At 2:31 a.m., a caller on a quiet Columbus street told a 911 dispatcher that someone was, in her words, smashing on her door. Eleven days later, two neighbors were found shot to death a short walk away.
A Double Killing In Weinland Park
Spencer Tepe, a 37-year-old dentist, and his wife, 39-year-old Monique Tepe, were found dead inside their Weinland Park home in Columbus, Ohio, in the late morning hours of Dec. 30, according to reporting by Fox News Digital.
Columbus police said officers responded around 10 a.m. and found both Spencer and Monique with apparent gunshot wounds. Local station WSYX reported that investigators do not consider the case a murder-suicide. Detectives have said there were no signs of forced entry and no firearm was recovered at the scene.
Both of the couple’s young children were found alive inside the house. Police have not publicly described any injuries to the children, and there is no indication in available reporting that they were harmed.
A Late-Night Knock On The Same Street
Fox News Digital obtained a separate 911 call placed on Dec. 19, at a residence described as being a three-minute walk up the street from the Tepe home. The call came in at 2:31 a.m., roughly the same time of night detectives later identified as the likely window of the killings eleven days later.
On the recording, a woman tells the dispatcher that someone is outside her home. When the operator asks what is happening, she replies, in part, that the person is “smashing on my door” and that she thinks “they’re trying to get in” and “they’re banging on my doors,” according to the audio reviewed by Fox News.
Dispatch logs cited by Fox show that the entry for the incident was closed with the notation that “the problem left” at 2:44 a.m. The records provided do not indicate that anyone was arrested at the scene, and current public reporting does not describe any injuries or property damage from that incident.
Authorities have not publicly said whether they believe the person who knocked on the neighbor’s door is connected to the later homicides. Police have also not released a report that directly links the Dec. 19 call to the Tepe case, and the Columbus Division of Police did not provide additional detail in the sources cited.
The Morning The Bodies Were Found
On Dec. 30, a friend of Spencer’s went to the Tepe residence for what he described as a wellness check. When he arrived and looked inside, he saw a body and called 911 at 10:03 a.m., according to audio first reported by Fox News Digital.
“There’s a body,” the caller tells the dispatcher. He explains that their friend had not been answering his phone and that, from the doorway, he could see a man “laying next to his bed, off of his bed in this blood.” The caller says he cannot get closer to see more.
Police later said they believe the killings occurred between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. that same morning. That places the suspected time of the shootings in the same early-morning window as the Dec. 19 door-banging call, although more than a week later and at a different house.
What Investigators Have Shown The Public
Columbus detectives have released a short surveillance clip that they say shows a person of interest walking in the alley near the Tepe home in the early hours of Dec. 30. The video, published by Fox News and attributed to the Columbus Division of Police, shows a man walking slowly through the alley in what appears to be a dark coat and light-colored pants.
A retired FBI special agent watched the video showing a person of interest in the killings and of Dr. Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique, and gave his views on the investigation. https://t.co/RuZXC9wytV pic.twitter.com/1iJhYE9K32
— WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) January 8, 2026
Police have not publicly named this person or identified him as a suspect. In the public appeal for information reported by Fox, the department referred to the man only as a “person of interest” and asked anyone who recognizes him to contact investigators. The official website of the Columbus Division of Police directs tipsters in homicide cases to the department’s homicide unit and to Central Ohio Crime Stoppers.
Beyond the brief description of the person of interest and the approximate time frame of the shootings, investigators have released few specifics about ballistic evidence, potential entry points, or what, if anything, was taken from the home. Fox News and WSYX both report that there were no signs of forced entry, a detail that typically focuses investigative attention on whether the victims may have known their killer or whether a door was unlocked.
Other 911 Calls And A Family Pushing Back
The Dec. 19 door-banging report is not the only emergency call that has drawn attention in the wake of the Tepe killings. Another 911 call, initially described in some coverage as a “domestic dispute” at the couple’s residence, was later clarified by Spencer’s brother-in-law, Rob Misleh.
According to a separate Fox News report on that incident, Misleh told local station WSYX that the “domestic dispute” call actually came from a guest at a party at the home, not from Monique. He said the characterization of the call did not reflect the couple’s relationship. That account was reported by Fox in a follow-up article on the case, citing Misleh by name and noting that the earlier call was made by a visitor and not by either of the spouses themselves.Source
The Tepe and Misleh families also released a written statement, quoted by Fox News, calling the deaths “tragic and senseless” and saying they were “heartbroken beyond words.” They described Spencer as “a devoted and proud father” and “endlessly welcoming,” and Monique as a “loving, patient and joyful mother whose warmth defined her.”
Misleh told WSYX that the couple had married in 2021 and were approaching their five-year anniversary, according to the station’s reporting referenced by Fox. That detail underscores that the family is trying to shape how the public understands who Spencer and Monique were, at the same time that scattered emergency calls from around their home are being dissected online.
What Is Known, What Is Not
From the available public record and news reporting, several facts are clear. Spencer and Monique were killed by gunfire inside their home. Police do not believe one spouse killed the other and then themself. There was no recorded forced entry and no gun recovered at the scene. Their children were inside and survived.
It is also clear that, less than two weeks earlier, a neighbor on the same street called 911 in the middle of the night about someone banging on her door, and that dispatch records show the situation ended with the unidentified person leaving. The caller’s words and the time stamp are documented. Any connection between that incident and the later homicides is not.
As of the latest Fox News Digital reporting on Jan. 1, 2026, police had not announced any arrests or publicly identified a suspect. The only image they have shared is the grainy surveillance clip of a man walking in an alley in the pre-dawn dark.
Between the unanswered knock, the lack of forced entry and the unclaimed figure on the surveillance video, the case sits in an uneasy space. Neighbors and readers know more than they did in the first hours after the bodies were found, but the central questions remain: who entered the Tepe home that night, and whether the unexplained early-morning visitor from eleven days earlier holds any answers at all.
