By JULIE CARR SMYTH and PATRICK AFTOORA-ORSAGOS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Illinois doctor indicted on murder charges in the December killings of his ex-wife and her dentist husband in their Columbus home is due in an Ohio courtroom on Friday.

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Michael David McKee, 39, is scheduled to be arraigned in Franklin County on four aggravated murder counts and one count of aggravated burglary while using a firearm suppressor in connection with the Dec. 30 shooting deaths of Monique Tepe, 39, and Dr. Spencer Tepe, 37.

The mystery that first surrounded the case — which featured no forced entry, no weapon and no obvious signs of theft, additional violence or a motive — drew national attention. McKee, of Chicago, was arrested 11 days later near his workplace in Rockford, Illinois. He was returned to Ohio on Tuesday to face the charges against him.

Who is Michael David McKee?

McKee attended Catholic high school in Zanesville, a historic Ohio city about 55 miles east of the capital, according to the Diocese of Columbus. He enrolled at Ohio State University in September 2005 — the same semester that his future wife, then Monique Sabaturski, enrolled, university records show. Both graduated with bachelor’s degrees in June 2009. Sabaturski earned a master of education degree from Ohio State in 2011 and McKee earned his medical degree there in 2014.

Sabaturski and McKee married in Columbus in August 2015 but were living apart by the time Monique filed to end in the marriage in May 2017, court records show. Their divorce was granted that June. McKee was living in Virginia at the time, court and address records show. He completed a two-year fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center in October 2022, according to the school.

McKee also lived in and was licensed to practice medicine in both California and in Nevada, where he was among doctors named in a personal injury lawsuit in a Las Vegas court in 2023. OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois, where McKee was working at the time of his arrest, declined to provide specific information on the dates of his employment. His Illinois medical license became active in October 2024.

What is McKee accused of?

An Ohio grand jury indicted McKee in the double homicide last week.

This undated booking photo provided by the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, shows Michael David McKee, who was charged in the killing of his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband Spencer Tepe at their Columbus, Ohio, home on Dec. 30, 2025. (Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

McKee is accused of illegally entering the Tepes’ home with a firearm equipped with a silencer, shooting the Tepes — whose bodies were found in a second-floor bedroom — and leaving the property along a dark alley alongside the house.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant has said that McKee was the person seen walking down that alley in video footage captured the night of the killings. She also said a gun found in his Chicago apartment was a ballistic match to evidence at the scene and that his vehicle’s movements were tracked from Columbus back to Illinois.

A message seeking comment was left with McKee’s attorney.

McKee is charged with two aggravated murder counts for each homicide, one for prior calculation and design and one for committing the crime, as well as facing the aggravated burglary count. If convicted, he faces a minimum of life in prison with parole eligibility after 32 years and a maximum term of life in prison without parole.

How were the killings discovered?

Columbus police conducted a wellness check on Spencer Tepe at around 10 a.m. on Dec. 30, after his manager at a dental practice in Athens, Ohio, reported that he had not shown up to work on that day, saying tardiness was very worrying and “out of character” for Tepe, according to a 911 call.

Someone else called to request a wellness check before a distraught man who described himself as a friend of Spencer Tepe called police and said, “Oh, there’s a body. There’s a body. Oh my God.” He said he could see Spencer Tepe’s body was off the side of a bed in a pool of blood.

The Franklin County Coroner’s Office deemed the killings an “apparent homicide by gunshot wounds.”

Who were the Tepes?

Family members said the Tepes were “extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy and deep connection to others.”

They have described Monique as a “joyful mother,” avid baker and “thoughtful planner.” According to their obituaries, which were issued jointly, the pair were married in 2020.

Spencer Tepe got his bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 2012 and earned his doctor of dental surgery degree in 2017, according to school records. He was a member of the American Dental Association and had been involved with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization.

They had two young children. Both were home at the time of the killings and left unharmed, as was the family dog.

By SETH BORENSTEIN and TAMMY WEBBER

Smartphone weather apps that summarize their forecasts with eye-popping numbers and bright icons may be handy during mild weather, but meteorologists say it’s better to listen to human expertise during multi-faceted, dangerous winter storms like the one blowing through the U.S.

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The multistate storm’s combination of heavy snow, treacherous ice and subzero temperatures shows why it’s best to seek out forecasters who can explain its nuances via local TV or radio newscasts, online livestreams or detailed websites, said meteorologists interviewed by The Associated Press. The data is changing rapidly before and during the storm, and the distance of a few miles can mean the difference between snow, sleet or dangerous freezing rain.

“Weather apps are really bad at storms that have multiple types of precipitation and it really makes messaging hard,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd, a past president of the American Meteorological Society. “Apps don’t understand the details of why snow, sleet or freezing rain happens.”

University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado and other experts said humans are important in these cases, especially those with local expertise.

“For extreme weather events, it is especially important to know there are human forecasters interpreting the data and making the best localized forecasts for your area,” Furtado said. “Unfortunately, many of the weather forecast apps use AI methods to either make the forecast or ‘interpolate’ from larger grids to your hometown, introducing the potential for significant errors.”

But some apps can be useful, especially those that pair National Weather Service data with meteorologists’ expertise, forecasters said. And they are definitely getting used right about now.

The Weather Channel app, which is seeing booming traffic this week, uses numerous models, data sources, weather observers and staff, said James Belanger, vice president of its parent company, which also owns the Weather Channel and weather.com. That level of proficiency matters, he said.

“It’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of approach that we take,” Belanger said, adding that “not all weather apps are created equal.”

What apps can and can’t do

Apps get much of their information from the National Weather Service and some companies augment it with proprietary information and the well-regarded European forecast models. Many offer forecasts by ZIP code or geographic areas far from weather stations by using software that focuses broader regional forecasts to where the phone is located.

While there are good apps, especially those displaying National Weather Service warnings and information, many “oversimplify uncertainty and present highly precise-looking numbers that imply more confidence than actually exists,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini. This type of storm is where apps are weakest because they don’t get nuances, he said.

Weather apps are good for forecasting nice warm summer days, but not days like much of the country is facing now, said Steven DiMartino of NY NJ PA Weather. The paid online subscription service touts its human expertise with the slogan “Meteorology Not Modelology.”

“The problem with the weather app is that it just provides data, but not explanation,” DiMartino said. “Anyone can look at data, but you need a meteorologist, you need that human touch to look at it and say, ‘Hmm, that looks like an error; we’re gonna tweak this.’”

Seeking quality sources of data

Cory Mottice, a National Weather Service meteorologist since 2014, developed the app EverythingWeather, which uses weather service data, as an easy place for the public to find the latest weather forecasts for their area without navigating the agency’s website. He said it’s “just for fun” and not affiliated with the weather service.

The strength of his app, he said, is that the information comes from professional meteorologists at the more than 125 weather service offices. Many apps just use raw computer modeling data – which aren’t always reliable in extreme events — with no human oversight, “which can really lead to some very misleading numbers or graphics depending on what you’re at,” he said.

With his approach, “you have actual meteorologists that are experts in their field at different places all over the country for that specific area, looking at the data, adjusting it, making the forecast as needed,” Mottice said.

Mixing decades of experience, 100 meteorologists and AI

The popular Weather Channel app uses information from many sources, including the weather service and more than 100 weather models, including those from the U.S. and Europe and their own distinct model. They augment it with input from over 100,000 citizens to help forecast weather events, said The Weather Company’s Belanger. And it’s all synthesized by artificial intelligence to come up with a forecast, he said.

That’s more accurate than relying on a single model or provider, he said, because AI is able to learn which models are the most accurate in different conditions to help “create that optimal forecast.”

Even so, humans, including a team of more than 100 meteorologists, always have the final say about what goes on the app, Belanger said.

“One of the things that has been a lesson and a principle that we’ve adopted is that it’s the combination of advancements in technology with the human oversight,” that allows the company to provide the best forecasts — especially in situations like the current winter storm, Belanger said.

Be careful with social media

Forecasters also warn against another quick fix for weather information: social media, where hype, misinformation and short takes can spread quickly.

While social media can help amplify official sources like the weather service, “it’s also where misinformation spreads fastest,” Gensini wrote in an email.

“Weather is complex, and social media tends to reward confidence and drama, not nuance,” Gensini said. “That mismatch is a real challenge during major events like this.”

Kim Klockow McClain, an extreme weather social scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, said people are “getting misled by hyped forecasts.”

“When people are continually exposed to only worst-case forecasts, research suggests they will lose trust over time,” she said.

Borenstein reported from Washington, Webber from Fenton, Michigan.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

One foundational block in Niko Medved’s rebuild of the Gophers men’s basketball roster has proven to be rock solid all season, and especially strong the past two weeks.

Junior transfer Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, who followed Medved from Colorado State last spring, has scored at least 20 points in the last three games while corralling eight rebounds in each. These are upticks from his season averages of 14.2 points and 6.8 rebounds a game.

The San Antonio native will likely need to produce another huge game if the Gophers (10-9, 3-5 Big Ten) are to pull off an upset of No. 7 Nebraska (19-0, 8-0) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Williams Arena.

Crocker-Johnson is also performing under a stress test. Due to injuries, the 6-foot-9 forward has been called on to play out of position at center. That makes his production, including a career-high 26 points in the 82-74 loss to Ohio State on Tuesday, even more impressive.

Crocker-Johnson’s overall game has improved in the climb from a low-major program, Arkansas-Little Rock, in his freshman year to mid-major Colorado State as a sophomore a year ago and into the daunting Big Ten this winter. The speed of the game has slowed down, and he’s finding ways to prod for success.

“He played that (center) spot for us at Colorado State, but not as much as he’s playing it here,” Medved said Thursday. “ He’s realizing and building confidence in himself that, ‘Hey, even in the Big Ten, I can still do the things that I was able to do that allowed me to be successful in the Mountain West.’ … He’s understanding how people are guarding him, and he’s really, really taking advantage.”

In the 77-67 loss to Illinois last Saturday, he made a career-high five 3-pointers in 22-point outing. But when those treys weren’t falling (1 for 7) versus the Buckeyes, he drove to the basket with huge success (10 for 12).

“I’m just letting the game come to me, trying to find a rhythm early with us, getting to the basket or shooting a 3,” Croker-Johnson said.

Despite Crocker-Johnson’s load, the Gophers have lost four straight games, and off the court, he’s trying to lead his team out of the skid.

“Definitely just trying to communicate with all the guys, sending texts out, making sure everybody’s head space is right,” he said. “We’ve battled some tough adversity lately so, I mean, definitely just trying to make sure we stay together. We’ve still got (12) games left.”

Medved and Crocker-Johnson have formed a deep bond over the past two years. That relationship could come in handy when the U attempts to keep Crocker-Johnson in maroon and gold for his senior season in 2026-27.

“He’s about all the right things,” Medved said. “He’s humble, he’s tough, he competes. You know exactly what you’re going to get every day in practice and in the games. … He’s not some high-maintenance guy at all. He just comes to work every day. And I love seeing people like that be successful. So, he’s just really a great guy.”

Crocker-Johnson appreciates Medved pushing him.

“He definitely is challenging me to be better off the court, on the court, as a leader,” he said. “So, definitely just want someone to push me around, make sure I’m on my toes.”

As they have moved from Fort Collins, Colo., to Minneapolis, Medved’s wife and two daughters have gotten to know “Crock” and his family.

“My kids love him, wife does, so that’s another reason we’re really fortunate to have him,” Medved said. “So thankful that he came with us.”

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