Tepe Murders: What Strangulation Predicts and Why McKee Won't Fold

According to the unsealed affidavit, witnesses told investigators Michael McKee strangled Monique Tepe during their marriage, forced unwanted sex on her, and told her he could end her life whenever he wanted. She divorced him in 2017 after seven months. No police report. No protective order. She told friends and family she was afraid—then got up every morning and lived her life. Fell in love again. Married Spencer. Raised two children.

Strangulation is one of the most significant predictors of future lethality in domestic violence research. If McKee did what witnesses allege, Monique was in extreme danger from the moment she left. Rob Misleh said publicly the family didn't fully understand the threats were real until it was too late.

Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott has spent thirty years working with survivors of intimate partner violence. She's also a survivor—her ex-husband died by revenge suicide after she asked for divorce. She explains why there's so often a gap between what victims communicate and what the people who love them hear. What does eight years of constant threat assessment do psychologically?

Then there's the defendant's response. The state has surveillance footage, ballistics, a cell phone that went dark, years of documented threats. McKee pleaded not guilty. Waived bail but reserved the right to revisit—chess move, not surrender. Scott analyzes defendants who treat courtrooms like arenas. Ted Bundy cross-examined witnesses. Scott Peterson watched like a spectator. Chris Watts tried to con homicide detectives.

McKee is a surgeon who completed over a decade of elite medical training. Does that professional background feed the compartmentalization we see in courtroom detachment? The theory: the detachment that lets someone sit calmly facing murder charges is the same detachment that allegedly let them pull the trigger. Other people aren't fully real to them.

#MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #ShavaunScott #Strangulation #DomesticViolence #ForensicPsychology #NarcissisticGrandiosity #TrueCrimeToday #ColumbusOhio

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.