Surgeon Charged with Double Homicide After Years of Medical Complaints

Michael David McKee, a surgeon from Illinois, has been under scrutiny for quite a while, but his situation took a disastrous turn when he allegedly killed his ex-wife and her husband in their Ohio home in December.

Dan Laird, an attorney based in Las Vegas, claimed McKee, a 39-year-old vascular surgeon, had not adequately trained his physician assistants. In 2023, this negligence reportedly led to a patient being injured during a procedure, necessitating emergency surgery. Laird shared this information with a local news outlet.

Throughout his two-year search for McKee, Laird faced obstacles due to the surgical group associated with the surgeon. They reportedly provided misleading information, including a non-existent address and a questionable state-issued phone number.

“Strangely, the address given to us by the surgical group ended up being fake,” Laird explained, pinpointing Las Vegas Surgical Associates LLP as the source of the misinformation. “It simply doesn’t exist.”

McKee was previously cited in a medical malpractice lawsuit by a client who claimed that a surgical error led to a situation requiring urgent medical intervention.

Laird accused McKee of not properly training his staff, contributing to the patient’s injury.

McKee’s medical license in Nevada had been active for slightly over two years before it expired in June last year—just six months before he allegedly murdered Monique Tepe and her husband Spencer.

Lawyers in Nevada expressed confusion regarding McKee’s sudden disappearance, noting that it’s unusual for doctors to go missing.

“Typically, they are quite responsible,” Laird remarked. “This was shocking to us because they aren’t the sort who just vanish.”

In October, Laird had reached out to one of McKee’s colleagues, Dr. Peter Calavera, while investigating McKee’s whereabouts before the tragic murders.

“He mentioned he had no clue about Dr. Michael McKee’s current location,” Laird recalled. “He had just disappeared.”

The judge eventually sided with Laird, allowing a special notice method that would inform McKee of the lawsuit through an announcement in a newspaper.

This kind of notification is relatively uncommon and is permissible when a defendant cannot be located or is evading legal service.

McKee now faces two counts of aggravated murder relating to the shooting of the Tepe couple, found dead in their Columbus, Ohio home, believed to have died during the early morning hours.

Having been married to Monique for two years before their divorce in 2017, McKee was apprehended in Rockford, Illinois.

He graduated from The Ohio State University and received his medical license in 2014 at the age of 28.

After his divorce, he obtained another medical license in Virginia and completed his residency at Virginia Tech. By 2023, he had secured licenses in multiple states, including California and Nevada, and later acquired his Illinois license in 2024.

At the time of the alleged murders, he was employed at OSF St. Anthony in Rockford, having reportedly traveled over 300 miles to commit the crime.

A spokesperson for OSF stated that they are cooperating with the authorities, though they have not confirmed if McKee is still an employee.

Tragically, the Tepe couple was murdered just before their fifth wedding anniversary. If found guilty, McKee could face life imprisonment, as the charges of aggravated murder in Ohio may carry the death penalty, though executions have not occurred in the state since 2018.