NEWS

Second body recovered from Woodruff property, search continues Monday

Independent Mail, The Greenville News
Law enforcement are arriving on the Kohlhepp property to start day 5 of their search of the property.

Investigators unearthed a body from a wooded section of Todd Kohlhepp’s property near Woodruff Sunday before the painstaking search for more remains on the site entered its fifth day Monday.

Kohlhepp pointed investigators to that body and another after he was allowed to see his mother, according to CBS.

The unidentified body found Sunday was the second found buried on the expansive property owned by the 45-year-old real estate broker and convicted sex offender following his arrest Thursday.He was charged last week with kidnapping 30-year-old Kala Brown, who was found alive, chained by the neck and ankles, inside a metal storage container on his land.

In addition to the kidnapping charge, Kohlhepp was charged Sunday with four counts of murder related to a 2003 quadruple homicide, and authorities have said he could be linked to as many as seven deaths in all. Wright did not know when further charges might be brought against Kohlhepp, but Solicitor Barry Barnette said other charges are likely.

Authorities planned to continue to search Monday for a possible second body Kohlhepp told investigators is buried on his land, said Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright. And the search for bodies has extended beyond the Woodruff property to other locations linked to Kohlhepp, though Wright declined to say where investigators were looking. The investigation is widespread and no longer limited to South Carolina, Wright said.

Just how far and for how long the search will continue is unclear, but with a private pilot’s license since 2006 and as a real estate broker in Greenville and Spartanburg who owned his own property management business, the search may prove vast.

He has yet to be charged in relation to two bodies that have now been found buried on his property. The remains of Charles Carver, 32, who was Brown’s boyfriend and had gone missing along with her in late August, were recovered Friday. Carver had been shot multiple times, said Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger.

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Crews were still working to recover the body of the unidentified person whose remains were found Sunday.

"We can't tell anything about the cause of death, gender or how long or any of that stuff," said Wright at dusk press conference with local and national media, as well as a throng of people who kept vigil at the site Sunday.

Wright said it is believed to be one of the two bodies the suspect told investigators about when he was brought to the scene Saturday morning. Neither Wright nor Clevenger would speculate on an identity, or whether Kohlhepp had identified who might be in those graves.

The search Sunday kept to the woods well away from Wofford Road, with SLED personnel working the site with local law enforcement agencies. Wright said the FBI and Homeland Security have been assisting with the case as well.

The process of recovering the body has been meticulous, Clevenger said.

“You go to the point where they reference, where they tell you, and you very meticulously take off small layers of soil until you can identify potential for human remains,” Clevenger said. Experts meticulously dig around and underneath the body to preserve every bit of evidence possible, he said.

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Wright and Clevenger declined to say whether the remains were skeletal or how long they may have been buried on the property, and would only classify them as "human remains."

Earlier Sunday, Kohlhepp appeared in court in Spartanburg and was officially charged with four counts of murder. The charges are for the four deaths at a Chesnee motorcycle shop 13 years ago Sunday.

Kohlhepp was denied bond and his next court appearance was scheduled for Jan. 19.

He is currently charged in the deaths at Superbike Motorsports of Scott Ponder, 30, Ponder's 52-year-old mother and part-time employee Beverly Guy, and employees Brian Lucas, 29, and Chris Sherbert, 26, according to Wright. The four were found “brutally murdered” on Nov. 6, 2003 at the business on Parris Bridge Road. The case was Spartanburg County’s first quadruple homicide.

Families of some of Kohlhepp’s alleged victims comforted each other as he stood before the Spartanburg County magistrate to be charged with four murders.

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Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and acknowledging only the magistrate and law-enforcement officers, the short-haired, 5-foot-11, 300-pound man was told he could face the death penalty.

Kohlhepp quietly answered “yes sir” or “no sir” to questions from magistrate Jimmy Henson Sunday.

Asked if he wanted to make a statement to victims’ families, he said, “Not at this time, sir."

Terry Guy, the husband of Beverly Guy and stepfather of Scott Ponder, was among victims' family members who attended Sunday’s bond hearing.

“When this first happened I got on my knees for 11 months and told God how much I hated him,” Guy said. “I lost 70 pounds, and I prayed every night, ‘Please don’t let me wake up in the morning.’ I kept waking up, so I came to a conclusion that I knew it wasn’t right for me to kill myself.

“My emotions are running from joy to crying… to even feeling sorry for the family that has to come down here and watch their son today. The only thing I don’t want anybody to misunderstand is the gentleman has to pay for it.”

Tom Lucas, the father of Brian Lucas, said he attended so he could see Kohlhepp’s face.

“He looked just like anybody else on the street, man,” Lucas said. “You think when you finally get there that there are these TV criminals and things like that, but this guy looks like everybody else. That scares me.”

Doris Henry, the sister of Beverly Guy, said she had no message for Kohlhepp just as he had no message for victims’ families.

“I just don’t know how anyone could take somebody else’s life,” she said.

Wright has said that there are two sites on the 95-acre fenced property near Woodruff where bodies are believed buried, in addition to the site where Carver was found. He’s said Brown believed there could be four bodies buried on the property.

On Thursday Brown drew attention to deputies on site to serve a search warrant related to her missing persons case by “knocking" from within the metal building. Kohlhepp was on site, too, and taken into custody.

Investigators took Kohlhepp to the scene Saturday, and they said Kohlhepp has confessed to the murders of Carver and the four he has been charged with killing.

The wife of one of the 2003 victims told The Associated Press that detectives told her Kohlhepp was an angry customer who had been in the shop several times.

Melissa Ponder told AP she was resigned that her husband Scott's death would never be solved before getting a phone call Saturday evening from one of the case's original detectives. Detectives told family members of all four victims of the confession at the same time, according to AP.

"He knew too much about the crime scene," Ponder said of Kohlhepp's account to detectives. "He knew everything."

Carver’s stepbrother, Nathan Shiflet, has visited the property and said his family is only beginning to process what happened.

Shiflet said that even as his family struggles with their grief, they are thankful the case has helped investigators solve the 13-year-old quadruple homicide.

"My emotions are running so many different ways," Shiflet said. "David was just the best person you could ever meet. He always had that smile. He is a hero taken from us the wrong way, but David brought closure to other families."

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Shiflet said his brother had a wish to travel around the world. Carver was a big fan of Louisiana State University and he liked to write.

Shiflet said his family is seeking privacy as they deal with Carver's death and as they learn more about Kohlhepp.

"We will always love David," Shiflet said. "We need a little time to process this tragedy this psycho monster brought to our family."

Brown has told investigators that she saw Kohlhepp shoot Carver, according to Barnette.

Wright had previously said investigators fear they are dealing with the work of a serial killer.

Sunday, a group of three women stood in a circle and prayed for the victims’ families and law enforcement as police continued their search for evidence. Many people slowly drove past Kohlhepp's property with their windows rolled down, staring at the property. Others pulled over, got out of their cars and stood on the side of the road staring.

One of the onlookers was Kerin Hannah of Spartanburg, one of Kohlhepp's former clients. She said she drove up with her friend to see the property and the search for herself. Kohlhepp had sold her house for her in 2006.

"I'm stunned," Hannah said shaking her head. "Completely stunned. He was in my house. I was in a car with him."

She said the person she knew in 2006 and the person she saw on TV the other day were different.

"He was young," Hannah said. "He was not the same guy he is right now or he didn't appear to be."

When she met him 10 years ago, she said he was smart, arrogant, and told her about his grandfather teaching him to shoot guns, and going for his pilot's license.

They were Facebook acquaintances, but didn't keep in contact much after he helped sell her house. But she remembered his Facebook posts started to become odd about the time he bought the land on Wofford Road.

Hannah's friend Tammy Whaley of Spartanburg, stood beside her as they both watched the police work near the treeline in the back of the clearing.

She had met Kohlhepp once after a friend had suggested she use him as her real estate agent about three or four years ago.  Just 15 minutes into a conversation with him, she decided she didn't like Kohlhepp.

"I had an adverse reaction to him," Whaley said. "He made me feel uncomfortable...I will never doubt my intuition. How can someone be pure evil and operate in normal society as well?"

A few dozen people stood outside the fence most of the day with the assembled media, watching quietly along with neighbors who hosted guests outside on porches.

“I guess people need to see it for themselves,” said Jane Scott, who lives across from the Kohlhepp property.

JoAnn McKinney placed a burlap cross and flowers within the links of the fence, as her husband George and their miniature Yorkshire Terriers Teddy and Rudie watched. The couple knows Wright and they stayed all day to lend their support to him and the searchers from the roadside.

“They’ll need counseling most definitely, after seeing the things they’ve witnessed … I just can’t imagine,” said George.

Wright and the coroner thanked the public for its support, noting the offers of bottled water, volunteers offering to help with the search and the prayers.

“If we needed it, we could have a thousand people down here in a day. I know that for a fact,” said Wright.

“Thanks again to the community,” said Clevenger. “We really appreciate you taking care of all of us.”

Reporting contributed by Michael Burns,Nathaniel Cary and Eric Connor of The Greenville News and Mike Eads and Frances Parrish of the Anderson Independent-Mail.