Hidden True Crime - The Big Mistake that Made Michael McKee Spiral | Spencer and Monique Tepe

Episode Date: January 15, 2026

For days, the headlines have focused on who police arrested in the Tepe murders...but they’ve barely touched how long this story was quietly unfolding before December 30th. In this episode, we go beyond the press conference to examine what investigators confirmed, what they carefully avoided, and the unsettling details about Michael McKee’s life that only came into focus after Spencer and Monique Tepe were killed. Sponsor: Jones Road Beauty: Use code HIDDEN a ⁠https://jonesroadbeauty.com⁠ to get a Free Cool Gloss with your first purchase! #JonesRoadBeauty #ad About Hidden True Crime What started as a simple conversation at their dinner table became a captivating podcast. Join the dynamic duo of Dr. John Matthias, a criminal psychologist, and Lauren Matthias, an investigative journalist, as they delve into the psychological facets of unthinkable crimes every week. Their unique perspectives and in-depth analysis offer a fresh take on true crime storytelling. Thank you for your support through sponsorships, subscribing, listening, and becoming a Patreon member at⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/HiddenTrueCrime⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Start your free trial today at Aura.com slash remove. Protect yourself now at aura.com slash remove. Four days now. The headlines have told us who. police arrested in the TEPI murders. But what they haven't explained is how long this story was unfolding before December 30th, 2025. And by the time police stepped up to the podium on Wednesday, most of the public thought, they already understood this case. But what the press conference and the reporting we've done here a hidden true crime reveals is that the most important parts of this story weren't happening on the day of or after the murders. They were

happening years before, hidden inside a life that was slowly unraveling. But we're going to break it all down here, all of it. Today, we're pulling back the curtain on not just what police confirmed, but what they are carefully avoiding saying and the unsettling details about Michael McKee's life that only came into focus after Spencer and Monique Tepe were killed. And some of what we're going to talk about today, including what police still won't explain, raises questions that are hard to ignore. And I think that you'll agree. Stick with me. Chief Elaine Bryant opened by making it clear that from the department's perspective, the investigation has reached a critical point. They are now publicly classifying the murders as a targeted domestic, violent, related attack. Not random,

not opportunistic. This was targeted and personal. We believe at this point we have the person responsible for the murders of Monique and Spencer Tepey in custody. And that person is Michael McKee. This is still an active and ongoing investigation. Detectives are still going through evidence, tips, and videos. We can't speak to all the specific details related to this case, so we don't want to jeopardize the ultimate goal of conviction. But what we can say, this was a targeted attack. This was a domestic violence-related attack.

As we know, McKee is the ex-husband of Monique Tepey. Chief Bryant went on to confirm that investigators were able to track a vehicle connected to the murders. Surveillance cameras in the neighborhood captured a vehicle arriving at the Tepe home just before the homicides and leaving shortly after. Detectives were able to link that vehicle to Michael McKee and later located it in Rockland, Illinois. And they now say they have evidence.

showing that Michael had possession of that vehicle both before and after the killings, placing him in direct connection to the scene during the critical window of time. And then came one of the most consequential revelations of the entire conference. Police executed searches at Michael's property, and they seized not one, not to, multiple weapons. Chief Bryant confirmed that investigators now have a preliminary forensic link tying at least one of those weapons to the homicide. We can also say that multiple weapons were taken from the property of McKee. And there is a preliminary link from our niobin to one of the weapons that ties it to the homicides.

It was the first time law enforcement publicly acknowledged that what may be the murder weapon that has potentially been identified. After those statements, Chief Bryant opened the floor to questions. a reporter immediately asked about the motive. Was there a known reason? Was there something that set this off? Chief Bryant was careful and said that at this time, police cannot comment on motive,

explaining that it is part of the ongoing investigation and something that will likely come out later through the court process rather than through any media. Another reporter asked whether investigators found additional evidence at Michael's residence in the Lincoln Park area. I have the same question. Well, Chief Bryant confirmed that they did surge,

the property and that evidence was indeed recovered. But she stopped there. She would not describe what was found, only that the search did indeed produce evidence now being analyzed. I can only imagine what. There was also a question about who actually arrested Michael. Chief Bryant explained that this case involved federal partnerships and that Michael was taken into custody by ATF, or also known as the federal alcohol, tobacco, and firearms agents. It's interesting. Very, very, very close to his place of employment in Rockford, by the way, is where they say he was arrested. And she framed the arrest as a multi-agency effort that allowed police to locate and detain him without incident. Another reporter tried to narrow in on Michael's movements asking

what police could say about where he had been between the murders and the day he was arrested. Again, Chief Bryant declined to provide specifics, but she confirmed that investigators do have evidence that places Michael at the scene during the time the homicides. occurred. There were also questions about how Michael entered the tepee home. I have that question. Another question I have, especially since police, they previously said there were no signs of force entry. Well, Chief Bryant also declined to answer that as well, saying they are not yet able to discuss how entry was gained. But it sounds like they do likely know. And a particularly sensitive question came next about whether the children may have seen or heard anything.

And she said, please do not have information they're able to share at this time. But we can only hope that they were shielded in from what happened. Reporters also raised concerns that neighbors had previously claimed they saw Michael in the neighborhood and near the home in the days leading up to the murders. Chief Bryant would not confirm or deny those reports and said that when additional information can be released, it will be shared with the public. Another question addressed the couple's relationship asking whether Michael and Monique were civil after their 2017 divorce and whether there had been any.

known conflict. Chief Bryant stated that investigators are still gathering information about that. And when asked about extradition, how and when Michael would be brought back to Columbus, she explained that out-of-state felony extraditions are typically handled by specialized extradition companies and that the logistics are still being worked out. Then came another key question, what kind of weapons were recovered? She confirmed again, multiple weapons were seized, but would not describe them. A reporter asked how quickly Michael became a suspect, noting that the family had said they believed

he was responsible almost immediately. Well, Chief Bryant said that every tip and every piece of information received by police was immediately investigated, but she could not provide a specific timeline of when Michael rose to the top of the suspect list. There were also questions about digital forensics and DNA and how long testing might take

and when results might come back. Chief Bryant said investigators, are continuously waiting on information and working through testing, but again, could not provide a timeline. Another critical question addressed allegations of prior abuse. The family has said they believe Michael had been abusive toward Monique in the past. Well, police were asked whether there were any prior reports or known incidents to them. And Chief Bryant stated that police had no prior reports on record and no documented information regarding incidents between Michael and Monique. And finally, police were asked about something many in the public had already suspected.

Was Michael McKee, the man in the surveillance video? Police had released earlier and the person of interest walking near the home around the time of the murders. And to that, Chief Bryant confirmed that yes, yes, he was. Do you believe he's the person in the video that you shared the person of interest? We do. Okay. So as more reporting comes out, the picture surrounding Michael McKee has started to shift in ways that are honestly unsettling, not just because of what he's accused of, but because of what was quietly happening in his life before December 30th.

And we're going to talk about that now. We're going to talk about everything that we have learned because Michael's professional path shows a steady climb of success, right? He was licensed in multiple states working most recently as a vascular surgery, in Rockford, Illinois, but layered over that success is a second story of unanswered lawsuits, disappearing contact information, mounting professional concern, and a personal life that had fractured long before the murders. As a vascular surgeon, Michael was a highly trained specialist, trusted with complex, high-risk procedures, someone who, like, look, on paper,

should have been living a stable, structured, predict, life, but behind the scenes, that stability had already been unraveling. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the internet, and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where ORA comes in.

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slash remove. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you're you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where ORA comes in. ORA actively removes your data from broker sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web. But ORA goes beyond data protection. With one app, you get a VPN, antivirus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring,

and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance, all backed by 24-7 U.S.-based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring or just a VPN. ORA gives you all of it together at the same price competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial today at aura.com slash remove. Protect yourself now at aura.com slash remove. So months before Spencer and Monique were killed, Michael had actually essentially disappeared and not in a metaphorical sense. He had quite literally vanished from professional

and legal radar while facing a malpractice lawsuit in Nevada. So ABC6 investigates uncovered that a Las Vegas attorney named Dan Laird have been trying for months to legally serve Michael with a malpractice lawsuit connected to a surgical injury that allegedly occurred in 2003 at Las Vegas surgical associates. So the lawsuit claims Michael failed to properly train a physician's assistant and that a patient was seriously injured as a result. But serving Michael turned into something that felt less like routine legal procedure and more like trying to track down a ghost.

There were at least, get this, nine, nine documented attempts to locate him, to serve him. The address provided by his former surgical group didn't exist. The phone number listed with the state medical board range to a fax machine, a fax machine. And then even his colleagues could not help. So one of them told Laird flat out, quote, he just disappeared. Michael's Nevada medical license quietly expired last summer.

And when Laird finally tracked down Michael's current license to Rockford, Illinois in November, he called repeatedly. But he got no answers. Nothing. No callbacks either. Laird didn't even know about the Columbus murders until ABC6, contacted him. Can you imagine that? His reaction, in my opinion, learning about the murders says a lot. He said, quote, if you listed out the people who would likely be accused of committee to double

homicide, a fully trained vascular surgeon would be at the bottom of my list, end quote. And what made it even stranger was that no attorney ever contacted Laird on Michael's behalf, which is extremely unusual in malpractice cases, right? Because they're almost always handled by insurance-funded legal teams. Laird is now trying to determine whether Michael may have let that insurance lapse entirely, which he described as highly unusual and definitely risky. Eventually, a Nevada judge granted something called a declaration of due diligence allowing Michael to be served through a newspaper notice because he simply could not be found. In Laird's 12-year legal career, he had only

needed to do this one other time. Meanwhile, Michael was quietly living and working in Illinois. And after his arrest in Rockford, Michael was booked into the Winnebago County Jail. He made his first court appearance on January 12th, where he consented to return to Ohio and is expected to plead not guilty to two counts of aggravated murder with premeditation. However, his extradition may now take longer than expected. Court filings show that his scheduled January 9th, 19th transport back to Franklin County was actually canceled with the court stating that moving him by that date will, quote, not be feasible. A new status date has now been set for January 23rd, but even that could change depending on logistics. We're now also learning personal details

about Michael that, in hindsight, raise difficult questions. Michael, as we learned, was adopted. Dr. John Matthias and I talked about that in our last episode. And it's been reported, though, now that he eventually cut off all contact with his adoptive parents, James and Mary McKee, despite them being described as loving and supportive. They didn't even attend his wedding to Monique, which many people who claim to know them find unusual. Yeah, I don't know them, and I find that unusual. And after his divorce from Monique, Michael spent nearly a decade moving from job to job

across the country. Former co-workers say his time in Nevada marked the beginning of what they describe as they honestly describe as this quote, a downward spiral. One tied to surgical complications, this downward spiral, growing concerns about his experience level and alleged professional recklessness. So one source described Michael as polite, calm, and never outwardly volatile, but said it was dangerous how much responsibility he was being given so early in his career. That is dangerous. It's interesting, especially being that he's a vascular surgeon. They said, quote, why are you letting a guy that's barely two years out of fellowship free reign to do these crazy cases?

And despite the calm exterior, family members of Spencer Tepi say they believed almost immediately that McKee was somehow involved in the murders. Spencer's brother-in-law has been very vocal. Rob Mesla said that Michael had been emotionally abusive toward Monique during their marriage. And as we know, records show that Michael and Monique were married in August of 2015 and separated just seven months later. They were living separately by March of 2016. Monique described their marriage as incompatible in divorce stocks. They had no children together. And their finances appeared strangely separate.

Monique even listed multiple financial accounts as unknown, writing that she didn't know how much money Michael had or what his assets were actually worth. She had no idea, even though they were married. Michael ended up keeping the house and they split their personal property quietly and fairly quickly. And then their lives went in very different directions. Monique went on to build a new life. Mary Spencer have two beautiful children. They were just one month short of celebrating their five-year anniversary when they were both killed in their Columbus home. And one of the things that has been especially difficult for people like myself to wrap their heads around in this case is the timing of it all because Michael and Monique have been divorced for years. And on the surface, their split

seemed short, quiet, uneventful, right? With no dramatic courtroom battles that we can see no drawn out legal war, no public signs that anything between them had remained unresolved. And yet What we are now being forced to consider is the possibility that Michael may have continued to carry resentment, emotional attachment, and a sense of loss toward Monique long, long after their marriage illegally ended, and that resentment may have quietly deepened as their lives moved in very different directions. And as I talked about with my co-host, Dr. John Matthias, typically when a homicide is connected to a breakup or a divorce, it tends to happen much closer in time to the actual separation,

right, when emotions are still raw and rejection is fresh. So this case, it stands out in a way that is unsettling for many because years had passed. Monique found stability and happiness. And meanwhile, Michael's life appears, again, as I've pointed out, to have been slowly unraveling. The episode where Dr. John and I discussed the whys around domestic violent offenders, and this case is linked, by the way, in the description of this episode and in PIN comments. But Michael's career path, which once looked structured and promising, a vascular surgeon, it seems to have begun to fracture with licensing issues, this lawsuit, him ghosting everyone,

literally, professional instability, moving from job to job, and eventually a pattern of disappearing from colleagues and cutting off contact with not just colleagues, but his adoptive parents. And this may, you know, in thinking about it, may have left him increasingly isolated without anyone in his personal life to help ground him or challenge the direction of his thinking and what he might have been doing. When someone is losing things that normally give them identity and stability, such as family connection, professional confidence, and a sense of forward momentum, resentment doesn't always fade.

Instead, it can transform into something much more consuming. especially if the person they once loved is moving forward, thriving, at least from their view, and building a life that no longer includes them. One of the more haunting details now being discussed involves Monique and Spencer's wedding video that was uploaded to YouTube by Spencer's brother-in-law, Rob. He was also their videographer. So sources, get this, say that in recent months, someone had been repeatedly watching that video. And while this hasn't been officially confirmed, it has caused many of us to ask whether Michael

may have been the one returning to that video again and again, watching Monique laugh, seeing her joy, hearing her reflect on past wrong relationships, and being confronted over and over with visual proof that she had moved on and was deeply, deeply happy without Michael McKee in her life. Normally, wedding videos see a brief spike in views shortly after they are posted and then they slowly fade into the background over time. So the idea that someone might have been revisiting it obsessively years later, that raises questions for me about whether that repeated exposure may have been feeding an emotional loop of loss, humiliation, anger, unresolved attachment, and then maybe that gradually turned into fixation. Another detail that has taken on

new weight is how quick and quiet their divorce actually was because a divorce attorney recently pointed out that in situations involving abuse or control, it is not uncommon for the abused partner to pursue a fast, clean, and cooperative separation, not because everything is fine, but because they simply want out, right? They want peace. They don't want their private trauma turned into a public courtroom battle, or they're nervous to fight for anything in a courtroom. They just, you can have it all. Take what you want. Monique and Michael's divorce was finalized in about two months, and that is unusually fast. If Michael didn't want that divorce, it raises the possibility that Monique may have had information, documentation, or experiences. It could,

could have been damaging to his career if they were made public. He may have chosen to go along with a quiet civil separation rather than risk allegations being introduced into the legal record, right? Yeah. And, you know, again, he got the house. So I also think she was pretty much like, look, whatever he wants take, let's just make this easy. Fast forward to years later and we see Michael facing a malpractice lawsuit, disappearing, disappearing. Again, disappearing, not just not responding, but like disappearing and not even retaining an attorney for this lawsuit, which legal professionals have described as highly unusual in malpractice cases.

These are almost always handled by insurance-funded legal teams, and that has led many to quietly wonder whether he'd already begun letting go of his career or his finances and his professional promised future. I mean, maybe in his own mind, those things no longer felt relevant, or he felt he had lost control. If he was already spiraling, according to those that knew him, spiraling is the word they used, disconnected from family, fixated on the life Monique had built without him. It becomes harder to see this as a sudden, isolated act, and easier to maybe see it as a possible final collapse of a long private unraveling. Regardless, this case isn't only about what happened inside that home on December 30th. It's also about what may have been

happening quietly in the years leading up to that day. Unresolved attachment, professional decline, emotional isolation, and resentment that may have been growing in silence, while Monique was building a life that no longer included Michael. a life of her dreams. And again, for those wanting to better understand the psychology behind this type of crime and criminal, check out Dr. John Matthias's and my discussion on this case. It's linked again in the description of this episode and in the pinned comment. And as this case moves through the justice system, it shows us once again that the most dangerous breakdowns aren't always loud or obvious. Sometimes, a lot of times they are slow.

They're quiet, methodical even, and even invisible to all of us looking in outsiders until the damage and the abuse becomes irreversible. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where ORA comes in. ORA actively removes your data from broker's sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web.

But ORA goes beyond data protection. With one app, you get a VPN, antivirus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance, all backed by 24-7 U.S.-based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring or just a VPN. ORA gives you all of it, together, at the same price competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial today at ORA.com slash remove. Protect yourself now at aura.com slash remove. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day.

Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the Internet, and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent. That's how your information lands at. in the hands of scammers, spammers, even stalkers. It's why you get endless robocalls and why ads seem to follow you everywhere. That's where ORA comes in. ORA actively removes your data from broker's sites and keeps it off. They also instantly alert you if your information shows up in a breach or on the dark web.

But ORA goes beyond data protection. With one app, you get a VPN, antivirus, password manager, spam call protection, dark web monitoring, and even up to $5 million in identity theft insurance. all backed by 24-7 U.S.-based fraud support. Other companies might sell just credit monitoring or just a VPN. ORA gives you all of it, together, at the same price competitors charge for just one service. Start your free trial today atora.com slash remove. Protect yourself now at aura.com slash remove.