Search For Serial Killer Todd Kohlhepp’s Victims Ends, No Plans To Search Tomorrow

South Carolina serial killer Todd Kohlhepp, currently serving life in prison for murdering seven victims, told police he would help lead them to the bodies of two additional victims buried near an interstate.

According to Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, authorities searched the area Kohlhepp said would lead them to the bodies, near Interstate 26 in the northwest part of the state.

The Greenville News reports that the police were actually given this information by a tipster who was communicating with Kohlhepp. The tipster is a member of a film crew that is working on a documentary about the crimes. According to Wright, the information was credible enough to start a search but there was so little information given that the chance of finding anything was unlikely.

Kohlhepp wasn’t on the scene but he gave investigators specific signs, locations, and even a timeline, believing the murders occurred sometime around 2003.

“We went back years even before that to make sure he didn’t mistake the times,” said Wright. We just haven’t been able to corroborate a lot. The expectations are low, but we’re going to give it 110 percent.”

Wright also went on to say that this would be the last time a search happens unless Kohlepp gives him more specific information. Wright suspected that Kohlepp could have been acting out of a need for attention, adding, “I don’t want this to be something where he wants to stay relevant.”

A spokesman for the 7th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office said any potential discoveries of more victims would lead to new court cases but wouldn’t affect Kohlhepp’s existing plea deal. Kohlhepp was convicted in 2017 of murdering seven people, but by pleading guilty was spared the death penalty. He’s serving his sentence at Broad River Correctional Facility in Columbia without the chance of parole.

The 47-year-old former realtor was arrested in 2016 after one of his victims, Kala Brown, was found chained inside a shipping container. According to CBS News, she had also witnessed him murder her boyfriend, Charles Carver.

Carver’s body was found later on Kohlhepp’s 96-acre property along with the bodies of Johnny and Meagan Coxie. Although he was only convicted of seven murders he claims to have killed about 100 people.

The mother of Charles Carver, Joanne Shiflet, believes it’s very likely that there are more victims. “We said all along there were more bodies. You don’t do what he did and then take a vacation from it for years and then restart. There are probably more people.”

Because the search for the two possible victims turned up nothing, police do not plan on returning to search again unless they’re given more definitive information.