00:00:04
[MUSIC PLAYING] [SAW WHIRS] NARRATOR: Inside a locked metal container, a woman named Kala Brown hear the sounds of a chainsaw.
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OFFICER: How are you, honey? This is bolt cutters. This is [INAUDIBLE]. He's a paramedic, sweetheart.
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OK, we're gonna get you out of there, OK? Just hang loose for me. Anybody got-- I need a handcuff key.
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Handcuff key. [MUSIC PLAYING] OFFICER: Is it both feet? KALA BROWN: Just one. It's attached to a chain to the wall,
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and my neck's attached to the wall up here. OFFICER: OK. All right. All right. We'll get you out, sweetheart, OK?
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NARRATOR: The young woman has been imprisoned by Todd Kohlhepp. She has witnessed Kohlhepp shoot her boyfriend.
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It just-- parent's worst nightmare. NARRATOR: Todd Kohlhepp, a popular realtor in South
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Carolina, a serial killer. [MUSIC PLAYING] A sprawling property in rural South Carolina.
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Police are searching for missing couple Kala Brown and Charlie Carver. Shortly after their disappearance,
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missing flyer posters go up, family starts reaching out to media. There's news stories in the public--
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public light about their disappearance. CHUCK CARVER: You know, weeks turned into more weeks,
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into months, and it just-- parent's worst nightmare. You know, we went from maybe had an accident, you know,
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is in a ditch somewhere, to, what happened? It was-- it was a very-- it was a long 65 days.
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NARRATOR: Cops are about to make a breakthrough in the case. It's not good news.
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Sir. Yes, sir, I will [INAUDIBLE] I'm not resisting. OFFICER: OK. Just stand up for me.
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NARRATOR: Successful local realtor Todd Kohlhepp. All right, this is where we're at, Mr. Kohlhepp.
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While we were here, all right, my sergeant served a search warrant on your property, OK?
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Kohlhepp really became successful through his business. He had a decent house. He had obviously boughten that 100-acre property in Woodruff.
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He had several BMWs, motorcycles. NARRATOR: What no one knew was that Todd Kohlhepp obtained his real estate
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license under false pretenses. Kohlhepp himself was a mystery to those that knew him.
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Todd Kohlhepp, extensive history, very unique life. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
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before moving to Spartanburg with his mom. He was uprooted several times. His mom was married and remarried several times.
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His birth father divorced his mom at a very young age. And then, when she remarried, his stepfather
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adopted him legally. Kohlhepp was born in 1971. By 1973, he's-- he's described as being out of control.
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Right? This is two years old, though. So you think about the terrible twos and you wonder,
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is it just sort of normal behavior. NARRATOR: It soon emerged that there was nothing normal about Kohlhepp's activities
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as a young child. As a young boy, there's records indicating that he bleached a goldfish because he wanted
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a gerbil, meaning, like, he actually poured Clorox into a-- onto a goldfish to--
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to torture and kill the goldfish. He-- he shot pellet guns at dogs. He punched holes in his walls.
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He shredded his clothing. Not a lot of ability to connect emotionally with other-- other people.
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One of the biggest red flags for an eventual antisocial personality disorder, or what people colloquially
00:05:03
know as psychopaths, is that they torture animals at a young age. And it shows a level of lack of empathy, lack of emotionality,
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and just something that can't simply be learned from your social environment, typically.
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It shows that there might be a genetic predisposition here towards doing evil acts.
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NARRATOR: The adults in little Todd's life tried to get to the bottom of his troubling behavior.
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Nine years old, he's referred to a behavioral institute in Georgia because of his mother's inability
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to enforce limits, because of his behavioral problems in school. [MUSIC PLAYING]
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[BELL RINGS] NARRATOR: But he wasn't improving. At 12 years old, Todd was moved to Tempe, Arizona
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to live with a man he had not seen for over 10 years. In disagreement with his mother
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and her marital situation, he protested her and moved to Arizona to live with his birth father.
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NARRATOR: To get his mother to allow him to leave her, he threatened her, he threatened to kill himself.
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He took a hammer to his newly remodeled bathroom. She gave in. He had been clearly manipulating and deceiving
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people from the time he was a child, and this, really, he got quite good at it by the time he was a teenager.
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He might have seen his dad as his savior from his mother, who was unable to control him,
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or who was absent, or just disinterested in his life. NARRATOR: But according to documents later used in court,
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Todd soon began to feel that he was playing second fiddle to his father's romantic relationships.
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[MUSIC PLAYING] In November, 1986, Kohlhepp chose a target to take out his anger on.
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15 years old, Kohlhepp lures a 14-year-old neighborhood girl back to his house. Apparently, this 14-year-old girl had rejected him.
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She had a crush on someone else. The records indicate that he duct taped her, held her
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at gunpoint, sexually assaulted her, and then actually proceeded to walk her home.
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He threatens her family. He threatens to kill them, and she believes him. She truly believes Todd is going to kill her family.
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And he threatens her, but that courageous girl spoke up. NARRATOR: Todd's traumatized victim told
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her family what he had done. Less than 90 minutes after the abduction, Todd Kohlhepp was arrested at home.
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Kidnapping is a very serious offense in Arizona. He might not have known what what
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the full punishment for his actions were, and he might have-- he might have known.
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He ends up going to prison in Arizona for about 15 years. NARRATOR: At sentencing, a probation officer
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told the court that Kohlhepp's lack of conscience could lead to more crimes in the future.
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Kohlhepp blamed his behavior on his father for always being out of town. For criminologist Brian Frederick,
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the theme of rejection looms large in Todd Kohlhepp's life story. Kohlhepp internalized this.
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Here's another woman that has rejected him, that doesn't truly love him, right, that maybe loves someone else.
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That could have been the thing, the catalyst that caused him to snap. NARRATOR: It was a theme throughout Todd Kohlhepp's
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life with devastating consequences for those who dared reject him. NARRATOR: Todd Kohlhepp, always ready,
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willing, and able to kill. [MUSIC PLAYING] Locked up for 15 years in an adult jail,
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teenager Todd Kohlhepp played the model prisoner with few citations for violence
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or disruptive behavior. While inside and on his release, he worked towards a job.
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He is smart enough that he's gone to college. He's obtained knowledge. He has recreated himself.
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He has completely changed who he was, at least on the outside. So when he gets out of prison there,
00:10:00
moves back to Spartanburg, sort of starts his life over. Kohlhepp arrives in South Carolina.
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He gets a job as a graphic designer and further tries to reinvent himself. NARRATOR: But in 2003, Kohlhepp had demonstrated he
00:10:14
still had a mind for violence. He went to what was then a motorcycle store to buy a bike for $9,000.
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It all happened at Superbike Motorsports, which was a pretty popular motorcycle dealer and shop
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there in Chesnee, South Carolina off of Paris Bridge Road. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: It was 13 miles north of Kohlhepp's home
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in Spartanburg. NARRATOR: Days later, the bike was stolen, and Kohlhepp suspected the guys at the bike store.
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And he claims they, to some degree, kind of made fun of him or just poked fun at his experience level, which
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apparently really upset him. He's humiliated. He's made to feel small. This takes him back to 15 years old,
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the rejection by the neighbor. NARRATOR: Simmering with resentment, Kohlhepp had made a decision, to kill.
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NARRATOR: It was November 6, 2003. Kohlhepp had just begun studying for a business
00:12:08
degree at Greenville Technical College. NARRATOR: Soon, those left in the store where the staff.
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DANIEL GROSS: So it was Scott Ponder, who was the owner, Brian Lucas, who was the shop manager,
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Beverly Guy, who was Scott's mother and also the bookkeeper there, and then Chris Sherbert,
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who was a mechanic there. NARRATOR: Kohlhepp would later describe the cold, methodical way he had hunted his prey.
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Now, he's in this store. He's being humiliated again. His therapist, his caseworkers, probation, his parole,
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they're not there to help him. His dad's not there to help him. NARRATOR: Inside the store, owner
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Scott Ponder, service manager Brian Lucas, mechanic Chris Sherbert, and bookkeeper Beverly Guy.
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NARRATOR: Chris Sherbert died instantly. NARRATOR: Kohlhepp turned towards the mother
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of Scott Ponder, Beverly Guy. NARRATOR: Kohlhepp had achieved what he set out to do.
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Years later, he would look back on that day with not a regret of remorse, but pride.
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The definition of a serial killer is somebody who kills two or three people over a period of time with a cooling off period.
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What Kohlhepp has done is Kohlhepp has kidnapped someone 15 years ago, and now, he's committing mass murder.
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Very different from serial killing. NARRATOR: Minutes later, the massacre was discovered.
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A frequent customer, a regular there who had known the-- known the crew, he shows up and finds Brian and Scott's body
00:17:22
in the front parking lot, and then finds the other two inside. So he calls 9-1-1.
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The authorities show up right away, and next thing you know, it becomes a massive crime scene, bigger than Spartanburg
00:17:35
County's ever known. This is a mass murder. This is a massacre of four people in a shop minding their own business,
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but pushing the wrong buttons. NARRATOR: The little boy who had bleached goldfish till they
00:17:47
died, the teenager who had felt humiliated by a girl before assaulting her, who had felt disrespected
00:17:54
in a motorbike store felt disrespected again, so he killed the four people. [MUSIC PLAYING]
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There was very, very little physical evidence left-- left behind at the scene, which made
00:18:19
it difficult to investigate. Next thing you know, years go by without it being solved.
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NARRATOR: Todd Kohlhepp, two years after his release from prison, remained a free man, free to continue
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his studies, free to live a double life in a small city in upstate South Carolina, a place where he would soon
00:18:41
become a respected realtor and one day hire the son of Chuck Carver. You know, I just remember that day when
00:18:51
he came into this world that-- man, that was the best thing that ever happened to me.
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NARRATOR: Charlie Carver disappeared one day, a day he had been with Todd Kohlhepp.
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Oh, lord, that was an awful day, awful chain of events. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: In June, 2006, 35 year old Todd Kohlhepp
00:19:26
wrote a heartfelt letter to the South Carolina Real Estate Commission. He earnestly requested to be allowed to take the state
00:19:33
real estate exam and explained what he described as the grave misunderstanding that had led
00:19:39
to his 15-year incarceration. The letter, littered with fantasy and untruths, made no mention of the duct tape,
00:19:48
the sexual attack on a 14-year-old, or the threats to kill his victim's family. Three weeks after sending that letter,
00:19:56
Todd Kohlhepp was a licensed realtor, something he turned out to be good at. DANIEL GROSS: He just devoted his life, at least,
00:20:04
on the surface, to his work as a real estate agent. He eventually opened his own company, TKA Real Estate.
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He was the lead broker, and he had almost a dozen agents working under him selling
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houses for him and everything. NARRATOR: In 2007, he bought his own home in Moore, a town
00:20:25
southwest of Spartanburg. He appeared successful, but he wasn't likeable. A lot of his friends, co-workers, neighbors,
00:20:35
they all had a similar story about who Kohlhepp was, the type of person he was, his character.
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Many of them said how arrogant he was, just how really full of life, full of himself
00:20:49
type of guy. He would talk frequently about the amount of guns he had, brag about that.
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Definitely a braggart. Here's how successful I am. Here's my business. Here's my my hobbies.
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I think because of that loud personality, a lot of the folks that he encountered
00:21:08
had-- had a sort of eeriness feeling to it about him. And-- and so I think a lot of folks were
00:21:15
left kind of wondering, you know, who's really the face behind-- behind this guy that we're seeing?
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NARRATOR: Seven years later, the residents of Woodruff, a nearby town, would ask the same thing.
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Eventually, he had bought a almost 100-acre property down in Woodruff. Beautiful area, pastures, rolling hills, trees.
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NARRATOR: Immediately, curl have surrounded the huge patch of land with an $80,000 high chain-link fence.
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Visitors were not welcome. Neighbors there would say, hey, Todd, yeah, welcome to the neighborhood.
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I remember hunting in your property there. You know, we used to go down there and-- and hunt on your land there before you bought it.
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And his response was, you're hunting days are over. [MUSIC PLAYING] They would hear gunshots every night,
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hundreds of rounds of ammunition, they would say. So they were only left wondering,
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you know, what's-- what's going on down there? There must be a lot of target practice
00:22:21
if that's-- that's the case. NARRATOR: Neighbors had no doubt that Kohlhepp was unusual, but was he dangerous?
00:22:29
Now that he's reinvented himself, now it's time to capture his bride again. Now, it's time to-- to-- to capture the woman that
00:22:42
won't reject him. And he's going to ensure she doesn't. [MUSIC PLAYING] Charlie and Kala, they met through Kala's mom,
00:23:32
became friends, and just kind of stayed friends, you know, for a year or so. NARRATOR: Charlie's father, Chuck Carver,
00:23:40
remembers that in August, 2016, the relationship was still brand new. They were basically just friends,
00:23:47
and then eventually, I guess, it led to them dating. I really didn't meet Kala until the Saturday.
00:23:55
I think it was August the 26th or 27. You know, they probably only been dating just a couple of months.
00:24:05
They hadn't been together for too long, but they started living together in Anderson.
00:24:09
NARRATOR: Kala introduced her new boyfriend to her part-time employer, Todd Kohlhepp.
00:24:15
He meets Todd Kohlhepp through a mutual friend, and eventually, Kala starts working
00:24:21
for Todd through his business. He had asked her to clean some properties. So she had been doing that.
00:24:26
She would go to houses to clean based on his request. NARRATOR: On August 31, 2016, Kohlhepp
00:24:33
had a job for Kala that required a little more muscle. Kohlhepp asked Kala and her boyfriend, Charlie,
00:24:39
to come to the property in Woodruff to help clean. This was primarily to help him clean
00:24:44
up the land there outside. He wanted them to make some paths for him and clean up some pathways for him.
00:24:50
Wednesday, the 31st, he didn't show up for work where he was-- he was signed up to work overtime.
00:24:57
And we found out a few days down the road that he didn't show up that day. Now, Charlie's mom, she texted him
00:25:08
and he didn't respond on the 31st. Then Thursday, she didn't hear from him. Then on that Saturday, which was Labor Day weekend,
00:25:25
she tried to get in touch with him. And she couldn't get in touch with him. She went by his apartment.
00:25:35
Nobody was home. Texted him, called him for days. And then on that Sunday, his mom went in
00:25:46
and filed a police report and reported him missing. It got pretty unnerving. Shortly after their disappearance,
00:25:56
missing flyer posters go up. Family starts reaching out to media. There's news stories in the public--
00:26:03
public light about their disappearance. The whole time, for at least the first 30 days, on our days
00:26:13
off, time, spare time, you know, we would just cover roads, rural roads looking for a car that was wrecked off
00:26:21
the side of the road, parked on the road, go down an embankment, you know, through anything that looked
00:26:27
out of place or a car can be hit up under, you know, if it went underneath brush or whatever.
00:26:34
NARRATOR: Weeks after they disappeared, the couple started posting messages on social media.
00:26:40
Charlie's family knew this was more sinister than a freak accident. An update, you know, saying that they were fine, that they
00:26:48
were going to get married. Now, this is interpreted by family and friends as very unusual.
00:26:54
They hadn't heard from them in quite a long time, and now, there's this post that they've gotten married.
00:27:00
That was the unnerving part that then I was just like, it's not him. And I knew in my heart that it wasn't him.
00:27:10
But it still bothers you. He was an aspiring writer, and you know, he was writing books and stuff, and what really tipped us off
00:27:22
that it wasn't him was the grammar and words being misspelled. At this point, Anderson had been tracking Facebook
00:27:33
messages, trying to track credit card information, and they were waiting on cell phone pings
00:27:40
to come back from the cell phone companies. Weeks turned into more weeks into months, and it just--
00:27:50
parent's worst nightmare. You know, we went from maybe he had an accident, you know,
00:27:57
is in a ditch somewhere to, what happened? And is it was a very-- it was a long 65 days.
00:28:13
NARRATOR: Finally, a lead. Kala Brown's cell phone had pinged off several masts in the area immediately northwest
00:28:19
of the town of Woodruff, an area dominated by a 95-acre compound surrounded by a chain-link fence.
00:28:27
They traced the property back to the owner, who was Kohlhepp at the time. So that leads us to November 3, 2016.
00:28:35
On this day, there's a team of law enforcement officers who go to the property in Woodruff.
00:28:41
Meanwhile, another team goes to Kohlhepp's house in Moore, South Carolina about 20
00:28:47
minutes away from each other. NARRATOR: Forcing their way through the outer gates
00:28:51
on Wofford road, Woodruff, a team of officers began to search. First, they combed through the large, partially
00:28:57
renovated barn building. It was empty. Then, they noticed the shipping container.
00:29:03
And this shipping container had several padlocks, chains, really bolted shut, this place.
00:29:11
NARRATOR: After two months, signs of life were perhaps not what detectives expected to find.
00:29:19
Unsure of who or what they were going to find, searchers began to prise the container open.
00:29:28
[INTERPOSING VOICES] They spent a long time cutting through all this metal to actually get into the container.
00:29:39
OFFICER: Watch out. Y'all move. OFFICER: Just throw 'em. OFFICER: Get the girl. Get a girl.
00:29:50
How are you, honey? This is bolt cutters. This is [INAUDIBLE]. He's a paramedic, sweetheart, OK? we're
00:29:55
gonna get you out of here, OK? Just hang loose. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: As one team of officers
00:30:10
broke into a metal shed on Todd Kohlhepp's rural property, another held the real estate agent at his home in Moore.
00:30:18
All right, this is where we're at, Mr. Kohlhepp. While we were here, all right, my sergeant served a search
00:30:25
warrant on your property, OK? OFFICER: What's your name? What's your name? OFFICER: Lauren, Lauren, we gotcha.
00:30:32
OFFICER: Just throw 'em. OFFICER: Get the girl. Get the girl. How are you, honey?
00:30:36
This is bolt cutters. This is [INAUDIBLE]. He's a paramedic, sweetheart. OK? We're gonna get you out of there, OK?
00:30:40
Just hang loose for me. Anybody got-- I need a handcuff key. Handcuff key. OFFICER: Have it right here.
00:30:46
OFFICER: Hold up. Y'all slide back for him. [INTERPOSING VOICES] OFFICER: Randy, let me see the light, Randy.
00:30:51
OFFICER: You can put your hands down if you want. You're OK. We're here, OK? OFFICER: We'll get rest of it here.
00:30:57
Let's get her out of here. OFFICER: We're getting bolt cutters, honey. Don't-- don't--
00:31:01
OFFICER: You got pictures of the cuffs? So the sheriff described it as walking in there
00:31:06
and seeing her chained up like a dog. OFFICER: Both feet? KALA BROWN: Just one. It's attached to a chain to the wall
00:31:13
and my neck's attached to the wall up here. OFFICER: OK. All right. All right, we'll get you out, OK?
00:31:20
You got handcuffed too. OFFICER: Bolt cutter. Just hit the chain right there loose.
00:31:26
Just-- no, just right that are hanging, Brandon. We'll get it off. We'll it off here.
00:31:32
NARRATOR: Kala has a thick dog chain wrapped around her neck. Metal cuffs were cut from Kala's ankles too.
00:31:38
The man who owned the container was confronted with the discovery. We have Kala.
00:31:46
We have Kala. In your property. She was locked in a container. OK? OK, why'd you lock her in a container on your property?
00:31:58
She's on your property right now locked in a container. They just got her out of a-- like, a--
00:32:04
they called it a shipping container. Conex box. Conex box. She was locked in the container, a Conex box.
00:32:10
They got her. We are-- we have investigators. We have like, 20 investigators on your property right now.
00:32:17
And they have found her in the Conex box. So she never left your property. NARRATOR: Kala told officers she'd
00:32:26
been kept captive in the storage container for 65 days. He had made her his sex slave.
00:32:34
Reports that he'd raped her repeatedly, sometimes twice a day. NARRATOR: Where was Kala's boyfriend, Charlie Carver?
00:32:45
His anxious family recall hearing news of a breakthrough in the case. November the 3 started off like a normal day.
00:32:55
You know, I got up, I got the family up. We had breakfast. Everybody went to school, work, you know, the normal routine.
00:33:09
Then, about probably 12 o'clock that day, 11:45, I got a phone call, and it was from Anderson
00:33:19
City Police Department. And the gentleman on the line told me, he said, Mr. Carver, we need to talk.
00:33:32
We found Kala. And I just remember thinking, wow. You know, I mean, because at that point,
00:33:50
my first question to him was, where's my son? And his response was, we haven't found him yet.
00:34:08
Seemed like an eternity to get to Woodruff. We followed the patrol car out there
00:34:14
and they warned us ahead of time that the media presence was just overwhelming. They said don't talk or stop, just drive by.
00:34:24
NARRATOR: One of those camped at the gates to Kohlhepp's rural plot was journalist Daniel Gross.
00:34:30
Being the crime reporter, I rushed to the scene. Was one of the first journalists on the scene there,
00:34:34
and just started reporting what was going on down there. Police everywhere, neighbors had come out, seeing what
00:34:40
was going on, helicopter above. Of course, then we learn that it was the massive property where a missing woman out of Anderson
00:34:49
was found. [MUSIC PLAYING] OFFICER: Do you know where your buddy is? Charlie? OFFICER: Yes.
00:34:58
He shot him OFFICER: He shot him? OFFICER: Who did? Todd Kohlhepp shot Charlie Carver three times
00:35:05
in the chest, wrapped him in a blue tarp, put him in the bucket of the tractor, locked me down here,
00:35:10
and I never seen him again. He says he's dead and buried. If you want to help yourself, tell me where Charlie's
00:35:19
at so we can go find his body. That's-- that's pretty much where we're at right now.
00:35:31
Do you want to help yourself and tell me where the bodies at so we can go recover Charlie's body.
00:35:38
You don't want to. Why did you shoot him? She's saying Charlie's body-- you buried Charlie's body on that property.
00:35:51
So you're saying you didn't lock her up, you didn't put her in the Conex box or anything.
00:36:00
Probably a good thing. NARRATOR: What happened to Charlie? Detectives now know Kohlhepp had abducted Kala brown
00:36:07
and held her captive. So at this time, I'm gonna need you to stand up and put your hands behind your back.
00:36:13
OFFICER: He's already handcuffed. OK. You're under arrest right now for kidnapping.
00:36:18
Go ahead and put him in the back of your car. OFFICER: Yes, sir. OFFICER: OK. Stand up for me.
00:36:26
Will you-- OFFICER: Stand up for me. NARRATOR: Cops in Woodruff warn Charlie Carver's family the news of the missing man might be delayed.
00:36:37
I said, if all y'all wanna go back to Anderson, just drop me at the gate, because that's where
00:36:42
I'm staying. And they were all in the same position I was. No, we're not going. So we just pulled into the gate right there
00:36:52
where all the-- everybody was going in and out of the property, and that's where we
00:36:56
stayed for the next four days. Meanwhile, authorities canvas the property. They go through what they said was
00:37:05
every acre of this property. Just a day or two goes by, and they find Charlie's body.
00:37:14
On that Friday, they thought they found him. They weren't sure. They eventually brought Kohlhepp back to the property,
00:37:25
they said, to help make sure they were in the right areas. Then on, I guess it was Saturday evening, late,
00:37:39
the coroner and them finally came out and told us that it was Charlie. And they were sorry to tell us that he was deceased.
00:37:50
[MUSIC PLAYING] Just didn't seem real. The con-- the whole conversation, you're thinking,
00:38:04
no, it can't be. You know, you-- you get to that point, you're denying it, you know?
00:38:10
You gotta show me, you gotta prove to me that you know without a doubt that it's him, you know?
00:38:16
And they were going off of a couple of tattoos that he had and things of that nature.
00:38:23
That's how they identified him. It's a hard thing to accept that your son is gone.
00:38:31
[MUSIC PLAYING] DANIEL GROSS: Once they arrive, they show up to the property together, same vehicle,
00:38:45
and go up to the garage that was there. Immediately, Kohlhepp comes out, fires three shots, three
00:38:52
gunshots into Charlie's chest. He dies on the scene. Charlie was murdered that very first day.
00:39:03
You see, Todd didn't need Charlie. He wanted Kala. He made Kala her chained up sex slave.
00:39:14
He says, you know, when you've killed someone that they love, it's much easier to control them.
00:39:20
NARRATOR: As investigators interviewed Kala Brown, she told them she and Charlie were
00:39:25
not Kohlhepp's first victims. The mystery of Meagan and Johnny Coxie, who disappeared on Christmas Day in 2015, was now solved.
00:39:38
In late 2015, Kohlhepp lures Johnny and Meagan Coxie, a couple in their late 20s, married, to his property
00:39:45
with the promise of a bogus job offer. DANIEL GROSS: The Coxies, they-- they lived a pretty modest life.
00:39:51
They had a small home in Spartanburg County. They had three kids in total combined together,
00:39:57
and they had a criminal record. So they had a pattern of petty crimes. NARRATOR: The moment the couple arrived at the property
00:40:06
in Woodruff, Kohlhepp turned on them. He kills the husband immediately and then keeps
00:40:13
Meagan alive for some time. And he holds her there for about a week's time. This is near Christmas of 2015.
00:40:22
Until Meagan tries to get out, and she-- she puts up a struggle with-- with Todd, and Todd kills her.
00:40:30
NARRATOR: Confronted with this story in custody, Todd Kohlhepp finally started talking.
00:41:22
This has a similar MO. Let's look on the property. And sure enough, they discover the bodies.
00:41:29
They find the body of Johnny and Meagan Coxie all there in shallow graves. NARRATOR: Todd Kohlhepp was not done with his confessions.
00:41:42
Just a couple of days after he was arrested, he sat down with investigators and confessed
00:41:47
to being the only one responsible for that quadruple homicide in Spartanburg. And the investigators knew right away it was him based
00:41:55
on the level of detail he gave. They said only-- only the killer would know these things.
00:42:00
And they were all-- all shot-- several gunshot wounds, but all of them had a gunshot wound to the head.
00:42:08
So now, he's looking at seven bodies to his name. NARRATOR: In fact, Kohlhepp have told
00:42:13
his captive, Kala Brown, that there were many more victims. He says there are several bodies
00:42:19
dead and buried out here. He told her at one point that he was nearing the triple digits.
00:42:25
He said he travels. Traveled the country, he traveled outside of the country. BRIAN FREDERICK: This is posturing.
00:42:31
This is, look what I did, you know? And what have I got to lose now. I'm sure he thought, 15 years in prison
00:42:37
is nothing compared to what I'm going to do now. I'm gonna go down big. He writes from prison to say that there are more bodies.
00:42:48
Is he fearful that he's going to be forgotten? Is he fearful that he's not going to be in the papers
00:42:52
any longer? DANIEL GROSS: Only about six months after his arrest, he enters a plea deal and the families all
00:42:59
agree that in exchange for the death penalty, which would be a long, arduous process in South Carolina,
00:43:07
lengthy appeals process, issues with lethal injection drugs not being available, they, in--
00:43:15
in light of that, they opt to go for a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.
00:43:28
You know, my wife and I, we-- we struggled for about two months trying to make the right decision.
00:43:34
You know, I'm-- I'm not a young man anymore, and I might not see the last appeal.
00:43:45
Charlie would have gave you the shirt off his back. You know, I mean, he would have gave you his last few dollars,
00:43:54
whatever he had if you needed it. And for him to take him out the way he did was terrible.
00:44:02
And, you know, and I-- and I said that. You know, and I did look at him, because I wanted him to know.
00:44:11
You know, I realize he didn't have significant role models in his life from mother to father,
00:44:18
step dads or whatever. He was passed around. But there's right and wrong, and everybody knows what's right,
00:44:27
and everybody knows what's wrong. You choose to do what you do. And, you know, I would prefer Todd just to go away
00:44:38
and we never hear from him again, you know? Maybe that'll happen one day. I don't know.
00:44:45
[MUSIC PLAYING]