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

[justtrish]

Ah, I see Gray Hughes has done a video on the location of the video camera. He's excellent with this kind of thing.

Thank you for sharing! I always love his videos that show locations because it helps me understand the area so much more!

 

[STLSuperstar]

Upon learning that the door to the bedroom was locked, it seems like the killer deliberately locked the door to keep the children from finding their parents in the morning. This fact alone makes me believe it was someone that knew the parents and the children. I also wouldn't be surprised if the killer did something that morning to try to ensure they would be found quickly.

 

[academyrd]

Upon learning that the door to the bedroom was locked, it seems like the killer deliberately locked the door to keep the children from finding their parents in the morning. This fact alone makes me believe it was someone that knew the parents and the children. I also wouldn't be surprised if the killer did something that morning to try to ensure they would be found quickly.

Is that confirmed? I hope so, because it would have saved the 4 year old from seeing something extremely traumatic

 

[MarcieM]

Exactly! They probably had $30k+ worth of services booked for that day and were unable to do anything unless he was onsite as the billable provider. It’s a freaking crisis when the whole office can’t work and you have patients all over the place.

Exactly!!! 100%.

 

[worm]

Asking for patience without asking for much else comparitively to most high profile cases is key. You'd know a lot more if they needed you to. They simply don't need the assistance.

Im in this line of thought right now as well.

 

[Janitor101]

There's random and there's random. I often maintained that this could be a distant connection; a handyman, a repair men, someone they hired to help out from the area. A local that might have a hidden drug problem. etc. They were very trusting people and embraced living in a gentrified area with incidents of crime, including murder and an 8 year-old shot within walking distance while they were there. Such a person would also possibly have access to and familiarity of the home.

As to your initial query:

1. Door "Smart" lock glitched open, people going up to check on open doors as they do in many neighborhoods checking if car doors in driveways are open (as many see on Ring community).

2 .Door "Smart"lock defeated. Someone posted an earlier model of that door lock hacked with a paperclip. This is all over the internet and common skells know this. Maybe someone who knew this was picking houses out with a smart lock of that kind.

3 .Rear door left unlocked. Tired couple with young kids let the golden doodle out and forgot to lock it. As security oriented as I am I had lapses when I had little ones and was constantly in brain fog as most young parents.

4. Egress window. Rear egress window from the yard into the basement. Some of these models which prioritize egress (legal code requirement) can be pried open with little disturbance (hence no apparent forced entry).

I can probably think of a few others. When I lived in NYC the locals were crazy creative with these things. Ah, the thing's I've seen.

As for your other points you're telling me you are not familiar with burglars. You can adjust to the dark, you can use a flash-light and cover it, you can be stupid and brazen like tweakers, the house was 2,500 sq ft max. This isn't that difficult. Plus things obviously would have went south in this scenario, so it's not like it was well planned out even in that case, which is what we see in these cases. Nothing is reported missing in a lot of attempted burglaries when a tweaker freaks out, shoots impulsively, and high-tails it out of there. Happens a lot. Furthermore, the police state nothing was "apparenly" missing. etc. When doing press releases, updates in an ongoing investigation, there is tolerance built in the language 'cause often times they don't know. Could be with the 5 year wedding anniversary Spencer bought an expensive small gift that was a surprise and most of the friend circle interviewed didn't know. A handyman, repair person might have caught wind of it and that's enough motive for someone down on your luck and it would seem nothing was stolen.

Of course, I still maintain a lot of other possibilities, but to dismiss this very plausible scenario given the location and crime history of the neighborhood seems lacking.

You're right. I know little or nothing about the crime history of that neighborhood so it was probably premature on my part to dismiss the possibility of killer tweakers roaming the streets of Columbus. Have there been other similar homicide cases committed in Columbus recently?

I still think LE would have released info regarding a burglary at the residence to warn the public at the very least.

 

[getthefax]

I can think of lots of awful reasons for someone not to show up to work on time or answer the phone, but I can also think of lots of not so awful reasons -so unless I have some specific reason to think they are in danger I think it’s odd to not check on them 1st before calling 911

They were an hour and 15 minutes away with a full dental practice. They stated they couldn’t reach them. What were they to do?
They did the best possible thing.

 

[Cassie P]

Upon learning that the door to the bedroom was locked, it seems like the killer deliberately locked the door to keep the children from finding their parents in the morning. This fact alone makes me believe it was someone that knew the parents and the children. I also wouldn't be surprised if the killer did something that morning to try to ensure they would be found quickly.

So the killer commits the murders. Doesn't have time or wherewithal to pick up the bullet casings, but stops to lock the bedroom door on the way out?

What are the reasons a killer might do this? To make the police break down the door to get to the Tepes? Taking more time to get medical help? Or to prevent the 4 yr old from coming in to the room?

If true it was to protect the children, then yes it is someone who knows the kids? For the first time I am wondering if a female committed the crime. Unusual of course, but possible if the killer was protecting the children.

 

[getthefax]

My dentist always shows up late to appointments though there is usually a hygienist or someone to get me prepped for a cleaning etc. And are you saying real family emergencies are not possible? They have no playbook for that?

They do when the person calls and says there’s an emergency happening. In this case, no one did. It’s a pretty unusual sort of emergency.

 

[Mitch1]

They were an hour and 15 minutes away with a full dental practice. They stated they couldn’t reach them. What were they to do?
They did the best possible thing.

They should have gone to the house to check on them 1st

 

[TruthIsStranger]

Exactly! They probably had $30k+ worth of services booked for that day and were unable to do anything unless he was onsite as the billable provider. It’s a freaking crisis when the whole office can’t work and you have patients all over the place.

"Follow the money" is a saying that answers a lot of questions in a multitude of areas. Money is the reason 911 was called almost immediately by the owner. Absolutely nothing weird or wrong with that. Yes, I'm sure he cared as well on a personal level, but would any of us want to lose $30k in one day? Would we like it if our business partner (not sure if he has one, but he might) didn't immediately pull out all the stops (law enforcement) to try to figure out why $30k worth of billables AND the dental practice reputation were in peril? When an employee at Big Box Store doesn't show up, 911 isn't immediately called. Why? Because there are 30 other similarly trained employees there to help out AND Big Box Store isn't going to lose $30k. I don't think there's anything nefarious going on because 911 was promptly called (along with this being completely out of character).

 

[wibbleflea]

From listening to the police dispatch, the boss called 911 around 9:00. The second 911 call came from a male friend around 10:00. The third 911 call came from a female coworker who was still in route to the house around 10:04, and the fourth 911 call came from a male friend (not sure it is the same person as the second 911) in the house a few minutes later.

MSN

In one call from Spencer's friend, who appears to have made the call after police already sent one person to the house for a welfare check, he is heard telling the dispatcher he can hear the children crying inside but can't get into the home.

Shortly thereafter, in another call that appears to come from the same friend — later identified as Alex Ditty — the caller tells the dispatcher he can see a body.

 

[Ms Scarlett]

Upon learning that the door to the bedroom was locked, it seems like the killer deliberately locked the door to keep the children from finding their parents in the morning. This fact alone makes me believe it was someone that knew the parents and the children. I also wouldn't be surprised if the killer did something that morning to try to ensure they would be found quickly.

I don’t recall seeing it reported that their bedroom door was locked, but I haven’t read every single article. Do you recall the source?

 

[TruthIsStranger]

They do when the person calls and says there’s an emergency happening. In this case, no one did. It’s a pretty unusual sort of emergency.

Exactly. NO CALL/NO SHOW from a well-paid, responsible, reliable, medical professional whose reputation is everything is a completely different scenario than NC/NS at a fast food joint. The owner, who was probably a dentist as well, was on vacation, and he would usually have been there to help out with patients, but either way, this was a such an unusual situation that it called for extreme measures. Why is this so hard to grasp for so many people? There are only a few situations (and they're all very serious, other than oversleeping) that would keep someone from calling: serious car accident (checked into, wasn't it?), carbon monoxide poisoning, or hospitalization (in which case they assumed his wife would have called or at least answered her phone within those first two hours 7-to 9am). The final reason is murder or some kind of serious criminal/legal situation. Calling law enforcement quickly makes total sense.

 

[MassGuy]

Where is this locked bedroom door coming from?

If it's from the 911 call where the witness says the doors are locked, he's referring to the outside doors.

He physically entered the home somehow, and personally viewed the body of Spencer.

Is there a police report or statement saying the bedroom door was locked?

 

[getthefax]

Where is this locked bedroom door coming from?

If it's from the 911 call where the witness says the doors are locked, he's referring to the outside doors.

He physically entered the home somehow, and personally viewed the body of Spencer.

Is there a police report or statement saying the bedroom door was locked?

Nope! It’s the classic WS game of telephone… sigh

 

[darring21]

Upon learning that the door to the bedroom was locked, it seems like the killer deliberately locked the door to keep the children from finding their parents in the morning. This fact alone makes me believe it was someone that knew the parents and the children. I also wouldn't be surprised if the killer did something that morning to try to ensure they would be found quickly.

Where is the notion that the bedroom door was locked coming from?

 

[fcavanaugh]

Upon learning that the door to the bedroom was locked, it seems like the killer deliberately locked the door to keep the children from finding their parents in the morning. This fact alone makes me believe it was someone that knew the parents and the children. I also wouldn't be surprised if the killer did something that morning to try to ensure they would be found quickly.

RBBM
It hasn’t been officially confirmed that the bedroom door was locked.
Members were discussing the back door, and that turned into speculation about the bedroom door. Things got a little confusing but yeah, until we hear from an official LE source, it’s not a fact that the T’s or their children’s bedroom doors were locked.

IMHOO

ETA-clarity

 

[Cassie P]

RBBM
It hasn’t been officially confirmed that the bedroom door was locked.
Members were discussing the back door, and that turned into speculation about the bedroom door.

Thank you. Locking the bedroom door changes the profile of the killer somewhat so it is important to rule this piece in or out.

 

[ttjo]

About the casings: it would have been dark wouldnt it? People say a pro wouldn’t have left the casings behind , but would a pro plan for collecting shell casings all over the floor in the dark? I dont know how far casings travel.