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

[StarryStarryNight]

This thread is just flying!
I can’t keep up and frankly I don’t think we know anymore than we did at the beginning.

 

[LKN NC]

The bedroom door did have to be broken down. It was locked. That was the quickest way to get in at that time.

As for the back door to the house, I believe it has been posted, on this thread somewhere, that the back door was either ajar, or that someone had a code to get in. I have never seen that anywhere in MSM, so can't confirm it.

Was it confirmed the bedroom door was broken down by the friends? Most interior doors have tiny keys that rest above door frames. Also, they can be picked open fairly quickly. Not being combative, just asking for clarity.
I would want to get into the room if I thought someone may be hurt or in need of help, but I would not break down a door without accessing if there was another way to open.

 

[getthefax]

Just getting rid of the gun would not change the rest of the forensic evidence pointing to how the crime was committed. So if someone tried to stage the crime to protect the Tepes only by removing the weapon, it would be easily discovered once forensic data came in.

If the police believe it is a M/S why ask the public for help, why release a POI video, etc.

Hear, hear!! Unless there's evidence to suggest otherwise, we should be operating under the straightforward assumption that a third person entered the home and did the shooting.

 

[MesquiteO21]

Most healthcare professionals are responsible and show up for work on time. But emergencies occur which may result in being a bit late. This is not TERMINATING a patient's care.

If you are in the healthcare field, have you heard of any healthcare related professional subjected to state of Ohio licensing board action for being late to work one time?

Ohio licensing boards are strict, but I have never heard of this happening to any medical professional.

I am willing to give the dentistry field a pass on what looks to be odd behavior. But the twists and turns to defend the behavior is puzzling to me.

As we have witnessed in other aspects of this case, the more people try to explain things, the more puzzling it looks.

i can see it (especially from a boss/owner prospective) being considered harmful patient abandonment if the appointment was for something rather serious. Doesn't matter if it was just this one time, if the person needed to be prescribed something, no one else in the office would've been able to write a prescription and it could be a big deal that would cause harm and/or significant trouble for the patient to then find an emergency dentist. Dentists don't do cleanings, so it's not like it was just an inconvenience for the patient missing a regular old cleaning that they would need to reschedule. I'm struggling to see how people can't understand that this would escalate concern and action, especially from the owner

it's also the no call + no show together plus not hearing from his emergency contact (wife). It's not like they were expecting him at 8 and they called 911 at 8:05. they hadn't heard ANYTHING by 9, a half hour after the appointment was supposed to start -- that's serious.

MOO

 

[Cassie P]

Perhaps. But without a weapon at the scene?

Hopefully LE doesn't make a firm decision based on only one piece of initial evidence at the crime scene.

But sometimes LE does exactly this. It is called threshold bias. The police form an opinion the minute they step over the threshold of the crime scene site and never budge from that viewpoint despite a great deal of contrary evidence.

 

[worm]

They haven’t asked for help or released any new videos for the past few days. It may have taken a couple of days to get that initial forensic data.

It may be that they are in good shape with the investigation. This is always the frustrating part of following these cases.

 

[LKN NC]

I agree and I actually find it odd that so many think it's odd to call so soon.

Imagine you are the patient waiting for a dental procedure. You arrive at 745 for an 8am appointment and it's now 9am and you have work or some other obligation to get to at some point and nobody knows where the dentist is. It's one thing for a dentist to be running behind on patients, but a dentist who isn't even at work yet and isn't ansering a phone and neither is his wife.

What were they going to tell the patients? Sorry we will reschedule, what if he walked in 5 minutes later?

Now imagine the office is full of people that need to see that dentist and there is no other dentist to see patients in his place. The entire office is now at a standstill because patients are there and nobody can see them.

IMO

I agree with you.

I don’t think it was weird to call for a wellness check. They only asked for someone to check on them.

Several fam members of mine work in the dental field. They are extremely close. Recently, the dentist called me (I have never met or spoken with them) to check in on my fam member who was hospitalized. They had just spoken to the fam member the night before and knew they were going to be in the hospital. I did not see it as an overreach, they just work closely together. The person has only worked there one year and they already act like family. Without a doubt, if my family member had not show up to work, they would call me and/or send someone to check on her- even police.

Many states prohibit what dental hygienist and other staff can do unless a dentist is physically present. I do not know all of the laws of the state or how many dentists were present, but dental practices rely often on the entire team. It would be a noticeable disruption for a dentist to just no show.

 

[lg2019]

It may be that they are in good shape with the investigation. This is always the frustrating part of following these cases.

It doesn’t sound like they are based on what cpd just said

 

[wibbleflea]

This thread is just flying!
I can’t keep up and frankly I don’t think we know anymore than we did at the beginning.

Made me laugh. You’re right!

 

[keek]

I agree with you.

I don’t think it was weird to call for a wellness check. They only asked for someone to check on them.

Several fam members of mine work in the dental field. They are extremely close. Recently, the dentist called me (I have never met or spoken with them) to check in on my fam member who was hospitalized. They had just spoken to the fam member the night before and knew they were going to be in the hospital. I did not see it as an overreach, they just work closely together. The person has only worked there one year and they already act like family. Without a doubt, if my family member had not show up to work, they would call me and/or send someone to check on her- even police.

Many states prohibit what dental hygienist and other staff can do unless a dentist is physically present. I do not know all of the laws of the state or how many dentists were present, but dental practices rely often on the entire team. It would be a noticeable disruption for a dentist to just no show.

The thing is, people are not realizing that this small group are ALSO friends. That was apparent to me right off. It's a practice, similar ages, you get close, you sometimes socialize outside the office. ANY office I've worked in we were friends with at least SOME, good friends, confidants.. These are guys and their buddy seems to be in trouble. IMO

 

[ttjo]

The thing is, people are not realizing that this small group are ALSO friends. That was apparent to me right off. It's a practice, similar ages, you get close, you sometimes socialize outside the office. ANY office I've worked in we were friends with at least SOME, good friends, confidants.. These are guys and their buddy seems to be in trouble. IMO

And there was a reason, for that response. now that we know the police went to the wrong address, and did they say they were going to do any follow up?
It makes more sense why others came out. They may have felt like they got a lack of response from cops, ( if they didnt say they’d follow up) a cranky 911 girl, the boss is on vacation in Florida, workers are an hour a way, so let’s call friends in the area. It will come together even more, once there’s more info…

 

[Cassie P]

It doesn’t sound like they are based on what cpd just said

I only saw part of the news story just now. Cbus LE said they went to the wrong house initially? What else did they say?

 

[stmichael]

The bedroom door did have to be broken down. It was locked. That was the quickest way to get in at that time.

As for the back door to the house, I believe it has been posted, on this thread somewhere, that the back door was either ajar, or that someone had a code to get in. I have never seen that anywhere in MSM, so can't confirm it.

This is pure speculation. In carefully perusing all sources for this case I have not seen one official mention of the door being broken down or that any door was ajar. None. Please provide a link.

There was the 911 call where one of their friends said they can't get in and told the 911 operator they didn't know if they should break the door down etc. We have no idea if they did.

There is also the followup 911 call that states they see Spencer laying next to his bed in a pool of blood, but they can't get any closer to see more. We have no idea or no concrete source as to where they were or how they saw this. There's been speculation of a ladder, the friend having access to the house, etc. Nothing confirmed or cited at all.

These are genuinely curious and key components of this case that have not been confirmed yet or elaborated.

 

[flippyflappy]

You make great points! It also reminds me, many dental procedures like extractions, crowns and root canals are paid mostly up front, require insurance approval and involve more than one visit or are hours long. I'm also sure insurance requires things to be done in a certain manner/time period. Also, people fear the dentist, it's hard for patients to jump from dentist to dentist and I think insurance companies require the dentist who started the work on a claim to be the one who finishes it unless it's a referral? I'm really not sure, but at any rate, I can see why the people in the office were so concerned. Maybe it points to guilt but maybe not.

I've mentioned this before, but literally NOTHING else can happen is the dentist is not there. They can't even bill for cleaning teeth if he's not there as everything is billed under the dentist's license in most states. So not only were they waiting on his procedure patients, but the entire office couldn't function without him. Which is like thousands of dollars. I'm sure it was chaos between patients and staff as the inches ticked by. Patients probably angry about their wasted time and the staff panicking that they are all there to work and can't do so. They had to know immediately something as very wrong.

 

[alexwood]

This is pure speculation. In carefully perusing all sources for this case I have not seen one official mention of the door being broken down or that any door was ajar. None. Please provide a link.

There was the 911 call where one of their friends said they can't get in and told the 911 operator they didn't know if they should break the door down etc. We have no idea if they did.

There is also the followup 911 call that states they see Spencer laying next to his bed in a pool of blood, but they can't get any closer to see more. We have no idea or no concrete source as to where they were or how they saw this. There's been speculation of a ladder, the friend having access to the house, etc. Nothing confirmed or cited at all.

These are genuinely curious and key components of this case that have not been confirmed yet or elaborated.

This is true. We know very little.

 

[Mayor Perk]

After today's press conference, I'm not at all confident a quick arrest is coming anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong but I am starting to think this is a longtime vendetta or feud that maybe the Tepe's weren't even fully aware of. It's starting to remind me of Liz Barraza's murder.

 

[PGHJW]

A lot of people in various forums are latching on to the words from the police tonight as "they don't have anything!"

Honestly, that's a bunch of sick wishful thinking from folks who are following this for the wrong reasons. I don't have to describe those people.

Basically nothing has still been said and as we get deeper into this that only cements it to me more that there is a ton going on.

People will always look out for what they want, even if it's entertainment at the expense of finding justice for murder victims.

 

[stmichael]

Just getting rid of the gun would not change the rest of the forensic evidence pointing to how the crime was committed. So if someone tried to stage the crime to protect the Tepes only by removing the weapon, it would be easily discovered once forensic data came in.

If the police believe it is a M/S why ask the public for help, why release a POI video, etc.

This would people please listen to the many posts explaining this. M/S would be easily excluded even without a gun.

They would test victims for Gun Shot Residue. If either fired a weapon (and someone removed it later from the crime scene in this far-fetched scenario) they would have GSR on their hands.

They would get trajectory rods, a laser, etc and reconstruct where the shots entered and exited, what angle and approx. distance they were fired. Blood spatter and blood pooling. If they know that Spencer and Monique were both shot in bed (exit wounds and blood spatter into the mattress) and laying prone while shot how would that be a M/S??? They know all this. This is 1970s level basic crime scene forensics.

 

[ttjo]

And I think there are only 3 dentists in that office according to their website, one was on vacation and the other is MIA, that left one dentist . I can see the mayhem that might cause.

 

[Izzylizzy]

I agree with you.

I don’t think it was weird to call for a wellness check. They only asked for someone to check on them.

Several fam members of mine work in the dental field. They are extremely close. Recently, the dentist called me (I have never met or spoken with them) to check in on my fam member who was hospitalized. They had just spoken to the fam member the night before and knew they were going to be in the hospital. I did not see it as an overreach, they just work closely together. The person has only worked there one year and they already act like family. Without a doubt, if my family member had not show up to work, they would call me and/or send someone to check on her- even police.

Many states prohibit what dental hygienist and other staff can do unless a dentist is physically present. I do not know all of the laws of the state or how many dentists were present, but dental practices rely often on the entire team. It would be a noticeable disruption for a dentist to just no show.

I'm curious how much having patients waiting for ST by 9am and the rest of his day's schedule played into calling after an hour?
There's a lot of patient involvement with him not showing any if patients are in the process of dental implants then that can create another problem of timing.
Implants can be very involved taking quite a few visits.
IIRC: the owner was in Florida and there was one other dentist in the practice and was he scheduled to work that day?
imo