Bitter, past his best and seething with jealousy: Horrifying 'insight' into mind of surgeon accused of killing ex-wife and her dentist spouse
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The vascular surgeon accused of gunning down his ex-wife and her new dentist husband was driven by a dark, festering rage that she had dared to build a new life without him, criminal experts believe.
Michael McKee, 39, of Chicago, is charged with the aggravated murder of Monique Tepe and her second husband, Spencer at their $700,000 home in Columbus, Ohio, in the early hours of December 30, in a killing that orphaned their two young children.
Bespectacled McKee was expressionless as he appeared in an Illinois court in shackles and a yellow prison-issue jumpsuit on Monday, ahead of his extradition back to Ohio.
He has vowed to remain silent but indicated through an attorney he will plead not guilty to upgraded charges of aggravated murder with premeditation.
McKee allegedly killed his ex eight years after she divorced him and criminal experts told the Daily Mail that if he refuses to speak, we may never learn his alleged reasons for the brutal slayings, in a disturbing echo of quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger.
Professor James Alan Fox, a research professor of criminology at Northeastern University, said McKee may have seen Monique moving on with her second marriage and young children, and felt 'envy, jealousy and wanting to share the pain'.
'It could be a case of "if I can't have her, no one can",' he told the Daily Mail.
Fox said that if McKee had failed to move on in a successful relationship 'the resentment could grow, which over time, would possibly tend to gnarl at him'.
Chicago surgeon Michael McKee, 39, may have been consumed by a simmering resentment over his ex-wife Monique's decision to move on with her new husband, Spencer Tepe, experts say
It's unclear if there was any recent communication between McKee and Monique. If there was, Fox said, it could have ramped up the accused surgeon's anger towards his ex-wife.
If McKee maintains his vow of silence, we may never know the reasons the Tepes were killed, he added.
The alarming prospect mirrors Kohberger's refusal to reveal a motive or explanation for the 2022 killing of four Idaho university students after taking a controversial plea deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty.
Brian Kohlhepp, a veteran police detective with more than 20 years' experience investigating major crimes, said domestic homicide cases are generally centered 'around a need to control and contain another person', especially if the partner has moved on.
He speculated that if McKee believed there was a chance of reconciliation and Monique had shut it down, he could have become jealous and decided to kill.
'This could be something that largely came from his own mind and didn't happen in reality,' said Kohlhepp, speaking as an adjunct faculty expert at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York.
He said the multiple gunshot wounds suffered by Spencer and Monique could point to 'overkill', a common feature of domestic homicides where a killer goes beyond what is needed to take a life.
Spencer and Monique Tepe were shot to death upstairs while their two young children slept unharmed inside the family home in Ohio on December 30, police say
Monique and Michael Mckee married in 2015 in their home state of Ohio but the marriage lasted only until May 2017, when she filed for divorce, stating they were 'incompatible', according to documents obtained by Daily Mail
Relatives of the murdered couple told the Daily Mail they were not surprised by McKee's alleged involvement in the killings.
And they said they were not aware Monique, 39, or Spencer, 37, had had any recent problems with McKee.
Rob Misleh, Spencer's brother-in-law, told NBC McKee was 'an emotionally abusive person', when he and Monique were together.
McKee grew up in smalltown Zanesville, Ohio, 50 miles east of Columbus, where he was raised in a three-bedroom house by his now 78-year-old parents, Jim, a retired school administrator, and Mary, a former teacher.
McKee's parents did not answer the door to the home they have owned since 1976.
Neighbors were shocked by McKee's ties to their neighborhood, saying they had never seen him around.
A couple who has lived on his parents' street for decades, said they never knew the McKees even had children and were 'very private people' who seemed to have no visitors to their home.
They said they were 'blown away' by revelations the McKees had a son – and one facing such grave charges.
'You used to see the wife walking with him to the mall, but we hardly ever see her around anymore,' the couple said.
The wife said of McKee's father: 'He's a very nice person and he's very well respected in the local community and in the schools.
The man added of his parents: 'They'd be completely devastated by this.
Another neighbor said he had never seen McKee in the Zanesville neighborhood and described his parents as 'very quiet and to themselves'.
'This whole thing is wild; we were just talking about it just now after seeing it on the news,' he said.
McKee attended St Nicholas elementary school and later, Bishop Rosecrans, a private Catholic high school, where he graduated in 2005, per archived newspaper articles obtained by the Daily Mail.
At school, McKee appeared every bit the model student who excelled in the classroom and on the football field, according to archived Zanesville Times newspaper articles obtained by Daily Mail.
He hit headlines aged 13 for his work for a science fair and at 14 for winning the city's spelling bee with the word 'siege', telling the paper he was 'a little nervous' until the end.
The multiple gunshot wounds suffered by Spencer and Monique could point to 'overkill', a common feature of domestic homicides where a killer goes beyond what is needed to take a life, one experts said
General views of the Columbus, Ohio home of Spencer and Monique Tepe who were both murdered by Moniques ex husband, Michael McKee. There was no sign of a break-in at the home and their two young children were left unharmed
By his senior year in 2005, he had achieved a 3.9 grade point average, a string of academic plaudits and a special mention in all-state football.
He also took part in student council, Key Club, and a three-year stint on the varsity football team, all while preparing to pursue a pre-med major in college with the aspiration of becoming a surgeon.
McKee attended Ohio State University medical school at undergraduate and postgraduate level, graduating and obtaining his medical license in Ohio in 2014.
He is cited in a 2014 online obituary for an uncle, as Dr Michael McKee of Westerville, the city where Monique's parents lived.
He obtained a license in Virginia in 2017, where he completed a residency at the Virginia Tech Carillon Clinic. There, he was pictured performing a tracheotomy alongside a top surgeon, before graduating in 2020.
But former colleagues suggested that while McKee was 'professional', he was something of a loner when it came to social events.
The wife of one surgeon who worked alongside McKee said he did not know McKee well but described him as 'quiet'.
She said: 'I knew the other classmates quite well, they were gregarious and outgoing, but he didn't really come to social events.
Eerie surveillance footage showed a hooded figure walking calmly through a snowy alley near the Tepe home around the time the couple were murdered
'I didn't get the impression that he spent time with any of them, Michael just wasn't a part of that.'
Another graduate of the same program said they were 'shocked' to hear the charges against McKee, saying he never had any issues with him.
'We only worked together professionally. He was always professional. He was focused, efficient, and hardworking.
Monique married McKee in 2015, in their home state of Ohio, with pictures of their seemingly happy wedding day shared on social media.
But in May 2017, Monique, under her maiden name Sabaturski, filed for divorce, stating they were 'incompatible', according to documents obtained by Daily Mail.
When the documents were filed, the couple, who had no children, were living apart –Monique in Westerville with her parents and McKee in Roanoke, Virginia, working for the Carilion Clinic.
The divorce was quickly finalized by June 2017. The documents included a 'standard mutual temporary restraining order', requiring both parties to refrain from interfering with the other.
In 2023, he got a license to practice in Nevada, which lapsed sometime in 2025, and was previously connected to a surgical practice in Las Vegas.
He was listed living in a ritzy penthouse apartment in Chicago, which property records show was last sold in July for $400,000.
He worked at the OSF Saint Medical Center in Rockford which told Fox Chicago it is 'cooperating' with authorities.
McKee was arrested after a 10-day manhunt that captured national attention over the brutality of the killing of such a well-loved couple.
Columbus Police identified McKee as a suspect after his vehicle was caught on neighborhood video surveillance near the couple's residence, Ohio court records obtained by the Daily Mail reveal.
Police tracked his car and arrested him in Rockford on Saturday.
