South Carolina authorities have formally charged suspected serial killer Todd Kohlhepp with three more counts of murder, adding to the four murder counts he's already facing.
The 45-year-old real estate agent has already confessed to all seven of the murders, as South Carolina Public Radio's Cooper McKim told our Newscast unit.
On Kohlhepp's remote property in the town of Woodruff, investigators recently found the bodies of married couple Meagan Leigh McCraw Coxie and Johnny Joe Coxie, who had been missing since late last year, as The Two-Way reported.
"Investigators alleged Kohlhepp kidnapped Meagan Coxie on Dec. 19, 2015, and shot Johnny Coxie on the same date," according to Greenville Online. "Kohlhepp then shot Meagan Coxie on either Dec. 20, 2015, or Dec. 26, 2015, an investigator said in an arrest warrant."
According to local media reports, the couple had recently been released from jail after Meagan Coxie's mother posted bail. Deputies said the couple had been panhandling.
The focus turned to Kohlhepp when authorities were searching for another missing couple. "The investigation began this month when a young woman was found chained in a storage container on Kohlhepp's land," McKim reported. The woman, Kala Brown, "led police to the shallow grave of her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, who was shot."
Brown and Carver had gone missing in late August of this year. Carver's death is the third murder that Kohlhepp was charged with on Monday.
After police found Brown chained on Kohlhepp's property, the suspect confessed to murdering four people at a motorcycle shop in Chesnee, S.C. — a cold case dating back to 2003.
On Monday, Kohlhepp was also charged with one count of kidnapping and three counts of weapon possession during a violent crime, according to the Spartanburg County sheriff. Kohlhepp did not appear at a bond court hearing Monday, according to the local WYFF TV station, and the bond court judge said he had "waived his right to appear in court."
Kohlhepp's criminal history dates to his teenage years. "[H]e used his father's handgun to force a 14-year-old neighbor to walk to his home, where he placed duct tape on her in his bedroom, tied her hands and then raped her, according to court documents," Greenville Online reported. "He was convicted in the case and served 15 years in prison before moving to the Upstate."
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