Doctor Charged with Murdering Ex-Wife and Dentist Husband Appears in Court, Will Plead Not Guilty to Charges

The physician accused of killing his ex-wife and her husband shortly after the couple marked their fifth wedding anniversary appeared in an Illinois courtroom on Monday.

Michael McKee, 39, arrived at Winnebago County Court around 1:30 p.m. in handcuffs, shackled at the waist with a large chain, and wearing a yellow jumpsuit.

Inside the courtroom, he was joined by Winnebago County Assistant Public Defender Carrie Poirier. She told the judge that her client would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Poirier also said McKee would waive his extradition hearing and intended to plead not guilty to two counts of aggravated murder with premeditation filed in Franklin County, Ohio.

McKee is accused of fatally shooting his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, 39, and her husband, Spencer Tepe, 37, just before 4 a.m. on Dec. 30, while the couple’s two young children were asleep in their bedrooms.

McKee and Monique married in August 2015 but separated after seven months. Monique moved back to Ohio while McKee remained in Virginia to complete his residency training as a vascular surgeon. They divorced in June 2017. Not long after, Monique began dating Spencer after the two met online.

In 2020, Spencer purchased the couple’s home in Columbus. On Dec. 13 of that year, the pair married in a small family ceremony. They later welcomed a son and a daughter, and Monique stayed home to care for the children.

Their bodies were found after Spencer failed to show up for work on the morning of Dec. 30, prompting coworkers to check on him. In a series of urgent 911 calls, one caller reported hearing the children crying inside the home and, upon investigating, discovered Spencer dead in a bedroom.

Police said both Monique and Spencer died from gunshot wounds—just days after they celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary.

After completing his residency, McKee moved to Las Vegas. In 2025, he purchased a penthouse apartment in Chicago and took a job in Rockford, Illinois.

Police identified McKee as a suspect after obtaining security footage from neighborhood cameras that showed a car arriving and leaving around the time of the shootings, according to a copy of the probable cause affidavit. Investigators later located the vehicle about 400 miles away in Rockford, the affidavit states. McKee was arrested in Rockford just before noon on Jan. 10.

He will remain in the Winnebago County Jail for now, but authorities expect he will be extradited to Ohio by the end of the week. Once in custody there, he is expected to appear in Franklin County Court for formal arraignment on two counts of aggravated murder with premeditation.

If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.