SLAIN IN THE NIGHT

AFTER THE MYSTERIOUS KILLINGS OF A MARRIED COUPLE IN OHIO, AN INTENSE MANHUNT LEADS TO A SURPRISING SUSPECT-HER EX-HUSBAND

- By SAMIRA ASMA-SADEQUE

It was Christmas evening, and then-3-year-old Emilia Tepe was wearing her custom princess dress for a fashion show in her grandparents’ living room in Mason, Ohio. Mom Monique, 39, and dad Spencer, 37, beamed with joy. “My brother has always been the biggest fan of my art,” says Spencer’s sister Madeleine Misleh, 35, a fashion designer who made the pink gown with ivory trim for her niece. “He was always proud.” After a day spent showering Emilia and her 17-month-old brother Beckham with gifts, watching movies and eating holiday treats, Madeleine’s husband, Rob Misleh, 34, and Spencer stayed up playing pool in the basement. “Neither of us wanted to go to sleep,” recalls Rob. “I hate to say that was the last real ‘bro time’ I had with him.”

Rob, who was asleep when the Tepes left for home in Columbus, Ohio, on Dec. 27, didn’t get a chance to say goodbye, which haunts him now that tragedy has struck the family. Early on the morning of Dec. 30, the couple known to friends as Spence and Mo were shot and killed inside their Columbus home as their children, who were unharmed, slept nearby. Police found no signs of forced entry or robbery, and there were no weapons or evidence of self-inflicted wounds, which only compounded the mystery of the brutal attacks that drew national attention: Who wanted the Tepes dead—and why?