← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Ohio Dentist & Wife Murdered: DISTURBING New Clues & Information
00:17:30
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- [00:00]
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- [01:01]
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- [01:35]
Ashley Banfield
Hey everyone, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is drop dead serious Spencer and Monique Tepe, the Ohio dentist and his wife, a woman or family called Mo. They were found murdered inside their Columbus, Ohio home on December 30th. And as of the recording of this podcast, those killings were a week ago today. And there's been almost no movement from police. No suspects, no clues. Really nothing. No updates. And that kind of silence can mean one of two things. It can mean that police are just as stumped as they were on day one. Or it can mean they're closing in on the killer. Spencer Tepe was a respected and popular dentist in town. So respected that his mere failure to show up for work on time last Tuesday set off alarm bells with his friends and his colleagues. But soon those friends and colleagues would be devastated with unimaginable news. Spencer and Mo had been found shot to death. They were on an upper floor of their downtown home in Columbus, Ohio. There were no signs of a break in. They didn't Find a murder weapon anywhere in sight. So that's obviously ruling out the murder suicide, right? No gun means that guy didn't do it, that girl didn't do it. Columbus police had a real puzzle on their hands with this one. Right off the bat, right? This one was, like, right out of an Agatha Christie novel. I want you to listen to this. This is a police radio clip of the chatter. It's chatter between the responding officers on the morning that Spencer and Mo were found dead. Car saying they can hear kids inside. Thought he heard one of them yelling. Now we're getting another call saying There's a body inside. A3. Copy.
- [03:28]
Scott Rouse
Who's saying there's a body inside?
- [03:32]
Ashley Banfield
There's no name yet.
- [03:34]
Scott Rouse
That's three.
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Grainger Advertiser
I copy.
- [03:36]
Scott Rouse
Okay, because I knocked on the front and back and I looked through the windows, but I didn't see anybody.
- [03:41]
Ashley Banfield
And this is a double 43.
- [03:44]
Scott Rouse
At least one.
- [03:48]
Ashley Banfield
K 41. Is there a gun on scene?
- [03:52]
Scott Rouse
I'm trying not to disturb anything. I figured how much I do it. It looks like from just looking at.
- [03:59]
Grainger Advertiser
The bodies, the one male's been shot multiple times, the female at least.
- [04:03]
Scott Rouse
Maybe one through the side, through the chest.
- [04:08]
Ashley Banfield
Double 43. Did you hear that? The code that they used on the 911 called double 43? I don't think you have to be Einstein to know that that's likely the number code they use for homicide, right? Or murder. 43. And a double 43 means two of them, no matter what the code. This is a devastating find. But here's something. And it's weird to say this, but if there were ever a silver lining in a double 43, a double homicide, it's that the Tepes, two small kids, children aged four and one, who were home when a killer murdered their mom and dad in cold blood. Those kids were left unharmed. They were crying, but physically they were unharmed. Did they see anything? Did they see the murders happen? Did they see the aftermath? Their parents soaked in blood, blood everywhere. Shotgun shots. I mean, the mess would have been horrendous. Did the kids see any of that? On my last podcast episode, I talked to the kid's uncle, and if you haven't seen his interview yet, I'll have that episode linked in the description. Definitely. Check it out. It's a very insightful interview. All in all, he believes that the kids didn't. That they didn't see the carnage. He also said something really interesting about the shadowy figure. The video that the police released of this man, this hulking guy, walking down an alley the kid's uncle had something to say about that and didn't feel hopeful that it was going to be helpful. But. But check out that interview. It's very insightful. And now something else has emerged that might shed some light on what was going on inside that house before the Tepes were murdered. Fox News says that They've unearthed a 911 call that was made from the very same address as the Tepes home, but nine months before the murders. So that would be last April. Here's what we know about the call. A woman who is not named on the call spoke to the 911 dispatcher and this is the conversation that they had, according to Fox. And I'm going to read it because we just have the transcription of the call. Operator Hi, this is 91 1. We just got a hang up call. Is everything okay? FEMALE VOICE yeah, I'm sorry. I'm okay. Operator Are you sure? FEMALE VOICE yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Sorry. Operator well, it sounds like you're crying. Do you need police, paramedics or anything? FEMALE no, no, no, I'm okay, I promise. I'm just emotional. And then there's something that's inaudible. OPERATOR well, can I ask why you would call 911 in the first place? FEMALE well, because me and my man got into it. But I'm okay, I promise. Operator did anything ever get physical? And the female voice is now crying as she says, no. Operator you guys were just arguing. Nobody hit each other. The FEMALE voice says, mm, yes. Operator well, I have the information here. I can go ahead and tell the officers to cancel. Heading over to your address. If anything changes, call us back. A female voice says yes, yes, yes. I'm sorry. Okay. I am sorry. It is distressing information to be sure, but it is information and honestly that is something because this case has been devoid of clues, at least public ones, for more than a week to date, police have publicized exactly one lead. This little snippet of grainy video from the doorbell cam in the Tepes neighborhood. It was recorded sometime between 2am and 5am on Dec. 30. That's when the murders happened. Likely. And in the video, you can see what appears to be a male figure walking down an alley, like skulking along. Police have a different description for it. They say this is a person of interest. But if investigators have any other videos they are not sharing and if they have any outright suspects, they are not saying. Earlier on my News Nation show, I spoke with Bobby Chacon. He's a retired FBI special agent, and I asked him about why he thinks the cops might be stumped on this one. But I also talked with Scott Rouse. He is a forensic behavior expert and one of the world's top authorities on body language. He often works with law enforcement and the US Military, and he saw things in that video of the skulking character that many of us mere mortals likely did not see. They didn't even notice in that grainy video that was released by the police.
- [09:21]
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- [10:22]
Grainger Advertiser
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- [10:51]
Ashley Banfield
Stuff that I don't know. You've got to be an expert in this. And clearly the police have their experts, so they're seeing stuff that we don't notice. And trust me, you're going to want to hear what Scott and Bobby have to say about the latest in this crime. Here's my conversation with Bobby Chacon, retired FBI Special Agent Bobby so much to talk about. I want to just start with the 911 the domestic call. I did my best to recreate how that conversation might have gone. I didn't hear but there's some indications and descriptions that the woman is crying in this call. So let's just take it from there. What does that tell you as an investigator?
- [11:28]
Grainger Advertiser
Well, obviously, she was distressed enough to call 911. So at that moment that she's calling 911, she was in fear of being harmed, because that's why you call 911 in those type of situations. I assume they played that tape for the family members and said, you know, is this the wife? Do you recognize this voice? You know, they could have had friends over. They could have people staying at their house. I don't know. They'd have to go back nine months and see if they will live in that house or if they had, you know, guests there or whatever. And then you play the tape and say, is this her voice? Is this the wife's voice? Because certainly the. Even if she's upset, the family members should be able to recognize our voice. So now you have. Okay, this is definitely her, or it's not. So. So that's probably what they've done already. And now if, in fact, it was her, they're probably doing a very deep dive into the tranquility or lack of the domestic situation between these two. Now, obviously, everything we've seen seems like the perfect American family. They're happy, they're successful, two young children, you know, the American dream, so to speak. But, you know, we've all, you and I both seen cases where that, you know, on the surface it looks like one thing, and below it's another thing. So I'm not saying that is in this case. I'm not disparaging anybody. I'm saying investigators is something that I'm sure they're looking at.
- [12:46]
Ashley Banfield
Let me ask you this. I'm used to hearing crickets when something happens in a rural part of the country. It's hard to find clues in a rural part of the country. There aren't doorbell cams everywhere. The cops are usually a long way away. People can make an escape before a body's even. This is downtown Columbus. Why is it that we've heard nothing in over a week about clues? Why is it just that one little grainy backyard alley cam? Why not a hell of a lot more video in downtown Columbus?
- [13:18]
Grainger Advertiser
Well, I think one thing and one thing struck me. It seems just like, you know, in the Jussie Smollett hoax attack, you know, in Chicago is the coldest night on record. I think they call it a polar vortex. It was very, very, very cold in Ohio that night. I think it was in the low 20s. Nobody was out at 2am in that kind of weather. And so there was probably nobody else on the street. Now that could be an aid to them if they, that's what happened in Chicago when they were able to follow those two individuals. Cuz they were the only ones on the street because it's night, it's the middle of the night and it's so cold that no one's out. So I think if they get more video of this individual, they'll be able to track him. But whether they have that or not, I mean I have to assume they don't or they would have put it out. They put this out.
- [14:03]
Ashley Banfield
So usually in a homicide, if there are other people present at the crime scene, it is a boon to investigators, right? They get all sorts of information from whatever ear witnesses, eyewitnesses, et cetera. But we're talking about a one year old who is, I don't know, effectively incommunicado, I think when it comes to forensic interviewing. But a four year old is a little more cognizant of big, big bangs in the night. But I keep wondering how the science is changing about how you interview children. If you're allowed to interview children, if the guardians of the children can say no, you cannot interview these children, can they?
- [14:44]
Grainger Advertiser
Well on the federal level you have the Juvenile justice act which prohibits that. The guardians can make that decision. And even in the rare cases that I had that involved minors who were witnesses, I would never do the interview myself. I would bring in experts. There are people that are trained and experienced in and especially infant. So there's a range of children, right? So you have preteen teenagers, you have young children and like here you have a toddler, I guess a 4 year old. So I think there are people that are kind of very well versed and experienced in interviewing children of those different ages. And I would always bring in an expert to do that. You know, what you want to hear from the child is, you know, obviously you would think they would even a 4 year old would have been able to hear the shots. And so you want the sequence of shots. Was there a pause between it was there a quick succession of shots and then a pause and then another shot. We know we have one victim with multiple gunshot wounds. It sounds like we have a second victim with just one possible. So you want to know the sequence that may lead to. And marry that with a forensic crime scene stuff and maybe you know who was shot first because again that's going to matter. Who was shot first here. And hopefully your ballistics and your child can hear that.
- [15:52]
Ashley Banfield
You know, did you. Was there a man yelling? Was there a woman yelling? Do you remember anything that anybody yelled? I mean, all sorts of little things.
- [15:58]
Grainger Advertiser
Four year olds, Very important, because you could have somebody yell something as if they knew the person. So if they knew the person. Yeah, you know, did he yell a name? Did they yell a name? Or did they yell something so you feel like they may have known this person?
- [16:11]
Ashley Banfield
Now here's my conversation with Scott Rouse. He's a forensic behavior expert and one of the world's top authorities on body language. And boy, did he see stuff in that grainy video that I didn't catch. Mr. Rouse, I have been dying to talk to you about this skulking character that's walking through the alley. To many of us at the untrained eye, it's a skulking character walking through. But I know that you see something else. What is it?
- [16:38]
Scott Rouse
Well, there's a lot of things you can find out from someone by looking at their gate. That's how they walk, that space between their legs when they walk. So there's a whole lot you can learn here. In a situation like this, though most everything we can learn almost everything about the gate itself sort of goes out the window because of the weather, because this person is sort of dodging back and forth between those little eye spots on a couple of holes and things like that. So it's really tough to tell what's going on with the gate. However, we can tell that that's a guy. And a lot of some people may think it's a woman. It's not a woman. And the reason that I would suggest that or be on the impression that's true is because of, number one, look at how far ahead is his head is. It's leaned down a little bit. You can say, oh, it's cold. They're trying to do that. Men have a specific look to them when they get to a certain age. Their head starts coming forward and lean forward. And that's the way not only when they walk that that shows up. They'll just be sitting around. Will do. That's a posture thing. And we're also looking at things like you look at things like the arms, Are they swinging fast? Are they swinging slow? Are they going far apart? What's happening? But he's got his hands in his coat because of the weather again. And the speed those things go back and forth is very important too. Is this person on a mission? Are they Coming from somewhere where something's happened or are they going somewhere to do something in a situation like this, if there were better situation weatherwise, we could tell a lot more because we could tell if that person had a. If their gait was smooth, if it was symmetrical, if it was. There's so many. Are they in pain? Are they in a hurry? Are they. But he's trying to be careful. He does this. If you look at his feet, when his feet hit the ground, his foot goes up like this and then comes down like that. His heel goes way out first and comes down because he's trying to keep balance, trying to make sure everything is copacetic as far as walking forward. So there's a whole lot going on here. We can't tell if he's in the military. Military people have a specific gate they walk at because they've done it a thousand times from marching miles and miles and miles. And so does law enforcement. They have a specific gait as well. No matter how long they've been out, they're going to walk that way, especially in the military because that's the way they trained to walk and been walking like, as they're marching for a long time. But it's really tough to tell what's going on with this one because of the. Of the weather, all the things that are going on there that, that just mess the whole situation up for us. But we can't tell it's a guy, like literally that much.
- [19:06]
Ashley Banfield
20 seconds. But I've got to ask you this. And literally I've got 20 seconds left. Does this look like a guy who's fleeing a double murder?
- [19:15]
Scott Rouse
No, it doesn't look like that, but it may not. And no, everybody's different. All these, everyone's un. Unique when it comes to situations like this. So it could be anybody. But this doesn't look like somebody who in normal weather would be in a hurry to get away. And he may be thinking about what he's done. If that is indeed the guy who did it, maybe thinking, what's happening? What did I do? I shouldn't have done that. His temper's probably gone down because it's probably somebody he knew that did that. Most likely.
- [19:46]
Ashley Banfield
You have pointed out so many things I did not see. But now at the very least, it's a he because I've been saying a they because, you know, the police aren't telling us. So, Scott, Ross, come back again when we get the next clue. I can't wait to hear how you, how you can analyze it thank you so much for this. So is that mystery person of interest on the doorbell cam actually the person who killed the Tepes? We're going to follow every single development, every lead, and every turn in this investigation, and hopefully they're gonna catch this guy soon. I'm Ashley Banfield. Thank you so much for listening and watching. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.
- [20:30]
Grainger Advertiser
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