Third body found on South Carolina property of accused mass killer

[November 08, 2016]    (Reuters) - A third body has been found on the rural South Carolina property of a registered sex offender arrested after a woman missing for two months was found chained there inside a metal storage container, a county coroner said on Monday.

The last two bodies unearthed have not yet been identified, even by gender, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger told reporters at a press conference.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright has said that suspect Todd Kohlhepp, 45, may ultimately be linked to as many as seven murders.

Todd Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender who has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of Kala Brown and Charles David Carver is shown in this booking photo provided in Spartanburg, South Carolina, November 3, 2016. Photo courtesy of Spartanburg County Detention Center/Handout via REUTERS

Kohlhepp, who works as a real estate agent, was taken into custody on Thursday after sheriff's deputies who went to his property in the town of Woodruff heard banging from the storage container and found 30-year-old Kala Brown inside, chained by the neck.

Brown, who was reported missing in August along with her live-in boyfriend, Charlie Carver, told authorities that Kohlhepp shot Carver dead in front of her and that four more bodies might be buried on the grounds.

The body of Carver, 32, was found in a shallow grave on the property on Friday and the first unidentified body discovered on Sunday.

Kohlhepp, who does not yet have an attorney, was charged with four counts of murder and denied bail that same day after authorities said he confessed to a massacre at a motorcycle shop 13 years ago.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Diane Craft)

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