Ohio Dentist’s Sister Breaks Her Silence Weeks After Brother and His Wife Were Murdered

Madeleine Tepe Misleh’s last memory of her brother, Spencer Tepe, is from Christmas Day — watching him light up as he admired her newest handmade creation: princess dresses for his 3-year-old daughter, Emilia.

“My brother has always been one of my biggest fans,” Misleh, 35, says. “One of the biggest fans of my art, so he was always proud.”

Misleh spoke nearly three weeks after Spencer, 37, and his wife, Monique Tepe, 39, were found slain inside their home in Columbus, Ohio. The couple’s children — ages 3 and 1 — were discovered in a nearby room and were physically unharmed.

The killings stunned friends and relatives who say the Tepes were “madly in love,” and they struggled to understand who would want to hurt them.

On Jan. 10, police arrested Michael David McKee, 39, who had been briefly married to Monique more than a decade ago. He has been indicted on aggravated murder and burglary charges.

As the family tries to process the loss, Misleh says she’s clinging tightly to memories — especially the final days they spent together for Christmas.

“We grew up playing Nintendo 64, and we were playing Mario Kart,” she recalls. “Spencer and Monique got a Nintendo Switch for Christmas. So the last night I was with them, we were all playing Mario Kart. It was a full circle moment.”

Then, Misleh adds, came a gift exchange that still makes her laugh.

“We gave them controllers,” she says, “and Spencer and Monique gave us electric toothbrushes.”

Misleh says she and her brother always showed up for each other — including during his years in dental school, when she volunteered as a very willing “practice patient.”

“I was Spencer’s practice patient for Invisalign, so I was always going up to Columbus while he was in dental school,” she says, laughing.

She describes Spencer as fiercely protective of his family and deeply committed to the people he mentored. Over a decade, he worked with a youth mentee from first grade through high school — and the relationship became so close that the mentee attended Spencer’s dental school graduation in 2017.

“Spencer was always involved,” Misleh says. “He was always in a club. Always pushing the limits — everywhere.”

Columbus police have not disclosed a motive for the killings, but have described the case as a “domestic-violence related” and “targeted” attack.

McKee was arrested near his workplace in Rockford, Illinois, and booked into the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office. He is expected to be extradited to Ohio to face the charges.

Before his indictment, he told an Illinois judge through a local public defender that he plans to plead not guilty to the murder charges.