Police chief speaks out about mysterious murders of Ohio dentist, wife: ‘Disturbing’
Spencer and Monique Tepe are seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy Rob Misleh)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The Columbus, Ohio, police chief is speaking out for the first time since the mysterious murders of dentist Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique Tepe.
The couple was found shot to death in their home on Dec. 30, Columbus police said. Their two young children were found safe inside.
Authorities said they believe the couple was killed between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on their home’s second floor.
Earlier this week, police released video of a person of interest. Police said the video showed an individual walking in an alley near the victims’ house during that 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. timeframe.
A motive hasn’t been identified, the chief said.
“I know it’s frustrating for people, I know they want answers,” Bryant said. “As soon as we’re able to provide more information, we will absolutely be coming back to talk about that. … But right now it’s premature for us to be able to say what the motive is, or, we don’t have a suspect identified at this point.”
She added, “We want to bring some justice to the family.”
The Tepes’ brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, said they spent Christmas together days before the murders.
“We did Christmas night together, and then the following day we just did a, kind of, post-Christmas lounging and watching movies and had dinner. And the next morning they left,” he told ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” “How would I ever know that would be the last time I would’ve hung out with Spence like that?”
“We were totally blindsided by what happened,” he said.
The Tepes’ family and friends will come together on Sunday for a celebration of life service.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 06, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — A Robb Elementary School teaching aide testified that she repeatedly urged Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales to intervene in the shooting, but said he did “nothing” in those crucial moments.
Melodye Flores testified on Wednesday that she saw gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school and tried to tell Gonzales his location.
“I told him that he needed to get stopped before he went into the fourth-grade building,” she testified.
“And what did he say?” prosecutor Bill Turner asked.
“He, just, nothing,” Flores said.
“Did you say it more than once?” Turner asked.
“I did,” Flores said, telling jurors she urged Gonzales to intervene two or three times.
Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students.
Gonzales, no longer an officer, has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the May 24, 2022, rampage.
Flores testified that she was eating lunch in her classroom when she learned about the shooter over a school radio. She said she ran outside because she knew that some students were on the playground and potentially in danger.
After warning some students, Flores said she spotted the gunman near the south door of the school.
“He was wearing all black and a hoodie … that’s when he started shooting,” she said.
Flores said she started running away and tripped, and incorrectly thought she was shot.
She testified that she saw Gonzales drive up to her right after she tripped, and she tried to inform the officer about the shooter’s location.
“I said that he was heading into the fourth-grade building, and we needed to stop him. We needed to go in and stop him before he went in,” she said.
“I just kept pointing. ‘He’s going in there, he’s going to the fourth-grade building,'” she told jurors.
“Did you hear anything from this gunman while you were talking to the police officer?” Turner asked.
“Just kept hearing shots,” she said.
Flores said that Gonzales did not respond to her warnings.
“I kept telling him that he needed to be stopped,” she said.
“When you told the officer to go in, did he go in?” Turner asked.
“No,” she said.
“What did he do?” Turner asked.
“He just stayed there,” she said.
Flores said she left Gonzales and tried to help a teacher who had sheltered in her classroom.
On Tuesday, during the testimony of Texas Ranger Ricardo Guajardo, prosecutors played a lengthy interview Gonzales gave to state investigators after the shooting.
In the interview, Gonzales recalled arriving at the school as one of the first officers and learning about the shooting from a coach.
“I was going over there towards her,” he said. “I see her fall in the dust cloud. So I get to her, and I realized she’s one of the coaches.”
According to Gonzales, he learned the approximate location and a basic description of the shooter from the coach, though the shooting began before he could act.
Gonzales told investigators that he could not see the shooter, but he tried to notify others over his radio.
“I notify everybody on the radio, the best I could. And then, you know, as soon as I start walking over there, I see the rounds come out of the window,” he said.
Gonzales also described trying to enter the school with four other officers, though they retreated after two were hit by gunfire.
“Everybody flew back, you know, so I think he got hit,” he said. “We kind of moved back.”
Two months before the shooting, Gonzales taught a course about responding to active shooters, according to testimony from Teresa Zamarripa, the officer manager at Southwest Texas College Law Enforcement Agency.
ABC News’ Juan Renteria contributed to this report.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 9, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Jury selection for Luigi Mangione’s federal trial will begin on Sept. 8, Judge Margaret Garnett said on Friday.
If the judge excludes the death penalty as a possible sentence, the trial will begin on Oct. 13. If the judge allows the case to proceed as a capital case, the trial will begin on Jan. 11, 2027.
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024. He was arrested days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges.
Garnett is considering a defense request to take the death penalty off the table.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 18, 2025 in New York City. Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione spoke out in court on Friday as Judge Gregory Carro tentatively scheduled his state murder case to begin on June 8.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett announced that Mangione’s federal trial will begin with jury selection on Sept. 8 and opening statements on Oct. 13. But Carro said Friday that he believes the state case should go to trial first.
“It appears that the federal government has reneged on their agreement to let the state, who did most of the work in this case, to go first,” he remarked at the beginning of the hearing.
Carro ended the hearing with a stern directive to defense lawyers, who repeatedly pushed back on the June 8 trial date.
“You have done a great job, so be ready on June 8,” Carro told the defense. “That’s it.”
Seconds later, Mangione himself protested the judge’s decision as he was escorted out of court.
Mangione, shackled and wearing tan jail attire, looked toward the gallery and loudly said, “One plus one is two. Double jeopardy, by any common-sense definition.”
Defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo repeatedly argued during the hearing that the June date would leave them unprepared and would be unfair to Mangione.
“The defense will not be ready on June 8,” she said. “Mr. Mangione is being put in an untenable situation that is a tug of war between two different prosecution officers.”
Prosecutor Joel Seidemann responded by arguing that the defense is trying to deprive [them] of a right to try the case” by creating a double jeopardy issue.
“It is absolutely unfair that Mr. Seidemann wants two bites of the apple,” Friedman Agnifilo said. “New York state has a double jeopardy law for a reason.”
“Counsel is seeking to jeopardize us out of the federal case,” Seidemann responded. “We have every reason to be the prosecuting authority.”
Seidemann argued that state prosecutors and investigators have done the bulk of the investigation and should be able to try a murder that took place on the streets of Manhattan. He claimed that the family of the victim, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, requested that the state case go first.
“That’s something certainly to be considered,” Seidemann said.
While Carro suggested that defense lawyers could resolve the conflict by asking the federal judge to delay the federal case, Friedman Agnifilo said she would not do so.
“It would be legal malpractice for us to do something that is not in our client’s best interest,” she said. “We have been working round the clock in both cases, fighting both cases.”
Carro said he could push the trial date to Sept. 8 if the Department of Justice decides to appeal a ruling in Mangione’s federal case.
Mangione, who is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel in December 2024, has pleaded not guilty to the state and federal charges. The federal judge last week took the death penalty off the table in the federal case.
