OH - Spencer and Monique Tepe found shot to death at home 2 children unharmed, Columbus, 30 December 2025 *ex-husband arrested*

[Butterscotch29]

Usually in cases where the police are this quiet early on it’s because they know who did this and they are working round the clock to gather as much as they can before they make that arrest. It’s like they’re in stealth mode.

 

[armchairagatha]

If you find it "odd" ... it is in a vacuum, not in relation to all that we have learned in this case.
It has been discussed hudreds of times--- and explained extremely well hundreds of times how medical offices operate, and more specifically how this medical office operates.

I don’t find one 911 call odd. I do find four 911 calls and 3 or 4 coworkers and friends showing up at the house odd.

 

[armchairagatha]

Good summary of events so far:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/07/us/spencer-monique-tepe-killings-timeline

 

[wibbleflea]

I don’t find one 911 call odd. I do find four 911 calls and 3 or 4 coworkers and friends showing up at the house odd.

If there'd been any news from the first 911 call (or from the wife), perhaps. But the longer the silence, the more worrying. They lived in a very nice house but it wasn't in the best or safest of areas. MT was known to not leave the house for work. They had children. I completely get the escalating panic.

 

[alexwood]

More news statement from police chief:

Columbus officer called to perform welfare check at Tepe house originally went to the wrong address, police chief says

Chief Bryant spoke Thursday afternoon for the first time about the deaths of Spencer and Monique Tepe.

www.10tv.com

Even if the officers had initially responded to the correct address, they still would not have seen anything. The bodies were on the second floor in the master bedroom. Now, maybe they would have heard the voices of the children while knocking on the front and back doors. That would have alerted them to the fact that they had to get into the house. But, by the time they went to the correct address, Spencer's co-workers had already entered the house.

 

[lg2019]

I don’t find one 911 call odd. I do find four 911 calls and 3 or 4 coworkers and friends showing up at the house odd.

I have to agree. They knew something. They were aware of some danger/threat. Esp if coworker drove from that far away- that early in the morning.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

How did the friend who found the body get into the house? TIA

 

[sunflowermomma]

I'm surprised that anyone finds this odd. He doesn't call or text. He's a dentist and has patients waiting. On that day, he's the lead dentist, with the owner away in Florida. He's responsible and known for being on time, and the people he works with find this completely out of character and inexplicable. He doesn't respond to texts or calls when it becomes obvious that he's late. His emergency contact is his wife, who also doesn't respond. And he's an hour and a quarter from the dental office. What are the options?

Also isn't the dental office an hour away from his house? If you're down one dentist you probably can't have another staff member leave to go investigate. It's the police's job to do welfare checks so it makes sense they called the police

 

[Mitch1]

i had been thinking along these same lines (if someone was an hour late for work i wouldn't just jump to the conclusion that both they and their spouse are dead/dying), but seeing comments from dental and medical professionals my mind has changed a bit. in some cases, with no call no show, it could be considered patient abandonment and the clinic risks getting in trouble. many medical clinics do have a policy to call for a welfare check if someone is no call no show. i still think everyone at this point is a suspect, but him not being just a regular desk worker does make more sense why it seemed to escalate to authorities so fast.

MOO

I'm surprised that anyone finds this odd. He doesn't call or text. He's a dentist and has patients waiting. On that day, he's the lead dentist, with the owner away in Florida. He's responsible and known for being on time, and the people he works with find this completely out of character and inexplicable. He doesn't respond to texts or calls when it becomes obvious that he's late. His emergency contact is his wife, who also doesn't respond. And he's an hour and a quarter from the dental office. What are the options?

From my understanding wasn't the office a 3 hour commute? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

If you find it "odd" ... it is in a vacuum, not in relation to all that we have learned in this case.
It has been discussed hudreds of times--- and explained extremely well hundreds of times how medical offices operate, and more specifically how this medical office operates.

Sounds like we are gonna have to agree to disagree

 

[fsngruv]

Sounds like we are gonna have to agree to disagree

Agree to disagree over the location of his dental office?

Okay.

 

[justtrish]

Doesn’t matter much to me what you do for a living, how responsible you are or what you are responsible for-I still find it very odd that you call 911 before an employee goes to the home 1st.

I recall on that first 911 call, the person did ask about accidents or things like that. I also know that Spencer worked a long distance from his home so it's unlikely anyone from his office would leave and drive the hour and a half to get to his house, when police could stop by much sooner and he was asking if there had been any accidents also. He seemed genuine and like he was not in the area, but trying to make sure an employee was okay. It's exactly the type of person I would want to work for. IMO

 

[Mitch1]

Agree to disagree over the location of his dental office?

Okay.

Works for me

 

[arielilane]

New Details Emerge in Mysterious Deaths of Ohio Dentist and Wife​

There are new questions surrounding the murders of Ohio dentist Spencer Tepe and his wife Monique after NBC News obtained audio of a 911 callback that occurred at the home eight months before the murders took place. The early morning call, which featured a woman’s voice, is adding to the growing mystery of the murders as the family tells NBC News it is “clearly not Monique’s voice.” The new details come as police continue to search for a person of interest seen in surveillance footage in the alley near the Tepe residence around the time of the murders on Dec. 30. NBC’s Erin McLaughlin reports for TODAY.

 

[calmdownjudy]

I have to agree. They knew something. They were aware of some danger/threat. Esp if coworker drove from that far away- that early in the morning.

I assume that his coworker was driving ST's route to see if ST had been in a car accident on the way to work. JMO.

 

[MesquiteO21]

I'm surprised that anyone finds this odd. He doesn't call or text. He's a dentist and has patients waiting. On that day, he's the lead dentist, with the owner away in Florida. He's responsible and known for being on time, and the people he works with find this completely out of character and inexplicable. He doesn't respond to texts or calls when it becomes obvious that he's late. His emergency contact is his wife, who also doesn't respond. And he's an hour and a quarter from the dental office. What are the options?

i think it might help for those of us not in dental/medical fields to realize that there can be serious consequences for what could be considered "patient abandonment". so this isn't just an office where if you're late/no show your co-workers have to pick up the slack; licensure and the business could really be at stake. it makes more sense it would be the boss/owner to call in and rather quickly because if it ever did come up as "patient abandonment" they'd at least have record of them taking action to show that patient abandonment wasn't the intent.

EDIT to say: i also wouldn't expect a call to 911 to explain that 'hey we're worried about possibly getting reprimanded for patient abandonment'; it's easier to just say this is completely out of character for him and he had an appointment

MOO

 

[plumloco]

How did the friend who found the body get into the house? TIA

I'm interested in knowing this also.

 

[armchairagatha]

Good summary of events so far:

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/07/us/spencer-monique-tepe-killings-timeline

The timeline is interesting. There is a good ten minutes between the time the friends arrived and the police arrived the 2nd time. Enough time for someone to dispose off the murder weapon (if it was murder-suicide). The police are tight lipped about what they have found so far so we have no idea what forensics found. But MOO, murder suicide is more likely than swingers and other wild theories people are now proposing. Hopefully the police release the investigation report once they have all the reports in. It does look like they have a theory they are working on and collecting evidence on since they don’t appear to be asking for new public help or even answering any questions about the POI.

 

[justtrish]

I'm surprised that anyone finds this odd. He doesn't call or text. He's a dentist and has patients waiting. On that day, he's the lead dentist, with the owner away in Florida. He's responsible and known for being on time, and the people he works with find this completely out of character and inexplicable. He doesn't respond to texts or calls when it becomes obvious that he's late. His emergency contact is his wife, who also doesn't respond. And he's an hour and a quarter from the dental office. What are the options?

I agree and I actually find it odd that so many think it's odd to call so soon.

Imagine you are the patient waiting for a dental procedure. You arrive at 745 for an 8am appointment and it's now 9am and you have work or some other obligation to get to at some point and nobody knows where the dentist is. It's one thing for a dentist to be running behind on patients, but a dentist who isn't even at work yet and isn't ansering a phone and neither is his wife.

What were they going to tell the patients? Sorry we will reschedule, what if he walked in 5 minutes later?

Now imagine the office is full of people that need to see that dentist and there is no other dentist to see patients in his place. The entire office is now at a standstill because patients are there and nobody can see them.

IMO

 

[wibbleflea]

i think it might help for those of us not in dental/medical fields to realize that there can be serious consequences for what could be considered "patient abandonment". so this isn't just an office where if you're late/no show your co-workers have to pick up the slack; licensure and the business could really be at stake. it makes more sense it would be the boss/owner to call in and rather quickly because if it ever did come up as "patient abandonment" they'd at least have record of them taking action to show that patient abandonment wasn't the intent.

MOO

I hadn't seen it from that point of view but it makes sense.

I have family who are medical and patient-facing and I do think it's a different kind of field even from other customer-facing work, including the things I do. People would be less alarmed if I were late for a call or client visit, but people whose job it is to look after the health of others, including performing emergency work for patients experiencing pain, are a bit different and have a different attitude. If he had a problem making it to work, his colleagues would have heard from him or his wife.

 

[alexwood]

From my understanding wasn't the office a 3 hour commute? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I think it was a 2.5 hour round-trip commute. So, 1 hr. 15 min. one way.