A South Carolina woman reported missing in August along with her boyfriend was found on Thursday, “chained up like a dog” in a storage container, and a registered sex offender was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, the county sheriff has said.
Kala Brown, 30, was discovered after police searching a large property in Spartanburg County heard banging noises from inside the 15ft by 30ft container, Spartanburg County sheriff Chuck Wright told a news conference.
Wright said deputies arrested Todd Kohlhepp, 45, who they found on the property when they arrived to serve a search warrant. Investigators went to the property to follow a lead relating to the disappearance of Brown and her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, he said.
Anderson, where Brown and Carver lived, is located about 60 miles south-east of Spartanburg County. Wright said Brown and Kohlhepp knew each other, saying that her abduction was “not a random act”.
Brown told police that she had been held captive for two months in the padlocked storage box and that there might be up to four dead bodies on the property, Wright said.
“I want to thank God for allowing us to find a missing person from Anderson city who was in a container chained up like a dog,” Wright said. “We found her alive and she’s being treated at a medical facility right now. It’s tragic that this person was being treated like that.”
The sheriff said Carver, 32, remains missing. “We’re praying for the best outcome,” he said. He added that Kohlhepp would face kidnapping and other charges.
Wright said investigators were pursuing further leads based on an interview with Brown, who was “obviously traumatised” and being treated at a local medical facility. A search was still being conducted on the property on Thursday evening.
“We’re trying to make sure we don’t have a serial killer on our hands,” Wright said. It “very possibly could be what we have”.
Records indicate that Kohlhepp is a licensed real estate agent as well as a licensed pilot. In 1986, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for kidnapping and dangerous crimes against children.