The ex-husband of a woman who was found murdered with her new husband, an Ohio dentist, on December 30 has been charged with murder in the deaths.
Michael David McKee, of Chicago, faces two counts of murder, Franklin County Municipal Court documents show, according to The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network.
According to online court records, a warrant was issued for McKee’s arrest on Jan. 10. McKee was booked into the Winnebago County jail in Illinois shortly before noon local time. He will remain there until authorities extradite him back to Franklin County.
It is unclear if McKee has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.
Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37, died on December 30 after being found shot inside their home in the Weinland Park neighborhood. The couple’s two young children, both under the age of 5, were found physically unharmed inside the house.
More: Police say the dentist’s wife didn’t make a tearful 911 call months before a couple was found dead
Columbus homicide detectives identified McKee through neighborhood video surveillance, police alleged in court documents. They followed the suspect “to a vehicle that arrived just before the homicides and left shortly after.” They found the vehicle in Rockford, Illinois, and found evidence that McKee owned the vehicle before and after the murder.
Columbus police have not publicly identified a potential motive in the couple’s deaths.
On December 30th, around 9 am, Spencer’s co-workers from the dental office where he worked in Athens called the Columbus police after Spencer did not show up for work and no one could contact Spencer or Monique by phone.
An officer went to do a welfare check but went to a home on Summit Street instead of Tepe’s home, according to body camera footage released by Columbus police. About 40 minutes after that check, friends of the Tepes found them dead in their house.
Police have focused the investigation on the time window between 2 am and 5 am on December 30, which is when they believe the couple was killed. On January 5, detectives released video from a security camera that shows a person walking in an alley near the Tepes home during that time period, calling the person a “person of interest”.
The couple’s fifth wedding anniversary would have been on January 30.
“They were extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy, and deep connection with others,” the Tepe family told USA TODAY in a statement on Jan. 2.
Contributing: Melina Khan, Amanda Lee Myers
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Illinois man arrested for murder of ex-wife, Ohio dentist