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

[Knox]

I believe all we know is what the BIL posted on Reddit. There were no signs of forced entry and nothing of value appeared to be missing.

Thanks, guess we wait for more details.

 

[starlightstarbright]

I don’t find the 911 timeline that odd. If he had patients starting at 8am, by 815 or so you’re trying to contact this person and shortly thereafter you’re trying to get whoever is the next point of contact. By the initial 903am 911 call, they’d exhausted all ways they could try reaching anyone by phone. 922am police go by but leave after no answer. In that 903-922 window I’m guessing the coworkers are contacting anyone they can locally as well, so those people going to the house 30ish minutes after police were unable to make contact doesn’t seem odd. Both victims attended OSU so they’ve been in the community nearly 20 years at this point, no shortage of people nearby that their circle could contact.

Thinking about this timeline, I actually wonder if the coworkers didn’t head in the direction of his home early on because the most likely expectation was that they would find he had been in a car accident en route. They probably wanted to confirm he was okay, but maybe just preoccupied dealing with all the stuff you have to deal with when you’ve had an accident. Or that he had been injured and taken to the hospital, but they would at least know because they’d see the car while driving in the opposite way.

 

[Kemug]

Thinking about this timeline, I actually wonder if the coworkers didn’t head in the direction of his home early on because the most likely expectation was that they would find he had been in a car accident en route. They probably wanted to confirm he was okay, but maybe just preoccupied dealing with all the stuff you have to deal with when you’ve had an accident. Or that he had been injured and taken to the hospital, but they would at least know because they’d see the car while driving in the opposite way.

Good point.

 

[detective.moon]

my probably far fetched thought is.. could he, as a dentist, have been involved in some business around nitrous oxide (which is popular for recreational use) or other anesthetics he would have had access to?

 

[Hexe]

I think he saw her every day when HE was going to work. She may have been bringing a little to preschool.

It's written there, quite clearly, that when the neighbor was leaving for work, Monique was doing the same - leaving for work.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Where did she work, if she did work.

I personally won't take it as fact that she worked without something more than a neighbours say so which could be an assumption on his part.

 

[Spectrix]

Where did she work, if she did work.

I personally won't take it as fact that she worked without something more than a neighbours say so which could be an assumption on his part.

Tootsie - it was mentioned that Monique had been a stay at home mum since the children were born.
I wonder, with the neighbour who saw her heading out each morning, if she may have actually been on her way to taking the daughter to kindy.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

@Spectrix

That's exactly my point.
It's only the neighbour who seems to think she goes off to work at the same time as them.
No one else has said anything other than she's a stay at home mum.

It's not me who thinks she goes to work.

 

[OhioGuy]

That’s something that I’d like to know, how did they make entry into the home, do we know? Wondering if there was a door unlocked leading to the backyard?

Was the oldest son capable of opening a door to go outside?

As far as I know, nothing has been reported on how entry was made to the home. They said a friend reported seeing a body by a bed around 10am. Nothing said whether that’s from a window or actually from inside the home. My speculation is this: By 10am, coworkers and friends have been pretty frantically trying to reach them for 90+ minutes. We know the front door has a keypad. In that 90 minutes I wonder if the degrees of separation got them from coworkers to friends/family and therefore someone who knows that code. I have family that lives 3 hours from my home and if my friends called them “we can’t get in and are very concerned. Do you know the code?” they’d be in my house in no time. I don’t think the children opened the door since at some point someone reported hearing distress from the kids inside.

For some of the other speculation relating to when the neighbor sees the wife each morning. No idea if this was the actual interaction but if a reporter asks “Do you ever see the wife?” “Yes I see her every morning going to work.” A reporter can interpret that as I see her while SHE is going to work vs I see her while I MYSELF am going to work.<modsnip: Reddit not an approved source>.

 

[tlcya]

As far as I know, nothing has been reported on how entry was made to the home. They said a friend reported seeing a body by a bed around 10am. Nothing said whether that’s from a window or actually from inside the home. My speculation is this: By 10am, coworkers and friends have been pretty frantically trying to reach them for 90+ minutes. We know the front door has a keypad. In that 90 minutes I wonder if the degrees of separation got them from coworkers to friends/family and therefore someone who knows that code. I have family that lives 3 hours from my home and if my friends called them “we can’t get in and are very concerned. Do you know the code?” they’d be in my house in no time. I don’t think the children opened the door since at some point someone reported hearing distress from the kids inside.

For some of the other speculation relating to when the neighbor sees the wife each morning. No idea if this was the actual interaction but if a reporter asks “Do you ever see the wife?” “Yes I see her every morning going to work.” A reporter can interpret that as I see her while SHE is going to work vs I see her while I MYSELF am going to work. <modsnip: Reddit not an approved source>

Welcome @OhioGuy

I agree, this every morning going to work can be interpreted several ways, hard to know the actual meaning without context around how that information was shared.

 

[OhioGuy]

A friend called the police again at 9:57 a.m. to report hearing children crying inside the house and that no one was coming to the door.
The friend allegedly told dispatchers in another 911 call that they could see Spencer’s body inside the home and “he appears dead," per the outlet.

I’m wondering if someone was able to get inside the home between those two calls.

 

[stmarysmead]

All that security - and for what?

Security is only as effective as the homeowners practices. My daughter once lived on a pretty and ‘safe’ street that was within walking distance of a higher crime area. There was a neighborhood cat that would come to visit and she delighted in letting him come in and stay for awhile.
We were FaceTiming one weekend and she opened the door for the cat but did not relock it and continued back to her kitchen chatting away. I called her on it…but complacency is easy and occasionally, tragically, deadly.

I find nothing unusual in the calls from the practice. More than one patient could have shown up, and staff would have been dealing with their displeasure.

My guess is that this was a robbery gone wrong. Not personal. Someone knew it was a Dr’s home…figured there was money or drugs…and got ‘lucky’ with an easy entry. It could have been as simple as one of the victims just opening the door after they rang the doorbell.

 

[tlcya]

after hearing the 911 call from work associate I am now less suspicious of the wording used. MOO the individual making the call probably speaks that way in general, and I sensed no distancing. I do still find it very odd the level of concern that must have existed to prompt the colleague to call even as he was on vacation. I am only assuming that Spencer was covering extra workload due to that vacation and so when he did not show, coworkers phoned vacationer as a superior to ask for direction on how to handle the unexpected absence and it was decided that that individual should make the report.

ETA and yes my use of the word individual is a bit tongue in cheek

 

[Seattle1]

1/2/26

Shooting in Columbus' Weinland Park neighborhood kills dentist, wife

Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37, were found dead at their home on North 4th Street after concerned co-workers called police.

www.dispatch.com

 

[KaylynnCouture]

Where was Monique’s body found in relation to Spencer’s? Were they in the same room?

 

[Seattle1]

Dentist, wife found fatally shot inside Ohio home; investigation ongoing

A dentist and his wife were found shot to death inside their home in Columbus, Ohio, raising questions about the circumstances surrounding their deaths.

www.wlwt.com

1/2/26

Police said there were no obvious signs of forced entry and they did not find a gun at the scene.

This is a developing story, WLWT will continue to update with more information as it comes in.

 

[TruCrimeTime]

Here’s a 911 excerpt from the friend who called regarding seeing “his body” - Not the Dr V, or at least the voice sounds like a different voice to me. What do you all think?

225K views · 1.6K reactions | Authorities are investigating the deaths of Ohio dentist Dr. Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique, who were found dead in their home while their two young children were unharmed. ABC News’ Ike Ejiochi reports. | Good Morn

Authorities are investigating the deaths of Ohio dentist Dr. Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique, who were found dead in their home while their two young children were unharmed. ABC News’ Ike Ejiochi...

www.facebook.com

If you don’t have FB, it’s an ABC National news piece from last nights National news if you’d like to Google it, I’m sure it’s available without going through FB. This is just what popped up 1st for this morning when looking for updates.

 

[maamager]

I’ll go grab pictures of the house/area later today as I am in the neighborhood.

 

[OhioGuy]

For those unfamiliar with the area, maybe this will help the mind’s eye.

High Street is the main artery for all of Columbus. 4th Street is three streets east of High. I’d consider High St & 15th Ave to be the center of where the OSU campus & off campus merge. So the home is 3 blocks east and 7 or so blocks south of the heart of campus. This can be a little confusing; the numbered AVENUES run east west while 4th STREET runs north south. So 4th St and 4th Ave intersect.

For argument’s sake let’s call the statehouse at High & Broad the center of downtown Columbus. The home is about 3 miles north of that. So between OSU and downtown.

In the immediate area of the home you’ll find a mix of undergrad & grad student renters, single family owner occupied, renters that are not students, and probably a couple Airbnb's. I’d say the vast majority of homes there are older duplexes or four plexes. It’s pretty dense urban so the safety can change block to block. 20 years ago the rule was not to go east of 4th, but that has changed. I used to live very close by and in the subsequent years I’ve had hundreds of renters across multiple properties, and never once have I had anyone complain about safety concerns and many students stay multiple years. That’s not to say it’s an A+ neighborhood, but this is definitely on the “right” side of interstate 71.

 

[LifeIsAMystery]

Where did she work, if she did work.

I personally won't take it as fact that she worked without something more than a neighbours say so which could be an assumption on his part.

BIL posted she was SAHM.