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

[Izzylizzy]

All it takes is that one tip that leads you to the perp but if you have 100 tips, it may be tip number 99.
So she is correct, it takes patience.
jmo

The Chief should have gotten ahead of this and didn't.
That said maybe she had the little presser today because an arrest is imminent.
I highly doubt she ever would have said they have a suspect if indeed they did.

 

[waldojabba]

I don’t think they were soliciting more tips from the public? That seems to indicate they already have enough to work on. JMO.

I think it was implied - if you see something say something - She mentioned even if it was not on the same day etc. I listenend quickly but that was my impression that they were definitely still open to information and continue to canvas and follow all leads
But we all hear and see things in different ways -
JMO

 

[Cassie P]

It doesn't give me a lot of confidence that they started out the press conference by acknowledging that their officer went to the wrong house for a well being check.
Then another 40 minutes goes by until the coworker's arrive at the house. Serious blunder right there. Although I do appreciate that LE owned up to it.

They do not have a suspect they have identified.

Basically they are working the case...so altho I think it will be solved, right now it doesn't appear imminent.

JMO

Yes it doesn't sound like they have much right now.

 

[armchairagatha]

The Chief should have gotten ahead of this and didn't.
That said maybe she had the little presser today because an arrest is imminent.
I highly doubt she ever would have said they have a suspect if indeed they did.

This didn’t appear to be a press conference initiated by the Police. This was the news station inviting them to give an update on the case.

 

[Cassie P]

All it takes is that one tip that leads you to the perp but if you have 100 tips, it may be tip number 99.
So she is correct, it takes patience.
jmo

edit to add - I would have liked to hear that they have called in some people form other departments etc to help review video footage but there was not mention of that

They also seemed to side step the local safety issue - if I were a neighbor that would not make me feel secure in the least. And actually since they have no suspects they cannot assure anyone locally that there is not a threat. But .. the ususally say it any -

Yes it was a disappointing press conference.

 

[Izzylizzy]

This didn’t appear to be a press conference initiated by the Police. This was the news station inviting them to give an update on the case.

Six in one half dozen in the other.
For all we know the Chief set it up.
What we do know is if the Chief wasn't prepared to talk she wouldn't have done it.
imo

 

[Kemug]

I live in a city - not Columbus. On the ring app in our city, I’ve seen a lot of posts lately about people coming at 2-3am and checking front doors to see if they’re locked - even in decent neighborhoods. It sounds like the Tepes had a keypad front door, and I’ve had those in the past and they can be tricky. If you didn’t shut the door right, it wouldn’t lock. It makes me wonder if this was sort of stranger after all who just happened to find an unlocked door.

IIRC (can't guarantee it!) a few decades ago in my city, there were a few cases over several years where someone would try the back door in the middle of the night. And if open, take a child, or attempt to. Horrific. Sorry I can't remember more.

 

[acutename]

has this been posted yet? possible wifi issue between 2-5am for neighbors of the Tepes:

Columbus police looking to identify person of interest in deaths of Weinland Park couple

Police released new surveillance video on Monday, which shows a person walking through an alley near the home.

www.10tv.com

"Neighbor Eddie Zhang, who lives down the street from the Tepes, said he was shocked when he learned about the killings.
“They were very welcoming when I first moved in,” Zhang said.
Zhang said he did not hear anything unusual the night of the shooting.
“I did not hear anything, I was asleep,” he said. “I will say these houses are really well made. A lot of times I don’t hear what’s going on in the outdoors.”
Zhang said he has security cameras at the front and back of his home, but they were not recording between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Dec. 30, the time frame investigators believe the shootings occurred."

"several of the neighbors I have spoken with in this area told me they do have cameras but they weren't working at the time" reporter then says a couple of the cameras just weren't charged, but other neighbors' cameras did not record and they weren't aware. Even if not something as nefarious as a wifi jam, it's interesting that neighbors have spoken up and relayed their cameras weren't working, makes sense why there isn't better footage of a POI. Could have been an unlucky glitch of service or something too

or maybe they are motion activated and did not record anything because the suspect did not go close enough to their systems? 3-5 a.m. .... maybe not the person in the alley; maybe the person had a car and drove away.

 

[Izzylizzy]

This didn’t appear to be a press conference initiated by the Police. This was the news station inviting them to give an update on the case.

Thinking about this more it seems like a friendly little sit-down like having the chief talk about their latest program to keep kids off the street.
The seriousness of this tragedy got lost and I'm almost positive the questions were vetted before it was set up.

 

[Charlot123]

Apparently they were fans of the show Friends, because they put a few references to it in the wedding. It seems a bit cringe afterwards, although they likely didn't intend to be judged by the general public.

It shouldn't be too hard for the police to find out who had access to the door code, even better if there were multiple codes. I don't think they would give the code to just any guest or worker. People who did not have this type of access (e.g. disgruntled strangers) could be off the hook.

I am not surprised that they liked the show. I know people who emulated the heroes, either as a quick way to receive some answers or just because they were modern. IMO, it usually complicated matters instead of simplifying them, but there are always exceptions to the rule, of course.

It should be easy to guess the code unless the person is from old past, and then it should be his past, because he lived in the house before they were married.

 

[wibbleflea]

All it takes is that one tip that leads you to the perp but if you have 100 tips, it may be tip number 99.

Of course. If just the right tip comes in at some point, case closed. But what I was talking about was the possibility that what they had worked through so far had them feeling confident, even if there were some loose ends remaining. That’s what I was looking for and didn’t detect from the language used.

Others here do seem more positive than me, though!

 

[airportwoman]

This is probably the longest I've seen a single thread go on Websleuths before it was closed and a second one started, just sayin'.

 

[Izzylizzy]

"There is a lot of chatter on the internet...and much of what you read is just not factual"

- Assistant Chief Greg Bodker

That's a given in any high profile case but tucked within all that chatter could be the little nugget they need or missed.

 

[OhioGuy]

How did the police go to the wrong house?
Did the dispatcher get or give the wrong address?

Purely speculation but their home is essentially on the corner of 4th Street and 8th Avenue. If you were to go four blocks south, you’re at the corner of 4th Avenue and 4th Street. I could see that being a common mix up; the 1400 block of 4th Ave would be pretty far east though.

 

[Kemug]

There's been a lot of crime within walking distance of the Tepe's home within the last few years, including murders. There's been a string of burglaries in the area recently. The park down the street is know for drug activity (confirmed by neighbors quotes) and an 8 year old was shot there while the Tepe's were living there (imagine, they were raising their young daughter at the time. Oh, yeah an 8 year old was shot at the park). A neighbor interviewed says he "hears gun shots all the time". I listed a more comprehensive write up of all this with links 2 pages back. So yes a random crime is very much on the radar IMO. I still don't get the glossing over of these factual crimes in this small area which indicate a higher probability of such incidents.

So if I happened to be a statistician, which I'm not, maybe I could calculate that anyone who moves into this area now has an x% possibility of becoming a crime victim. Sorry realtors!

 

[Voidz]

I might be overly optimistic, but I got the feeling that they know who it is. They're just collecting evidence and making sure ducks are in a row before they act. JMO.

I agree - they also don’t want to alert someone who they are surveilling/ watching - - so they feel comfortable enough to keep talking etc

 

[Voidz]

How did the police go to the wrong house?
Did the dispatcher get or give the wrong address?

based on how unprofessional they were on the phone; it would not surprise me

 

[Deepinthought52]

@Sadi I understood what you meant. Spencer's three gunshot wounds compared to Monique's one? Which is why I brought the Delphi victim's up. One cut once, the other cut at least three times. They never determined in the Delphi case that one was a target over the other. I think one was more of a threat, bigger and stronger, and that is why she sustained more injuries. That could be the same in regards to this crime.

Apparently she was shot in the chest. I hate to ask this, but I wonder if over heart and if that had meaning to the shooter

 

[wibbleflea]

Uninterrupted presser

A quick note to say that this one, posted by @Izzylizzy, is the one to watch. There’s another, posted just above it and presumably recorded on the same day, that feels like a quiet interview with one station. There are two different videos and this one is more informative.

 

[stmarysmead]

Too many options to explain ‘no forced entry.’

One of the doors was accidentally left unlocked. Burglar or neighborhood ‘early morning door knocker’ gets lucky.

A friend, relative, former visitor, service employee had the code.

That’s a lot of work right there for LE as they begin the case.

And they think nothing is taken, but they cannot immediately know that. So many motives might fit, or none at all.. They are having to pursue both the possibilities that this was random or targeted.

All the publicity and online speculation has made all of us impatient. But this case is really complex because of all the many options for how it happened..and why?