Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - TORPEDO HITS MONSTER-SURGEON: FAKE ALIBI BUSTED, WIFE & NEW HUBBY MURDERED IN BED

Episode Date: January 27, 2026

By the time a friend arrives at the Tepe home, the couple's infant son, Beckham, had been stuck in his cage...hungry, crying, for hours. Family members do not believe the 17-month-old or his older sister, Emilia, witness the murder of their parents, as they both have their own private bedrooms. Accused killer Michael McKee waived extradition with the transfer back to Ohio, taking 10 days. In Columbus, McKee is booked into the new, state-of-the-art James A. Karnes Corrections Center. The facility, designed using the best features of the most modern jail facilities in the country, enhances the Division of Corrections commitment to reducing recidivism and increasing public safety through effective reentry programs. At his arraignment, McKee pleaded not guilty, and waived a request for bond. McKee will remain in Karnes Corrections Center until his attorney seeks bail or the case goes to trial. Joining Nancy Grace today:  Randy Kessler - Atlanta Trial Lawyer, Emory Law School Professor, Past Chair ABA Family Law Section, and Author: "Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future;" Instagram: @rkessler23, X: @GADivorce Dr. John Delatorre -  Licensed Psychologist and Mediator (specializing in forensic psychology); Psychological Consultant to Project Absentis: a nonprofit organization that searches for missing persons; X, IG, and TikTok - @drjohndelatorre Dr. DeWayne Hendrix -  Former Warden at the MDC in Brooklyn,   Former Senior Warden with the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Founder and President of A New Daylight Foundation, Author: "Who Are You?  See it Say it and Seize it;" @anewdaylight (IG)  @drdewaynehendrix (LinkedIn) @anewdaylight (X)  Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;" Instagram @JoScottForensic 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. A torpedo hits the defense as a monster surgeon, ex-hubby, gives a fake alibi to police and it's busted wide open. This, after the murder of his ex-wife and her new husband in their own bed and tonight, the monster surgeon's ex-girlfriend speaking out and did a clerical error spark, a murder spree. I mean, as he graced, this is crime stories. I want to thank you for being with us.

He's talking about on the dating apps how he wants children, how he wants to settle down, yet he's all alone. I wonder why they were married and murdered in the same home. How many nights did he hunch over his computer screen? watching Monique. Does nobody watch true crime? Reportedly, the monster surgeon blurtes out an alibi before he immediately invokes his right to the Fifth Amendment, but it's too late.

He's busted in a lie. Joining us an all-star panel, but first straight out to crime stories, investigative reporter Dave Mack, what in the hey, you think? This is a guy who, who, you think. is an honor student. First of all, he performs at a very high level on the football field. Okay. Then he is Dean's List honor student through undergrad. Then he gets to med school. Then he is an honor student in med school becomes a vascular surgeon who is licensed to practice medicine in multiple states. And he blurts out of fake alibi. Idiot. What happened?

Nancy, it seems as though before his arrest, police actually got up with Dr. McKee and asked, hey, where were you on this particular night on December 30th? Not an uncommon thing to do with an ex-spouse. And his story, Nancy, is that he had booked a room at his hospital where he's a surgeon, OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois, and that that's where he was the entire night. investigators are able to bust that wide open. Mm-mm-mm. Joining me now, the investigative reporter for The Mirror and the Irish Star,

Yelena Mandenberg, Rutrow. Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Busted! What happened, Yelena? Well, he left his phone at the hospital, and he booked a sleep room at the hospital where he's a surgeon. which would be a normal, believable thing. Many, many doctors do.

He left his phone, which we assume, allegedly, if he went out there, so it doesn't ping off the cell phone dowers, and so everything looks legit. However, all investigators had to do was probably check the video feed and the surveillance videos from the hospital where he works. It's really easy to overcome that alibi,

even though it seems very legitimate for a doctor like him. Elaine Amanda Berg, joining us from the mirror and the Irish Star, you're absolutely correct. Randy Kessler, veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, and professor, Emory Law School, and former chairman of the ABA Family Law Section, that's the American Bar Association, author of Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids in Your Future. You better write another book. Shut your pie hole. That's just a suggestion.

for a title, don't you just hate it when you get a medical doctor criminal defendant? Because you do know they know more than everybody else. But the way I see it, having a medical doctor as a criminal defendant client is like asking me to go perform heart surgery. Now, ask me to go try a serial killer? Sure, you're on. You've got a medical doctor trying to outsmart the justice system. Or maybe he just took his cues from Brian Koeberger. Oops, he got convicted for quadruple murder. So does the doctor, in all of his wisdom, try to outsmart law enforcement by planting

a phony alibi, leaving his cell phone to peeing at an overnight cot at the hospital? You know, I don't think it's limited to just doctors. A lot of people try to outsmart the legal system, and it's just, it's a system that we've been in, you and I, you know, maybe harder for me to represent. lawyers or former prosecutors because they know the system and they're smart. But yeah, someone who's smart but hasn't done this. Like you said, someone who's a doctor asking you and you try to do surgery, you might be smart enough to figure it out. But there's nothing that replaces years of experience, years of understanding the system. And that may be his downfall trying to outsmart

the system. Even if he's smarter than everybody, there's something about experience and living it and being in it. And he hasn't lived and he hasn't been in it. And looks like that's going to be his downfall. Okay, remind of Randy Kessler, you're the defense attorney. You're supposed to be trying to fight your way out of this paper bag he's put himself into. Hey, Dave Mack, I understand that you have uncovered an estimation as to how long that cell phone stayed in the hospital caught. You know, Nancy, in this particular case, police were able to find out that his, that Dr. McKee's cell phone was left in a cot at the hospital. at the hospital for 14 hours.

Again, based on our normal of what we do with our phones. Okay. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Okay. Kessler, did you hear that? Outsmarting law enforcement, he left his cell phone in his cot, his overnight cot, at the hospital for 14 hours.

Wakey, wakey, wakey, McKee's time to get up. 14 hours? Doctors work very hard, Nancy. Doctors, you know, we all know the stories about residency and you're spending three days of wide weight. Mistakes happen. You know what? Sometimes there are things more important

than retrieving your cell phone. He might have had other things to do. A lot of explanations. The phone might have been broken or might have thought it was broken. There are a thousand reasons, but you leave your cell phone at the hospital and that's why you're doing.

Wait, wait. Put him up. Did you just say his cell phone may have been broken? No. Did you just say his cell phone may have been broken? It could have glitched. He could have thought it doesn't work. He could have had other things to do.

Nancy, you're not guilty of murder because you leave your cell phone behind for half a day. Half a day. I like the way you said that. I'm going to use that in opening statement. Half a day. I had thought about it like that, Kessler. A whole half a day as he is arranging his alibi busted. Okay, let me go back to Dave Mack and Elena Mandenberg.

Dave Matt, you first. Now, how did this happen? Because I know he immediately blanketed himself in the Fifth Amendment, which is, of course, the right to remain silent. You know, I've seen Dave Mack, and I think we saw some of these at CrimeCon last year, defense attorneys business cards. And it's got their name and their address and their email address and their phone number on the front.

And on the back, it says, don't say a word, number one. use your phone call, number two, to call your lawyer, not your mommy, your lawyer. Three, don't say a word. Four, don't say a word. So how is it that McKee said a word yet also evoked his Fifth Amendment privilege? Any questions that were asked of McKee happened before they put the cuffs on him before he's getting his chicken sandwich. So think about it, Nancy. as police begin an investigation, the first call is, hey, where were you?

You know, your ex-wife is dead. And we need to know where were you during this time. We know you didn't do it. But, you know, we got to have it. And so that's where he immediately blurted, apparently. And that's where it starts, Nancy. He already locked himself in. And again, his phone being left in a cot for 14 hours, kind of fits into the rest of the premeditation of this case.

You know, speaking of premeditation, I want to throw this to Joseph Scott Morgan, not only blood spatter expert, but forensics professor at Jacksonville State University, which has an incredible criminal procedure program, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, and Star of a Hit series, Bodybags with Joe Scott Morgan. Joe Scott, you have investigated, I believe, 10,000 or so death scenes. Of all sorts of deaths, it could be natural. cause his heart attack. It could be accident. It could be suicide. It could be unexplained.

And of course, homicide. My specialty. So let's talk just for a moment, jumping off what Dave Mack and Yolanda Mandenberg have told us premeditation. Jackie had a great idea. He didn't need his GPS on the phone, because he had driven that route so many times between his home, his expensive high rise in Lincoln Park, to his ex-wife, Monique Teppie's home. Can you imagine he didn't need directions? He knew exactly how to get there. Yeah, he did. And here's one interesting thing, Nancy.

You know, this whole scenario is kind of flipped on its head compared to some of the other cases that we covered. you think about electronic breadcrumbs, right? How many cases have we covered where you have a phone that's traveling in tandem with an alleged perpetrator going to one location? If you think about this, was he attempting to leave this phone behind to put people off the scent? Because, you know, you're talking about premeditation, right? I'm just feeding right back into what you're saying. Had he seen, you talked about true crime, had he seen enough to know, okay, I probably ought not take the phone with me so that it puts me immediately. outside the home. But yeah, if there had been, if there is a stalker element into this,

he's going to know this like the back of his hand, Nancy. He's going to know maybe all the nuances of that home. We'll certainly know the location, points of entry. He's going to know about the surrounding windows, low windows, how do I get into a particular area in the house? How many people are there? And then you can drive down the road without your phone. I think that we're under the impression nowadays that we have to have, have it with us, that we have to be tethered to it. And that ain't the case. So I find this fascinating, this aspect. I hadn't thought about it until you had mentioned it. It is fascinating that he might leave this alone or leave it back at the sleep room there, you know, where most doctors take call from. If you're on call, you have a room that's

set aside for you in the hospital and you'll sleep there. But, you know, the damning part to this, Nancy, is that as a vascular surgeon, let that sink in, that's a critical job. If you are absent your phone, you can wind up putting patients at risk, Nancy. You know, another thing, Joseph Morgan, is even when I know the route, many times I will put on ways just to see, is there traffic, is there slowdown, has there been an accident, should I go a different way? But he didn't need that. Of course, according to police, he was driving, you know, through the night to get there.

But what you're saying, very, very probative. And I want to go to John, Dr. John Delatory joining us, licensed psychologist, mediator, specializing in forensic psychology. I got a question for you. Dr. Delatory, I've just been thinking about this theory. He didn't need his phone because he had driven the route. to his ex-wife's home with her husband and two children many, many times before. This was about a four-hour drive-ish.

Why would he not take his phone? Clearly, he left it there in the overnight cot to create an alibi. Absolutely. I mean, when you think about it, and I know Joseph Scott Morgan just talked about, you know, we don't need to be tethered to the phone, but there's an inherent behavior. behavioral chain that nowadays we're so used to just having it on us, that it's instinctive for us to just grab it. We may not need it, but we certainly just have it on us and we feel kind of naked when we don't. So what that tells me is that he felt more inclined to engage in the behaviors that he

wanted to engage in, such as making this drive, that it was so overwhelming, it was so compulsive that any other behavior chain, which includes grabbing your phone and having everything else that you need to make the drive, having any of that stuff kind of was pushed to the side. So this is a singular goal. That's the only thing that's driving this individual to include not being, not having his phone just in case he gets on call, just in case he needs to perform surgery. All of that stuff is pushed to the side so he can complete one particular goal. and in this instance, it's making that drive to his X-Y's place.

And corroborating this, which would be a great thing for the state to argue in opening statements, let's see the video of who we believe to be the monster surgeon, Dr. Michael McKee, skulking along in that private alley. There you go. Right there. See, that's a private alley, Joe Scott Morgan, for people that live on that street. See, it's the back of the Tepey's home, and they park there and walk in through a back door. And then across that alley are the next street over, their backyard where they park.

This is a private alley. Now, who would know about that other than somebody that lived there, other than somebody that knew that route, Joe Scott Morgan? Yeah, an alleyway is very specific to the geography of a location. And, you know, this is kind of a, I don't want to say personal space, but it's, you would have to have some kind of knowledge of a thoroughfare because you're trying to get from point A to point B. And also, this goes to another point, Nancy, when you think about it. Is he attempting to mask his movement relative to this, not, you know, for whatever reason, not thinking that there might be CCTV on the alley as well. As a matter of fact, I got to tell you something. If you're trying to, if you're trying to keep yourself safe, and this is a blind area. I would want CCTV back there, all the much more so, because that's where a perpetrator might come in to burglarize your home or do any other kind of nasty business to you and your family.

I can't imagine that he would not be aware of this or at least have some inkling. He could be on videotape because he's just there. Did you see that, Joe Scott? Yep. Did you see that last photo? This is the photo where you see allegedly McKee walking along around 3, 4 a.m. in the morning when he's supposed to be sleeping overnight back at his hospital.

But then there was the other shot. Look at that. There's nobody there but trash cans. That's the back side where we believe he was walking. Yeah, and being a native nor-Lenian in our homes down there because the spaces are so tight and the truck will drive back there. This is not an area you're going to go hang out in, okay, because it's generally populated. Well, it's not the main thoroughfare.

I lived on an alley near the courthouse. forever when I was prosecuting. Guys, another issue has reared its ugly head other than the defendant, the surgeon, vascular surgeon, Michael McKee, blurting out an alibi before invoking his right to remain silent. Hey, Kessler, I don't know if you know this or not, but he has been put in a billion, B, B, as in brother, billion dollar, billion dollar facility that is focused on healing with comfy mattresses, natural light, and a gatorade on demand station. I'll let you digest that.

I don't have any of that. But, oh, there you go. I want to live there. Are they selling condos there? But Kessler, I've just been corrected. It wasn't a four-hour drive. It was nearly a seven-hour drive that he departed. pun without any directions, Kessler, seven hours. Clearly, he left the phone behind to create an

alibi, just like Brian Koberger turned off his phone while he committed the murders, which he pled to. People online quit telling me he's innocent. He pled guilty. Brian Koberger did it, accept it. So same thing here, just like Morphew, Barry Morphew, allegedly. turned off his cell phone at one juncture, then turned it back on. It's, it's, when you have your cell phone on constantly, then you turn it off at the time of the murders, then you turn it back on. Really? That makes, that looks even worse. So it's seven hours.

Seven hour drive, Kessler. How long was his phone broken? Did he call T-Mobile and asked for help? So he turned his cell phone off. Maybe he didn't want to do him to bother. Maybe he knew he was going to do something and was going to surveil him. And then you've got an individual walking through an alley that you are sure is him and you're guilty of murder because you walked in an alley in the middle of the night.

And even if it's him, there's so many questions here. So many ways for the defense to pick this apart. Oh, that's him. I can identify the mole on his cheek. Yeah, you see every little detail about him. I'm sure that's him right there walking. Couldn't be anybody else of the 300 million Americans in this country that walk around and are in the streets.

You know, I think you've got a whole lot of nothing so far. The fact that they got in, you know, lying about stuff. There could be a hundred reasons why he left his cell phone. There could be a hundred reasons why he didn't use GPS. You know what? I need more than that. And he's got a good lawyer now. So I'm looking forward to seeing this defense.

Okay, Kelsoor, it's not just identifying him walking along with his pool to the right every time he takes a step. Oh, that's conclusion. That person walking, that person walking down the alley was followed from doorbell cams. other surveillance, straight to a car belonging to Dr. McKee. So it's not just the right mole, the mole on his right cheek that you brought up. It's everything. Hey, I want you to look at a photo. This is more food for thought. I want you to look at Dr. McKee's before shot. This is him on his dating app compared to him in court. There he is on the dating app. Now look at this shot of him in court. Kessler, there has been rampant allegations that he's totally steroided up. Do you see

the back and forth the before and after? What happened? So if he took steroids, if he worked out, if he ate a lot of food, if he grew his beard out, if he didn't shave, you know, most people don't really manicure themselves for their mugshot and for the jailhouse photo for when they're getting, you know, he's had a lot going on in his life. I don't know why he looks different. He's older. Can I see, Chester, please? This is not true. I think I can hear that, but did you actually say he's got a lot going on? Did you just say that? Obviously, he's got a lot going on. You know, he's a busy surgeon. He's being accused of a crime. I mean, you're, you're going to convict somebody because they look different because they're now bigger because they've got more muscle or more

fat or more hair on their face. I mean, what is the basis for you say? I don't know how you get muscles in your head and your face. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. I want you, Kessler, as you're trying to bail him out, I want you to hear

Monique Tepi's wedding vows, and I think I know who she's talking about when she describes a waterfall of 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, 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. Tep. The firearm. It appears he planned more of what to do rather than the aftermath of it. When you purchase a suppressor, you have to be registered with the ATF, unless purchased on the black market or something that he built. I can't wait to get a hold of his digital. footprint. And I stand by that. I cannot wait to get a hold of his digital footprint and find out what websites he was on. What was he saying about himself? How did this guy get women? And speaking of getting women, guess what? His ex-girlfriend, who I believe is a doctor herself, is speaking

out. Dr. Michael McKee turned murder defendant. Ex-girlfriend speaks. Let's listen. He did tell me a little bit about his divorce at the time. So again, I wanna preface this with this is his side of the story and what he spoke to me. This is not truth. This is obviously very biased, but what he told me was that one day he came home from residency and that Monique had vanished. Like she took everything.

She left the house completely empty and also took their dog. He was just left very stunned because he didn't see this coming and he was like completely devastated. Hmm. This is a woman who I believe to be a medical doctor that says she is McKee's ex-girlfriend. She seems reliable and credible. In a moment, you're going to see photos of her with McKee and her family. But I want to analyze what we just heard. Okay, straight out to Dr. John Deloey, licensed psychologist specializing in forensic psychology. Dr. Delatori, I'm hearing he did tell me a little bit about his divorce at the time. Don't people know

the people that are on the dating market? Nobody wants to hear about their bad exes. Why? It's like, blah. Yeah. So I think, you know, at some point in this, whatever this relationship was, it became, you know, kind of obvious that all of the past baggage needed to be brought up for whatever reason. Maybe he was already triggered. Maybe Michael McKee was already triggered to kind of say all of this stuff. But it isn't really something that you say at the beginning. So maybe they had already had somewhat of an intimate relationship, meaning they could speak to one of. another about this, but she's correcting that she's only getting one half of the side of the story. The other half of the side of the story is certainly that he could have not been a very good guy to his ex-wife, and that's why his ex-wife decided to take everything in the dog and leave. Now, interesting, right here to Yelena Mandenberg, joining us, investigative reporter with the mirror and the Irish Star and the Express. My reading of the divorce papers,

was that they had been living separately for some time. Is that correct? Yes, and the divorce papers cite that they were incompatible. So if there were any issues, she never went to the police. All we have is rumors to friends, conversation she had with friends about his personality and his behavior. Okay, so Dave Mack, crime stories, investigative reporter, you know where I'm going with this.

If they were already separated, living in two different households, all right. And he says he came home and everything was cleaned out. That sounds like a lie because she would have had to drive several hours and take his stuff. She already had her stuff in her place based on what was said in the divorce papers. Yeah, he's just being the victim selling a story that's totally not true. You know, he tried to separate her from her family right away, which is what controlling men do. because she was very, very close to her family, as evidenced by all of the things we have seen over the last couple of weeks from the family and extended family.

And the first thing he does that McKee does, he moves her away to Virginia, which again kind of goes back to the beginning. They were only married seven months, Nancy, and they separated. And I think just based on the way divorce rules work, state to state, that's why it took a year. I think it would have been a divorce a lot quicker had they been able to. But she wasn't living with him like that. You know, another thing I noticed in the divorce papers is that nothing was mentioned about getting furniture back or splitting household goods at all. Nothing about the dog, no arguing over the pots and pans. Randy Kessler, this is your bellywick.

If this is true, what he tried to feed his ex-girlfriend, that, oh, I came home and all the stuff was gone and the dog was gone. He didn't try to get any of that back in the divorce papers. I mean, I believe it was you that told me one day that people will kill each other over the pots and pans. But he didn't have any of that in the divorce papers. He demanded none of that. He did not ask for the dog or the pots and pants or the sofa or the plant or the TV or the Nintendo Switch. None of that, which makes me think he's lying to this ex-girlfriend. There's no way to decide how people feel based on looking at it.

the divorce papers. Number one, he was probably telling his ex-girlfriend when the relationship ended. She just left and took everything and took the dog. Not the day of the divorce, not when she filed for divorce. Relationships end a lot sooner than when people come to see me and hire me to file for divorce. The relationship has usually been over for a while. Number two, the dog could have been gone for a long time. Number three, apparently reading the divorce papers, he got a lot, right? She basically wanted out. That's clear. She didn't have to put in there that he was violent. She just said the marriage is over. That's all you need to follow by for divorce. And she let him have You were so right about that.

You were so right about that because he even got the money back for the engagement ring and the wedding band. Now, there's a classy dude. Hey, you know, the bottom line is somebody wants out and somebody doesn't. And it sounds like she wanted out and he didn't want out as much. So she said, you know what, what will it take to end this right now? And he apparently said this is what it's going to take. And they reached an agreement. They got it done.

Why? Nobody knows. You can speculate it all day long. Man, look at the before and after, guys. Hey, that shot you just showed New York control room, the one just before that. Look at him there and look at him in his most recent bookend. This is where allegations of steroid. Oh, somebody has a rash on their neck.

Allegations of steroid use. Okay, I'll get, ooh, there you go. And that is not just gaining weight. His neck is as big as a Virginia ham. That is either working out. day in and day out or steroids. Okay, I'll get to the steroids in a moment, Dr. John Delatory, but I want to go back to the ex-girlfriend.

Look at her. Do you believe her? Because I find her very credible. Listen. He didn't really talk about his parents. He did tell me he was adopted by an older couple. And he just, like, they were good parents, but he just never talked about them. He never talked to them.

I would call my mom like every day. We would have a great relationship. But he was just much more. He never really, when I asked him more, he just didn't really want to talk about it. So I kind of left it at that. This is him. This is a celebrating New Year's with a bunch of my friends and family. And this is me right here and that's him, which is crazy. Okay. So if she's lying, she's gone to great links to Photoshop pictures, which look very real to me.

But that said, Dr. John Deletori, that's a blaring, blinking, flashing neon light of warning. morning. That's a red flag. He never talked about his parents. He never talked to his parents. When I would bring them up, he didn't want to talk about it. You know, that's something I look at. How does the guy treat his mother? Yeah, no, it is because the relationships that you have with your parents are often going to be the prototypes for the relationships that you have with other people, right? Because if you have these positive and secure attachments with your parents, you can assume that other people are going to have those kinds of attachments so you can have those kinds of attachments with them. And I think it becomes a red flag when it becomes there's no clear reason as to why

you would have this disconnect as to why you would go no contact with your parents. People go no contact for all different kinds of reasons. But if he's willing to say and put himself out there to say that my ex-wife took all my stuff and the dog, then why is he, you know, kind of obfuscating why he's no longer having any contact with his parents. So as the ex-girlfriend, you start seeing these little patterns. You start seeing these little flags come up and being raised as to who exactly am I spending my time with? Who exactly is this person and what is he capable of doing?

Well, I mean, Kessler and all of your divorced clients that you've dealt with over the years, plus all your criminal defendants you've represented, it's starting to pile up. I mean, I could believe, okay, it's the ex-wife's fault. But now there's no contact with the parents. He doesn't want to talk about them. He's not in touch with them. So now it's the mom and the dad and the ex-wife. I know.

It's him. He's the problem. He's the only common denominator. Do you ever have clients like that where, oh, she did this and she did that and my teenage daughter won't speak to me and my son hates me, blah? Pretty soon, do you ever get it? It's you, not them. Yeah, I mean, we sort of have that old joke that, you know, sometimes it's the person who says, I'm only in jail because you called the police. Everything's the other person's fault. But this one's a little more complicated, right? Obviously, a successful guy. He's a very accomplished surgeon. He's made it through difficult studies, difficult schools, difficult jobs. So that's even harder for us to get our head around the fact that he might be totally off-centered. You know, he's going to have a lot of defense to be able to say, look, you can't hold it together and be a great surgeon without some sort of stability, some sort of common sense,

some sort of knowledge, it makes the case much more interesting. Yes, we definitely have people that don't get. I guess you've heard of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, right? Hey, one more. You've got to hear this from the ex-girlfriend who, by the way, and I don't blame her, has now deleted her TikTok. She was at TikTok at S. Rummy. Listen.

He also has been to my family home. That's him right there. This is me and my family members. But it's honestly shocking and I'm grateful that the Lord protected me from moving forward in that relationship. The reason why it ended was I honestly wasn't feeling it. I don't mean to be disrespectful, but he was just kind of boring and he was very much like kind of surface level. There was no like I couldn't go deep with him. And yeah, that's why I couldn't form like a deep connection with him because of that like, I think he had a wall up where he just like could not go deep with like any conversations really.

So that's why it ended. Dr. Delotory, Dr. John Delatory, joining us psychological consultant to Project Absence, which is a non-profit, searching for missing people. You can find him on Twitter, Insta and TikTok at Dr. John Delatory. What does that mean? She says he had a wall up. They couldn't connect. How does that fit in with your?

observations. Here's the thing that I think I need to know before I can make a definitive decision. What was his bedside manner? We're in a unique position where we can see how someone interacts with other people on a regular basis because it is certainly possible that Dr. McKee has no bedside manner that he views people as simply objects that he either has to fix or he either has to control. And so it's certainly possible that he has no depth because there is no depth to him, that he has no real ability to connect to other people. And because he views them as just simple broken things that he knows how to fix or things that he knows how to break over time, that there's nothing else there. And this ex-girlfriend was able to pick up on that and extricate

herself from this relationship. But the more we know about what his bedside manner is, the more we can tell whether or not this was an underlying psychopath or sociopath. You know, Dr. John, I've never delved into it in front of a jury because it was irrelevant under the law, but I've studied it when I was prosecuting killers and since the affect of a serial killer, the affect of a killer. How does what the ex-girlfriend says fit into the profile of a psychopath? One of the biggest things that we look at when it comes to the psychopathy checklist is shallow affect. Now, by shallow affect, what that means is you can mimic, right? The psychopath is able to mimic emotions.

They're able to mimic empathy. They're able to kind of demonstrate that just on a surface level, but you can't connect with them one human being to the next. Humans are really good at understanding when they're actually being connected, when they're actually developing that intimacy. Psychopaths don't have that. And psychopathy isn't dictated by your, by your intelligence. It absolutely is not. You can be highly intelligent or you cannot be highly intelligent and still be a psychopath. Your job doesn't dictate whether or not you are those things. A sociopath is similar, but a sociopath is looking at the overall kind of construction of the world around them, the society and communities that are around them and wants to buck that

system. They want they want to destroy the systems that are in place that are holding them down. The psychopath wants to hurt other people because they think that they're more, right? That the narcissism is such that they are above other people while the sociopath looks to tear down the system as a whole. The ex-girlfriend may be the closest will ever get to his true nature because there is no way this guy's taking the stand. There's nothing good about a silence. I love silencers. That was an additional witness that was saying the owner of this silencer is guilty. Why does this vascular surgeon have a silencer?

KYD, BMS. Keep your damn big mouth shut. Straight out to a special guest joining us, Yelena Mandenberg, investigative news reporter for The Mirror, the Irish Star, and the Express. Yelena, again, thank you for being with us tonight. So where is McKee tonight? He is at the James A. Carnes Correction Center in Franklin County, Ohio, which is brand new, billion dollars, billions of dollars sunk into this project. And honestly, mostly looks like a rehab center for it is a jail and not a prison. So it is a place people will go and either they will.

will see their day in court and be free, or they will move into the prison system. So if Mickey is guilty and convicted, he won't be staying in this nice facility for very long. I have a feeling it was mostly built to address, you know, the drug addiction and population in Ohio. And Franklin County does cycle through, you know, nearly 20,000 people a year operates

one of the largest jail systems in the state. Wait a minute. Yelina Mandembourg, 20,000 people. So does the Hilton. So does the Mandalay. So does the Waldorf Astoria. Do they have to stay in a place? It looks like the lobby of one of those futuristic hotels where it's very sparse.

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. What is that? Go, go, go back. What are those balls? Dr. Dwayne Hendricks. What in the hay? That looks like the equinox, the fancy workout club in New York. What did you see those balls that you sit on and try to balance and do exercises on them?

Can I see that picture again? Those life cycles are better. What? Look at this. Well, Nancy, just like the reporter just mentioned, this, this is a new. facility. When I served as a ward in the state of West Virginia, there was a big opioid crisis there as well. And Ohio was a leading state in terms of trying to address the opioid addiction. I believe this jail was designed to deal with those, the crisis that they have in the state

of Ohio. Nearly 80,000 out of deaths a year, out of 100,000 opioid deaths, 80% of those deaths are related to opioid addiction. I know you mentioned something about Gatorade stations as well. And looking into that, the Gatorade stations in electrolysis there to address the for inmates that are withdrawing from opioid addiction. So that is why, because ultimately, I had never heard of that before, but ultimately this is why they designed this facility in the manner that they did because they're trying to address the issues that they're facing. Are they going to drop a Starbucks in there? No, they're not going to draw Starbucks in there. What's next? A fray?

No, they're not. No, no. An extra squirt of sugar-free, vanilla. What's next? Listen. McKee arrived from Ohio and was booked into the Franklin County Jail, the James A. Karnes Corrections Center. At his arraignment, McKee pleaded not guilty and waived a request for bond. McKee will remain in Karns Correction Center until his attorney's. seeks bail or the case goes to trial. The new jail has a less institutional feel on purpose as the sheriff's office excited about biophilic design principles using high ceilings, murals of mountains and ocean scenes, and maximum natural light. Pots are located on the second floor with better

access to the natural light via skylights. Design features include use of wood graining, requiring use of headphones when watching TV and the presence of clocks. Extra care spent on mattresses to help inmates abuse, putting clocks in the jail, making things seem more normal, less institutional. Okay, Dr. Dwayne Hendricks is with us. Just so you know why he's joining us tonight, former warden, MDC, Brooklyn, Warden, Sheridan, Oregon, senior warden, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, founder-president of a new DeLight Foundation, author of Who Are You? See it?

Say it. Sees it. Okay. Dr. Hendricks, thank you for being with us. I'd like you to peruse these shots inside the Carnes CI Correctional Institute. Now, they have a biophilic design, Dr. Hendricks, which incorporates natural materials, light, vegetation, organic forms into the built environment. They are trying to foster a connection with nature. enhance human will-being, health, and productivity.

Okay, Dr. Dwayne Hendricks, why do I want him closer to nature? Well, I mean, he is in the jail allegedly for committing these murders so that he's there for as punishment, but while you're incarcerated, you're not there to be punished further. And the aesthetics of this facility is there to create again an environment. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what? you're not incarcerated to be punished. What? I said as punishment.

Did he say that? He did. Okay. What? Yes. He's there as punishment or not for further punishment. And I'll also say the aesthetics of this facility is not just for those inmates, but they're also for the staff as well because these are,

the correctional environment is not something. I can't hop. The staff. The staff? They can go home in front of their widescreen, big screen TV and sit in their pit group. That's jail. Well, a lot of those staff are spending 16 hours and a lot more than 40 hours a week in those environments. And having an environment.

Okay, great. Give them an awesome staff lounge. You're right. I'd be mad if they didn't. But can I ask you, why does a guy charge with double murder shooting people dead in their beds with their children in the next room, screaming their heads off? have natural materials utilizing wood, stone, rattan, bamboo, terracotta to create tactile connections in nature, maximizing daylight through large windows, skylights.

What? I don't know. I'm flummoxed. Because you're trying to reduce, you're trying to reduce violence. You're trying to reduce violence. You're trying to reduce the amount of mental, the mental toll that it takes on those individuals that are incarcerated, as well as a. staff that work in these environments.

That is the reason why that these new designs of a facility like this is, and it's for rehabilitative purposes because 80% of the people that go to prison or jail will be released back into our communities. And after spending several years in prison, you want your neighbors to come back in a better, in somewhat better condition mentally and physically or do we last? Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Joe Scott Morgan, please help me because I feel like I'm in the crazy house right now. Do you hear Hendricks, do I respect it up until this moment?

Biophilic design, connection with nature, maximum natural light, comfy mattresses? What? It's a far cry from the eastern state penitentiary in Pennsylvania, which I visited many years ago, which was one of the first places where people were incarcerated. And yeah, this does look more like a treatment facility than it does a place for long-term correction. And again, this is a county facility, Nancy. This is merely a holding or stopping point. Can I say the urinal, please?

You know, Joe Scott, there is a phenomenon where men have the performance anxiety if they have to urinate with someone watching them, they just can't do it. I'm sure a shrink would know the correct name, but there you go. There's a little privacy wall so they can t-tete. Yeah, well, again, back to functionality here, Nancy. How long is this guy going to be here? If he's going to go to trial, he's going to wind up some in a location that will be far from this as far as the aesthetic goes.

He's going to wind up in Ohio State Penitentiary if he goes to trial and he's convicted. And that's a far cry from what you're seeing here. So Dr. Dwayne Hendricks, I'm sure you're happy that Dr. Michael McKee charged with double murder, gunning two people down in their beds and keeping the gun so it can relive

the terror he saw on an extent. face as he towered over their bed that night. You're happy he has plenty of space to roam around in this billion dollar facility. He's got a lot more space than Spencer and Monique have. They're in a coffin now. No, I'm not happy that he's in a better space because trust me, if he's convicted, you know, like Mr. Morgan just said, he is, Scott Morring to say he is going to go to a state penitentiary and spend the rest of his life behind bars. And he's going to have to channel that Mr. Hyde character because he won't be able to manipulate his way through the things that he's thought he has done throughout his life to get to the point where he is now. So he's going to be more

Mr. Hyde and Mr. Jekyll in a different facility. But I can also, as an administrator in corrections, I can see why they've built some of these institutions in this way because, again, you're trying to reduce stress. You're trying to reduce violence. And you're trying to put individuals in a position so that when they do release that they'll be better mentally and physically. But no, I'm not necessarily happy. Let me remind you what this, what this is all about, what tonight is all about. The reason you are here, the reason I am here. It's about Monique and Spencer Teppy.

That's what it's about. Listen. 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? He on the line. He appears dead. There's a body. Our friend wasn't injury his phone. We just did a wellness ship. We just came here. He appears dead.

He's laying next to his bed off of his bed in his blood. I can't get closer than to see more than that. Okay. So you can tell he's obviously not breathing or anything? Yeah. Is it like how to like, you know, because it says he looks like. It doesn't look at all right. Okay.

All right. I understand. Professor Forensics Jacksonal State University, Joseph Scott Morgan. What about the allegations that he's used? steroids. Did you see that before and after? Yeah, I did. And again, weight gain and bulk and that sort of thing can be explained in any number of ways. However, if an individual is abusing steroids or integrating them into their life in any way, that's something that generally happens early on when they're beginning to utilize them. And you do see significant growth. But over long-term use relative to anabolic steroids,

You're talking about things that make people a bit delusional. They can be highly reactive. They can actually have a certain level of paranoia relative to them. And so that's something that should be explored. However, now that he is incarcerated, if he was using these before, you could actually see a reduction in size. We'll see how this plays out. Randy Kassler, is steroid use a defense?

No, it's a big problem for the, actual defense law because now the public and the jury might say, well, he was a functioning doctor. What would have made him do something? And this is an explanation for them to say, well, we could see how I could push him over the edge. But being on steroids doesn't justify this. If his defense is, I did it, but I was on steroids. I think his defense is I didn't do it. So make steroids irrelevant. Dave, Matt, what can you tell me about an alleged clerical error that could have sparked a killing spree?

Nancy, it is so shocking that this simple clerical error involving the docket number within the court system, court officials have confirmed that this error in the docket number resulted in the McKee divorce case getting a hearing put on the docket for June of 2025 and including a scheduled trial date for September. this brought everything back to the forefront for McKee because this was settled in 2017. And here it is in 2025 being brought up. It was a simple error. It was caught and corrected and the scheduled September hearing was canceled. But it was still brought up, Nancy. Yelina Mandenberg, joining us from the Mirror, the Irish Star, and the Express. Yelina, what happens now?

So now we go to trial. Now the defense and the prosecutor have each got to work on their evidence. It's unlikely we're going to hear too many updates of details. I reached out to all the lawyers, of course, and they can't comment until the case is over. So, as I said earlier, the prosecutor is going to have, you know, a tough time filling in the little holes and the little pieces beyond reasonable doubt. and that's going to be the next part. There's no trial date set. So far, he just entered the not guilty plea.

And we're going to wait to find when there is a trial date. And if the evidence is he to find, that might be sooner rather than later. And if anything found complicates the case, then it's going to take some time before we actually see any kind of official details from the case. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human