Spartanburg husband, wife identified as bodies on Todd Kohlhepp land
Authorities identified on Wednesday the remains of a husband and wife from Spartanburg whose bodies were unearthed on suspected serial killer Todd Kohlhepp's property, bringing a likely end to the search for evidence at the real estate agent and sex offender’s 95-acre fenced-in compound near Woodruff.
Meagan Leigh McCraw Coxie, 25, of Shalann Drive, and her husband, Johnny Joe Coxie, 29, of the same address, were believed to have been killed last December, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said. She was shot in the head and he was shot in the torso, and both were clothed, Clevenger said. They were identified by comparing remains to photos of their extensive tattoos, he said.
The couple was reported missing in mid-December 2015, soon after each had been released from jail, according to Lt. Kevin Bobo, spokesman for the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.
Johnny had been arrested on Dec. 10 and charged with unauthorized solicitation and giving false information to police. Meagan had been arrested on Dec. 18 and charged with child neglect, according to court records. Meagan had asked her mother to bond her out of jail because she told her mother she had a job lined up, Bobo said.
The couple had a child together who is being cared for, Bobo said. They had a history of panhandling, he said. SLED records show they had prior convictions for drug and alcohol offenses dating back to 2009.
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Meagan’s mother, who lives in Spartanburg, reported her missing on Dec. 22 after she couldn’t reach her on multiple attempts, which was uncharacteristic, Bobo said.
Investigators found Meagan’s body Sunday and Johnny’s on Monday after digging “fairly deep” into the hard-packed earth in a wooded area near a shipping container where they had found Kala Brown, a missing Anderson woman, chained but alive last Thursday.
Forensics teams had recovered the Coxies' bodies mostly intact, though not 100 percent whole, Clevenger said Wednesday. They were clothed, and he didn’t yet know how many times they had been shot or if they had suffered sexual assault, he said.
Karyl Gaehring, president and founder of God Invasion Revival Center in Greenville, where Johnny Coxie’s mother, Cindy, is on the ministry team, released a statement to The Greenville News after speaking with her.
“Cindy came about a year ago requesting prayer for her son Johnny and his wife Megan (sic) who were missing,” Gaehring said. “We have been praying for about a year now that they would be found and we would know what happened. Today they received the news.
“The family is in shock, grieving, and are not comfortable talking to anyone at this time. They have asked for people to please try and understand and give them time to heal. They appreciate everyone's love and concern," she said.
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In a neighborhood of small single-family homes, the Coxies' neighbors shared thoughts of shock and dismay when they found out the their bodies were found on Kohlhepp’s property.
Casandra Thompson who lives across the street from the Coxies was curious how the couple met Kohlhepp.
“They were always around this way, so I don't even know how he could've met them,” she said. “It's weird that it's happening in such a small place. Where did it all come from? It's crazy.”
Alvin Nabors, 89, lives across street from the Coxies and next door to Cassandra Thompson:
“They got killed? Oh my God. That’s a shame. This world is getting in a mess.”
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Kohlhepp, 45, is charged with four counts of murder and the kidnapping of Brown, who was rescued from a metal storage container last Thursday by law enforcement agents searching the property. He has not been charged in the Coxies' deaths.
He was taken into custody at his home in Moore last Thursday when deputies executed search warrants simultaneously at his house and at the property in Woodruff, Bobo said Wednesday.
The murder charges are related to the 2003 Superbike homicides in Chesnee. Kohlhepp confessed to those shootings on Saturday, said Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright.
He has been linked to seven deaths in all, after the sheriff’s office said he pointed out the location of the Coxies’ graves when investigators took him to visit the site dressed in his orange jail jumpsuit on Saturday.
Bobo said Kohlhepp had confessed in exchange for being allowed to see his mother, take a picture to her and provide money for a child’s future college education.
A third body found on Kohlhepp's land on Friday was identified as that of Charles Carver, an Anderson man who was reported missing in September after disappearing in late August along with Brown, his girlfriend. Investigators found Brown "chained like a dog" inside the storage container on the Wofford Road property near Woodruff on Thursday. The container Brown was kept in was removed from the property Wednesday afternoon on a flatbed truck.
Kohlhepp has not been charged in Carver's death.
“There’s no reason to rush,” Bobo said. “His bond’s been denied. He’s not going anywhere.”
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Investigators hadn’t found any evidence that the Coxies and Brown or Carver knew each other, Bobo said.
Kohlhepp did know the couple though, Bobo said. He’d pointed their grave locations out by name, he said.
Investigators with the sheriff’s office have active investigations underway elsewhere but Bobo declined to say where. Kohlhepp hadn’t given any indications of other bodies at the Woodruff property or other locations, Bobo said.
A deputy would remain on site to guard the Woodruff property, though the active investigation on the site is over, he said.
“Right now we feel that we have found any of the deceased that should have been there,” he said.
Mike Ellis, staff writer with the Anderson Independent-Mail, contributed.