← Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Killer on the Loose in Ohio; Couple Murdered in Home With Their Kids Inside
00:13:49
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- [00:00]
A
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:16]
B
Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, January 4th, and there is a killer or killers on the loose in Columbus, Ohio. And this killer or killers left a married couple dead inside their home. Their one and four year old children were trapped inside, alive with their dead parents. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ and I guess Robe. That's the part of the story that really jumps out. You hear about a couple shot dead, that will cause a mystery. But part of the story is that we can't figure out why. But there were two children who were inside with their parents, dead bodies for a number of hours. That's just one of the mysteries they're trying to figure out.
- [01:03]
A
Yes, it is a mystery and a horrific tragedy because this happened December 30th. And this couple who was gunned down in their home, there are no suspects right now. And police were very quick to say this was not a murder suicide, that this was in fact a double homicide. And they say they can say that with certainty. There was no firearm found inside that home. And also of note and mystery, there was no forced entry. So this really is a full blown mystery in Columbus right now. And residents are fearful, family members are afraid. It's puzzling and tragic all at once.
- [01:47]
B
But we're coming up on now a week, folks. And the police aren't necessarily telling the public to be on the lookout. They're not necessarily saying, hey, there's a, there's a danger, don't approach this person or somebody's armed and dangerous. And they're also not necessarily saying this was targeted. They aren't saying a whole lot of anything. So right now, a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, for the past almost week knows there's somebody out there who is capable of shooting and killing a young couple with their kids in the house. That's all we know at this point. And robes that is, it's terrifying certainly for this, for this neighbor. Any idea? You talk about a heinous crime and the person responsible is still on the loose. That will scare the hell out of the neighborhood. Of course, we've seen this plenty.
- [02:31]
A
Of course. And for everyone who has weighed in on the story, the neighbors, the people who knew this couple, the other thing that's really scary about this is they can't figure out who would want to see them dead. They're described as this loving couple, a beloved dentist in the community who everyone knew, a stay at home mom who was a great baker, who loved her kids, who was a part of the community. So everyone's like, why them? This wasn't some, you know, couple who was into something dangerous or had a certain lifestyle. This was as American as apple pie. And that makes it all the scarier.
- [03:07]
B
So you go back now and again, folks, this was happening the day before New year's Eve. So December 30th. And there was a concern because by all accounts, I mean, it's a dentist. Dentists are, don't get me wrong, they leave us waiting sometimes in their waiting room. But as far as their staff goes, they know the dentist pretty well. And something was up because they said they couldn't get ahold of this guy.
- [03:29]
A
That's right. So when he didn't show up for work, and then they couldn't get in touch with him on his phone, and when they couldn't get in touch with his wife, that's when they started to get really concerned. So they immediately called 911 for a welfare check. The officer arrives pretty quickly. He looks around. Nothing. Seems out of sorts. He rings the doorbell. No one answers, so he leaves. But then 30 minutes later, Tepe's colleagues decide to drive to the house themselves. And that's when 911 calls started coming in. The first one actually said, I can hear kids inside. And I swear I think I heard one yell, but we can't get in. At this point, I don't know if I need to break the door in to get in the house or what. And then there's another 911 call where someone else says, I can see there's a body. Our friend was answering his phone. We just came here, and he appears dead. And that is when police returned to the scene and found what they found.
- [04:26]
B
Yeah, and what they found was these two individuals shot dead in the home. Now, the kids unharmed. One in four, we should make clear there, the kids were physically unharmed in all of this. That is part of the mystery, at least one of the questions you can fill in there. But the peculiar part is there's no sign of forced entry. Peculiar part? There's no firearm around. I also saw robes. And they might keep this to themselves, but no shell casings were found either. So what you have is a home that seems to be still intact, locked up, if you will, with nothing disturbed other than you have two dead bodies. How did somebody get into the house? How did somebody get out of the house? It's clear they didn't break into the house. So who was this person? And Robert, that's the first thing I thought was, well, maybe this was a murder. Suicide situation. But I was wondering, well, why are they calling it that? Why are they being clear about homicide? And yes, this is probably Detective 101.
- [05:32]
A
Yeah, there's no firearm, so there's. It's not possible to clean up a scene after you've already died. So the other really interesting thing I was seeing online, so many people in the Columbus area, Columbus area are obviously concerned, but they know this neighborhood, they know this street. And I've seen some pictures. These houses are all right, stacked up next to each other. It's a nice area. But these are houses that are cookie cutters of one another with pretty small properties and not a lot of in between space. So there were no reports of gunfire. That was the other interesting thing. People are confused as to how gunfire, because there are reports, I don't know exactly how many, but they say Spencer was shot multiple times and then his wife had at least one gunshot wound to the chest. So there's a question as to why no one reported gunshots. That's very odd.
- [06:25]
B
Well, I mean, as far as timing goes, who knows? What time was this? The middle of the night? I don't know if a gunshot would wake me up at. Well, I'm up at 3am but you know what I'm saying here. But I don't know if that plays a role into it all, how much they put into it. This is an odd case and it's almost impossible. You know, you're taking me down so many scenarios with what you just said. So I don't want to start speculating on what could have been. But the facts are few and far between and that is probably by design at this point. If they think they have a killer or killers out there, there's a lot of information they want to keep close to the chest to help them solve this case.
- [07:03]
A
Correct. And that's been another big complaint that has been online. And you can only imagine if you are somebody who lives on that street, if you're the neighbor, if you're anywhere in that area, obviously the person or persons responsible for this in the scene we just described have to be on the loose. It doesn't seem possible that there is another concept other than there is someone on the loose who killed this couple for apparently no known reason. You have every right to be concerned. And because the police haven't been speaking a lot, there are rumors everywhere, people are speculating. It just causes a deeper concern. And to have a full week go by and not have any new information or any new leads, that is disturbing.
- [07:46]
B
And yeah, there, there just aren't a lot of scenarios as far as the no gun being found, no forced entry that suggests they let the person in. Was it someone they knew? Was it somebody that possibly rang the doorbell and forced their way? Who absolutely knows? But this is one of those mysteries that they're trying to figure out right now in Columbus, Ohio. But the police, to give you some indication of just how desperate they are right now, will tell you what they're asking the community to do and how they're also using technology in what is for at least me, the first time I have heard of a police department doing this to get help. All right, folks, we continue here on Amy and T.J. killer or killers on the loose in the Columbus, Ohio area after a couple, young couple, 37 year old Spencer Tepe, his 39 year old wife Monica Tepe found shot and killed in their home. They're one and four year old kids left inside unharmed robes. We. This is part of it. You can't go in 2ft anywhere in this country anymore without a camera being close by and recording. And police are going out of their way right now with the neighborhood. Where do we see this? At the, the Brown University shooting as well. They started piecing together movements based on people's ring cameras and they're asking for that once again.
- [09:19]
A
Yep. They want anyone with the doorbell cam, anyone with any sort of security camera on that street or nearby in that vicinity, they need to go and do that exact type of police work. But we have seen this work in ways that, you know, a couple decades ago wasn't available. But to have surveillance evidence that leads them in a direction, they can actually find somebody who could be coming or going from that home at an unusual time and boom, you've got your suspect. So if obviously they've been collecting that over the past week, so far no word that there have been any leads in that area. But look, the operating theories are one of two people. Because there was no firearm, because there was no forced entry and the children were left alive. Either this was just a stranger at the door who decided to kill the parents for whatever reason, or they were targeted by someone who knew them. And it's really one of those two.
- [10:12]
B
Things and still nobody can figure out the why. Yes, chances are, and we know this, that yes, it's random. Crimes like this just don't necessarily happen. Well, we see them on TV and some true. But generally speaking this just doesn't. The randomness of this is not statistically.
- [10:32]
A
It'S, it's like so Extremely rare. They. I don't even know if they have a statistic for it. So yes, the most people will tell you. Police will be focusing on who knew them and what sort of relationship that went bad or somehow turned sour could have led to this. It seemed targeted and they spared the children. So that also means that the two of them were the only two that whoever this was wanted dead.
- [10:57]
B
Statistically speaking, maybe this is the anomaly. I hadn't heard this before, but we have. Maybe this is what they have been doing and I just haven't seen it a lot. QR codes. I did not realize and this is just brilliant, but the police there have set up a QR code. Just use that and you can upload your footage right to them. What a great investigative idea.
- [11:20]
A
That's amazing.
- [11:21]
B
I had no idea.
- [11:22]
A
If you make it easy. Okay, I'll go look at my ring cam and. And then, ooh, I, they might find something that's actually exciting to know. You're helping in the investigation and yeah, all it takes is a QR code. That is remarkable. I also just wanted to make sure we ended this with the family statement about who Spencer and Monique were. Just because obviously this crime is riveting and it's, it's one of those headline grabbing crimes and people obviously are trying to solve the crime because there are people on the loose, killers on the loose. But there were two victims here that were loved. And I just, I thought we should read some of what the family had to say about Spencer and Monique. They said that they shared a beautiful, strong and deeply happy relationship, bonded by a love of travel, laughter and a mission to build a life rooted in love. We are heartbroken beyond words. They say they're committed to seeing this tragedy fully and fairly brought to justice. And, and they did want everyone to know that they are protecting those two children, that one year old and that four year old. They say that they are now in the care of relatives. And I think we always want to know with stuff like this, like what happened to the kids. It's good to know that they're with family.
- [12:38]
B
And who knows what they saw, what they heard, what they remember and what life will look like for them going forward, but just awful. This is one we will keep an eye on and we will have to keep an eye on this maybe daily because it seems like robes. We, we would certainly hope for updates when the case is getting this much attention. A lot of resources are going towards it right now.
- [13:01]
A
Yeah, I think if you, if you turn on your phone or your computer. Now, it was, it started to pick up steam yesterday. But you will see this picture. It's their wedding photo from exactly almost five years ago. In fact, this month, at the end of this month, it would have been their fifth year wedding anniversary. And so you'll see this, this very happy and loved couple just four years ago, smiling, holding hands. That's, that's the image that you'll see on your screen. And, and that hopefully will drive police to make sure this investigation leads to some answers for their children and for their family. Thank you, everyone, for listening to us. We always appreciate you. I'm Amy Robach alongside T.J. holmes. We will talk to you soon. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.