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

[katydid23]

It’s not so much about not showing up. It’s about calling 911 after just 1 hour. That just seems like a big decision… it’s probably nothing. But we don’t have a lot to go off of right now

Calling 911 is about asking for a wellness check.

It's not asking for lights and sirens and fire trucks. It's just saying 'there are young children in the home and the adults are not answering their phones. Can you check on the family?

 

[BryanHall]

Spencer needed to drive 1 1/2 hours to work and be in office around 8AM, so he would most likely be awake around 5am. Police narrowing in on a 2AM to 5AM timeframe to find any exterior neighborhood video surveillance. So perhaps the killer knew of Spencer's schedule? Like why enter a home occupied by wife, husband, 2 kids, and a dog and shoot the husband and wife to death? No reports of neighbors hearing gunshots or dog barking, etc., so this just seems very personal or work related to me- not some random act from criminal.

Maybe the 5AM time is based on his alarm going off and not being snoozed or stopped. Perhaps the 2 am is based on the person on camera.

 

[Kemug]

He may be 6 feet to 6’2” - he is holding his head down and slightly hunching, too. He is lean but I won’t say, emaciated. Normally thin frame as opposed to “McDonald’s husky” one.

Certainly tall, but I should think the hunching is due to the cold - it's what we tend to do when we aren't wearing enough layers.

 

[spicyenigma]

Assuming this wasn't a completely random, spur-of-the-moment, walking by and decided to murder two people, situation (which is still possible but I am leaning away from that), I am curious why THIS particular night was chosen for the crime. Was this revenge for a slight over something that happened very recently so still fresh in the killer's mind? Was the date symbolic to the killer for some reason?

Or if neither of those, why did they choose this night? It could be that due to the holidays, they believed other neighbors to not be around as they were out of town, perhaps even surveilling ahead of time? Does anyone know if the Tepes were planning to go out of town for the new year holiday, and maybe the killer felt this was their last shot for awhile? Had they tried to commit this crime other nights previously and something was off and just not feeling right, but this night felt good for them?

Just something I'm curious about. They chose a work night where Spencer was expected at work the next day (unless they were unaware he was working that day), which means his absence would be noticed pretty quickly vs. a weekend where maybe they don't have plans right away and it could be a day+ before the alarm is raised with friends/family/work.

IMO
I don’t know if this was mentioned as a possible motive yet or not but what about the possibility of an affair? Yes, they seemed over the moon about each other but of course we’ve seen this in other cases too. Could be why Spencer had more gunshot wounds and the kids were left alone?

 

[flippyflappy]

Perhaps office staff had location of Spencer's iphone and knew he was still at home. Many dental offices are using cellphones just like office phones and since the owner of dental company was on vacay in Florida, maybe Spencer was only dentist in office which would make sense for an immediate welfare check. Spencer lived 1 1/2 hours from office, so if office staff saw that around 9AM or so his phone location was still at home and he was not answering phone, definitely call 911. The office relied on dentist to be there to conduct business.

We need to give this whole "work calling 911" things unusual a rest. I'm pretty sure NOTHING could happen at the dental office without a billable provider like the dentist onsite. Is you have a full days schedule of literally thousands of dollars sitting there waiting and you can't even clean a tooth without him there, people are going to start worrying fast. Also, especially with the lead dentist offsite and on vacation they knew he would absolutely be there no matter what unless something was very wrong. Healthcare providers don't just not show up for work.

 

[katydid23]

What did the dispatchers do incorrectly in this situation? They dispatched officers who showed up at the house multiple times when they were called. There is policy that must be followed.

Did you hear the dispatchers though? Very rude and dismissive----and I am usually on their side and give them grace because it is a very hard and stressful job. But this female dispatcher was exceedingly dismissive, imo.

 

[BryanHall]

I'm not surprised it didn't wake a 4 and 1 year old. Parents have all sorts of noise control happening for kids rooms, sound machines, sleeping with stuffies, etc. There is actually studies of young kids sleeping through smoke alarms for this reason. They sleep more deeply than us adults AND parents will do anything to make sure their kids stay asleep. Which usually means white noise, insulations and more.

What I"m MORE surprised by is that a dog didn't go berserk-o about this whole thing.

Maybe the dog knew the gunman.

 

[Interested Torontonian]

had a good laugh about the 'it's a woman' chat.

it's obvious from the video it's a dude - and we didn't even need the video...

literally zero about this case contemplates a woman committing some clean gun crime murdering these people in their home while the babes are sleeping.

i get ppl like here like to say they've considered all alternatives. but come on.

 

[Knox]

I just don't buy that they would be woken up at 2:00am+ and answer a knock on the backdoor of their fenced in yard, especially when he had to be up in 4 hours, to find an old friend. Let's say they did though. Instead of a confrontation occurring elsewhere in the house, they're walked up to their master bedroom on the 3rd floor to be executed?

I think a dentist and his wife probably wore a smart watch/ring and investigators probably know whether they were shot in their sleep or woke up, went downstairs, back upstairs and were killed a brief time later. I'll put my money on them being surprised in their bedroom though.

I hadn’t thought about a smart watch showing when when a pulse ceased to be detected. If either of them were wearing one.

Could be as simple as someone heard shots in that timeframe. Who knows?

 

[katydid23]

Do we know who from his work went to the house? Wouldn't those people leaving create even more chaos into the workplace and the patients? I still think it needs some clarity, just who and why they so quickly were thinking it was so urgent. JMO

There are a lot of people working in a medical office that don't see the patients. There is usually one or two insurance billing staff. And a few assistants that help the receptionist and help with the patients. It would be easy to send one or two of those workers to do the check. It would not create chaos if one of the billing associates or dental assistants went for the drive. IMO

 

[Cryptic]

From the department of wild theories, moo, could someone have thought the house would be uninhabited for burglarizing because they were mistaken about which dentist from the practice was on vacation?

Worth considering.

But my guess is that a planned burglary of a doctor's house of meth head legend and lore would feature the perpetrator showing up with a loot bag of some sort- might be an alarm, still need to move fast- and who wants to fumble around looking for a bag on site?

Likewise, the tantalizing idea of the vacant docs house of legend and lore may require bringing an accomplice under the line of thought of:

"Splitting the loot is not fun. But I really want to do a complete and total sweep for all of the expected living large doc bling. Need two guys to do this fast and right"

 

[Knox]

Maybe the dog knew the gunman.

True, but if there are gunshots is a dog going to go beserk or crawl under the bed and hide? I know nothing about Doodles.

I think my English Bulldog would hide, but our Queensland Heeler would go apeshite.

 

[flippyflappy]

There are a lot of people working in a medical office that don't see the patients. There is usually one or two insurance billing staff. And a few assistants that help the receptionist and help with the patients. It would be easy to send one or two of those workers to do the check. It would not create chaos if one of the billing associates or dental assistants went for the drive. IMO

They literally would have to close unless there was another dentist there. Nobody could work without him present to bill under his license and supervision. It was absolutely chaos without him there, patients lining up, I'd imagine several hygienists already prepping their patients, everyone watching the clock go by. Nothing at all was happening with him not at work and their other dentist on vacation. They could have all put a closed sign/emergency on the door and left.

 

[joijoi12]

I hadn’t thought about a smart watch showing when when a pulse ceased to be detected. If either of them were wearing one.

Could be as simple as someone heard shots in that timeframe. Who knows?

I wouldn’t doubt that one of them had some sort of smart watch or fitness tracker on. My Fitbit is spot on with sleep tracking, heart rate etc.

I do think that investigators are strategically holding details to themselves, so I hope that the video brings them some leads.

 

[getthefax]

Did you hear the dispatchers though? Very rude and dismissive----and I am usually on their side and give them grace because it is a very hard and stressful job. But this female dispatcher was exceedingly dismissive, imo.

Pretty sure it is going to go down as one of the terrible days of her professional life, as the tape will be replayed, and scrutinized, and critiqued, and exposed to the light of day, in perpetuity. At least through trial, if/when we get there.

 

[Cryptic]

Or they may simply refuse to help financially .

Which could still trigger a rage reaction. Say, cousin lucked out big time, has money to help. But has gone "uppity" and is refusing to assist her dear old.... .

 

[kwins]

Responding to you but multiple people have mentioned silencers. They are rarely used in crimes, and up until recently (law went into effect on January, 1) were a complete pain to get. They required a $200 tax stamp, and the wait was many months until the paperwork was processed.

They also don't function at all like they do in that movies (that high-pitched "pew pew" sound.

Here's a chart with the decibel level of a 9mm handgun, without a suppressor and with one.

I think people just didn't hear it (it would be super loud inside the house but not outside), or they wrote it off.

~157–167 dB

~125–134 dB

~30–34 dB

That's been done in quite a few cases (police wind up find strange fragments from whatever the hell they build those things with), but my point is that even with a real suppressor it would still be loud as hell in that house.

It's entirely possible (if not very likely) they did wake up, but probably fell back asleep.

But a suppressor isn't going to change the kid's reactions.

I've often thought about the very real possibility that the children were startled awake by the gun firing. I remember my own children being startled awake during a loud lightning strike and having to comfort them. It's incredibly sad to think those children were scared, crying, and had no one to comfort them. I wonder if a suppressor with a subsonic was used? Although it would still be loud. I hope whoever did this now has an incurable case of tinnitus.

 

[Kemug]

I mention this because that would be another reason to go to the bedroom. To steal small, easy to pass valuables. (Watches, wallets, jewelry, these days phones, tablets). Shot because Monique woke up and was shot, Spencer started to get up was wounded, then a final, fatal shot (why he was on the floor).

RSBM
This paragraph triggered a thought in me. It is (or at least it used to be) anecdotally a well-known fact that mothers sleep "with one ear open", to hear any noise from their young children. So it may well be that Monique heard something and woke first.

 

[Kemug]

Ok just showed her. She said she hadn’t noticed the boots at first, and had assumed they were hiking style sneakers. But now that you mention it, as he passes the camera and is walking away, you can see that they have a bit of a heel. Almost like a square toed cowboy boot with the jeans outside the boot. She said college boys at OSU “would never.” Haha. This confirmed her initial impression that this is a man in his 30s.

So the same sort of age as the victims?

 

[avalonisland]

From the department of wild theories, moo, could someone have thought the house would be uninhabited for burglarizing because they were mistaken about which dentist from the practice was on vacation? I don't personally believe this is very likely, but people have made, imo, dumber mistakes.

ST lived 1 1/2 hours from dental practice and had wife, 2 little kids, and dog at home. Clearly to me the killer would get some alert that someone occupied the Tepe home at time of murders. I think it's unusual for a dentist to work 1 1/2 hours from office- that's 3 hours commute time per day. I wonder if there is any connection with former office? Or if family had plans to move closer to current office?