McKee's Failed Alibi in Tepe Double Murder: Why Prosecutors Say His Own Words Will Convict Him
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 906 Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
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Summary
Before Michael McKee invoked his right to remain silent, he allegedly gave police a bogus alibi. That single decision may haunt him for the rest of his life. McKee, a Chicago vascular surgeon, is charged with aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of his ex-wife Monique Tepe and her husband Richard Tepe at their Columbus home. Police say the murder weapon was recovered from McKee's apartment nearly two weeks after the killings. But it's not just forensic evidence prosecutors will weaponize—it's what McKee reportedly said before he stopped talking.
Former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis has built cases exactly like this one. He knows how prosecutors turn a defendant's own words into the most damaging evidence at trial. In this Hidden Killers interview, Faddis explains the legal mechanics of the McKee prosecution: why charges were upgraded to aggravated murder, how a contradictory alibi gets presented to a jury, and what investigators look for when establishing premeditation across an eight-year timeline. We examine the family testimony alleging emotional abuse, the reported stalking behavior days before the murders, and the challenge of prosecuting a defendant with no criminal record who presents as educated and successful. The prosecution has a story to tell about the Tepe murders. Eric Faddis shows us how they'll tell it.
#MichaelMcKee #TepeMurders #MoniqueTepe #RichardTepe #HiddenKillers #EricFaddis #AggravatedMurder #OhioMurder #TrueCrimePodcast #FalseAlibi
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brewski, Stacey Cole, and Todd Michaels. |
| 0:10.4 | Michael McKee was a vascular surgeon with no criminal record, who allegedly drove 300 miles from Chicago to Columbus to execute his ex-wife and her husband while their two children slept nearby. |
| 0:24.3 | The merits lasted seven months. The divorce was finalized in 2017. Police say they found the |
| 0:29.0 | murder weapon in McKee's penthouse about 11 days after the killings. He's now facing two counts |
| 0:34.7 | of aggravated murder. Charges that could put him away for life without parole. |
| 0:39.9 | So what does the prosecution need to prove? |
| 0:43.3 | And how do they do it when there are no eyewitnesses? |
| 0:45.5 | And the defendant is a smart, successful doctor who's never been in trouble. |
| 0:49.8 | Joining us, Eric Fattis, defense attorney, former prosecutor to help us break all this down. |
| 0:57.0 | From a legal perspective, let's start looking at all this from the prosecution standpoint. |
| 1:03.4 | McKee was initially charged with the murder. Then it was upgraded to aggravated murder. |
| 1:08.7 | What are we talking about here? What kind of specific elements are going into place when prosecutors upgrade the verbiage there? |
| 1:15.6 | And obviously the severity of the crime to aggravated. |
| 1:19.6 | What is that signal on how they're framing this case, Eric? |
| 1:22.6 | Sure. |
| 1:23.6 | So the original murder charge required the prosecution prove that this was an intentional |
| 1:28.6 | killing, that he caused the deaths of two people, and that he did that willfully. The aggravation |
| 1:34.6 | comes with this added element of prior calculation and design. Some jurisdictions call it premeditation. |
| 1:42.2 | It's essentially that he planned this out, that he took measures to build up to this, |
| 1:49.2 | and he knew what he was doing and it happened over a period of time. |
| 1:53.2 | And on top of that, there's also kind of a firearm enhancer because a firearm was used in the deaths. |
| 1:58.4 | And so that's what really ups the ante in terms of the aggravated murder is the prior calculation |
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