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Imagine if there was a serial killer social media network where all those sick and twisted people could review and comment on each other's tactics and weapons of choice. There's probably some forum out there where people pretend to be Gacy or Dahmer or Bundy or Berkowitz. But what if a wannabe serial killer got onto the forum and began talking about their actual crimes? What if they wanted to be part of the club so badly that they took everything to the extreme?
And what if they left a trail of breadcrumbs so obvious that you can only assume they wanted to be caught? Unless you're Jack the Ripper or the Zodiac Killer, you can't live in infamy if you never get caught, right? Todd Colehip wanted to be part of that club. His life fit the blueprint almost perfectly. He had a messed up childhood. He abused and tortured animals. He acted out in violence when he didn't get what he wanted.
Todd wanted to eclipse three digits on his body count, but his ego stopped him short at seven. Seven that we know of. Todd's killing spree spanned from 2003 to 2016. And when he wasn't busy kidnapping and murdering people, Todd was flipping houses as a successful real estate agent. He obtained a private pilot's license and a small plane, allowing him to jet-set around the world to kill as he pleased. After his arrest in 2016,
Todd penned a letter to Spartanburg Herald Journal in South Carolina, talking about his supposed other victims. "Yes, there's more than seven," he wrote. "It's not an addition problem. It's a multiplication problem. Leaves the state and leaves the country. Thank you, private pilot's license." Todd Kohlhip is a monster.
though his mother would say otherwise. And the best way to understand a monster is to start at the beginning, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1971. Part 1: Mama's Little Hellraiser Todd was born to Regina Tague and William Samsell, but their happy little family didn't last very long. Regina and William divorced before Todd was two months old. She and Todd moved to Georgia for a bit before settling in South Carolina.
Regina remarried Carl Colehip, but Todd grew to resent his stepfather. Meanwhile, William moved west to Arizona, and Todd didn't see him for another eight years. Todd's anger issues grew out of control, and Regina had no idea how to help him. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, emotions that were extremely sensitive, even to the slightest affront.
A girl on the school bus upset Todd one day, so he stabbed her in the leg with a pair of scissors. Even as a toddler, Todd would destroy other kids' projects in preschool if something set him off. Todd grew tired of his pet goldfish one year and decided he wanted a gerbil. Regina said it wasn't in the cards, so Todd took matters into his own hands. He poured Clorox bleach into the fishbowl and watched it die. Regina was beside herself.
She asked Todd why he thought that was okay, and he said, "I didn't want it anymore." Eight years after abandoning his family, William showed up on the front porch. The conversation steered towards Todd moving out to Arizona, but Regina wouldn't have it. So, to entice Todd to stay, she bought him brand new bedroom furniture. But teenage Todd gets what teenage Todd wants.
He took a claw hammer to the new furniture, rendering it to splinters before turning on Regina. He never hit her, but the threat was too real to ignore. Todd was big, much bigger than his mother. She wasn't going to take any chances, so she locked him in his bedroom at night. No mother should live in fear of their own son. She eventually let Todd move out west. Maybe his biological father could right the ship. Too bad the ship was already sinking.
Stories like Todd's have a long-lasting domino effect. They go far beyond the victim-perpetrator relationship. He was 15 years old and living in Tempe, Arizona with his father by 1986. But William wasn't a model parent. He'd leave Todd alone for days at a time. And Todd used the unsupervised opportunity to drink beer and do as he pleased. Teenage Colehip had a crush on his 14-year-old classmate.
Her name has never been released, so we'll call her Jane. It was November 25th, 1986. William had gone out of town for a few days, leaving Todd home alone with his sadistic thoughts. Jane lived down the street, and Todd couldn't get her out of his head.
He walked over and spoke with her parents to see if they'd be out of the house. He was in luck. They were both heading out for the night, leaving Jane to babysit her six-year-old brother and three-year-old sister. You see, Todd could turn on the charm when he wanted to, a skill that would aid him later in life. Jane's parents knew Todd was a troubled kid, but didn't think anything of the unprompted visit.
According to court documents, Todd returned home and sucked back three Coors beers and one or two mixed drinks. When he knew Jane's parents were gone around 7:40 p.m., Todd grabbed his father's .32 caliber pistol from the glove box and walked down the street. He knocked on Jane's door, claiming her ex-boyfriend, Mike, was in the alley behind her house and wanted to talk.
Jane said she couldn't leave her siblings alone. Todd tried four more times before Jane caved and went with him. Then, Todd pulled the pistol and pointed it at her head. They began walking back towards his father's house and, at one point, Jane tried to slap the gun away. That's when Todd cocked the pistol and threatened to kill her. Once inside, Todd tied her up and raped her while keeping a knife within arm's reach.
After the assault, Todd let Jane get dressed, and he walked her back home. He threatened to kill her, her siblings, and her parents if she told anyone about the rape. Fearing for her life, Jane kept quiet. Thankfully, her brother grew worried when she hadn't come back and called the police. Tempe Police Officer Betsy Cable arrived at Jane's house to speak with the young children.
The boy said his big sister was gone, but Jane walked in moments later. She looked terrified. The rope marks on her arms told the whole story. Officer Cable called for backup as she approached Todd's house. After a brief standoff, Todd walked outside with a rifle pointed toward the sky. Thankfully, the night didn't end in a firefight, and Todd went willingly.
Officer Cable slapped the cuffs on. She'll never forget the first two questions out of Todd's mouth. "What's gonna happen to me?" And "How much time am I gonna get?" In a statement written by Jane's parents, they described her as an athletic and outgoing girl before the assault. Now she's afraid to be alone and refuses to sleep in her bedroom. Her grades plummeted, and she failed a class for the first time in her life.
She was even afraid to return to school, believing Todd would escape from jail and come after her and her family. Jane's brother was afraid that bad men were coming after him and couldn't be left alone either. The most telling line in their statement reads as such: "They fear that Todd will follow through with his threats. They fear for the community's safety and that Todd may kill someone someday." Regina penned a letter to Officer Cable, pleading for mercy on her son.
She wrote that Todd wasn't a bad boy. He'd never been one. Remember, this is the same kid who claw-hammered his furniture and Cloroxed his goldfish. She finished the letter, saying, "They don't stop to think that he walked the girl home. Does that sound like a dangerous criminal? He walked the girl home!" Call it denial. Call it a mother's unconditional love. Call it what you will.
For the rest of Todd's life, Regina will display a habit of sticking by her son's side, defending his actions, and blaming the victims. Todd took a plea deal in 1987. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and was charged as an adult. In exchange, the court dropped the sexual assault charge. He spent the next 14 years behind bars. According to court records, Todd had an above-average IQ of 118.
The judge in his case said Todd was very bright and should be advanced academically. Still, he remains emotionally and behaviorally dangerous, and it's unlikely he can ever be rehabilitated. His probation officer felt a similar way, saying Todd felt like the world owed him something. As part of his sentencing, Todd had to undergo a psychological evaluation. Dr. Roger Martig concluded that Todd regularly ignored or distorted reality.
He had excessively strange impulses and feelings, and a limited capacity to tolerate unpleasantries. Dr. Martig believed Todd's issues could evolve into emotional deterioration and continued aggressive behavior towards others in the future. We'd call that spot on. Todd's first year in jail went as expected. He racked up several citations for violence, destruction of property, and disobedience. But something changed when he turned 20.
And Todd was only cited twice over the next decade, once for being absent and once for stealing. In that time, Todd obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science from Central Arizona College. At least, that's according to his modern LinkedIn profile. He walked out of jail at 30 years old in August 2001 and moved back to Spartanburg, South Carolina to live closer to Regina.
Carl was finally out of the picture, and Todd had mama all to himself. Despite not being charged with a sex crime, Todd still had to register on the government's sex offender list. In 2002, Todd got a graphic design job with Seven Sons and Company, a sports apparel company upstate. He worked there until November 2003, a month that marked another milestone on Todd's road to infamy.
Part 2: The Superbike Motorsports Massacre Melissa Ponder spent 13 years as the primary suspect for a crime she didn't commit. It's among the most notorious murder mysteries in South Carolina history. Four people gunned down execution-style at the Superbike Motorsports shop in Chesney. Among them was Melissa's husband, Scott, her mother-in-law, Beverly, Scott's friend, Brian, and their master mechanic, Chris.
The 911 call came in around 2:00 PM when one of the shop's regulars, Noel Lee, stumbled onto a bloodbath. The 911 operator asked where the emergency was. Noel said, "Superbike Motorsports. Apparently, everybody's been shot. Everybody's laying down in a pool of blood. His mama's been shot. The mechanic's been shot." Noel became close with Chris and Brian, even calling them his closest friends.
The image of Brian lying on his back in the parking lot still haunts Noel today. Then he spotted Scott lying in a pool of blood under his mom's car. The only evidence police had to go off was an eyewitness who reported seeing a man in the shop before the murders. The rough composite sketch didn't yield any leads. They also thought it was strange that nothing was taken from the store. This wasn't a robbery gone bad. So they focused their investigation on those closest to the crime.
Melissa and Noel. Melissa, who was two months pregnant at the time, took several polygraph tests. They asked her repeatedly, "Did you kill your husband? Did you plan the murder of your husband? Did you hire someone to kill your husband?" She answered confidently, "No, no, and absolutely not!"
Seven months later, Melissa gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Scotty to honor his late father. But the investigation overshadowed Scotty's birth. And six months later, police called her again. They asked her to leave the baby at home and come down to the station. They had a few more questions that needed answering. Melissa obliged, hoping they found a lead in Scott's case. They did, just not the kind of lead she expected.
Melissa had thrown a baby diaper away at the station a few weeks prior. Around the same time, someone told the police that Scott was sterile. They took the baby's diaper, which they could legally do, and sent it for DNA testing. Apparently, the baby's DNA didn't match Scott's. Melissa was shocked. That was downright impossible. She said, I'm going to get my baby. You will swab his mouth in front of me, and I will watch you put it in that envelope.
The cops had this love triangle theory that Melissa was having an affair, got pregnant, and wanted Scott out of the picture. Hopefully, a second DNA test would prove otherwise. With two DNA tests proving Scott wasn't the father, the cops pressured Melissa to come clean. They wanted to know who the real father was. Was it Noel? Did he have something to do with this? But Melissa responded the only way an innocent person could. She said,
You're trying to pin something on me that has nothing to do with me. This is his baby. She even threatened to exhume Scott's body. Thankfully, that wasn't necessary. Another agency had mislabeled the blood vial they were testing against Melissa's baby. It wasn't Scott's blood. It was Brian's. That's why the samples didn't match. They had no choice but to clear Melissa for now. But the court of public opinion is a different beast. The rumors ran rampant around town.
People spoke about Melissa behind her back, and Scott's grandmother died thinking little Scotty wasn't his. People gave Melissa dirty looks everywhere she went. How do you explain to someone in the grocery store that an inept crime lab mislabeled some blood samples? Noel experienced something similar, as police investigated him in the weeks following the Superbike massacre. They hooked him up to a lie detector and questioned him relentlessly, but Noel had nothing to hide.
They even searched and dusted his car for prints, which only put a cloud of suspicion over his head. Even though they cleared his name, people gave Noel the same dirty looks. The Superbike killings went unsolved for 13 years. Noel and Melissa lived under suspicion while the real killer built a successful real estate career under everyone's nose. Part 3: Let's Buy a House
While police searched for a suspect or a scapegoat in the Superbike murders, Todd got busy studying for his Realtors exam. He was a smart guy, so passing the test wasn't the issue. It was the background check that had him worried. There was no hiding a 15-year prison sentence and felony conviction. So Todd came up with a well-crafted story to explain himself. Todd said he got into a verbal altercation with his 15-year-old girlfriend.
They went back to his house, where Todd's dog escaped through the fence. They chased the dog for 20 minutes before his girlfriend could wrangle him. While they were looking, the girlfriend's parents called the police. Upon searching Todd, they found a concealed handgun. He said he only had it for protection and didn't even know how to shoot it. He blamed high rates of gang violence in the area, thinking if he flashed a pistol, they'd leave him alone.
Todd admitted to having a heated argument with his girlfriend and telling her not to leave until they figured things out. Apparently, this was enough to charge him with felony kidnapping and sentence him to 15 years in prison. He said police in Phoenix were cracking down on minors due to gang violence. All it would have taken was a quick phone call to disprove everything Todd wrote. Apparently, nobody on the real estate board could be bothered. Todd seemed like a trustworthy guy.
Todd got off to a good start in 2008 while working for Weikert Realtors. They named him the top-selling rookie agent in the district, which included territory in both Carolinas. With enough clients under his belt, Todd launched his own company called Todd, Cole, Hip & Associates, or TKA Real Estate. While most of the employees and coworkers described him as arrogant and self-centered, his clients regarded him as one of the best.
If you wanted to sell your house in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Todd Colehip was your guy. He'd make sexual innuendos to his female employees and often joke about his status as a sex offender. He told people his ex-girlfriend's father got angry after they took a joyride together and accused him of assaulting his daughter. And those weren't the only red flags.
His website boasted an odd sales pitch about his 12-person team. Todd wrote, "We threatened not to feed them if it didn't work. It's amazing the motivation you can get after day three." Todd also had a nasty habit of watching pornography at work. Lawrence Shorts, a mortgage banker who worked with Kohlhepp, remembers it well, saying, "I remember walking in there two or three times, and there was pornography on his laptop. Realtors would walk in, and he had it on there too.
Something about Todd made shorts keep his distance. Todd would say things like, "You know I don't sleep much at night and get up at three o'clock in the morning, but I kind of know where people live." TKA real estate blew up and Cole Hipp was swimming in cash. He bought flashy cars and motorcycles and wasn't afraid to flaunt his wealth around the neighborhood.
He purchased a sprawling home in Moore, South Carolina, about 15 minutes south of Spartanburg, and a 95-acre chunk of land in Woodruff, another 10 minutes down the highway. When Sheila Turner and her husband wanted to sell their home, a friend recommended TKA Real Estate. Sheila remembers him as a different bird, but a good salesman nonetheless. He spent over two hours with her one day. Looking back on it, Sheila's just thankful to be alive.
The thought that Todd had a key to her house sent shivers down her spine. Of course, that's only after he killed his next three victims. Part 4: Welcome to Waffle House By 2015, Todd had the kind of money to frequent fancy restaurants. Instead, he became a regular at the Waffle House in Roebuck, a small community about seven minutes from his home in Moore.
He was known as the creepy guy, who'd leave large tips for the waitresses and invite them back to his home. Todd made the girl so uncomfortable that one of the male chefs began taking his orders. One of those creeped-out waitresses was 26-year-old Megan Coxsey. She and her husband, Johnny, lived in Spartanburg and had a newborn child together. Unfortunately, Megan and Johnny had their own struggles with the law.
In December 2015, Megan was arrested for child neglect after her newborn tested positive for heroin. She admitted to using heroin during the first six months of her pregnancy, and the baby was placed in protective care. By mid-December, Megan was desperate for money. Her mom bailed her out of prison so she could look for a job. Megan landed at Waffle House, but the tips weren't enough to get by. Then she met Todd.
He offered to hire Megan and Johnny to do some handiwork around his property in Woodruff. He needed help clearing brush and debris and apparently paid well. Well enough to ignore his creepy persona. Megan and Johnny were reported missing in late December 2015. According to Spartanburg County Lieutenant Kevin Bobo, both had a history of panhandling and leads regarding their disappearance were few and far between. Those leads quickly fizzled out and the couple remained missing for over a year.
Both were already dead by Christmas. The following is Todd's version of events. About a week before Christmas 2015, Todd met Megan and Johnny at a burger restaurant in Spartanburg. He offered Megan the job cleaning his property and said Johnny was welcome to help too. The next day, Todd saw Megan's mugshot in the newspaper and asked about her drug use. Megan said she and Johnny had a history, but Todd was willing to give them a chance.
Todd claims he drove them down to the property, at which point Johnny pulled a knife out. Todd promptly shot him twice in the chest and got rid of the knife. Megan's reaction, or lack thereof, told Todd she was in on it, that they'd planned to rob him all along. In his own words: "They saw a guy who had a shitload of money, driving a car they can't afford."
Todd put Megan in handcuffs and patted her down for weapons. She was rightfully terrified after Todd shot her husband, but she eventually calmed down. He debated putting her in a Konex storage unit he kept on the property, but the 30-foot container was full of Todd's stuff, and he didn't want her touching anything. By "stuff," we mean racks of illegal guns and enough ammo to arm a small platoon. He went back and forth, debating what to do with Megan.
He saw the Woodruff property as his sanctuary, the place he'd go to relax and get away from everything. He'd later tell police that he didn't want it to be his killing field, but that's what it quickly turned into. Todd grabbed his tractor and buried Johnny's body on the property. He held Megan for a couple days, buying her things and feeding her regular meals. He claimed she kept falling in and out of manic episodes, which made Todd nervous. He didn't like the kidnapping part and never wanted to shoot her.
Eventually, Todd made a deal with Megan. He said he'd give her $4,000 and drive her north, past Nashville. They'd go their separate ways from there, never speaking of what happened over those several days. Todd claims Megan was excited for the deal. She was ready to start a new life in Nashville, but the weather kept them from leaving. It began raining, and sleet covered the roads. Then something flipped in Megan.
She fell into another manic episode and trashed Todd's storage container. She knocked over all the ammo shelves and set the back half on fire. In his own words, Todd felt like he had a caged animal on his hands. So, he let her outside and put a bullet in the back of her skull. Given Todd's history of lying, his story is tough to believe. For Megan and Johnny Coxie, it's the only version we'll ever get.
Part 5: The Kidnapping of Kala Brown Chuck Carver described his 32-year-old son, Charles, as a gentle soul. The kind of guy who'd give you the shirt off his back and the last two dollars in his pocket. But Charles had a complicated personal life.
He'd separated from his wife, Nikki, and moved in with his new girlfriend, 30-year-old Kala Brown. Friends warned Kala not to mess with a married man, but she didn't listen. The two were in love. In late August, Kala and Charlie agreed to help Todd clear some brush from his Woodruff property. She'd done some odd jobs for TKA before and had no reason to distrust Todd.
They arrived at his house in Moore on August 31st, 2016, and then followed him to Woodruff. Deep inside the property, they arrived at a two-story garage powered by solar panels. He gave them each a water bottle and some hedge clippers and said they'd be clearing underbrush on a path through the trees. Todd went back inside the garage for a few minutes while Kala and Charlie stood outside holding hands.
Then he walked out with the pistol and shot Charlie three times in the chest. He grabbed Kala from behind, dragging her inside the shipping container and chained her to the wall. A missing person report went out for Kala and Charlie after Labor Day weekend. Nobody had heard from them in days. And when police arrived to check their apartment, they found their hungry dog waiting inside. Kala and Charlie always checked in with their friends and family, so not hearing from either was a clear sign something was wrong.
Then, something very strange happened. In early October, a month after their disappearance, Charlie began posting odd messages on Facebook, saying he and Kala were married, buying a house, and expecting a child. He insisted that he and Kala were fine and didn't want to see anyone. One comment read, "The people that need to know that we are okay know that." But those comments gave police a lead.
They tracked Kala and Charlie's cell phone signals to the area around Woodruff. Sergeant Brandon Letterman met with two detectives who'd been working the case for a month and a half. An anonymous tipster told those detectives that Kala's body was buried on a 100-acre property in Woodruff. There was only one such property, and it belonged to Todd Kohlhip. Investigators flew helicopters over the grounds, looking for any signs of Charlie's white Pontiac.
but Todd had cleverly disguised the car with brown paint and covered it with branches and leaves. Sergeant Letterman spotted the two-story garage from above and assumed it was a marijuana grow house, judging by the location and solar panels. They had enough probable cause to pull Todd's cell phone records, showing he and Kala were in the same location when she went missing. It was enough to get a search warrant and two teams of police dispatched, one to Woodruff and one to Moore.
While searching the apartment loft above the garage, Sergeant Letterman found chains coming out of the wall. It wasn't something you see every day. He had a bad feeling about this place. They turned their attention to the storage container. Judging by the five padlocks, Todd must have kept something important in there. They began hammering away at the locks, but nothing broke. Then, someone told them to quiet down. They heard knocking inside the container. They walked around the container and knocked on the rear wall.
Someone knocked back and said, "Help me!" Sergeant Letterman and his team took bolt cutters and saws to the padlocked door. Inside, they found Kala chained to the wall like a dog. She was still alive after spending nearly two months in captivity. When police asked where Charlie was, Kala said, "Todd Colehip shot Charlie Carver three times in the chest," as if she'd rehearsed the answer every day since he died.
In the waiting ambulance, Kala detailed her harrowing experience. He kept her chained by the neck, wrists and ankles, and spent most of her time inside the shipping container. Between 1 and 3 p.m. and 5 and 7 p.m., Todd would arrive and open the doors. He brought her inside the garage, fed her, allowed her to use the bathroom, and forced her to perform sexual acts. Kala said he wouldn't force himself on her if she refused.
though he made it very clear why she was still alive. If she wanted to keep it that way, she'd better do what he asked. During these hours, Todd liked to brag about all the people he'd killed and all the people he aspired to kill. He wanted his body count to hit triple digits, and if Kala behaved, he'd make her his accomplice. Then, he told her about four people he killed in a bike shop a few years back. Part Six: Todd's Grand Confession
Todd knew the police had him dead to rights, so he cut them a deal in exchange for his full confession. He'd tell them everything if they allowed him two favors. First, Todd wanted to transfer some money to a friend's daughter. She was headed off to college, and Todd knew his money would be worthless in prison. Second, Todd wanted to see his mother, Regina. He didn't want her to hear what happened on the news or through another party.
The two talked privately, but Regina revealed the details of that conversation during an interview with David Bignot of 48 Hours. David asked if Todd cried, and Regina said yes. That his eye puffed out of his face and his cheeks turned beet red. She insisted that Todd wasn't a monster. Not like they'd been calling him. She hates that word. She hates how it's associated with her little boy.
David pressed Regina on why Todd kept Kala chained in the storage unit. She said Todd didn't know what to do with her after killing her boyfriend. So, he made her as comfortable as possible while he came up with a plan. When asked why Todd killed Charlie in the first place, Regina said the man got nasty, mad, and smart-mouthed Todd. Apparently, those were good enough reasons to shoot the man, and it tracks with Todd's past behavior.
He didn't like being talked down to, proven wrong, or made fun of. When someone mouthed off to him, Todd made sure they'd never do it again. As he confessed in great detail to the Superbike murders, Todd said he'd tried returning a bike he'd recently bought. He had trouble riding it and wanted to trade it for something smaller. He claims they were rude and made fun of him for his inability to ride the bike. He left feeling defeated, and someone stole the bike several days later.
Todd was convinced the Superbike crew had something to do with it. He grabbed his Beretta and drove back to the shop. Todd waited until he was the only customer in the store. Then, he picked out a new bike and followed the mechanic, Chris, into the back. How Todd conducts himself while confessing to the Superbike murders speaks volumes about his character. He speaks tactically, almost like a Navy Seal describing a recent mission.
in his own words. "All of a sudden I had three people in front of me. Mom was the closest and I shot her two or three times in the chest. Not my best work. She fell. The owner and the manager ran for the door. I popped a few rounds and got one of them in the back and he crumpled in the door. I did a tactical reload and dropped the other one before he got out the door. I put, I believe, two, maybe three rounds in him. I'm not sure of the count.
"I cleared that building in under 30 seconds. You guys would have been proud." Todd mentioned how he shot each victim once in the forehead before finally leaving the store. Some think Todd fabricated his involvement in the Superbike killings to boost his ego and inflate his body count. But police never told anybody about the single gunshot wounds to the head. It's a fact of the case that only law enforcement and the killer would know.
It had been 13 long years since Melissa Ponder lost her husband. 13 long years of living under a dark cloud of suspicion for a quadruple homicide she had nothing to do with. Upon Todd's arrest and confession, Melissa got a long overdue call from the police department. They told her to sit down. She won't believe what she was about to hear. Perhaps the worst part of the story is that police knew the name, Todd Kohlhepp. He was listed as a Superbike customer.
and police even sent him a letter in 2013 asking if he'd come forward with any information. But how could this charming real estate agent have anything to do with a quadruple homicide? After giving a full confession at the police station, Todd led detectives back to his property and showed them where he buried Charlie, Megan, and Johnny. There was another empty hole next to Charlie's grave. A detective asked, "What was your intent with the second hole?" Todd said he hadn't decided yet.
The detective asked if it was Fracalla. Todd said, "Yes, sir." Todd remained incredibly candid throughout the entire process. He talked about murdering people like he was describing a fun-filled weekend getaway. He was a storyteller and even left detectives with little cliffhangers when recanting his killing spree. For example, an officer wanted him to cut to the chase when talking about the Coxie murders. He asked, "What made you decide to shoot Megan?"
Todd responded, "I'll get to that." While detectives interviewed Todd at the station, others dug into his internet activity. For a guy who wanted to be the most prolific killer of all time, Todd left a reckless trail of breadcrumbs, specifically on his Amazon account. Todd basically ordered his entire serial killer arsenal on Amazon. Under each item, he left a series of strange reviews, almost begging for someone to question him.
In a review for padlocks, Todd wrote: "Solid locks. Have five on a shipping container. Won't stop them, but sure will slow them down till they're too old to care." For a small blade, Todd wrote: "Haven't stabbed anyone yet, but I'm keeping the dream alive, and when I do, it'll be with a quality tool like this." Under a small shovel, Todd wrote: "Keep in the car for when you have to hide the bodies, and you left the full-sized shovel at home."
Most people might read those reviews and laugh it off as dark humor. For Todd, none of this was a joke. These reviews and dozens more earned Todd Kohlhip his serial nickname: The Amazon Review Killer. With plenty of evidence and a detailed confession, police charged Todd with seven counts of first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping. One for Kala and one for Megan.
On May 26th, 2017, Todd pled guilty to all charges against him. The plea bargain kept him from receiving the death penalty, though he'll spend the next seven lifetimes behind bars. Since his arrest, Todd has continuously boasted about more victims. In 2016, he wrote a letter to the Spartanburg Herald Journal saying there were more than seven.
Police in Arizona looked into possible coal-hipped connections for any unsolved murders between 1983 to 1986, the years Todd spent with his father. Cops in Greer, South Carolina, named Todd as a person of interest in an unsolved bank robbery and triple homicide from May 2003, six months before the Superbike murders. Todd denied any involvement in the case, and they never made a definitive link.
Judging by how open Todd's been about his other crimes, we think he's telling the truth. During their conversation, Regina asked Todd how many people he'd killed. He reportedly said she "didn't have enough fingers." As far as the police are concerned, Todd Kohlhip murdered seven people between Chesney and Woodruff, South Carolina. Todd may claim there are dozens more,
but we think he's trying to boast his body count. Unless he kills 93 of his fellow inmates, Todd will never eclipse his triple-digit goal.