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

  • #3,541
Could be a handful of things, I suppose. His internalized hurt and justification only ran as deep as M & S (e.g. the children took no actions to cause his suffering)? He considered that he'd spend the rest of his life behind bars and knew the ramifications of being a "child killer"? He viewed that the ultimate pain he could inflict on M & S is them knowing that they will miss out on watching their children grow up? He gets to continuously relish in sadistic pleasure believing that he has continued "control" over the lives of the children (as an extension of M & S), having rendered them parentless? Or simply too cautious to enter the room where the children were due to possible baby monitor/surveillance evidence? All just speculation and MOO.
It takes a certain kind of evil to kill young children
 
  • #3,542
Wow, the ex-husband was no where near the top of suspects list for me. I guess when in doubt, always check into the ex.
 
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As for access to the house, I’d be stunned if they let him in so I’m writing that off pretty much entirely.

My guess is that he was obviously hell bent on doing this and maybe access simply came easier than he expected. Maybe he tried the anniversary date on the keypad and lucked out. Maybe he knows a PIN his ex wife used often. Maybe he picked the lock or used some of the techniques mentioned earlier in this thread. But I suspect if none of that worked, he may have been fine with busting a window and taking his chances.
Yeah, I generally say my home security is designed to keep out opportunistic bad actors. It’s realistically impossible to prevent someone from getting in if they are intent on doing so. The only question is how much attention they’ll attract in the process and how long they’ll have to do what they intend to do. Murder in particular is quick. It’s disconcerting.

I joke that the biggest weakness in my home security is the fact I order food delivery regularly. I’ve had both a neighbor and my landlord corner me into an unwanted conversation when I’ve gone to my door to grab food lol.

So I’m not at all surprised he was able to get in with no signs of forced entry. I’m just curious which method he used, and whether he did a practice run to test out some of these options.

Reasonably likelypossibilities I see:
-Picked the lock using methods researched in advance. Very possible. As a surgeon, he likely had the skills to figure this out and accomplish it.
-Got in through an unlocked or weakly locked window or balcony door, which aren’t uncommon, with the backup plan of just smashing a window if needed. Simple and reliable.
-Guessed the code. I don’t believe this could have been his sole plan the night of the murders, but he could have tried in advance and got lucky, or tried it with the intent of smashing a window if it didn’t work. The house was bought before they got married, so that rules out wedding anniversary and kids birthdays. I think he’d be left with trying a combination of M and S’s birthdays, or any code he knew that M used regularly when they were together.

Has there been any reliable info on whether an alarm went off? I looked into Simplisafe once, and got deterred by reviews that the alarm would erroneously go off. Maybe they didn’t set it at night and only used it when out of town.
 
  • #3,545
Everyone I ever knew who was receiving alimony lost it when they divorced. I’m not an attorney. Only speaking anecdotally..
You mean, when they remarried?
 
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Ok so he bought it. Well that shoots my theory out of the window that he took a loss.
And I thought it sold in July? you probably looked at official records and I was only going by Zillow or Redfin.
 
  • #3,548
I thought upthread someone mentioned the dog was about ten and I think the brother in law even said the dog was in the room with the kids. My thoughts are 1) it’s possible the dog doesn’t hear well at this point, my dog was that way 2) when my kids were those ages we had white noise machines. Their rooms were pretty damn loud with the intent of drowning out the noise of mom and dad moving about the house after bedtime.
Again people bringing up dogs, and your own dogs. This has nothing at all to do with this case. There has been an arrest…please stick to the facts and move on please.
 
  • #3,549
It has been reported that they both had a court ordered mutual RO.



standard mutual restraining orders in Ohio address many issues. Mostly relating to property but also includes this (just an example, not theirs):

Directly or indirectly harassing, including telephone, text, email, social media, or otherwise, annoying, interfering with, assaulting or doing bodily harm to the other spouse at his/her residence or elsewhere;

 
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I would be surprised if a divorced spouse continued to receive alimony once they remarried. Everyone I ever knew who was receiving alimony lost it when they divorced. I’m not an attorney. Only speaking anecdotally..
I did some more research. Apparently, the court entering last summer was a clerical error and was not related to the case. Something about the wrong case number number.
 
  • #3,553
  • #3,554
I did some more research. Apparently, the court entering last summer was a clerical error and was not related to the case. Something about the wrong case number number.
Wow, this case is another corn maze. 😂
 
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  • #3,555
Idk ,sideways into the heart from close range would blast the organ open so no chance of survival whereas frontal shot might only injure one ventricle/ chamber and person might survive

I'm not really up on the workings of shooting and bullet ballistics prehaps someone with more knowledge could answer it better
I’d l Ike to highlight this post now that we know the anatomical expertise of the killer.
 
  • #3,556
Wow, the ex-husband was no where near the top of suspects list for me. I guess when in doubt, always check into the ex.
I didn't think it would be the ex either.
jmo
 
  • #3,557
If it’s just about yearning for the good old days, why would he not do this earlier? After wedding? After baby #1? Why wait until 7 years later. It will be something to do with alimony or retirement funds which is why we saw movement with the divorce court file.
Maybe he was about to turn 40 and having some "feelings"? I mean it could be any trigger. It also looks like he's adopted and maybe seeing her have biological children was also a trigger. I'm sure people capable of killing people can have any old reason.
 
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He probably knew the dog if it’s 10 years old - may have lived with him before they divorced. That’s why he probably didn’t fear it.
The BIL posted online that “Larry” the golden doodle belonged to Spencer before he and Monique were married.

The BIL said that he and Spencer traveled together to Boston, MA to get the two golden doodle puppies who were litter mates.

BIL’s golden doodle passed away at 6 years old from an illness and Spencer’s dog “Larry” is currently 10 years old.
 
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