IL Surgeon Makes 1st Court Appearance On Charges He Killed Ex-Wife, Her Husband

ROCKFORD, IL — Michael David McKee, the Chicago man accused of killing his ex-wife and her current husband at their Ohio home, is heading back to the Buckeye State. The 39-year-old vascular surgeon waived an extradition hearing Monday in his first court appearance at the 17th Judicial Circuit Court in Winnebago County.

McKee was arrested Saturday and booked into the Winnebago County Jail in Rockford, where he remains until he is extradited.

A public defender representing McKee said his client consents to return to Ohio. The lawyer also indicated McKee will plead not guilty to two charges of premeditated aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37, who were found dead in Columbus's Weinland Park neighborhood on Dec. 30, according to court documents. The couple's two young children, both under the age of 5, were found physically unharmed inside the home.

McKee and Monique Tepe were married for about two years before they were divorced in 2017. They had no children together.

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McKee, who lives in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, appeared in court Monday in a yellow prisoner jumpsuit.

"Mr. McKee believes that the most expeditious manner in which he may defend himself against the charges pending against him in Ohio, and to plead not guilty, would be to waive his right to an extradition hearing, and to have a governor's warrant and agree to his immediate transportation to Ohio," Carie Poirier, his lawyer, said in front of Judge Donald Shriver.

McKee only spoke once during the less than two-minute appearance, when he recited his name to the judge.

Detectives from the Columbus Division of Police were able to identify McKee as a suspect through neighborhood video surveillance. He was tracked to a vehicle which had arrived just prior to the homicides and left shortly after. Police identified the vehicle further and linked it to McKee, later finding it in Rockford. They also discovered evidence that he was in possession of the vehicle before and after the homicides.

McKee has active medical licenses in both Illinois and California, and is a vascular surgeon at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, reports NBC News and its Chicago affiliate. According to the media outlet, he had previously been listed in the hospital's staff directory, but his online entry had been removed as of Sunday. In a statement to NBC Chicago, OSF said it is "cooperating with authorities," about the case, and is directing further questions to law enforcement.

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