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

[Sadi]

At the end of the day, the killer is still on the loose. Someone knows something. We all grieve in different ways, but the reality is the family clearly wants more attention brought to the case so the killer can be found - rightfully so. Nothing odd, inappropriate, or a situation like Love Actually. Kids lost their Parents. Parents lost their children. Siblings lost their brother/sister. Justice needs to be served and that won’t happen until the killer is found.

Exactly. Everyone handles things in their own way and I don’t fault him for wanting to share his thoughts and feelings. The number of people who watched the video is helping to keep the situation active. Respectfully, we can see things differently and from our own perspective.

 

[manninsp]

I’m skeptical of the brother in law being so vocal and calm sounding on a public Reddit forum, if that is indeed him. That is the polar opposite of how I would be in that situation. I would be devastated and the last thing I would do is post away on Reddit. I suppose everyone is different.

You are right - everyone is different. I know a handful of people who are related and/or are super close to the family and they are all vocal on social media right now. It’s just not all public for other people to see unlike Reddit. There’s clearly a significant amount of speculation going on and theories, and the brother-in-law might just went to announce his relation when replying to such posts as he has more credible information versus some other random person on the Internet.

 

[TruCrimeTime]

The original run was dispatched at 9:10 as a 10-34 which is an unknown complaint. Most likely after the police left. Some of the friends must have made the choice to go into the residence and look around. The first officer stated he knocked on the front and the back and looked in the windows and saw nothing, but later stated after the officers came back that the back door was a 7a which means open door. This means that the back door was closed (for the first officer) but not locked( for the friends),that would explain how they saw the body on the floor. They went in looked around then retreated back out and called the police again.

Thanks for the details. When I posted this, only hours after it happened, we did not any public information, let alone access to 911 calls- which helps clarify a lot.

 

[na19]

Doors with key pads automatically lock behind you when they close. It would be easy for someone to exit a door with a key pad and have it be locked afterward. I read a theory that sounded very plausible because they were found in different parts of the house, Spencer we know on bottom floor next to bed. The theory is that she was on upper floor, and opened the door for someone and was shot first. The perp then went down and killed Spencer. Would she open the door for a stranger, if they were in need of help? IDK? If the gun had a silencer, no reports of gun shots from neighbors, Spencer would not have known she was shot upstairs or that anything was happening?

I have a door with a keypad and it doesn’t lock automatically behind me when I close it. I have to press a “lock” button.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

on these door codes so are we saying you can add many codes to it... ??? hum so if they just bought the house and they assume they are changing the codes when in fact they are just adding to it ... is this possible. so my question is when they bought the house did they change the locks completely or just change the codes... wow

He bought the house in May 2020. No idea if prior codes were deleted but it doesn’t seem that there were issues in last 5.5 years.

 

[hexicon]

Would thieves think that as dentists, the couple might have (pain killer) drugs in the home? speculation.

I think that's reasonable speculation. I don't think that the dentist would actually have a supply of Rx painkillers in the home but potential burglars might not realize that.

I live across the street from a medical doctor, and we both have alarm systems. Their house has been broken into twice despite the alarm, and mine (knock wood) hasn't been broken into. So I think some burglars may target medical professionals.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

I have a door with a keypad and it doesn’t lock automatically behind me when I close it. I have to press a “lock” button.

I think many can have a timer set to auto lock. Or the killer pressed lock when leaving.

 

[Sadi]

I have a door with a keypad and it doesn’t lock automatically behind me when I close it. I have to press a “lock” button.

This situation is making me want to get new locks.

 

[ttjo]

This situation is making me want to get new locks.

Seriously, I bought a similar one about a month ago but hadn’t installed it yet, I returned it yesterday.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I can see drug fogged thinking along the lines of:

- I always jump start my parties by popping pills. So, he must do likewise.
- I keep my convenience stash behind the TV. "Thinking" that a dentist's daily stash is there too- right next to his solid gold, living large Rolex.
- Meanwhile, his deep party stash is going to be the size of, well..... a pharmacy.

The only drawback, as @ivegotcha pointed out, is that evidently nothing was taken. I can see fuzzy logic from a violent addict leading to a belief of the presence of a pharmacy sized pill stash and an equally enticing stash of mandatory living large bling loot- he is a wealthy 'doc- right?

But... leaving with out taking any "consolation prizes" such as wallet, credit cards and grabbable jewelry?

I know we have seen many many speculators suggesting a drug-attempt robbery. Addicted personalities can will and do grab at anything.
However, i have just concluded in my mind, that this scene would have been much messier and chaotic. AndI do not believe (as yet) that LE would be holding this information back.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I know I mentioned this briefly earlier in the thread, but with the further discussion of the coded locks, I am increasingly interested in any service people they've had in the home and not just necessarily recently but over the past several months. They may have given a service person or company a separate door code and forgot to erase that code once the work with that person was finished. It would be a big risk, of course, but if you write that code down and decide to try it one night to see if it still works....

Another thought I had was I am curious what Spencer and Monique's movements were earlier in the evening. Did they go anywhere? This is a farther-fetched theory but wondering if they angered someone without realizing - cut someone off in traffic, took a parking spot someone was gunning for - and the person was so incensed that they followed them home to come back later and exact revenge. Far-fetched but can and has happened in the past. MOO

I keep thinking about this as well...
And I would suggest 'over the past several YEARS".
I don't think people change these very often if nothing has disrupted the normal life flow.

service people they've had in the home and not just necessarily recently but over the past several months

 

[nhmemorymaker]

This situation is making me want to get new locks.

ya got that right!!!!

 

[nola1721]

I swear that I recently read a post quoting the neighbor who is often out of town for work and had the Tepes pick up packages for him, but I can't find it now. Does anyone know which post/article this was? Thank you.

I believe I saw this on Reddit, in the Columbus sub, but not 100%.

 

[OhioGuy]

Different keypads will vary. I’ve removed and installed a couple dozen over the years and always change codes between residents. You can typically add and delete codes pretty easily but you would need to have the programming code to do so. Depending on the “smartness” of your lock, you can have temporary codes as well or you can grant access via an app. Ie a person may use code 1111 for everyday access to their own home but the dog walker can access via code 2222 ONLY between 10 & 11am on Friday, and the plumber last month received a one time use code of 3333.

 

[adot0902]

I had an infected tooth that needed to be extracted it was the single most painful moment of my life. I’m talking I almost went insane, I had bad thoughts I never experienced before I honestly just wanted it to end and at that moment did not care how. 2 minutes after the tooth was out and the pain stopped I was fine. But man did a dental issue cause the only moment in my life I really felt like I had no control. I say that as someone with funds to fix it, a network of dentists thanks to a unique connection and no addiction issues.
Just MOO but being denied dental care (even if it was legitimate) could push someone to absolutely crazy limits.

 

[OhioSleuth614]

From what’s being said it sounds like this densely populated area was saturated with security cameras of one type or another.
By now I would think LE has numerous videos of the culprit coming and going. That, of course, doesn’t mean the video are good enough to identify anybody, but hopefully, because there are so many cameras LE can “follow” him in a particular direction that might be helpful.
I expect this week for LE to release maybe a still shot or short video or some type of new information while asking for the public’s help. If they don’t, my thinking would be LE knows way more than we think.

Assuming they haven’t identified a suspect yet, I completely agree. I live within the area CPD is requesting video from, and it’s impossible to imagine someone walking from my house to theirs without being picked up on multiple cameras along the way. I have to believe that at a minimum they have a few video clips of the suspect. I mentioned this earlier, but CPD also narrowed the timeframe for submitted footage to between 2:00 and 5:00 a.m. (as of 01/03/25).

 

[warp3dwing]

I swear that I recently read a post quoting the neighbor who is often out of town for work and had the Tepes pick up packages for him, but I can't find it now. Does anyone know which post/article this was? Thank you.

I found it: Cbus Dispatch

Andrew Pla, who has lived next door for more than two years, said he was away in Cleveland at the time of the shooting. Pla, 28, works as a lighting designer for music festivals and concerts and said that his job requires him to travel often.

I found this quite interesting. The neighbor is frequently out of town and is so open about the absences that they share it with the world through the news.

People who work in media/audio/lighting often have expensive and quickly fence-able gear at home. Perhaps a robber mixed up the addresses and was caught off guard by unexpected occupants?

I would rate a personal, targeted attack higher than a botched robbery, but it’s possible.

Having lived in slightly nicer “up-and-coming” areas of Columbus when I was at OSU (and had property damaged or stolen), I can tell you that you’re never too far from a really quite bad part of town, full of desperate people.

 

[TIGER0822]

Doors with key pads automatically lock behind you when they close. It would be easy for someone to exit a door with a key pad and have it be locked afterward. I read a theory that sounded very plausible because they were found in different parts of the house, Spencer we know on bottom floor next to bed. The theory is that she was on upper floor, and opened the door for someone and was shot first. The perp then went down and killed Spencer. Would she open the door for a stranger, if they were in need of help? IDK? If the gun had a silencer, no reports of gun shots from neighbors, Spencer would not have known she was shot upstairs or that anything was happening?

The time line has been narrowed down to between 2am-5am. I find it hard to believe she would open the door. My first instinct would be to call my husband and figure out what to do.

 

[TIGER0822]

I found it: Cbus Dispatch



I found this quite interesting. The neighbor is frequently out of town and is so open about the absences that they share it with the world through the news.

People who work in media/audio/lighting often have expensive and quickly fence-able gear at home. Perhaps a robber mixed up the addresses and was caught off guard by unexpected occupants?

I would rate a personal, targeted attack higher than a botched robbery, but it’s possible.

Having lived in slightly nicer “up-and-coming” areas of Columbus when I was at OSU (and had property damaged or stolen), I can tell you that you’re never too far from a really quite bad part of town, full of desperate people.

I find this interesting too.

 

[KMouse]

Different keypads will vary. I’ve removed and installed a couple dozen over the years and always change codes between residents. You can typically add and delete codes pretty easily but you would need to have the programming code to do so. Depending on the “smartness” of your lock, you can have temporary codes as well or you can grant access via an app. Ie a person may use code 1111 for everyday access to their own home but the dog walker can access via code 2222 ONLY between 10 & 11am on Friday, and the plumber last month received a one time use code of 3333.

Correct. I've stayed in an AirBnB and we were given the code by the property owner. The door would lock behind us when we would exit. You can also use an app on your phone to provide a temporary code.