The man described by South Carolina authorities as a serial killer pleaded guilty Friday to the murder of seven people over a 13-year period.
As part of a plea deal, Todd Kohlhepp, 46, is being given seven consecutive life sentences with no possibility for parole. Prosecutors in Spartanburg County could have sought the death penalty in the chilling case.
Family members of the victims sobbed repeatedly as they spoke in front of the judge about their loved ones' lives cut short — each of them standing mere feet from a shackled Kohlhepp.
"I'm always going to wonder what it would have been like if my dad was here," Scott Ponder Jr., who just finished the seventh grade, said of his murdered father.
Play FROM NOV. 6: South Carolina Suspect Allegedly Confesses to Four Murders Facebook Twitter Embed
FROM NOV. 6: South Carolina Suspect Allegedly Confesses to Four Murders 2:02
Kohlhepp, who ran a successful real estate business, was arrested in November after authorities discovered a woman chained inside a shipping container on his 95-acre property while investigating a tip about a sex crime.
The woman — later identified as Kala Brown, who had been missing since August — told police Kohlhepp killed her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, two months earlier.
The case attracted national attention when mysterious postings began to appear on Carver's Facebook page claiming that the couple, who lived outside Anderson, were fine and had simply left town on their own.
Related: S.C. Suspected Serial Killer Charged With Three More Murders
Brown told investigators that there were around four bodies buried on the property, which set off a massive search for victims.
Kohlhepp later confessed to four more murders, and led investigators to various grave sites, police said. Ultimately, authorities said he was responsible for killing Carver, four people at a motorcycle shop in 2003, including owner Scott Ponder, and a couple he hired to work on his property in 2015.
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As part of a plea deal, Todd Kohlhepp, 46, is being given seven consecutive life sentences with no possibility for parole. Prosecutors in Spartanburg County could have sought the death penalty in the chilling case.
Family members of the victims sobbed repeatedly as they spoke in front of the judge about their loved ones' lives cut short — each of them standing mere feet from a shackled Kohlhepp.
"I'm always going to wonder what it would have been like if my dad was here," Scott Ponder Jr., who just finished the seventh grade, said of his murdered father.
Play FROM NOV. 6: South Carolina Suspect Allegedly Confesses to Four Murders Facebook Twitter Embed
FROM NOV. 6: South Carolina Suspect Allegedly Confesses to Four Murders 2:02
Kohlhepp, who ran a successful real estate business, was arrested in November after authorities discovered a woman chained inside a shipping container on his 95-acre property while investigating a tip about a sex crime.
The woman — later identified as Kala Brown, who had been missing since August — told police Kohlhepp killed her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, two months earlier.
The case attracted national attention when mysterious postings began to appear on Carver's Facebook page claiming that the couple, who lived outside Anderson, were fine and had simply left town on their own.
Related: S.C. Suspected Serial Killer Charged With Three More Murders
Brown told investigators that there were around four bodies buried on the property, which set off a massive search for victims.
Kohlhepp later confessed to four more murders, and led investigators to various grave sites, police said. Ultimately, authorities said he was responsible for killing Carver, four people at a motorcycle shop in 2003, including owner Scott Ponder, and a couple he hired to work on his property in 2015.
NEXT STORY $500 Million Opium Poppy Field Discovered in North Carolina
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