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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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South Carolina Women Held In Cargo Container for Months Sues Captor

The South Carolina women held captive for nearly three months in a metal shipping container by suspected serial killer Todd Kohlhepp sued her captor over her abduction -- a nightmare during which she saw him kill her boyfriend.

By DAN MCCUE

(CN) - The South Carolina women held captive for nearly three months in a metal shipping container by suspected serial killer Todd Kohlhepp sued her captor over her abduction -- a nightmare during which she saw him kill her boyfriend.

In a complaint filed Nov. 30 in Spartanburg County, S.C., Kayla Brown says Todd Kohlhepp hired her to  clean up a property he owned near Woodruff, South Carolina. Brown says when she arrived for work on Aug. 31, 2016, Kohlhepp pulled a gun on her and took her hostage, chaining her by her neck and ankles inside a metal shipping container.

She was held there for over two months, until she was rescued on Nov. 3, 2016, by Spartanburg County sheriff deputies who were investigating a sex crime tip.

After she was rescued, Brown told the deputies she had been accompanied on what she thought was a temporary cleaning job by her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, and that she witnessed Kohlhepp shooting him to death.

Carver's body was later found in a shallow grave on the 100-acre property.

Following his arrest, Kohlhepp, a respected real estate agent in the Greenville-Spartanburg area, confessed to several killings -- he's suspected in at least seven murders, including Carver's -- and led authorities to the location of a number of bodies on his land.

He has been charged with seven murders, two counts of kidnapping, and three counts of possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

The complaint says that during her ordeal, Kohlhepp “maliciously and intentionally held Brown against her will” and threatened, grabbed, repeatedly struck Brown and subjected her to “violent touching.”

Because of the “harmful and offensive acts, including, but not limited to, actually striking Miss Brown’s person and placing her in chains, Miss Brown suffered severe physical injuries and emotional distress,” it continues.

She seeks actual, punitive and exemplary damages, current and future medical expenses, and attorney fees on claims of kidnapping and false imprisonment, assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

She is represented by Alex Stalvey of Bannister, Wyatt & Stalvey in Greenville, South Carolina, and David Wyatt, of Gleaton Wyatt PA in Greenville.

A representative of Kohlhepp could not immediately be reached for comment.

Categories / Criminal

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