Chicago doctor Michael McKee was arrested at a Rockford hospital where he was working as a vascular surgeon, accused of murdering his ex-wife and her husband.
Wednesday, we’re learning new details about the case, as NBC 5 Investigates has learned that McKee was considered a “disappearing doc” by attorneys who had filed a malpractice lawsuit against him while he was working at a Las Vegas clinic.
When process servers repeatedly tried to hand him the official legal papers in 2023, they said McKee had vanished.
Whatever allegedly happened in Vegas didn’t stay there.
McKee then came to Chicago and moved into a Lincoln Park condo, even though he was working an hour and a half away at a Catholic network hospital in Rockford.
Hospital officials are now declining to answer questions from the NBC 5 Investigates team on Wednesday about how McKee could have been hired on when Nevada attorneys had accused him of walking out on a malpractice suit.
A ten-year surgical career for McKee began with his residency in Roanoke, West Virginia. His marriage to Monique, whom he met at Ohio State University, ended after allegations of emotional abuse by McKee brought an end to the marriage after just 8 months. The divorce between the couple was finalized a year and a half later, according to court documents.
Monique remarried Spencer Tepe and they had two children.
The couple was killed on December 30, according to prosecutors. Detectives found three 9mm casings at the scene, and a trail of evidence from surveillance video to vehicle tracking led straight to McKee in Rockford.
Wednesday, for the first time, Columbus police say they also found a murder weapon that they say McKee held onto after returning to Chicago.
“This was a targeted attack. This was a domestic violence related attack,” said Columbus police chief Elaine Bryant . “We can also say that multiple weapons were taken from the property of McKee.”
McKee remains locked up in the Winnebago County Jail until Columbus police arrive to bring him back to stand trial in Ohio. McKee has already agreed to be transferred to Columbus, where he plans to plead not guilty.
“Our hearts remain with Spencer and Monique, their loved ones and especially the children impacted by this unimaginable loss,” Bryant said.
The children from his ex-wife’s second marriage, ages 4 and 1, were in the house at the time of the murders, but their lives were spared. The family dog was also left alive, according to prosecutors.
Now though he faces felony murder charges, and could face the death penalty in an Ohio courtroom.
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