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

[Speculaytor]

Modsnip- original post moved
woah I found this SUPER interesting but saw a comment on the thread that someone was not finding the same results as the op had posted on x, so I checked google trend results and right now on december 29th, there was 1 search for monique tepe and 2 searches for spencer tepe. not sure how much to read into it as the perp likely wouldn't look them up until after the murders (unless searching for address or something) so could be suspicious or could be normal google searches unrelated to the murders

EDIT FOR CLARIFICATION: I believe the numbers of '1' and '2' signify a score on the interest over time index and so are a value assigned to relative number of web search interest that day as opposed to exactly 1 to 2 searches, so could be a different number of actual searches. I feel like likely not less as 0 searches would not indicate any spike in trend data but admittedly I don't understand the exact scale used

I saw this too, and was able to get the same results as you, but now I cannot recreate it. Now I can't get it to show any on the 29th, or individual time stamps on the 29th, everything is the 30th and onward.

I saw a post on X claiming data for Monique, but data for Spencer was blocked, so I went and did my own inquest. I found what you found, and was startled. I ALSO saw that the searches on the 29th for Monique were Ohio ONLY, but for Spencer it included PA, VI, and I believe MI as well as Ohio, I think there was even WA in the mix. I found that interesting too.

I read that the number represents a relative percentage compared to the 100% peak viewing time, if I understand it correctly; it is NOT the absolute number of people searching. I find this data VERY interesting, that there is little to no interest until just hours before the murders?

 

[tlcya]

This doesn't sound like someone hopped up on drugs

People in Columbus are worried and concerned. I would think the police would make some effort to answer a few questions to either alert the public to danger or calm them down.

I respectfully disagree that the local police owe the public nothing. We pay their salaries, they work us. They are public servants. They could stand up and make a few public statements like would be the case in most other communities when tragedy strikes.

I didn't say LE owe us nothing. They owe us their best efforts in solving this crime. I said they don't owe us pressers on demand and that remains MOO

 

[lg2019]

I’m starting to suspect that the dentist office was aware of something, either someone staying with them who may have not been a safe person to be around or was aware of some situation going on with Spencer. Considering that one of the callers said “no one living in that house answered” and the extreme worry the dentist had at no one answering.

 

[OhioGuy]

This has occurred to me as well. That walk from the garage to the house, that fence that anyone could scale, are vulnerabilities that would keep me from buying/renting that house. Someone could be just sitting in the dark, doing drugs, whatever….and surprise anyone exiting that garage.

But if the victims were found in their bedroom, the Dr near his bed… I think that rules out that kind of scenario. I don’t think the killer would force them to upstairs to their bedroom at gunpoint or downstairs for that matter. . Why bother?

Unless they were looking for something specific, something they believed might be in the Master bedroom, like a safe. Likewise, I wonder how anyone could say so immediately that nothing was taken. Thinking of our home, if my husband were out of town, I doubt he could accurately come home and make such an immediate appraisal. He sometimes asks me “When did you buy that?” about something we have owned for 10 years. If the house looks tidy and the TVs are still on the walls does not mean that nothing was taken.

I wonder if the “nothing was taken” belief comes from things that would be of obvious value still being in the home. Just an example but if a wallet and purse with cash are sitting in plain sight on the counter and a diamond wedding ring is on the sink, that would make robbery an unlikely motive since anyone could grab those items with next to zero time and effort spent.

 

[Fromeaster]

I think he must have been watching their house anyway and waiting for them to turn off the lights and go to sleep. So he could attack them unexpectedly. Reminds me of Idaho4.

 

[KaylynnCouture]

I wonder if the “nothing was taken” belief comes from things that would be of obvious value still being in the home. Just an example but if a wallet and purse with cash are sitting in plain sight on the counter and a diamond wedding ring is on the sink, that would make robbery an unlikely motive since anyone could grab those items with next to zero time and effort spent.

100% agree. But then I also wonder if maybe robbery was the motive and the suspect was looking for something very specific that he found and took with them. Something that wouldn’t ordinarily stick out as being missing.

 

[KaylynnCouture]

I think he must have been watching their house anyway and waiting for them to turn off the lights and go to sleep. So he could attack them unexpectedly. Reminds me of Idaho4.

Either that or he was already in the house. This is why I posted a few days ago about how they spent the day before the murders being important.

 

[steeltowngirl]

I saw this too, and was able to get the same results as you, but now I cannot recreate it. Now I can't get it to show any on the 29th, or individual time stamps on the 29th, everything is the 30th and onward.

I saw a post on X claiming data for Monique, but data for Spencer was blocked, so I went and did my own inquest. I found what you found, and was startled. I ALSO saw that the searches on the 29th for Monique were Ohio ONLY, but for Spencer it included PA, VI, and I believe MI as well as Ohio, I think there was even WA in the mix. I found that interesting too.

I read that the number represents a relative percentage compared to the 100% peak viewing time, if I understand it correctly; it is NOT the absolute number of people searching. I find this data VERY interesting, that there is little to no interest until just hours before the murders?

Could the Google search timestamps be related to the location of proxy web servers in a different time zone? Just standard computer time clock variances between browsers and internet providers?

 

[Fromeaster]

Either that or he was already in the house. This is why I posted a few days ago about how they spent the day before the murders being important.

It could be, but my psyche refuses to accept it, it's too scary if he was hiding in the house, I don't really believe it. And now I'm starting to think that he broke in through the window so that the door camera wouldn't show him.

 

[Cassie P]

As an employer, there are some folks I would call 911 by an hour and other folks I would never even if I didn’t hear from them again. I think we usually know our coworkers/workers well enough to know who would never be late without a word and who just flakes a lot

An employee is late one hour, would you immediately assume foul play and call 911? And rush to the home to check it out? Would you consider first perhaps a car accident or serious family emergency?

 

[Justice101]

In one of the local media stories I saw this past week, it was stated that there were police stationed outside a couple of relatives houses as a precaution.

I wonder if the family had come forward and said a relative might have been involved.

My thoughts are that since that was a renovated house, the security doors, windows etc would not be easy to gain entry and that this also leads to the person being let in on purpose.

My main questions at this point are: 1) Was there also a theft that took place which might indicate someone other than a friend or relative responsible and 2) Did the couple use a handyman or gardener etc that might have come over for payment or a complaint?

This sure doesn't look like a home invasion.

 

[Covert Operative]

I agree. An employee who is an hour or two late for work is not typically a police matter unless the caller supplies legitimate reasons for police intervention.

If it is a dentist that is late and they have patients waiting in chairs for them it may cause coworkers to think something is wrong. He might have usually been a little early to work so it raised a flag. I agree a couple hours late may not normally rise to police intervention with a lot/most jobs.

 

[Justice101]

It's a good rule of thumb is certain types of cases, especially missing persons ones. If you're not seeing press conferences/releases on a regular basis, then you know they've probably got someone in their sights.

It doesn't seem to apply as much with cases like this, but I'm still leaning towards them being on the right track. It's not like this occurred in the middle of nowhere, where they don't have things like cameras and license plate readers.

Here they have that, and likely tips, assuming this was in fact targeted.

I am thinking like you: Between the police camera on the corner, the ring camera on their door and the numerous ring cameras around the neighborhood, they have got to have a lot of video of someone.

The person might have been totally on foot or had a mask on, and they are searching wider and wider video of where they came from or a car they came from.

My guess is they have something on video and they are trying to establish the identity of the suspect and there will be an arrest by Friday.

 

[wibbleflea]

An employee is late one hour, would you immediately assume foul play and call 911? And rush to the home to check it out? Would you consider first perhaps a car accident or serious family emergency?

If the employee were a dentist who’d missed patient appointments without notice, wasn’t answering his phone, hadn’t called or texted and whose wife was his emergency contact and she also wasn’t answering the phone? I’d assume something serious, unless (and I can’t even imagine this of a working, clinical, medical professional) the employee was known to do this.

 

[Covert Operative]

In one of the local media stories I saw this past week, it was stated that there were police stationed outside a couple of relatives houses as a precaution.

I wonder if the family had come forward and said a relative might have been involved.

My thoughts are that since that was a renovated house, the security doors, windows etc would not be easy to gain entry and that this also leads to the person being let in on purpose.

My main questions at this point are: 1) Was there also a theft that took place which might indicate someone other than a friend or relative responsible and 2) Did the couple use a handyman or gardener etc that might have come over for payment or a complaint?

This sure doesn't look like a home invasion.

If there was a basement/window as it is being said, I think sometimes homeowners may ignore those windows to check if they are locked or unlocked. I also had wondered if they had any people in the house doing work that could have gone and unlocked the basement window without them knowing. Not sure what kind of windows they had.
Maybe he slept down there during his work times not to wake anyone else up or not to get woken up during the nights when he had to work the next day. He could have heard something and went down there. They may have had a bed in that area for themselves or others to sleep on if they had visitors. Might have been a dual purpose room. It does seem if he had come across an intruder that the intruder would have left then and not bothered to go shoot the wife also.

 

[Justice101]

I feel the houses being in such close proximity, and cameras in the neighborhood, the perp most likely was someone they knew. They gained access either by being let in or by knowing the house lay out well enough to get in without being noticed. That many gun shots with the houses that close could mean a silencer was used. How did the Perp leave without being seen? My area has many people walking and jogging all hours of the night. Hopefully the cameras in the area will give good answers.

The perpetrator was most likely seen on camera and that is more important than eye witness.

But I would think someone might have thought the gunshots (if not muffled by a silencer) were instead fireworks on the late night of Dec 29th.

 

[stmarysmead]

An employee is late one hour, would you immediately assume foul play and call 911? And rush to the home to check it out? Would you consider first perhaps a car accident or serious family emergency?

It’s past eight AM. Patients are waiting. More are arriving. The employee is not answering his cell. This behavior is way, way unusual for him. That’s a big factor.

If I know he has a stay-at-home wife and 2 very young children, next step, I call the house…no answer. I call HER cell phone, no answer. Where would she be at 8am with those babies?

Did they have an emergency…but wouldn’t one of them have sent a quick text? Remember, the professional welfare and reputation of everyone in that office depends on the Drs being there to service the patients. Patients have choices. This is not a job where someone can step in for you at a moments notice. I’d be furious if staff just sat there and said…’Who knows, just wait.”

There are several things in play here IMO. For those disappointed, perhaps irate patients, I’m trying to give them answers. I certainly do not want to just shrug it off and just act like this is how we run this practice. There’s so,e damage protection for the practice as an undercurrent.

And if this is someone that I know and care about, yes, I am very concerned. Yes, I make the call. I would prefer to look the fool because doing this welfare check is an indicator of how much I actually do care. We can laugh at my paranoia later but I would never forgive myself if there were lives to be saved, and I just blew it off.

How long might those babies have remained in that house, hungry, uncared for, with the bodies of their parents, if not for these caring people following their instincts and intervening?

 

[Fromeaster]

Instead of looking suspicious that the boss called 911, we should be happy because the children would be locked up with two murdered bodies even longer.

 

[Sevenwilliams]

Just drove past the house on my way home from work. Not much to add,

Is it common for the Columbus police to refuse to do a press conference when a local crime makes the national news?

Yes,remember they have no obligation to update the public. What is concerning is that we have this killer on the loose and they're kinda down playing it.

 

[TMich6811]

I didn't say LE owe us nothing. They owe us their best efforts in solving this crime. I said they don't owe us pressers on demand and that remains MOO

I agree, just enough to know there isn’t a need for fear or that they are doing what they should.

I’m trying to think of some good recent examples. Melodee maybe?