Most people get their knowledge about serial killers from either fictional or based-on-true story depictions in movies.

Plotlines and characterizations keep the audience engaged, often through exaggerations, overly dramatized scenes, or the emotional elements captured on cameras. The point is to draw viewers’ attention to the atrocities on screen.

There is rarely an aspect explored apart from the deranged nature of the killers.

While some killers can be categorized as introverts or perhaps outcasts, most are not social misfits at all; at a glance, there is nothing unusual, mysterious, or suspicious in them.

Their ability to mingle effortlessly with society only makes them easily overlooked and elusive.

In November 2016, a seemingly all-normal 45-year-old real estate agent named Todd Kohlhepp was found responsible for the kidnapping and murders of four people reported missing months earlier.

As the case developed, authorities determined Kohlhepp had been the serial killer on the run since November 2003.

Born Todd Christopher Sampsell on March 7, 1971, he was a successful businessman with an IQ of 118. Behind that benign facade, however, was an evil horrendous beast.

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10 /10 Criminal History

Todd Kohlhepp has a criminal history. In late November 1986, 15-year-old Todd kidnapped a 14-year-old girl. He brought the girl to his home and raped her.

He walked the girl home soon afterward but threatened to kill her younger siblings if she said anything to anyone about what he had just done.

It didn’t take long until the authorities came knocking. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping.

Charges of sexual assault and crime against children were later dropped. Kohlhepp served 15 years of prison term.

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9 /10 Real Estate Agent

After his release in August 2001, Kohlhepp moved up in the world by becoming a real estate agent.

He received the license in 2006. Since obtaining the real estate license would have been impossible considering his conviction (which also made him a registered sex offender), he must have lied on the application.

He accumulated quite a wealth from his work, including a house in Moore, a 95-acre property just outside Woodruff, two BMW cars, and a motorcycle. Ever since his release, everything appeared to be an improvement for him.



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8 /10 Missing Couple

The case of his serial murders surfaced in November 2016. A couple, Kala Brown and Charles Carver were reported missing in August.

Investigators figured out the couple went to see Kohlhepp on his property from a social media post.

The last ping from Brown’s cell phone confirmed she had been in the location.

When the police arrived on November 3, they found Brown inside a locked metal container with her neck and ankle chained. She was screaming for help when they opened the door.

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7 /10 Mysterious Postings

The disappearance of Kala Brown and Charles Carver drew national attention, mainly because some mysterious postings came up on the latter’s Facebook page.

A post indicated that the couple, who lived near Anderson, had left town but were otherwise alright.

Instead of giving their friends and families some reassurances, the post ignited heightened concerns for their wellbeing.

Following a thorough search of the property that day, the only sign of Carver was his brush-covered vehicle. Todd Kohlhepp was taken into custody.

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6 /10 Kohlhepp Shot Carver

Kohlhepp bought a house in Moore for $137,500 in January 2007.

In May 2014, he acquired an agricultural land about 10 miles away from home for more than $300,000.

According to Carver’s mother, Joanne Shiflet, the couple went to see Kohlhepp in Woodruff for some property-related businesses.

The statement corroborated the hint acquired from Brown’s cell phone ping.

Immediately after the rescue, Brown told the police that Kohlhepp had shot her boyfriend; in fact, she witnessed the incident. She also said there could be four bodies buried on the property.

5 /10 Three Bodies Found

Kohlhepp refused to cooperate with the authorities following the arrest. He asked to see his mother and wanted to send money to a friend’s child.

All requests granted, on November 5, he went back to the property to show investigators where the other bodies were buried.

The police exhumed three bodies: Johnny Joe Coxie, Meagan Leigh McCraw Coxie, and Charles Carver.

The Coxies were identified from their extensive tattoos. Johnny was shot in the torso, while Meagan in the head. Carver died from multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.

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4 /10 Missing Couple II

The mother of Meagan Coxie reported her daughter missing in December 2015.

A spokesman for the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, Lieutenant Kevin Bobo, said Meagan and Johnny had a child together and the couple had just been released from jail.

Known for panhandling on Interstate 26, they were no strangers to the police in the area.

Lt. Bobo said the child was safe, but details remain scarce about how the Coxies knew Kohlhepp.

The county coroner Rusty Clevenger said Kohlhepp most likely had killed the couple in December.

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3 /10 Sexual Assault

Based on the circumstances in which Brown was found, it seemed Kohlhepp kept her alive (after killing Carver) as nothing but a sex slave.

Brown had spent two months as his captive before the rescue came.

Brown said Kohlhepp chained and locked her inside a container, taking her out twice a day; each time was no more than 45 minutes long.

She was allowed to bathe with a bucket of water and change clothes.

Few months after the rescue, Brown gave an interview on TV and told viewers she was raped.

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2 /10 Cold Cases Solved

Kohlhepp made a shocking confession to investigators after the arrest.

He admitted to killing four people in 2003 at a Superbike Motorsports shop in Chesnee, located about 16 miles north of Spartanburg.

The victims were Scott Ponder (the shop owner), Beverly Guy (Ponder’s mother), Brian Lucas (Ponder’s friend), and Chris Sherbert (the shop mechanic).

There were just working when Kohlhepp gunned them down.

When asked about his motive, Kohlhepp said the manager had made him angry.

Authorities admitted the case had not been solved until Kohlhepp confessed.

1 /10 Guilty As Charged

Todd Kohlhepp admitted to killing seven people and all related charges in the recent incident.

He was sentenced to seven consecutive life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Prosecutors said they could have pursued capital punishment in the case, but the option was later dropped because the lethal injection drugs in the state expired several years ago.

ohlhepp claimed to have killed two more victims but offered no further details, and authorities could not find any evidence to support the claim.

Kohlhepp currently serves his time at the Broad River Correctional Institution. 

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