Body camera footage from Columbus police shows an officer who conducted the Dec. 30 well-being check on a Weinland Park couple found dead later the same day inside their home going to the wrong house on the wrong street.
The footage, released on Jan. 9, shows the officer knocking multiple times on the home’s front door, asking if anyone was home, opening a gate into the back yard and knocking on a back door as well.
About 40 minutes later, a family friend discovered the bodies of Monique Tepe, 39, and Spencer Tepe, 37, inside their home on the 1400 block of North 4th Street.
Concerned coworkers called police about 9 a.m. that morning after Spencer had not arrived at work and they had been unable to reach him or Monique by phone. Spencer worked as a dentist in Athens. The officer conducted the check around 9:15 a.m., according to the body camera footage.
The video shows the officer whistling and singing to himself as he drives, leaving a police substation and heading to the address written on a piece of paper he holds in his hand. The address is never said in the nearly seven-minute video clip; however, a COTA sign visible in the footage shows the officer went to a home on Summit Street.
A review of city maps shows the Summit Street address is several streets away from the Tepes’ North 4th Street home, about a quarter of a mile or a one-minute drive away.
On Jan. 8, Columbus police Chief Elaine Bryant said the Tepes are believed to have been killed hours before the initial well-being check.
Police did not find a weapon at the scene and determined their deaths were not a murder-suicide.
On Jan. 5, Columbus police released video from an alley near the Tepe home. The video shows a person walking near the home between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., the window of time police believe the homicides occurred during.
No suspects or motives have been publicly identified.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus officer went to wrong street for Tepe welfare check, footage shows
Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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