Woman-in-chains case property firm owner admits 7 murders
A man who was arrested after investigators found a woman chained up on his property has admitted seven counts of murder over 13 years in South Carolina.
Todd Kohlhepp, 44, who owned a successful property business, accepted a plea deal that will send him to prison for life without parole.
Prosecutors could have sought the death penalty against Kohlhepp, who was arrested in November after the woman was discovered chained inside a shipping container at his property.
She had been kept there for more than two months.
At Spartanburg County Court, Kohlhepp admitted killing four people at a motorcycle shop in 2003 after becoming enraged by something the shop owner said.
He also killed a husband and wife doing work on his Spartanburg County property in 2015, and the boyfriend of the woman he kept chained up.
Authorities say Kohlhepp was arrested after investigators checking on a mobile phone "ping" in a missing couple case found the shipping container.
Deputies say the woman told them Kohlhepp killed her boyfriend two months before.
