Monique Tepe: Eight Years of Threat and the Cost of Survival

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 anyway.

What does it cost to function—to work, to fall in love again, to marry Spencer, to raise two children—while knowing someone has promised to kill you? That's the question that doesn't make headlines.

Strangulation is one of the most significant predictors of future lethality in domestic violence research. If McKee did what witnesses allege, Monique was statistically 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 explains why there's so often a gap between what a victim communicates and what the people who love them actually hear—and what eight years of constant threat assessment does to someone psychologically.

Scott has spent over thirty years working with survivors of intimate partner violence. She's also a survivor herself—her ex-husband died by revenge suicide after she asked for divorce.

Then there's McKee's response to being charged. He pleaded not guilty. Waived his bail hearing but reserved the right to revisit it. Chess move, not surrender. Scott analyzes defendants who treat courtrooms like arenas—not places of accountability, but stages to prove they're smarter than everyone else. Ted Bundy, Scott Peterson, Chris Watts. The theory: the detachment that lets someone sit calmly facing murder charges is the same detachment that allegedly let them pull the trigger.

McKee has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

#MichaelMcKee #MoniqueTepe #SpencerTepe #ShavaunScott #DomesticViolence #Strangulation #CoerciveControl #DVSurvivor #ColumbusOhio #HiddenKillers

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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.