South Carolina man who kept woman chained in container killed seven

(Reuters) - South Carolina authorities said on Saturday that Todd Kohlepp, the suspect they arrested before discovering the body of a man whose girlfriend was found chained alive in a storage container, had confessed to killing six other people.

The confession came a day after the woman who was found in the container told law enforcement that there were four bodies buried on the site.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said on Saturday night that Kohlepp had admitted to killing four people at a motorcycle shop in 2003 and also led authorities to the site of two more bodies buried on his South Carolina property.

Wright said more bodies could be found, without elaborating.

On Friday a body was found the 100-acre property in the town of Woodruff, northeast of Greenville, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said.

Investigators with cadaver dogs began searching the property on Thursday after police found Kala Brown, 30, inside a locked container, Sheriff Chuck Wright said.

Brown and her boyfriend, Charles Carver, 32, went missing on Aug. 31. Carver's was the body that was found on Friday, Wright said.

A day after being rescued, Brown told authorities, in a videoed hearing, that she had witnessed Kohlepp shoot Carver.

Wright also had said that Brown told investigators that there were four people buried on the property.

Police arrested Kohlhepp, 45, a registered sex offender who works as a realtor, on suspicion of kidnapping on Thursday. Officials said Brown and Kohlhepp knew each other and that her abduction was not a random act.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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