New details of the horrific murders of seven people by serial killer Todd Kohlhepp have been revealed in a ’48 Hours’ special aired on CBS over the weekend.
Kohlhepp recently confessed to the murders of seven people after Kala Brown was found on his property in a padlocked metal container “chained like a dog.” She had been kept there for two months, and the first body found on the site was been identified as her boyfriend, David “Charlie” Carver.
CBS reported that Brown was kept in a cage inside a shipping container, and fed once a day. She was chained by her neck and feet. Sometimes Kohlhepp would let her outside to walk around.
Sheriff Chuck Wright told CBS that Brown had been threatened that she would be killed if she tried to escape from the property. The real estate agent would allegedly take her to her boyfriend’s grave and threaten her.
“Her words were, ‘And then Todd dragged me over to somewhere on the property where he showed me three graves that had to be – or that appeared to be people buried in them,” Wright said.
“And Todd said to her, ‘Kala, if you try to escape, you’re going directly into one of those graves.”
Kohlhepp’s mother Regina Tague also spoke to CBS about why her son had committed the crimes, and insisted that he had not sexually abused Brown.
“He said he did not,’ Tague said. “He promised me. And believe me, he woulda told me.”
Tague revealed that the reason he kept Brown locked up was that she had seen him kill her boyfriend.
“He didn’t know what to do with her,” she said. “Couldn’t turn her loose. She’d go get the police.”
She also believed that her son was ‘misunderstood’.
“Todd is not a monster. He’s not even close to it. He wasn’t doing it for enjoyment. He was doing it because he was mad and he was hurt.”
The investigation is currently ongoing and details continue to emerge.
Kohlhepp has already been charged with four gun murders dating back to 2003 and kidnapping Brown. He might be connected to seven deaths in total, according to Wright.
Scott Ponder, his mother Beverly Guy, service manager Brian Lucas, and mechanic Chris Sherbert were found fatally shot inside Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee, South Carolina, on November 6, 2003. The case stunned the community and baffled police for more than a decade.
Now, on the 13th anniversary of the murders, the families say Todd Kohlhepp’s arrest will bring them some peace.
