SPARTANBURG, S.C., Dec. 1 (UPI) — A South Carolina woman filed a civil lawsuit against Todd Kohlhepp, an alleged serial killer also accused of chaining the woman by the neck and ankles on his property.
The suit filed in South Carolina’s Eight Judicial Circuit Court of Common Pleas alleges Kohlhepp took Kala Brown hostage — threatening her with a firearm — and locked her inside a metal shipping container. Brown said she was helping clean his property on Aug. 31 when he detained her.
Kohlhepp “maliciously and intentionally held Miss Brown against her will inside the storage container for a period of more than two months,” the lawsuit said. Brown was found alive on Nov. 3 by police investigating a sex crime tip.
The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office this week said Kohlhepp, 45, will face seven murder charges. Kohlhepp was initially charged in the 2003 deaths of Scott Ponder, Beverly Guy, Brian Lucas and Chris Sherbert, but additional charges were filed after police unearthed the bodies of Charles Carver, Megan Coxie and Johnny Coxie on his property in November. He also faces charges of kidnapping and weapons possession.
Kohlhepp “negligently, carelessly, recklessly and wantonly caused injury to Miss Brown in that among other things: Defendant forcefully kidnapped and imprisoned her, threatened and actually committed physical assault and battery upon her person, and intentionally and negligently inflicted severe emotional distress upon her,” the lawsuit alleges.
Kohlhepp previously spent 15 years in prison for kidnapping. Police said Kohlhepp has confessed to killing the seven victims.
