Columbus, Ohio police yet to identify suspect or make arrest in the slaying of Weinland Park dentist Spencer Tepe and wife, Monique Tepe as police cameras outside home in ‘up and coming’ neighborhood may have captured assailant.
Authorities are reviewing cameras across the street from a Weinland Park, Columbus, Ohio residence where a dentist and his wife were found slain, Tuesday morning.
Spencer Tepe, 37, and his wife, Monique Tepe, 39 — were found deceased, victims of gunshots at the hands of an unknown assailant after concerned dental colleagues of Spencer’s arrived at the couple’s home, just after 9 p.m, December 30th, to check on the couple after the dentist failed to turn up to the dental clinic where he worked earlier that morning.
It was while scouring the home outside, colleagues could hear the desperate cries of the couple’s two surviving children from inside. A peek through the window revealed the young children’s motionless parents on the floor.
No forced entry, did Weinland slain couple know their killers? What did police cameras capture?
‘I can hear kids inside, and I think I heard one yell,’ the caller said according to revealed 911 dispatch call. ‘But, we can’t get in.’
Minutes later, in another 911 call, a distressed man told police, ‘There’s a body.’
The suspect left no sign of forced entry, and continued to remain at large — with police now reviewing neighborhood surveillance cameras that may have captured the unknown assailant(s) entering the family’s four-bedroom, $700,000 home, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
A police camera sits on a utility pole a few hundred feet from the Tepes’ home at the intersection of Fourth Street and East Eighth Avenue in the normally quiet, ‘up and coming’ Weinland Park neighborhood. Authorities had yet to comment on whether cameras were working at the time, what they may have captured and what clues police may had amassed in the days since.
Spencer and Monique Tepe were a beloved couple in the community.
Athens Dental Spot, where Spencer worked, issued a statement on Thursday, Jan. 1 announcing the killings and said their practice will be closed for the rest of the week.
Mystery motive
The killings are being investigated as homicides, according to Columbus police. Authorities declined to comment on whether they believe the family knew the assailant, given that no forced entry existed or whether the couple were intentionally targeted or the victims of a crime in progress gone wrong.
As of Friday, Jan. 2, authorities have not identified any suspect, shared a motive behind the killings or said if the couple were targeted.
A previous report via the Columbus Dispatch cited police investigating the slayings as a possible robbery. Of note, no forced entry was found at the residence nor a murder-weapon, with investigators ruling out a possible murder-suicide.
