Another body found at site where woman was kept ‘chained like a dog’
US authorities have located another body buried at a property where a woman was found “chained like a dog” while she was held hostage inside a metal container for two months.
Investigators have been scouring the rural property of accused killer Todd Christopher Kohlhepp in South Carolina after he confessed to killing seven people.
Local sheriff Chuck Wright stated that human remains have been uncovered on the property in one of the two places Kohlheppa had identified as potential grave sites.
Speaking to media Wright admitted, “we’re not even close” when asked if they were able to identifying the remains or cause of death of the victims.
Kohlhepp, 45, stands accused of kidnapping Kala Brown, who went missing in August with her boyfriend Charles Carver, 32.
Kohlhepp confessed to a quadruple murder and took authorities to his property near Woodruff, South Carolina, on Saturday afternoon and showed them an additional two shallow graves.
The convicted sex offender appeared before Magistrate Judge Jimmy Henson who denied him bail on Sunday.
He wore an orange jumpsuit, was not represented by an attorney and declined to speak when Henson offered him the chance to.
Kohlhepp has also been charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of four people in 2003 at the Superbike Motorsports motorcycle shop in Chesnee, South Carolina.
The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office said Kohlhepp confessed to the killings but his alleged role in them was uncovered.
"(Kohlhepp) confessed to investigators that he shot and killed" the owner, service manager, mechanic and bookkeeper of the motorcycle shop," a County Sheriff's investigative report said.
The quadruple bike shop murder has baffled police and investigators for 13 years and Kohlhepp reportedly gave details that only the killer would know.
"We got 'em today. We got 'em today. I'm rejoicing that this community can know that four people who were brutally murdered, there's no wondering about it anymore," Sheriff Chuck Wright said.
Along with the bike shop killings, Kohlhepp showed officers where he claimed to have buried two other victims on his Woodruff property, close to where they found the woman chained inside the container.
Ms Brown's rescue on Kohlhepp's 95-acre property on Thursday led to the break in the 13-year-old cold case.
The following day police discovered a body, which has since been identified as her boyfriend Mr Carver.
A coroner's report concluded he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Kohlhepp is also charged with the Ms Brown's kidnapping, and prosecutors said more charges are expected.
It is claimed the South Carolina couple disappeared about August 31 and their last known cellphone signals led authorities to the property.
Authorities have not said whether Ms Brown was sexually assaulted.
The wife of one of the Superbike 2003 victims said detectives told her Kohlhepp was an angry customer who had been in the shop several times.
Melissa Ponder told AP she had resigned herself to her husband Scott's death remaining unsolved - until she got a phone call from detectives.
"He knew too much about the crime scene," Ponder said of Kohlhepp's account to detectives. "He knew everything."
"It isn't closure, but it is an answer," Ponder said. "And I am thankful for that."
The parents of another 2003 victim, 29-year-old service manager Brian Lucas, came to Spartanburg for the suspect's bond hearing on Sunday, the 13th anniversary of the killings.
Standing with his wife before the hearing, Tom Lucas said he wants to be in court to look the man accused of killing his son in the eye.
"We want to see the face. I want to look at him, and I want to try to use that in healing," he said.
Before Kohlhepp emerged as a suspect, investigators had said all four victims were killed with the same 9 mm pistol.
They have theorised that the killer came in the back, perhaps through an open garage door, and killed mechanic Chris Sherbert, 26, as he worked.
Beverly Guy, 52, was found just outside the bathroom in the middle of the showroom.
Thirty-year-old shop owner Scott Ponder was found just outside the door in the parking lot. He was Guy's son. Brian Lucas was in the doorway.
Kohlhepp was released from prison in Arizona in 2001.
As a teenager, he was convicted of raping a 14-year-old neighbor at gunpoint and threatening to kill her siblings if she called police.
Kohlhepp had to register as a sex offender but it did not stop him from getting a South Carolina real estate license in 2006 and building a firm.
Scott Waldrop, who's lived next door to the Woodruff property for nearly 22 years, said he thought Kohlhepp was a serious Doomsday "prepper" who liked his privacy, but "he didn't seem like a threat."
Waldrop said Kohlhepp paid him to put no trespassing signs, cut trees and do other odd jobs around the property. Kohlhepp also installed deer cameras and put bear traps throughout.
"I was the only one he let over there, I think because I laughed at his jokes and listened to him," he said.
"I just hate to know somebody who's done something like this."
