Tearful Wedding Vows of Ohio Dentist and Bride 5 Years Before Her Ex Allegedly Killed Couple: 'I Will Love You Forever' By Chris Spargo

Five years before they were killed inside their Columbus, Ohio, home, Monique and Spencer Tepe exchanged vows during an intimate ceremony in front of their family and closest friends.

The pair were married on Dec. 13, 2020, but on Jan. 31, 2021 held a ceremony and party for a small group of people at the home Spencer had recently purchased just a few blocks away from the couple’s alma mater, Ohio State University.

During that ceremony, Monique spoke of her past heartaches in her vows to Spencer, unaware that five years later the ex-husband she had recently divorced at the time would be accused of murdering her and her husband — in that very same house.

Monique began her speech by saying: “Spencer, what can I say? From day one, I knew you were something special.”

She then grew emotional as she started to speak about the men she had been with before meeting her groom.

“I had quite a journey to get to you, countless bad Bumble dates, wrong relationships, and waterfalls of tears. But it was worth every cringing second because it led me to you,” Monique said while fighting back tears.

She continued: “Throughout all of this, I knew that God was guiding me to my person, and that when I met him, it would be the most magical thing ever. And, boy, is that an understatement.”

Monique called Spencer her “lobster,” spoke about his “beautiful heart” and then closed out her vow by saying: “I will love you forever, and I’m so lucky to be Mrs. Tepe.”

Spencer started off his vow by saying how lucky he was to have found his bride, who he affectionately called “Mo-Mo.”

He told Monique that she had become his best friend during their time together, and finished by saying: “I vow to support you, to believe in you and to encourage you. I vow to provide for you. I vow to never stop loving you. and to always keep working on us. And lastly, I vow to do my best to always keep making you laugh, because your smile is my favorite thing. I love you.”

Video of the evening obtained by PEOPLE then shows the couple and their guests dancing and drinking, and Monique’s sister Amanda delivering a speech to the newlyweds.

“You know, I’ve seen you with your ups and downs and trying to find your person and when Spencer came into the picture — I’ve never seen you so happy and it’s never seemed just so right,” Amanda said while starting to cry.

She then spoke about how happy she was to call Spencer a brother and welcome him to the family.

“Because, as my sister was saying in her vows, you let her be her.” Amanda said.

That ceremony took place more than three years after Monique divorced her first husband, Michael McKee, whom police now accuse of murdering Monique and Spencer in the early morning hours of Dec. 30.

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On Jan. 10, McKee was taken into custody by federal agents and booked into the Winnebago County Jail in Illinois to await extradition to Ohio.

Once in Ohio, McKee is expected to be arraigned on two counts of aggravated murder with premeditation.

An arrest warrant filed in Franklin County Court said that detectives were “able to identify a suspect through neighborhood video surveillance” and then track that person to a vehicle “which arrived just prior to the homicides and left shortly after the homicides.”

Police have said that they have evidence of McKee being in possession of the car they tracked from the Tepes’ neighborhood both before and after he allegedly murdered his ex and her husband.

McKee was arrested 450 miles away from the crime scene while driving to the medical office he works at in Rockford.

McKee has yet to speak publicly about his arrest. Police tell PEOPLE that he declined to speak with detectives about the case following his arrest, and chose to invoke his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

At his first court appearance in Winnebago County on Jan. 12, his public defender told the judge that McKee agreed to waive his right to an extradition hearing in the case and intended to enter a plea of not guilty to both counts of aggravated murder he is facing in Ohio.