Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - HELLFIRE: MONIQUE TEPE, HUSBAND, SHOT 16 TIMES, HIT FACE, CHEEK & THROAT

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Autopsies for Spencer and Monique Tepe are complete, and show a much different scene of the murders than previously thought. Early reports indicated Monique was shot once in the chest, and Spencer was shot more than once, with three shell casings found at the scene. In fact, the killer unloaded a full clip, 16 rounds, and both were shot in the head: Monique in her right cheek, and Spencer in his left ear. A total of 16 gunshot wounds are discovered. A standard magazine for a handgun holds 15 to 17 rounds, depending on the size of the bullet. Spencer and Monique likely died within "seconds to minutes" of being shot. The injuries suffered and the trajectories of bullets indicate some movement by Spencer and Monique; the range of fire is indeterminate, and there is no way to tell in which order the injuries are inflicted. Joining Nancy Grace today:  Jim Elliott - Trial Attorney with Butler Snow (legal counsel for various Georgia municipalities and other governmental entities) Dr. Bethany Marshall -  Psychoanalyst, Author of 'Deal Breaker,' and featured in hit show, "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter: @DrBethanyLive   Airyana Turner - Friend of Monique   Dr. Kendall Crowns -  Chief Medical Examiner of Tarrant County (Fort Worth), Host of Podcast, "Mayhem in the Morgue," and Lecturer: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU (Texas Christian University) Yelena Mandenberg  - News Reporter for 'The Mirror,' the 'Irish Star' and 'The Express;' X: @ymand123 Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, 'Crime Stories' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. All fire. Monique Teppie and husband shot 16 times. Monique hit in the face, the cheek, the throat, and more. Apparently, according to police, vascular surgeon, Dr. Michael McKee, her ex-husband from almost 10 years ago,

unloads a magazine on Monique and Spencer as they lay in their bed. When I look at her beautiful face and think of him standing over the bed in the middle of the night, the wee morning hours, unloading a magazine into the face of Monique Tepe hell hath no, fury. Like what victims' rights and families are feeling all across our country tonight. I'm Nancy

Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. Monique Tepe was shot multiple times, not just Spencer, Monique as well, for children in the next room. We begin to think about what kind of injuries they have. We need to know what the range of fire is. You have multiple gunshot wounds? This is going to be a blood. bloody mess. Monique is shot more times than Spencer, nine gunshot wounds to the upper body, including a bullet to the head hitting Monique in the right cheek and three shots to her right chest all clustered together. Monique also suffers bullet wounds to the right side of her torso, right forearm, right hand, and two shots to her left upper arm. This is a lot to take in. Yes,

I know it's bad enough that they're both shot as they lay in their beds, their children. on the other side of the wall. But now to know that he allegedly disfigured her face in this way? Yelena Mandenberg joining us, investigative reporter for

the mirror, the IRIS star, the Express, Elena, what do we know? And we're learning this from the autopsy. It's called the coroner report there. And it's very disturbing from the Franklin County Forensic Science Center What have we learned tonight, Elena? Well, I said before, Monique Tepe shot nine times,

while Spencer Tepe was shot seven times, 16 bullets between them. The Franklin County Office of the Corner determined that Monique Tepe was shot once in the face, three times in the chest, twice in the upper left arm, and once on the right side of her torso, once in her right forearm and once in the hand. Gunshot wounds of head,

trunk and extremities with visceral, skeletal, and soft tissue injuries, says the report. The report also added that the autopsy, in the autopsy, they were able to recover two bullets and bullet fragments left in the humorous fracture site, which means soft organ damage. It hit the lung, it hit the liver, skeletal damage, when the bones broke, when the bullets hit them. Spencer Tepe's autopsy says he suffered seven gunshot wounds, also to the head, neck, trunk, and extremities with visceral, skeletal, and soft tissue injuries. Once in the head, once in the neck, three times in the torso, twice in the upper extremities, and the bullet was also recovered from Spencer Tepe's body. Both lists the same manner of death, homicide, death by gunshot wounds. Both

Both documents mark the couple's time of death at 10, 11 a.m. on December 30th, which would be when paramedics were able to get into their home. And they were dressed for bed like any other night. Spencer was reported wearing shorts, Monique wearing a long sleeve and a t-shirt, and both were wearing their wedding ring as on the night that they were killed. Elena Mandenberg, you should consider being a trial lawyer because you just took so many pages of documents from this coroner's report and you zoned in on what I zoned in on. And that was the soft tissue damages, the bullets cutting through Monique and Spencer's organs, the liver, the lung. I mean, that kind of gunshot wound causes you to bleed out internally, almost immediately. You can't stop it. And as we predicted at the get-go, the way that bullet match was made was not just from the shells that were found, but from the bullets that were dug out of the victim's bodies at the medical examiner's office.

Joining me to make sense of what we are hearing from Yelena Mandenberg is Dr. Kendall Crowns. He is the chief medical examiner, Tarrant County, that's Fort Worth. He is an esteemed lecturer at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU. He is the star of a hit podcast, Mayhem in the Morg. What is the zygomatic region? What is the zygomatic region, Dr. Kendall Crowns? The zygomatic region is a bone in your facial skull, and it makes up kind of your cheek bone. So it's right above your jaw line, making up the kind of side of both sides of your face have a psychomatic arch.

And it's essentially your cheek bone. Look at Monique Teppy. He shot her in the face. Dr. Kilma-Crowns calls it the zygomatic region. He shot her in the face. He shot her in the face. To Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us, renowned psychoanalyst out of Beverly. Hill's author of Deal Breaker. You can see her starring on Peacock now and find her at

Dr. Bethanymarshal.com. Dr. Bethany, I can barely even formulate a question to encompass what I'm feeling right now. Sixteen rounds, he basically unloaded standing over their bed in the wee morning hours and they're laying their sleep in their wedding bands. horrifying Nancy it's so hard to even imagine but Nancy in the face he wants to destroy her beauty and why does he want to destroy her beauty so nobody else will be attracted to her I mean that's why serial killers will decapitate a victim that's why domestic violence victims are shot in the head or the face it's because the perpetrator doesn't want anybody else to have them.

If I can't have you, nobody else will. And you know, this guy, as we talked about before, it's an insult collector, sitting online, looking at the wedding videos, watching their, you know, pictures of their dates and becoming increasingly enraged. And if he shoots her in the face, it stops all of that dead in their tracks.

And that's what he's trying to do. To Dan Murphy joining us, former NYPD, Detective Sergeant who has conducted hundreds and hundreds of investigations. One of his expertise, bullets, ballistics. He is a co-star of Gold Shields podcast. He is the author of Workplace Safety. Dan Murphy, thank you for being with us,

specifically to talk to us about guns, bullets, ballistics. What is a magazine? There's no reason for everybody else not to know what is a magazine. There's no reason for that to be in their world. And I'm glad it's not in their world. What's a magazine? How many bullets are in a magazine? How fast can you unload a magazine?

How do you replace a magazine? Break it down for me, Dan Murphy, for everyone that is not in the criminal world. Certainly. Magazines are what semi-automatic weapons or fully automatic weapons hold the rounds in, as opposed to a revolver, which is in a cylinder and the bullets are easily slid into the cylinder.

The magazine contains, it depends upon the size, the caliber of the weapon to make, it can be six or eight rounds, it can be up to 17 rounds. There are even larger mags that hold up to 30 that are used with handguns sometimes. But a magazine is a very simple device, spring loaded. You put the rounds in, it tightens up as you increase the number of rounds in the magazine until it's filled. And it can be refilled. Okay, hold on, hold on. Dan Murphy, I don't want to interrupt your float, but could you slow down a little bit for everyone out there that doesn't practice at the range. And by the way, this guy, Dr. the vascular surgeon for Pete's sake, with all that education, all that money, all of those

privileges and opportunities, he had to do this. Really? I guarantee, with all the guns, he had an arsenal in his penthouse at Lincoln Park. I guarantee he's out somewhere practicing. Do you really need to practice to get close range on your ex-wife asleep in bed and sheet her in the face? But I guarantee you, he's so anal-compulsive that he was practicing at some gunshot range somewhere. That said, slow down for me. If you don't mind, just start at the top very slowly about a magazine. I heard you say some magazines hold 16 bullets as much as up in the 30s. But 16 bullets were fired here.

Sixteen bullets unloaded on the tepies in their sleep. I think he shot the whole round. I think he used up the magazine. Explain. Certainly. Magazines are to weapons what a loaf of bread unbaked into an oven is. You put it in to the bottom of the weapon. The magazine itself holds the rounds inside of it.

It is spring-loaded device whereby the person who's loading it places the rounds into it and they each become tighter as the magazine becomes more filled. You can fill the magazines up as much as 30, 35 some. Traditional handguns typically, if it's a 9mm, you're looking at a 15 or 17 round capacity. And so the person who's shooting the weapon has 15 rounds in my service weapon with the NYPD, I had a 15 round magazine and then I had another round in the chamber ready to go which meant my weapon was capable of firing 16 rounds before having to eject the empty magazine and reload it. In this case, he fired 16 rounds. In my opinion, he had a 15 round magazine, one live in the chamber, and he squeezed the trigger until he was finished and the clicking happened.

Now, when you say squeeze the trigger, you have automatic, you have semi-automatic, multiple types of weapons with a magazine, if you squeeze the trigger one time, will the gun continue to fire? You don't have to go one, two, three, four, 15, 16. You pull once and it unloads, like in the movies. No, that's exactly what you're saying. It is in the movies. Those are automatic weapons. Fully automatic weapons are not typically available to the public. If a handgun was used here, a semi-automatic semi-means means you have to depress that trigger once for every round. It's a conscious thought, a conscious action to depress that round to expel a bullet. So he has to pull that 16 times.

And in my estimation, based upon what I'm hearing about this case and what I know about it, he probably continued pressing, was unaware how many rounds he had fired, and was clicking on an empty round. Okay. When you say he was clicking on an empty round, what do you mean? I mean, the bullets have all been discharged from the weapon. The 15 in the magazine, the one that was in the chamber, have all been discharged. He's not aware that he's out of ammunition.

He's so caught up in the moment he continues to depress the trigger, thinking he has more ammunition. Dan Murphy, could you explain and show us how the mag works? This is a typical magazine. This contains 15 rounds. This magazine slides into the handle or the grip aspect of a weapon and then positions around on top ready to be loaded into the chamber to be fired. with a 15-round magazine, you can chamber around and then pull the magazine out and top it off, as we say, with a 15th round.

So that weapon now has a 16-round capacity, which is a typical 9-millimeter weapon many people carry. Dan, can you show me the other side of the mag where we can see the bottom of the bullets? Okay. So, yeah, you have to do that. bullet by bullet to load your mag, correct? Yes, you do. You know why I'm doing this? Bullet by bullet.

And you kind of have to push it down in, push the bullet down in there. Sometimes it's hard to do if you don't do it all the time. You have to push it down in there. And then the next one and it gets harder each time as the mag is filling up. The reason I'm bringing this up, Dan Murphy, is because more intent. You have to load that thing. bullet by bullet one at a time. That's correct.

In order to load this, as you mentioned, when you first beginning to load it, it's somewhat easy. There's a spring inside. The spring enables each next round to be pushed up into the chamber to be used. So that spring gets much more taught as you fill this up. It's an intentional act. And for someone who is not very experienced, and even for those of us who are, there can be some difficulty putting the last couple of rounds in. It really takes some oomph.

So this is a very intentional act to fill this up. And that's an even more intentional act to then take the slide, chamber a live round, eject this magazine, top it off with the 15th round so it's full again, giving you a handgun with 16 round capacity. So currently this has 12 rounds in it. I'm going to top it off with some more rounds. I have to push down on the round that's in there already and squeeze the next one in.

And as you can see, they don't always go easy. There, that next round was just placed in with some effort. And this is what happens as you approach the top of the magazine. Each round becomes more difficult, more intentional to load. Have fun with that, defense team for Dr. Michael McKee. I want you to get that mag out of the murder weapon, and I want you to load it in front of the jury with 16-9s. And let the jury see the intentionality that was used to murder Manique and Spencer

to load that mag and then unload it on them as they slept. Joining me in addition to Dan Murphy, former NYPD Detective Sergeant, Dr. Bethany Marshall, Yelena Mandenberg and Dr. Kendall Crowns. Now a veteran trial lawyer out of the Warner Robbins jurisdiction. Trial lawyer with Butler Snow illegal. Jim Elliott, thank you for being with us. You know why I led Dan Murphy step by step as I would if he were my witness on direct exam through the possibility.

Did he just pull the trigger once? Oh, no, he didn't. He had to pull the trigger 16 times. You know why, Jim Elliott, and I think you do know why? Because the law is intent can be formed in the twinkling of a moment, the blink of an eye, the time it takes you to raise the gun and pull the trigger. But he did it, Elliot, 16 times. That's time to form intent.

Not a blind rage. You didn't not know what he was doing. he had time. The law does not specify time to form intent, such as a plan as I always use this example, to poison someone over a period of weeks and months till they kill over dead.

It can be formed in a moment, Jim Elliott. Do you see the implications that Dan Murphy has raised? 16 times he had to pull the trigger on two sleeping people. Elliot, what's your defense? Defense Nancy, perhaps to be a moment of rage or perhaps the victims responded and he reacted that way, it's hard to come up

with a really good defense. Well, that is what the defense attorney will be tasked with, and you're absolutely right, Jim. Jim Elliott has defended a lot of cases, civil attorney as well. When you're between a rock and a hard spot, Jim Elliott, you have to get creative. And I think right now, the defense team for Dr. Michael McKee is scrambling. They're going to be stuck with what you said, some type of a blind rage, or some type of a mental defect, or some other dude did it.

Good luck with that. Joining me, in addition to Yelena Mandenberg, from The Mirror, Iris Star, and the Express, Dave Matt Crime Stories, investigative reporter, many people online want to know were there holes in the wall? my deduction is unlikely.

You just heard Dan Murphy state, Dave Mack, that a lot of magazines hold 16 bullets. Well, there were 16 bullets fired, right? And they all made contact with the victims. I also think, although we don't know this yet, that he fired at close range. Think about it. There's the inside of the bedroom. So I guarantee you he walked up to their bed, held out the gun like he's, you know, the antagonist in a movie, and unloaded on sleeping people. So they are close range.

I don't know that they're going to be contact wounds where you actually see stippling or burn on the skin, which I'm going to go to Dr. Kendall Crowns to explain. But I don't think he could have missed him. It's just like shooting a fish in a barrel for Pete's sake, Dave Mack. Nancy, I think you're absolutely right. There's not going to be any shots in the wall or the ceiling. I think every, you've got nine shots going into Monique. You've got seven going into Spencer. That's 16 total.

And they're going to be pointed down. Now, on the autopsy report, there is an indication of no stifling. So you're talking about an intermediate range. But you know, one thing I think December 6th when McKee allegedly went to, no, not allegedly, he was at the home. Remember they were at the ballgame? I think he went in there and he planned it all out. He walked around. He knew exactly where he was going to stand. He knew exactly where the bed was. He knew where they were going to be. And he had a plan, allegedly, to stand there. And just standing over the top of him, he shot him. And look at the injuries. Right side on Spencer, left side on Monique. That's how we sleep. I mean, the only, I think the only, I think the only thing that really we can look at from this is that McKee knew exactly what he was going to do, exactly where he was going to do it, and then he did it, allegedly. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Dave Mac, you touched on something, and I'm going to follow up with Yelina Mandiburke,

and you're absolutely correct. Yelena, Dave Mac touched on the fact that we believe, and I think the cops believe this too, that he, Dr. Michael McKee, was spotted on security cam of a neighbors. And I don't think that this was found out until after the murders. He had been there before, and he was observed entering the curtilage. And let's see a photo or a depiction of their townhome. It's a full standalone home, but it's in a row. And there is a fence that goes from side to side all the way around.

I don't think you can get into the backyard such as it is except through the home. There you go. That's a fantastic rendition of that. Check that out. Can I see the first thing you created for me, please, control room right there. That. He either got in through that basement window or that back door. The neighbor's surveillance saw him entering curtilage,

which would be the backyard, the garage, the tool shed, the dollhouse, the whatever is around your home. Do not need a separate search warrant for that, but I always advise, just in case the judge doesn't know the law, to get one. Or you never know. It could have a different street address on, for instance, the garage. You just never know. But that said, then he wasn't seen again for hours according to what we've been

told Elena, I think the neighbor's video showed Dr. Michael McKee approaching the home, going over the fence, and then he wasn't seen again for hours. I think Dave Mac is right. I think he got into the home through one of those two back entrances, and he stayed in there for hours, creep. And I think that is when his skiing was hatched. What do you know about his prior entrance to the home, Yelaine Amandaberg. So what we know is he entered through the curtilage. And there's a top view of the home if you were to look at it. And the way all the homes on the block are set up is that there's a garage or shed or

whatever it is at the very end of the property. And later on, it's in the middle of that alleyway where we see footage, the footage that police released after they were shot and they were looking for the shadowy suspicious person walking along that alleyway. So there's a garage, yep, that picture. So when through the garage, you would enter then that fenced in backyard. And through that backyard, you see that back door as you were showing. So all the police report says for now is that he was caught on a surveillance camera,

going in through the curtilage and being there for hours and then seen exiting the home or through the back. We aren't 100% sure, but he was there for hours. and also if as he is charged with, you know, intent and premeditation, I mean, going there, I don't know if that's where he hatched the plan allegedly, because that might have been hatched and that was the reason why he was there already looking into it. And also we know that she got a message that day that upset her about him. And of course, they might not know that he was in their backyard or in their home or wherever he was.

But he did say something, send her something, something upset her, something creeped her out. She went home from that Big Ten game from that Indianapolis trip. She planned with her husband and friends, went home in the second half. Something upset her. So we actually don't have all of the dots yet. I think police are also still putting together exactly phone logs, probably text messages. So we're not sure what it is that upset her. We know he was there.

We know he was there. And if he was there, then even if he was there, then even if he was He only peeked into the window. He could have gotten a layout, but then there was also the wedding videos that were in their home. So there were a lot of different ways he could have gotten the layout of the house, allegedly. In a shocking moment in the investigation, while Monique and Spencer are out of town at the Big Ten Championship game December 6th,

McKee is captured on video entering the curtilage of the tepee home. Curtilage is the property immediately surrounding a home and is considered an extension of the dwelling for fourth and, Amendment purposes. McKee is at the home place and has entered areas where personal privacy is expected. At the same time, Monique excuses herself from the game, returning to the hotel room. Asked why Monique left. Spencer tells friends, Monique is upset about something involving her ex-husband. She has her body ripped apart in the middle of the night with her children next door and bleeds out multiple gunshot wounds.

This family's life was completely wrecked. These people were butchered. The other night during our live chat as our program ran, a viewer wrote in and asked me to look at the way McKee pulls to the right. And the viewer was correct. Now, we've just gotten in video of Dr. Michael McKee's book in, but I want you to first look at him, allegedly, walking down the alley behind Monique's home, Monique and Spencer, pull to the right, pull to the right, pull to the right, you'll really see it in the shoulder.

But then in, oh yeah, that's at the beginning, I can see it the best, you're right. Okay, now let's look at the courtroom. Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull. Okay, that's for our friends at WBNS. Now, let's look at the book in and see what we can see. There he goes. There he goes. See it?

Let's see that again. That was very, that may be the, I don't know what causes that. He does not have any football injury. He played varsity football. and an elite level, I think, in college. There he is in his book in. This, right here. You know, he just looks like any other dude

walking around his flip-flops at the pharmacy, the kind, you know, just... But to think that he could have unloaded a full mag on Monique? Dr. Bethany, Marshall, I'm going to go back to pulling to the right and other distinguishing characteristics of Dr. Michael McKee, but I want to talk about something you just said as it relates to unloading a full mag, 16 bullets, and probably, as Dan Murphy said, continuing to pull the trigger.

How many times do you think Dr. Michael McKee watched this? From day one, I knew you were something special. I had quite a journey to get to you, countless bad bumble dates, of wrong relationships, and waterfalls of tears. But it was worth every cringing second because it led me to you. Throughout all of this, I knew that God was guiding me to my person, and that when I met him, it would be the most magical thing ever. and boy is that an understatement?

I finally found my lobster and it honestly couldn't be a person with a more beautiful heart. I will love you forever and I'm so lucky to be Mrs. Tepp. Dr. Bethany Marshall, look at her beautiful face, her delicate jawline, the fragile bones in her neck. And when you look at Spencer, he's so happy.

There's video of them walking out of the wedding, the vows, holding their hands up in triumph. Here they go. Okay, yeah, and that. There's video of them walking along. He's so jubilant. You know, he's got a cigar in one hand celebrating, and he's got his arm around her. And it's just this incredible, magical day. There's one moment he's drinking.

kind of alcohol. There was. And he gives her a sip and she like wrinkles up her face because it's so strong, whatever it is. And she's like, ew. And he's just so happy. I love that moment where he rears back. He's just laughing in this moment, this happy, incredible moment. Now, how in the hay does that turn into unloading a full mag on them, Beth? Do you know how many times Monster Surgeon must have watched those videos? Those who are accessible to him, he watched them again and again and again and all the beauty that you're talking about, the delicate jaw structure, the rearing back, the fun, the laughter. Every little moment of fun was an insult to Monster Surgeon.

because stalkers and monster surgeon is no different, they feel they're still in a relationship with the victim. He still felt that she was his. So every bit of laughter, every little bit of champagne felt like she was cheating on him. That's the sick twisted part, Nancy, is that he felt that she was cheating on him, even though she was marrying a new person. and that's why he unloaded the magazine into her. Why the face, Bethany? That's just troubling to me. The face, the cheek, the neck, the torso.

Why? When you think about it, the face, that's the beauty, right? What does the face represent beauty, intelligence? It's not just the face, it's her brain. It's the thinking part of her, right? So if he disables or dismantles her beauty, and her capacity to think, then she's no longer a free person in the world

who can quote unquote betray him. So he is taking away the thing that troubles him the most, which is her individuality, her authenticity, her beauty, her ability to be her own person. That's what he's robbing her of. To Dr. Kimmel Crowns joining us, Chief Medical Examiner, Territ County, and star of mayhem in the morgue.

Dr. Kendall Crowns, we've been talking about how the bullets were found, and on day one, we here at Crime Stories knew that there would be bullets lodged in the bodies. How do you go about that sort of autopsy? We're talking about a full mag unloaded into these two victims. Where do you start? How do you find the bullets? How does it go down? Okay.

usually what you do with these cases of multiple gunshot wounds is you start the same way you do with every autopsy you do an external examination you chart all the wounds try and get an idea of which wound goes to what wounds like entrance and exits and then you do x-rays and x-rays you look at the body and you look for retained projectiles or bullets figure out where they're at you side x-rays front x-rays kind of get an idea where they're at in the body and you start the autopsy removing the organs and you look for these bullets. Sometimes they're wedged in bones. Sometimes they're stuck in organs and you find each bullet. You take it out. Sometimes they're really hard to find. And if they get in the face, the nasal cavity, they're really difficult because you can't mar the face of the autopsy.

So you have to go through different ways where you take out the top of the skull and come down through the top or dig your way up. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. take off the top of the skull. Is that necessary? We do that in every autopsy to get the brain out. And once the brain is out, you have the base of the skull, and then you can go through the top of that to get to the nasal cavity to get bullets out. So it can be very difficult to retrieve bullets at the time of autopsy,

just kind of depending on where they're at. Okay, you know what? I guess I knew that after cross-examining and directing so many medical examiners. I guess I didn't want to think about it, Dr. Kenney. candle crowns. So do you say you perform an x-ray first to identify the general area of the bullets? Correct. Yeah. You get the x-ray examination of the body so you get an idea of where they're at. And that way you can direct your Easter egg hunt a little bit more quickly. Okay. Wait. Let's don't call it an Easter egg hunt. That was a very gallows humor-type joke because you're talking about,

I'm digging through the body, trying to find the bullets. And it's just you're so blazze, blaze about it. I'm talking about Monique and Spencer Teppy here. And when I think about her face, I don't know why that's bothering me so much. They were shot 16 times, for Pete's sake, at close range. Maybe not point-blank range, as Dave Mack pointed out, there was no stippling, and that was clearly stated in the autopsy report. That doesn't mean it wasn't close range.

In fact, there's no way it wasn't close range. Dr. Kendall Crowns, I don't want us to refer to it as an Easter egg hunt. You were just so matter-of-fact about it when you were talking about digging through their bodies, trying to find the bullets. But if you don't do it, Kendall, then the state can't prove its case, because I need every one of those 16 bullets to show intent, intent, times 16. So you have to do it. Oh, you have to also make sure that they are all from the same gun, too, because it's always alleged. that it could be multiple shooters too. And my bullet didn't kill them.

You know, so you have to get every bullet every time to make sure they can verify which gun shot it. It's very important to do. What's changed since the last person I talked to? There's a body. There's a body. There's a body inside? Yeah. Okay, hold on one second.

Let me get you on the line with the medic, okay? Yeah, on the line. He appears dead. There's a body. Our friend wasn't, uh, injuring his phone. We just did a wellness ship. We just came here and, um, he appears dead. Okay. There's blood. He's laying next to his bed off of his bed in his blood. I can't get closer to than that. Okay. So you can tell he's obviously not breathing or anything? Yeah. Yeah. Is it like, kind of like, like, like, you know, because it's just he looks like, it doesn't like, it doesn't like, I can't look.

Okay. All right. Right, I understand. So now we get a new picture. Now each have multiple gunshot wounds. She was shot multiple times and are bleeding out. The children are orphans. They probably will remember the murders of their parents. Two children left orphaned, and tonight we were learning 16 bullets, an empty mag,

unloaded into Manique and Spencer Teppie. joining us tonight. On behalf of Monique, Ariana Turner, a dear friend of Monique's. Ariana, thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. I'm blessed to be here.

You know what? I can see why you and Monique were friends. Because everything I've seen of her, everything that's been said about her, she had this just amazing, I don't know the right word, aura demeanor. Tell me about her, Ariana. You know, Monique was a person that

like, I know we use a lot of adjectives to describe people, but she was just like indescribable, you know? Like, you don't really meet people who are just genuine, you know, and just genuinely want to help other people and just genuinely care about like just the people around them or just people in general. And like, Monique was somebody who like, if she cared about you, she was coming up. to check on you. She was doing everything she could to make sure that you felt supported and you felt like you didn't have like you like you had somebody, you know? Like she was just, she was an

amazing mother. Like she was just so like very loving, very bright, like just positive all the time, like just a bubbly person, like just somebody you always want to talk to like if you're having a sad day. See, I mean, she was just one of my biggest support people. Me and her had just like, you know, started to get close. So it showed a lot about her character for her to really showed so much care and attention to somebody she was just getting to know, you know? You stated that Monique was an amazing mother. And you know what?

That speaks to me because I love my twins more than anything in the world. They're the best thing that ever happened to me. I don't want to miss one minute with them. Now they're going away to college, and I'm going to be cry, cry, crying. But I hear other moms going, Oh, thank goodness.

They're moving out. I don't get it. But you know what? To each her own, you say she's an amazing mother. Please describe that for me. I really want to hear this. So let me give you a little bit of an example of how I could just glimpse and just see just how much patience and time and care she had for her kids. So mind you, me and Monique, our children went to the same school.

And our little boys are best friends in the classrooms. Like, we will always just like, you know, talk about that. I just talk about motherhood, things like that. And, like, I remember this one time specifically, like, we were talking at drop off for maybe, like, 10 minutes. I mean, pick up. I'm sorry. Pick up for about 10 minutes to the point.

Like, her daughter is, like, not turning up, but, like, you know, Mommy, I'm ready to go, like, jump in, moving everything. And, like, still as she's holding on a very, like, heavy conversation with me, like, hey, sweetie, be careful. Calm down. Mommy, mommy needs a moment. Be still, you know, like, just keeping her composure when, like, any other mom probably would have like, stop, like, leave me alone.

But she just had this patience and this love for her kids. And she valued education, you know, she valued a lot of key morals about, you know, development and things like that. So I'm sure, you know, she was extra, like, careful with the way she parented, just knowing, like, how some of the effects can be if you're not, like, if you're a little bit more negative or, like, emotionally or physically, things like that. I feel like she just went on her way.

You just hit another course. with me. One of my favorite times when the children were growing up was drop off and pick up. Because I had them all along trapped in the car with me and we could watch movies. We could laugh. We would have snacks. You name it, everything in the car. It was just like a rolling party. But a lot of people are angry at carpool, drop off, pickup and all that. That was one of the best times in my day. And just hearing about her going herself to pick. I didn't want some babysitter, God bless them. all to pick up the children. I wanted to pick them up. I want to hear about their day. I mean, I was actually jealous. Tell me about some more about how she interacted with her children.

So like with her kids, she was just very playful, just very attentive. Like a lot of, I'm not going to say a lot of parents, but just from like what I've seen, you could just tell the people that are really in it, like got their heart invested into their children, really prioritize, really care about the future that they are, you know, going to do. going to live on in a few years. And she was one of those people that just like would care. Like he just cared. And like there'd be times like, you know,

I would be sitting in the parking lot, like waiting on the pickup time. And like, I'm like, okay, I got 10 more minutes. I gotta go get my three kids. And I'm kind of like hiding out. And Monique will be like, hey girl, hi. Like, are you awake mama? Like her questions to me were always,

how are you alive? How are you breathing? Like, you are amazing. Like any time he got around me was to uplift me. And every time I've seen her with her children, It was always uplifting, her always saying positive stuff, even when she knew that they were doing something that they may have not been doing. Like, her daughter was, like, running around not trying to put on her throat. Okay, like speaking with a very firm voice, not me, not anything out of that just, you know, being assertive and patient and just giving her baby love while also giving her direction.

Now, not a lot of parents I've seen do that. And that's what really made me respect her so much. And the fact she respected me, you know, she's seeing me. I'm way younger than her. she looked up to me, and I love that. Like, we looked up to each other, you know? There's not a lot of parents that you can really relate to. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Ariana Turner, when did you learn that Monique had been, first of all, had passed on? But then, I mean, normally people first think, oh, did they have a car crash? When did you learn she passed on? And when did you learn? Monique was murdered. And now, allegedly, her ex, Dr. Michael McKee, a vascular surgeon, unloads a full mag on them in the middle of the night while they're asleep in their wedding bands. When did you find out?

And what was your reaction, Ariana? So, like, I had seen through the local news, like, a dentist and his wife were, like, killed in their home. But, I mean, I thought it was terrible. Like, I don't think they had released the names at the time. And I'm like, oh, wow, that's so terrible. Days past, I would say it was probably like January 2nd or third. They have released the picture to the public. And I was sitting with my fiance and I was like, hold on.

This cannot be my girl. She's like, that's her. And I just, I lost it. Like, I still can't process it because how can somebody want to hurt somebody like her? Like, I just don't even see her hurting a fly. Like, do you see how beautiful her smile was? Like, she was just irradiating like, oh, like, she was just a beam of sunlight like I was blessed that I got to experience her here but when I found out the news I was

heartbroken I mean I still am trying to process this this tragedy and it's like the detail just get worse and worse and worse and it's like when the autopsy got released like I just I that's when I just kind of shut it out like I just got so sick to my stomach because how could you do that like oh my god like when I was just reading the report and I just saw like her wounds and I'm just like how could you do that to my friend, how could you do that to her husband? You know, these were amazing people. These weren't just people just out here just like, oh, not being productive members of society, but these were productive people who were trying to actively give back. Why would you take them from us? You know, I just, I just, it will never sit right with me and their babies were there.

Like that hits so close to home to me. And you know, I've been through domestic violence. So the whole situation is very, very, you know, but I just, I just, I just, I don't have the right words, to be honest. I don't. You know what? I disagree with you, Ariana, because I think your words are perfect. And the energy you have describing her, it's just something about her was just contagious. And I want to thank you for giving me a window into who Monique was.

You know, we keep showing the wedding videos at her and Spencer's experience. changing vows because I like to. I try to show this to juries, although it would be inadmissible under the law. I find a way to get in the victim in life. But sometimes when I look at them, Ariana, I think about how many times her boy and probably her little girl are going to watch these videos over and over and over as they grow up and beyond Ariana. Yeah. They had to love that. you could just see the love they had for each other. Like, you know, and that's why I'm just like, dang, like, she went through a relationship with a toxic ex-husband, found the love of her life.

Like, Monique met the greatest love of her life, and that's a blessing that a lot of us don't get to have. So I feel like her last years on earth, he was blessed. She got her family to her house. Like, you know, they were starting to really build her foundation. I do miss she, I do wish she could have got more time with us, but I do feel like, you know, she hits some major milestones that some of us here, you're having even it. And Dr. Bethany Marshall, you just heard her dear friend Ariana Turner speaking about Monique. And he, Dr. Michael McKee, Bethany, just couldn't stand their happiness. He could not bear it. There's so many things he couldn't stand. He couldn't stand her beautiful

face, her beautiful family. You know, monster surgeon was living alone. He didn't have a girlfriend or a wife or children. He had not built his own life. All he was doing was enviously watching hers and wanting to take it from her. He didn't do the work. She did the work. You know, it's not easy to stay in love, Nancy. I mean, magically meet people. We meet somebody and then we make an effort to have a loving life with them and a loving relationship with our children, as Monique's friend just described. There are many times where, you know, your child might be irritating or whatever, and she always responded with love. So she did the work.

She built the life and monster surgeon could not bear that he was doing something, that she was doing something he was completely unable to do. So he took it from her. Dear Momo, I feel so lucky to be up here with you today. You've grown to become my best friend. And together, we're surrounded by friends and family, who are fortunate to be able to say the same. We're so lucky.

Our support system is immense, and you embracing Larry, my crazy group of friends, and my loud family like you have, means the world. I vow to support you, to believe in you, and to encourage you. I vow to provide for you. I vow to never stop loving you

and to always keep working on us. And lastly, I vow to do my best, to always keep making you laugh because your smile is my favorite thing. Straight back out to veteran trial lawyer out of the Warner Robbins jurisdiction. Jim Elliott has tried so many cases. Jim Elliott, what about the possibility of this guy making bond? I think the challenge for him will be he has financial resources that could make him

flight risk. We have this presumption of innocence in our systems. We have to embrace that as difficult as that can be in certain circumstances. and he hasn't indicated that he's leading the jurisdiction currently, so it seemed to me to be appropriate. Okay, so you think there's a chance he could get Bond? Well, I mean, there are a number of defenses. One thing is why I think that prosecution is going to have to prove why he was in Ohio.

I mean, that he was practicing in Las Vegas, then goes to a practice in Chicago. And what proof is there that he, in fact, was. Ohio when these crimes occurred. So you're saying the fact Jim Elliott that he moves from in jurisdiction to jurisdiction is going to work against him when he tries to get bond? Why? Again, I go back to the fact that he's a medical professional, has apparently assets, which would make him, would give him the means by which to travel.

And again, if the concern is that we're to leave the country and avoid moving forward with the prosecution, I mean, that would be a negative. in his defense. If you know or think you know anything about this case, please dial 614-645-2228. Repeat.

614-645-2228. We remember an American hero Officer Patricia Espinoza, Nassau-P-D, New York, killed in the line of duty, leaving behind a grieving husband and a one-year-old baby girl, Mia, American hero, Officer Patricia Espinoza.

Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.