Woman Near Home of Ohio Dentist and Wife Called 911 After Hearing ‘Banging’ on Her Door in Middle of Night Days Before Killings

A woman living on the same street as Spencer and Monique Tepe told authorities that someone was “banging” and “smashing” on her door in the early hours of the morning — just days before the couple were found dead inside their Columbus, Ohio, home.

On Dec. 30, dentist Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique, were discovered fatally shot in their house after the Columbus Division of Police responded to welfare-check calls. Investigators later said they were treating the case as a double homicide, not a murder-suicide.

It has now emerged that a neighbor called 911 on Dec. 19 — 11 days before the killings — Fox News Digital reported.

According to audio footage obtained by PEOPLE, the woman called at 2:31 a.m. local time, saying someone was pounding on her door.

The caller said the person was “smashing on my door. I think they’re trying to get in. They’re banging on my door.”

She told the dispatcher she couldn’t see who was outside and had no description. She also said she hadn’t spoken to the person or asked what they wanted.

Records obtained by PEOPLE indicated the “problem left” at 2:44 a.m. The incident took place about a three-minute walk from the Tepes’ home, according to Fox News Digital.

The new details come after police said earlier this week that detectives believe Spencer and Monique Tepe were killed sometime between 2:00 and 5:00 a.m., upstairs inside their home, according to a post shared on social media. Police also released video footage showing a person of interest walking in an alley near the Tepes’ home during that time window.

It was previously reported that a “domestic dispute” 911 call had been traced to Spencer and Monique Tepe’s address months before the couple were slain.

However, Rob Misleh — Monique’s brother-in-law — disputed that the voice on the call belonged to her, saying, “I one hundred percent know that is not Monique’s voice,” and adding that it didn’t sound like anyone he recognized either.

“Whatever FOX News showed, I think it just maybe pinged at their address, that’s probably a neighbor,” he said. “It’s so obviously not Monique’s voice. It’s not them.”

In the call, made overnight on April 15, a woman was heard crying and telling the dispatcher she no longer needed help and was simply being “emotional.” When asked why she called, she replied, “because me and my man got into it, but I’m okay, I promise.”

Misleh — who is married to Spencer’s sister — previously said on the Surviving The Survivor Podcast that the 911 call happened during a house party at the Tepes’ home. He later clarified that he had mixed up dates and the incident he remembered was from years earlier.

“She said ‘my man,’ I don’t know who that could’ve been,” Misleh said of the caller, insisting that’s not how Monique spoke.

A friend of the couple — who would have marked their fifth wedding anniversary later this month — said they were “madly in love” and “still acted like newlyweds.”

After Spencer and Monique were found, their two children, ages 4 and 1, were located inside the home and were physically unharmed. They are now being cared for by extended family members, including Misleh and his wife.