A South Carolina real estate agent suspected of being a serial killer has been charged with three new counts of murder, in addition to the four he’s already facing
South Carolina real estate agent and suspected serial killer Todd Kohlhepp has been charged with three new counts of murder in addition to the four he’s already facing, according to an NPR report. Kohlhepp, 45, has already confessed to all seven of the murders, according to NPR.
Kohlhepp was arrested Nov. 3 after Spartanburg County, S.C., deputies found a missing woman, 30-year-old Kala Brown, “chained like a dog” on the real estate agent’s wooded property. Brown, who had been missing along with her boyfriend, Charles “David” Carver, since Aug. 31, told authorities she had been held captive for two months. Further investigation of the property led to the discovery of Carver’s body buried in a shallow grave.
Investigators searching the property have since found the bodies of a married couple – Meagan Leigh McCraw Coxie and Johnny Joe Coxie – who have been missing since last year, according to NPR. Authorities believe Kohlhepp shot and killed Johnny Joe Coxie on Dec. 19, 2015, the same date he kidnapped Meagan Coxie. He then allegedly shot her either the following day or several days later.
Kohlhepp has also confessed to murdering four people in 2003 at a motorcycle shop in Chesnee, S.C., shedding light on a locally prominent cold case.
Kohlhepp’s official bio as a real estate agent touted his accomplishments and education – bachelor’s degrees in both business administration and computer science, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society membership, a pilot’s license.
But that was only his public face. Privately, Kohlhepp had a much darker history. A registered sex offender, Kohlhepp had been convicted in the 1986 rape of a teenage girl in Arizona, according to the Washington Post. When he was 15, Kohlhepp went to a neighbor’s house, held a gun to a 14-year-old girl’s head, and forced her to come back to his home, where he bound and sexually assaulted her.
He struck a bargain at trial, pleading guilty to only the kidnapping charge, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to the Post. He was released in 2001.
Kohlhepp was arrested Nov. 3 after Spartanburg County, S.C., deputies found a missing woman, 30-year-old Kala Brown, “chained like a dog” on the real estate agent’s wooded property. Brown, who had been missing along with her boyfriend, Charles “David” Carver, since Aug. 31, told authorities she had been held captive for two months. Further investigation of the property led to the discovery of Carver’s body buried in a shallow grave.
Investigators searching the property have since found the bodies of a married couple – Meagan Leigh McCraw Coxie and Johnny Joe Coxie – who have been missing since last year, according to NPR. Authorities believe Kohlhepp shot and killed Johnny Joe Coxie on Dec. 19, 2015, the same date he kidnapped Meagan Coxie. He then allegedly shot her either the following day or several days later.
Kohlhepp has also confessed to murdering four people in 2003 at a motorcycle shop in Chesnee, S.C., shedding light on a locally prominent cold case.
Kohlhepp’s official bio as a real estate agent touted his accomplishments and education – bachelor’s degrees in both business administration and computer science, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society membership, a pilot’s license.
But that was only his public face. Privately, Kohlhepp had a much darker history. A registered sex offender, Kohlhepp had been convicted in the 1986 rape of a teenage girl in Arizona, according to the Washington Post. When he was 15, Kohlhepp went to a neighbor’s house, held a gun to a 14-year-old girl’s head, and forced her to come back to his home, where he bound and sexually assaulted her.
He struck a bargain at trial, pleading guilty to only the kidnapping charge, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to the Post. He was released in 2001.
