Frank will be speaking to the Real Housewives of Minneapolis book club on Murder Book on Saturday, June 30th at 3:30 pm at the Book Club Restaurant at 5411 Penn Avenue South in Minneapolis MN 55419. Kala Brown, age 30, was employed at a dialysis department and did some part-time cleaning for a real estate agent in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Kala had recently met Charlie Carver and they quickly fell in love with each other. Kala and Charlie disappeared on August 31, 2016. Charlie was recently divorced and his ex-wife was struggling with the separation. Charlie was last seen on video leaving work. He had previously expressed concern that his ex had showed up uninvited in his new apartment. When Charlie’s family began looking for him on August 31, his ex-wife Nicole posted on Facebook, “My beloved husband—rest in peace.” This was disturbing to Charlie’s friends and family. Still, there was nothing to indicate Nicole was involved in his disappearance. Then a call is made from someone claiming to be an investigator into AT&T requesting information about where Charlie and Kala’s last phone calls pinged. Investigators had already spoke to the AT&T employee about this. The employee requested the caller spell the investigator’s name, and the caller misspelled it. The AT&T employee contacted the police, and Nicole Nunez, Charlie’s ex-wife, was arrested for impersonating an officer. Still, investigators said Nicole didn't appear to be implicated in Charlie and Kala’s disappearance—and they were eventually proven correct. On November 3, 2016, Investigators discover from the phone records that Kala and Charlie’s last phone calls were made from 95 acres of rural land owned by successful Real Estate Agent Todd Kohlhepp. Investigators receive a search warrant for the property, and while investigators search the land, two others confront Todd in his home. At this point, investigators are acting quickly on a lead, without any additional information. Todd reports he is “shocked” and has no idea why they’d be on his property. Investigators on the property find a metal storage container with multiple locks on it. As they are cutting through the locks, they hear a pounding and then screaming inside. Once opened, they discover Kala Brown with chains around her neck, wrists and ankles. Kala explains that she and Charlie responded to an ad for some part-time work cleaning Todd’s property. Shortly after they arrived, Todd shot and killed Charlie and took Kala prisoner. Once the investigators found Charlie’s grave, they discovered Todd had also recently dug a grave for Kala. Kala had been chained up in a dark storage container for 64 days.
Then investigators found two more bodies on the property. Johnny (29) and Megan McGraw Coxie (25) had disappeared on December 19, 2015. Todd reported the couple had responded to an offer to clean for him. Todd had killed Johnny and held Megan captive for five days before shooting her also. Once in custody, Todd Kohlhepp began talking about the Superbike Murders in Chesnee, South Carolina, on November 6, 2003, --a notorious unsolved killing of 4 people working in a bike shop. The killings had gone unsolved in for 13 years. An envelope full of cash was lying on the counter untouched, so robbery wasn’t the motive. Todd reported he was angry over a motorcycle he had bought and wasn’t allowed to return. He felt they made fun of his ignorance about riding motorcycle. Todd walked into the back of the building and first shot the mechanic, Chris Sherbert (26). He then walked into the showroom and shot Scott Ponder (30), his mother Beverly Guy (52) and Brian Lucas (30). Investigators knew Todd’s story was accurate when he admitted he fired a shot into each victim’s forehead before he left, which was a fact never made public. Where did this creep come from? Todd Christopher Sampsell Kohlhepp was born on March 7, 1971 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was raised in South Carolina and Georgia. His parents divorced when he was 2, and his mother, who got custody of him, married another man the following year. Kohlhepp had an unhealthy relationship with his stepfather and wanted to live with his biological father, whom he had not seen in 8 years. Kohlhepp was described as a troublesome child. He was known to be aggressive towards other children and would destroy their property. At the age of 9, when he started undergoing counseling, Kohlhepp was described as being "explosive" and "preoccupied with sexual content." He displayed cruelty to animals, shooting a dog with a BB gun and killing a goldfish with Clorox because he wanted a different pet. Kohlhepp spent 3 1/2 months inpatient in a Georgia mental hospital because of his inability to get along with other children. Eventually, in 1983, Kohlhepp was sent to live with his biological father in Arizona after his mother and stepfather separated. He took up his father's hobby of collecting weapons and was taught by him to "blow things up and make bombs." Their relationship deteriorated due to his father's absence with a number of female partners, and Kohlhepp returned to his mother. Todd's mother, Regina Tague, remembers a smart boy who liked to read the encyclopedia and sit on her lap while she read the funny papers to him. "And he would laugh and he would get tickled. And he learned." But she acknowledged the divorce was hard on him. Both parents became distracted from parenting by their new partners. What was Todd like as an adolescent? On November 2, 1986 a few blocks from Todd Kohlhepp’s home, a college student woke to an adolescent standing in her bedroom. The boy said, “Wrong apartment,” and left. She, years later, identified the intruder as Todd Kohlhepp. She didn’t think too much of it at the time, since he was “only an adolescent.” On November 9, 1986, her 22-year-old roommate woke up to an adolescent standing over her with duct tape which he pressed down over her mouth. He rolled her over and tied her hands. As he raped her, he asked, “Do you like it? Do you like it?” She called the police. The case remains unsolved. On November 25, 1986 15-year-old Todd Kohlhepp kidnapped a 14-year-old neighbor girl in Tempe. He threatened her with a .22-caliber revolver, brought her back to his home, tied her up, duct taped her mouth shut, and raped her. Afterwards, he walked her home and threatened to kill her younger siblings if she told anyone what happened. She called the police and Todd Kohlhepp was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, and committing a dangerous crime against children. In 1987, he pled guilty to the kidnapping charge, and the other charges were dropped. Todd was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and registered as a sex offender. According to court records, Kohlhepp was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and had an IQ of 118, which was considered "above average". The judge in the case said he was "very bright and should be advanced academically," but "behaviorally and emotionally dangerous" and likely could not be rehabilitated. Kohlhepp's probation officer wrote that Todd "felt the world owed him something." Kohlhepp's attorney stated he did not believe his client “would go on to harm others" in the future. Release In August 2001, Kohlhepp was released from prison after serving 14 years and moved to South Carolina, where his mother was living. Despite being registered as a sex offender, Kohlhepp was able to get a real estate license on June 30, 2006, after lying about the felony charge on his application. From this, he built a firm that had a dozen agents in its employment. Todd became a top-selling agent in the Carolina region. Kohlhepp also acquired a private pilot license and several properties out of state. In May 2014, he purchased 95 acres of land, located in an area 9 miles from Moore, for $305,632. He then set a fence around the property, which cost $80,000. Neighbors reported hearing hundreds of shots fired at night on his property. A customer who sold her home to Kohlhepp remembered him as extremely outgoing and professional, but noted that he would often talk about his firearms and sometimes subtly used sexual innuendoes during their conversations. A banker who worked with Todd Kohlhepp said Todd often watched pornographic videos, even at work. Kohlhepp frequented a Waffle House restaurant in Roebuck, where his behavior disturbed the waitresses to the point where the male cook began to take Kohlhepp's orders for them. Plea On May 26, 2017, Todd Kohlhepp pled guilty to 7 counts of murder, 2 counts of kidnapping and 1 count of criminal sexual assault and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole in a plea bargain that spared Kohlhepp from capital punishment. The agreement was reached based on his report that he had no additional victims. In December 2017, Kohlhepp wrote to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal claiming that he had more victims who have not been discovered. It may be the case, but it’s important to keep in mind he is a narcissistic creep and a chronic liar. Todd is serving life without the possibility of parole at Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina. Food for thought: When one door slams—open it. It is a door. Quotes (more Mitch Hedberg) I like it when they say shampoo is volumizing... because my hair is really quiet. I saw this wino, he was eating grapes. I told him, "Dude, you have to wait." I’m sick of “Soup of the Day.” Let’s make a commitment to a “Soup from now on.” I bought a donut and the man asked me if I needed a receipt. I said, “Man you must have some skeptical friends.” I just can’t imagine a scenario where someone asks, “Do you have the paperwork for that donut? Can you prove this donut is yours?” I don't need a receipt for the donut, man. I'll just give you the money, then you give me the donut. End of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this.” Thanks for listening, Frank
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
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