Rescue from horror
Vid shows chained victim
Chilling video shows the police rescue of a South Carolina woman who had been chained to the wall of a shipping container by a confessed serial killer.
Sparks fly as Spartanburg sheriff ’s officers cut through the container’s metal doors last November. They walk to the back of the cluttered space to find Kala Brown, clad in a long-sleeved black shirt, gray pants and flip flops, with a thick chain around her neck and her arms above her head.
“What’s your name?” one officer asks.
Another asks, “How are you, honey?” as the rescuers call out for bolt cutters and handcuff keys.
“You’re OK, we’re here,” they tell her.
“My neck’s attached to the wall, up here,” Brown said.
Brown’s tormentor, Todd Kohlhepp, eventually confessed to seven murders. Cops on Friday released video of Brown’s rescue and Kohlepp’s confession.
As officers worked to free Brown from captivity, they asked what happened to her boyfriend, Charlie Carver. “Do you know where your buddy is?” the officers asked.
Brown quickly and nervously told all.
“Charlie? He shot him. He shot him. Todd Kohlhepp shot Charlie Carver three times in the chest, wrapped him in a blue tarp, put him in the bucket of the tractor, locked me down here. I’ve never seen him again,” she said.
“He said he’s dead and buried, he says there’s several bodies dead and buried out here. He says the dogs will be ruined if they go looking because of red pepper,” Brown said as the chain was finally cut.
The shipping container was found on farm property owned by Kohlhepp.
A video was also released of investigators grilling Kohlhepp in his home. “We have Kala,” a cop tells Kohlhepp. “She just told us you shot and killed Charlie.”
The killer sat without a word, refusing to tell police where to find Carver’s body or answer questions.
“No, sir,” Kohlhepp said before asking for a lawyer.
Kohlhepp has pleaded guilty to the seven murders over 13 years. He is serving seven consecutive life sentences.