Michael McKee
Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office

On the surface, Michael David McKee appeared to have it all—a thriving career as a respected vascular surgeon with licences in multiple states, steady employment at a prestigious medical centre, and a clean professional record spanning over a decade of medical practice.

Yet beneath this veneer of respectability lay a man now accused of one of Ohio's most disturbing crimes: the fatal shooting of his ex-wife and her husband in their family home on New Year's Eve, leaving two young children as the only witnesses to an unspeakable tragedy.

The arrest marks a stark collision between professional achievement and alleged domestic violence, raising difficult questions about what separates the public figure from the private person—and whether warning signs exist that colleagues and the medical community simply failed to recognise.

McKee, 39, stands accused of murdering Monique Tepe, 39, and her husband Spencer Tepe, 37, in their Columbus, Ohio home on 30 December 2025. The discovery of their bodies sent shockwaves through the close-knit Weinland Park neighbourhood and beyond.

What makes McKee's arrest particularly jarring is his professional standing. The Chicago-based surgeon graduated from Ohio State University College of Medicine in 2014 and earned board certification in vascular surgery, a highly specialised field requiring years of rigorous training and expertise.

Medical licensing databases show he maintained active licences to practise in both Illinois and California, with a previous licence in Nevada that lapsed mid-2025. Court records indicate he held no disciplinary violations in any jurisdiction where he practised—an unblemished record that speaks to technical competence and professional compliance.​

Michael McKee's Medical Career: The Esteemed Surgeon No One Suspected

Before his arrest, McKee worked as a vascular surgeon at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Centre in Rockford, Illinois, approximately ninety miles north-west of Chicago. His credentials were impeccable. Vascular surgery is a demanding specialty focused on treating conditions affecting blood vessels, including peripheral arterial disease, varicose veins, and end-stage renal disease.

According to professional databases, McKee was experienced in managing complex vascular pathologies—precisely the sort of critical work that earns respect within the medical community.​

What makes his arrest all the more troubling is the absence of any warning signs in his professional life. No malpractice suits, no complaints from patients, no institutional warnings or formal investigations marked his tenure.

Colleagues and supervisors apparently saw nothing that would hint at the violence allegedly committed by this man. OSF Healthcare stated it was 'cooperating with authorities' following his detention, but there was no prior indication that McKee harboured any danger.

His criminal record beyond the murder charges consisted only of minor traffic-related offences—nothing that would have flagged him as a potential threat to anyone, least of all to his ex-wife and her new family.​

Remarkably, McKee also maintained family ties to Ohio. His relatives lived in the Zanesville area, and he himself had attended both undergraduate studies and medical school at Ohio State University—roots that connected him to the state where the tragedy would eventually unfold.

In his high school years at Zanesville's Bishop Rosecrans, McKee demonstrated athletic promise as a football player and earned honours recognition, according to school archives. By all measurable standards, he was a success story—a young man from small-town Ohio who had climbed into a prestigious profession.​

Michael McKee And Monique Tepe: A Fractured Marriage And An Unanswered Motive

The relationship between McKee and Monique Tepe (then Sabaturski) was brief and ultimately unremarkable by legal standards. They married on 22 August 2015 and separated just seven months later, in March 2016.

Monique initiated formal divorce proceedings in May 2017, which were finalised by June 2017 through a private judge. The stated reason? 'Incompatibility'—a common, catch-all explanation that revealed little about what actually transpired between them.​​

Court records obtained by investigators and media outlets show a remarkably straightforward dissolution. They shared no children together, which simplified the already uncomplicated proceedings.

The divorce filing included a standard mutual restraining order—standard protective language used in most divorces to prevent either party from accessing assets without court approval. Critically, court documents reveal no history of domestic violence, no contested custody battles, and no allegations of controlling behaviour or harassment.

At the time of the separation, McKee was living in Virginia, where he was completing his surgical residency, whilst Monique was based in Westerville, Ohio. Long-distance strain may well have contributed to their parting of ways, but nothing in the official record suggests acrimony or unresolved conflict.​​

Once the divorce was finalised in June 2017, the two appeared to move on entirely. There were no shared assets requiring ongoing negotiation, no children necessitating continued contact. Monique rebuilt her life successfully.

She relocated to Columbus, found work in the education sector, and eventually married Spencer Tepe in late 2020—a union that produced two young children, ages 1 and 4, both of whom were discovered physically unharmed inside the Tepes' home after the shootings.​

Yet the central question remains unanswered: what motivated McKee, nearly eight years after divorcing Monique, to travel from Chicago to Columbus and allegedly commit murder? Police identified him as a suspect through surveillance footage and vehicle tracking.

A hooded figure was captured on neighbourhood surveillance video walking through an alley near the Tepes' home between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on 30 December, around the time detectives believe the murders occurred at 3:52 a.m.

Court documents reveal that a vehicle linked to McKee arrived at the neighbourhood shortly before the killings and departed shortly after. Detectives located the car in Rockford, confirming McKee's possession of the vehicle both before and after the deaths.​

Yet beyond circumstantial evidence, the prosecution's case hinges on motive—and no clear explanation has emerged. No confessions, no eyewitnesses, no ballistic evidence recovered at the scene.

Crime experts have speculated about possible triggers: resurgent obsessive jealousy, delayed resentment over the divorce, or a sudden eruption of anger upon learning of Monique's happiness with Spencer and their young family.

Perhaps, some theorise, seeing his ex-wife thriving with a new husband and children prompted a violent psychological reckoning in McKee's mind. Yet these remain theories. What actually drove a accomplished surgeon to allegedly commit such an act remains, for now, an unanswered mystery.​​

McKee is currently held at Winnebago County Sheriff's Office in Illinois, awaiting extradition to Ohio. An extradition hearing was scheduled for 12 January 2026, and once he is transported back to Columbus, he faces a bond hearing in Franklin County Municipal Court where additional charges may be considered by a grand jury.

The case has already captivated national attention, not only for its brutality but for what it reveals about the troubling gap between public persona and private capacity for violence.

A man trusted with the care of vulnerable patients, a surgeon wielding instruments of precision and healing, now stands accused of using violence as an instrument of something far darker.

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