Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings

Serial Killer: Todd Kohlhepp

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp (born March 7, 1971) is an American serial killer, convicted of murdering seven people in South Carolina between 2003 and 2016.

Early life

Todd Kohlhepp was born on March 7, 1971 in Florida, and was raised in South Carolina and Georgia. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his mother, who got custody of him, married another man the following year. Later psychological reports found that Kohlhepp had an unhealthy relationship with his stepfather and often wanted to live with his biological father, whom he had not seen in eight years.

Kohlhepp was described as a troublesome child. In nursery school, he was known to be aggressive towards other children and would destroy their property. At the age of nine, when he started undergoing counseling, Kohlhepp was described as being "explosive" and "preoccupied with sexual content." He also displayed cruelty to animals, shooting a dog with a BB gun and killing a goldfish with Clorox bleach. In modern psychology, cruelty to animals is thought by many academics to be a common trait of the young psychopathic individual. As in Kohlhepp's case, some may work up to harming human beings as adults.

Kohlhepp's father later said the only emotion his son was capable of was anger. Kohlhepp spent three and a half months in a Georgia psychiatric hospital as an inpatient 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 his father's surname and began working a number of local jobs. He also inherited his father's hobby of collecting weapons and was taught by him to "blow things up and make bombs." Despite this, their relationship deteriorated due to his father's absence with a number of girlfriends, and Kohlhepp expressed desires to return to his mother, though she reportedly made excuses to extend his stay.

1987 kidnapping conviction

On November 25, 1986, 15-year-old Kohlhepp kidnapped a 14-year-old girl in Tempe, Arizona. He threatened her with a .22-caliber revolver, brought her back to his home, tied her up, taped her mouth shut, and raped her. Afterwards, he walked her home and threatened to kill her younger siblings if she told anyone about what had happened. 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. He was sentenced to fifteen 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 Kohlhepp was "very bright and should be advanced academically," but "behaviorally and emotionally dangerous" and likely could not be rehabilitated. Kohlhepp's probation officer wrote a similar description in court papers and added that he "felt the world owed him something." Kohlhepp's attorney in that case later went on to say that, while defending him "he did not believe his client would go on to harm others" in the future. During his imprisonment, Kohlhepp was initially cited for violations that included some violent behavior, but after turning twenty, he had no other records of disobedience.

Release

In August 2001, Kohlhepp was released from prison after serving fourteen years and moved to South Carolina, where his mother was living. During his imprisonment, he attended and graduated from Central Arizona College with a bachelor's degree in computer science. From January 2002 to November 2003, he worked as a graphic designer for a company in Spartanburg. He began studying at Greenville Technical College in 2003. Kohlhepp transferred to the University of South Carolina Upstate the following year, and graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration-marketing.