Columbus police said a woman who was killed along with her husband did not make a 911 call several months before the Weinland Park couple was found dead in their home.
Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37, were found in their home on the 1400 block of North 4th Street the morning of Dec. 30. Columbus police responded to the home after concerned coworkers called to say Spencer had not reported to work and he and Monique were not answering their phones.
Around 9 a.m. on Dec. 30, Columbus police were sent to Weinland Park to investigate, but the officer left after getting no answer at either the front or back door.
However, on Jan. 8, Chief Elaine Bryant revealed police determined the officer who went to the well-being check went to the wrong address. Bryant said about 40 minutes after the officer left the area, the Tepes were discovered dead in their home, believed to have been killed hours earlier.
In April, Columbus police received a 911 hang-up call that came from the area of the Tepe home. When a dispatcher called the number back, the woman, who sounded as if she were crying, said she didn’t need police help. She did not provide her name or location to the dispatcher. The call was listed as originating from the Tepe home.
Media outlets and social media users have speculated that the call came from Monique Tepe. Chief Elaine Bryant said that the caller was not Monique Tepe. Police have no history of calls from that address or related to the Tepes, Assistant Chief Greg Bodker said.
The Department of Public Safety said 911 calls in a more densely populated area with multiple cellphone towers can be pinpointed to a location within up to an approximately 30 meter radius.
Police have not named any suspects or potential motives in the killings nearly two weeks after the couple was found dead. Columbus police released a video of a person of interest walking in the alleyway behind the home, but have said little else about the investigation, including whether the shooting was targeted or whether there is a threat to the general public.
Bryant said the department is balancing the need for community safety with putting information out to the public, but is trying to be as transparent as the confines of the investigation will allow.
“We’re going to be as transparent as possible, but we have to focus on the integrity of the investigation,” Bryant said. “When we make an arrest, we want there to be nothing that would make that case unprosecutable.”
Bodker said homicide detectives have been canvassing the neighborhood near the Tepes’ home on a daily basis and reviewing every tip that has been provided.
“We’ve seen tragedy before, high-profile cases,” Bodker said. “They will solve this crime.”
The couple’s deaths and the lack of information have rattled neighbors in the Weinland Park neighborhood.
The couple’s two children and goldendoodle are safe with family members.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Monique Tepe did not make tearful 911 call months before slaying, police say
Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
