Bond denied for man charged in killings, keeping woman chained in shed

The 45-year-old man charged with keeping an Anderson woman chained in a storage shed for two months on his Spartanburg property appeared in court Sunday and was charged with four counts of murder in a separate case.

The new charges are in connection with four deaths at a Chesnee motorcycle shop. Sunday was the 13th anniversary of those killings.

Todd Christopher Kohlhepp was denied bond in the Spartanburg County courtroom Sunday. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 19.

He is charged in the deaths at Superbike Motorsports of Scott Ponder, 30; Beverly Guy, 52, Ponder’s mother and a part-time employee; and employees Brian Lucas, 29, and Chris Sherbert, 26. The four were found slain Nov. 6, 2003, at the business. The case was Spartanburg County’s first quadruple homicide.

Kohlhepp may be linked to as many as seven deaths, according to Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright.

A small number of law enforcement officers were present about 7:30 a.m. Sunday as the search continued to find information and other possible graves on Kohlhepp’s property near Woodruff. There is earth-moving equipment set up on a small hill, and a few cars have driven down the dirt road to the bottom of the hill, including a K-9 unit. Some people prayed at a chain link fence bordering the rural property.

The wife of one of the 2003 victims told The Associated Press that detectives told her Kohlhepp was an angry customer who had been in the shop several times.

Melissa Ponder said she was resigned that her husband Scott’s death would never be solved before getting a phone call Saturday night from one of the case’s original detectives. Detectives told family members of all four victims of the confession at the same time, according to AP.

“He knew too much about the crime scene,” Ponder said of Kohlhepp’s account to detectives. “He knew everything.”

Kohlhepp was charged Friday with kidnapping a 30-year-old woman and keeping her for two months chained inside a shed on his property on Wofford Road.

Saturday, Wright identified a body found Friday in a shallow grave on the property as that of Charles David Carver, 32. Carver, the kidnapped woman’s boyfriend, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the upper extremities, said Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger, who ruled the death a homicide.

Wright said Kohlhepp has not yet been charged with Carver’s death. The female victim has told investigators that she saw Kohlhepp kill Carver, according to 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette.

Additionally, Kohlhepp, who the sheriff said is cooperating with investigators, has led authorities to where he said two other bodies are buried. Wright did not identify those individuals, nor, he said, had investigators unearthed those remains as of late Sunday afternoon.

Greg Shore, Anderson County coroner, said authorities there are looking at unsolved cases to see whether there’s any link. Asked specifically about a Pendleton-area quadruple homicide, Shore said he doesn’t expect a connection but it will be reviewed along with other cases for any similarities or ties.

On Nov. 2, 2015, husband and wife Michael and Cathy Scott, 58 and 60, and their mothers, 80-year-old Barbara Scott and 82-year-old Violet Taylor, were found dead in their home on Refuge Road outside of Pendleton.

All four had been shot sometime between between Oct. 31 and their discovery. Authorities say they had additional injuries, which they have not revealed, making it one of the most gruesome crime scenes they had ever encountered. The four lived together in the home and there was no sign of forced entry.

The discovery of the bodies in the Superbike killings and the charges against Kohlhepp is bringing some justice for the victims’ families. Terry Guy attended Sunday’s bond hearing for Kohlhepp. Guy’s wife and stepson were among those killed in 2003 at the bike shop.

Guy said Kohlhepp’s arrest means his relatives and the families of others killed can now finally be at peace. “I’m just so relieved.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2016 at 9:01 AM with the headline "Bond denied for man charged in killings, keeping woman chained in shed."