Recently unveiled body camera video reveals a Columbus police officer mistakenly arriving at the incorrect address during a welfare check intended for Spencer and Monique Tepe, who were subsequently discovered dead from gunshot wounds.
On Thursday, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant acknowledged that an officer had been dispatched to North 4th Street on December 30 at approximately 9 a.m., in response to a call concerning the welfare of the Tepe couple, as reported by WBNS 10.
Bryant remarked, “The officer adhered to the procedures he was trained to follow,” emphasizing that he maintained protocol despite mistakenly visiting the wrong location.
During the welfare check, the officer mistakenly visited a home on Summit Street, which The Columbus Dispatch notes is “several streets away” from the Tepes’ actual residence.
As previously reported by CrimeOnline, a family friend discovered the couple dead with gunshot wounds after visiting their home. Their two young children, aged 4 and 1, were found unharmed.
The friend mentioned that he arrived at the home roughly 40 minutes after the welfare check was initiated. Concerns arose among loved ones when Spencer, a dentist, did not appear for work.
Bryant said the couple is believed to have been shot hours before the initial call.
In the body video footage, the officer is seen knocking on the front door at the Summit Street residence, and asking several times, “Anyone home?”
The office checked around the property, and left after receiving no response.
Bryant confirmed that “approximately 40 minutes later, we received another call,” from one of Tepe’s co-workers.
“They had not reported to work, and they were really concerned, so they went to the house, and that’s when the bodies of the two victims were found,” Bryant said.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, police said there were no indications of a murder-suicide, no signs of forced entry, and no weapons were found.
Police released a video of a “person of interest” in the murders, but no arrests have been made.
Investigators said they believe someone gunned down the couple between 2 and 5 a.m. that morning, in the upstairs area of the home.
The video showed a person in jeans and a dark hoodie walking in the alley near the Tepe home, “during that time frame,” according to FOX News Digital.
Bryant stated that law enforcement “is working very diligently to try to solve it.”
“We know that people are concerned, and we know that people have a lot of questions.”
Anyone with information should call Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS (8477).
[Feature Photo: Monique and Spencer Tepe/Athens Dental Depot]
