WOODRUFF, SC – The man charged with the kidnapping of Kala Brown had a bond hearing Friday.
Bond was not set for Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, 45. It will have to be set by a circuit court judge. He is currently being held in the Spartanburg Co. Detention Center.
The solicitor says Brown told deputies she witnessed Kohlhepp shooting Carver. They found one body Friday and believe there may be more.
Officials say he will have an initial court appearance on Jan. 19 and he will have up until then to request a preliminary hearing.
Kohlhepp will not qualify for public defender because he owns property and he is undecided about lawyer.
His current charge of kidnapping carries up to 30 years.KOHLHEPP IS A SEX OFFENDER
Kohlhepp is a registered sex offender in SC. The registry says he is a Juvenile Tier III type offender for a Oct. 16, 1987 conviction in AZ for Kidnapping.
According to court records, Kohlhepp kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl. He was 15 years old at the time of the crime.ARIZONA KIDNAPPING CONVICTION
According to court records, Kohlhepp had extensive counseling, including hospitalization, for his behavior in Georgia.
He was living with his biological father at the time of the kidnapping.
According to court documents, Kohlhepp forced the girl into his home and tied her hands and put tape over her mouth and sexually assaulted her.
The court documents also include a psychiatric evaluation that say Kohlhepp destroyed his room with a hammer, destroyed other children’s projects, cloroxed a goldfish, shot a dog with a BB gun, was dismissed from the Boy Scouts because he was too disruptive, and shredded his own new clothes. The report also says his father made a statement saying the only emotion Kohlhepp was capable of was anger.
In his ruling a judge stated of Kohlhepp, “at the age of 9, he was ‘explosive’ and ‘preoccupied with sexual content.’ He has not changed. He has been unabatedly aggressive to others and destructive of property since nursery school.”
He went on to say, “Twenty-five months of the most intensive and expensive professional intervention, short of God’s, will provide no protection for the public and no rehabilitation of this juvenile.”WHAT HAPPENED IN WOODRUFF?
Spartanburg deputies were at a property off Wofford Rd. in Woodruff Thursday afternoon serving a search warrant.
That property is owned by Kohlhepp, according to records.
The sheriff said deputies heard a woman banging on the metal container.
They found Kala Brown inside with a chain around her neck. She has been taken for treatment.
They did not find her boyfriend Charles Carver.
They couple had been missing since August 31.
The sheriff says they may be dealing with a possible serial killer and there could be 4 bodies on the property.KOHLHEPP IS A REALTOR
SC Labor, Licensing and Regulation says Kohlhepp is listed as “broker in charge” at TKA Real Estate and TKA Real Estate Greenville.
We talked with Wyatt Real Estate School and they say the law requiring criminal background checks for realtors passed just two years ago.
The license lasts two years and his expires in 2017.
However, anyone with a license before the law passed doesn’t have to go through a background check.DID KOHLHEPP KNOW BROWN?
A friend said Brown worked for Kohlepp cleaning houses and she met him briefly when she tagged along with Brown on a job.