the past that hurt them.
14:02
Spencer represented permanence. A husband, a father, a laugh, Monique chose after her divorce. And research shows that separation doesn't really necessarily reduce danger. Sometimes it escalates it because one partner might feel replaced.
14:27
A lot of people are kind of wondering why the children were left alive. Children aren't really the focus of offenders and targeted killings like this, mainly because the violence centers on adults and on resentment and on control.
14:48
And of course, leaving the children alive will keep them from getting additional charges. So that matters when the perpetrator is someone who actually thinks ahead because the planning part of it doesn't really disappear after violence, sometimes continues through escape.
15:11
Now, when McKee appeared in court in Illinois on January 12th, his public defender said that he planned to plead not guilty and remain completely silent. And that response was kind of expected. Silence does not signal weakness or strength.
15:28
It's just a strategy. And so, Ohio prosecutors charged him with aggravated murder, which requires proof of intent and planning. Premeditation does not require months of preparation. It only requires thought.
15:47
But travel across state lines, bringing a weapon, leaving with the weapon, arriving, acting, and leaving, that sequence actually tells a story that prosecutors believe they can prove. Jurors will eventually hear about surveillance footage, the vehicle moving, timestamps, geography, all of those things.
16:12
And they will hear about the house not having forced entry, no robbery at the scene. They will hear about the children asleep in the nearby rooms, and they'll hear about what was not found. There was no gun.
16:30
There were no signs of struggle. And those absences can carry weight in court. Likely digital forensics will play a role. Cell phone location data, app usage, vehicle telemetry. You know, our vehicles tell us everything.
16:49
Now my daughter can see me on a map. I know one day she was waiting for me somewhere and she's like calling me, mom, you took a wrong turn. And I'm like, how do you even know this? And she's like, I'm watching you on my map.
17:02
You don't really have a lot of privacy anymore. But I thought that was kind of funny. I was like, you are a creeper. But digital forensics will play a role in this. Technology doesn't forget. And remember, we've talked about this too.
17:18
You can delete all the messages and all the things, but they are still there and they can be found. Defense teams are going to focus on doubt, obviously. They're going to challenge clarity. They're going to say, oh, your ideas are not clear.
17:33
This is probably not what happened. They're going to challenge any assumptions. And they're going to remind jurors that a case has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order for someone to be convicted.
17:48
But if convicted, sentencing options are going to be severe as they should be. Life without parole or death. These decisions will unfold over years because chances are there's going to be appeals. This poor family is going to have to wait.
18:05
And unfortunately, as we all know, we've seen before, justice moves very slowly. And that's because the outcome is permanent. And of course, families want closure. They want it all over with. What they really want is answers.
18:22
And the trial is going to deliver a lot of facts, and it's not going to be peaceful, but peace hopefully will arrive later after his conviction. Spencer Tepe was described as dependable. His coworkers trusted him without question.
18:41
And Monique was described as warm and joyful and heavily devoted to her children. And so, these were just parents kind of trying to build a life. But now their kids are going to grow up with stories instead of memories.
19:00
So, as the case moves forward, what will not change is going to be the fact that these kids lost their parents and their childhood is going to be altered forever. It's strange to me how when things like this happen, I mean, obviously the perpetrator isn't thinking of the children.
19:23
He's thinking of killing his ex and her current spouse because they're happy and he's not. But it's crazy how they never consider what it does to the children long term because ultimately, they lose all of their parents.
19:41
So, it's hard to grasp how children left behind live with that loss. They probably, you know, they're not going to feel safe anymore. It's going to be hard for them to trust people. It's going to be hard for anything to be predictable again.
20:00
And they don't just lose their parents. They actually lose their house. They lose access to extended families. They lose their daily routine. Overnight, you know, they're forced to move from a life they know to a life of uncertainty.
20:20
There's going to have to be decisions about guardianship and custody. And because of their age, you know, their wants aren't necessarily going to matter. And so grief looks a lot different in children.
20:35
And a lot of younger kids, and we've all seen it before, they show it through behavior. They start having trouble sleeping. They regress. They're angry. They cling to other adults. And older children, a lot of times, will carry guilt.
20:55
Even when they had no role in it, they weren't even awake at the time it happened. There was absolutely nothing they can do, but they feel somehow that they're a little older, that they could have done something.
21:07
Many believe they missed signs or, again, failed to prevent the death. Silence will continue to grow when adults who are around them avoid those hard conversations. Exposure to homicide also raises long-term risk for anxiety and depression and substance abuse and difficulty forming relationships.
21:36
There are higher rates of PTSD in children who lose a parent to violence compared to losing a parent in an accident or an illness. So, the suddenness of the violence actually matters. It can affect the children a lot.
21:55
So, when the offender was known to the family, it actually deepens the damage because children struggle to reconcile that in their head. And they start having loyalty conflicts. And of course, court proceedings are going to reopen those wounds over and over and over because each hearing is going to force the loss back into the present.
22:24
But support is going to change those outcomes. Hopefully they'll have stable caregivers who are honest. And of course, those age-appropriate explanations are going to matter. Therapy focused on trauma, not someone who forces them not to talk about it.
22:47
Schools are going to play a role in this and communities that stay present after the headlines fade. So, a lot of times these children are going to grow up a little bit faster than they should. And many of them become resilient, but not all of them.
23:06
I know in the years of doing sexual assault exams, it always amazed me how resilient the kids were, how quickly they bounced back, and how many of them didn't even realize that what happened to them was wrong or what happened to them was bad.
23:21
They were just telling me a story, not even realizing that they were getting the person or the perpetrator in deeper trouble by helping in the investigation. But that's exactly what should happen. They're just so resilient.
23:37
They bounce back very quickly. But in cases like this where they'll never see their parents again, I can just imagine how difficult that would be. You know, when we talk about homicides, the story doesn't just end with the trial and the arrest.
23:52
It's going to continue over the years because they never see their parents again. The parents never come home. They're going to always remember them on birthdays and graduations when the parents can't be there and other moments, proms, homecomings, weddings, the birth of their babies.
24:15
The children that are left behind actually carry the longest senate. And that's the sad part about this. I'm so thankful that he did not hurt the kids because he could have and he didn't physically hurt them, but emotionally, he destroyed them.
24:36
That's why these stories are really hard in cases like this, in homicides and in murder suicides. I'm always so thankful when the kids are spared, but at the same time, I know that their lives are changed forever.
24:50
It's going to be a long road. So, I'm sure that they have a great support system. And I am going to keep you informed when this story continues to unfold. It's just super sad. I like to cover a lot of the newer stories.
25:09
I like to go back to some of them too, but the newer ones that are in the news now, I like to kind of watch them unfold. And I'm sure y'all do too. And this has been one that's been at the top of the news.
25:21
So unfortunately, though, we get a new one every day. And that's what's really sad. That's why the career of death investigation will never lull, unfortunately. We'll always be busy. There'll always be work to do.
25:40
There's never a slow day. Not all the deaths are violent, but obviously losing someone is never easy. But we'll continue to follow this story. And I'm anxious to hear your input. What are your thoughts?
25:58
I wonder if just the holidays alone triggered. I mean, you have to wonder when she called the police previously and had the short conversation. Had he shown up? Had he threatened her? Had she thought maybe they worked things out and would not escalate?
26:17
And then it did. I'm not sure. There's very little information known about that call. But the weather in Texas, y'all, has been a little bit chilly. I know when we went to St. Louis over the weekend, it was 11 and they had a little bit of snow.
26:33
It was cold. But that's nothing compared to up north. Our friends in North Dakota have really had some weather they've had to deal with. That's always rough. But I know they're used to it, but it still can't be fun.
26:46
I don't like driving in bad weather. And we all know Texans cannot drive even in the rain. Anyway, I hope that y'all have an amazing week. Don't forget to go online, order your cereal boxes. I sold several during the month of December.
27:03
I was so thankful for that. And thank y'all so much for being patient. I had a little glitch in my ordering system, and I was unaware that I got the orders. And then it was January before I discovered them.
27:14
I am so thankful that the people that ordered those were forgiving and understood. And so now I know how to get my orders off of the internet and I can get them shipped in a timely manner. But keep shopping at our murder merch store.
27:29
We have a lot of new merchandise that we're about to load. And so, it's kind of exciting. I'm starting to get some pushing up Lily's merch to take on all of my speaking tours this year. So that'll be exciting too.
27:47
Let me know what y'all think. What do people like? I know I've always heard tumblers, maybe t-shirts or sweatshirts. And bags, I think, are popular. I feel like every time you go to a conference, you get a lot of little things, and you just don't want to carry it around.
28:01
So, I always feel like bags are good. I want to have some fun stuff. Never disrespectful, but fun. So anyway, y'all have an amazing week. Don't forget to follow, like, and subscribe and share with your friends.
28:18
Thanks, y'all. See you next week. Bye. Thank you so much for joining me today on Pushing Up Lilies. If you like this podcast and would like to share with others, please do me a quick favor and leave a review on Apple Podcast.
28:32
This helps to make the podcast more visible to the public. Thanks again for spending your time with me and be sure to visit me at pushinguplilies.com for merchandise and past episodes.