Michael McKee faces allegations of murdering his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, Spencer Tepe, and is suspected of leaving behind shell casings at the crime scene, despite attempting to muffle the gunfire with a silencer.
Charged with four counts of aggravated murder and one count of burglary, McKee is implicated in the tragic events of December 30, where the couple was discovered shot to death in their Columbus residence.
Law enforcement officers later uncovered “three 9mm shell casings” at the location, as reported by Columbus police. McKee was subsequently apprehended on January 10 in Rockford, Illinois.
To establish a connection, investigators utilized the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), a system that maintains a database of shell casing images. This helped trace the unique markings on the casings back to a weapon discovered in McKee’s Rockford apartment.
Joseph Scott Morgan, a Distinguished Scholar of Applied Forensics at Jacksonville State University, explained to “Crime Stories” host Nancy Grace that the “internal barrel” of a firearm is crucial in determining the source of the shell casings.
Nevertheless, McKee is accused of employing a silencer, or sound suppressor, during the act, a device intended to minimize the noise produced by gunfire.
Darryl Cohen, a Former Assistant District Attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, however, added that a silencer can play just as much of an important role when it comes to proving guilt.
“As a prosecutor, I loved silencers,” Cohen said. “That was an additional witness that was saying the owner of this silencer, muffler, suppressor, whatever you want to call it, is guilty.”
Investigators also tracked McKee’s vehicle to the couple’s neighborhood, after obtaining security footage from an alley, that showed him there at some point between 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on December 30.
Police believe he carried out the killings at around 3:42 a.m. that morning.
McKee fled the scene but allegedly kept the weapon in his possession, according to the grand jury indictment.
He’s currently behind bars, awaiting extradition from Illinois to Ohio.
Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Monique and Spencer Tepe/Handout]
