Deputy Rilie Ronson was new to the job.

As part of her training on how to execute search warrants, she was one of a small team of deputies conducting a foot search Nov. 3 on a desolate 96-acre property in Woodruff.

Then the deputies heard knocking.

The noises were coming from a standard metal shipping container on the site, and at first were thought to be from falling acorns. But Ronson insisted they were something more.

The deputies knocked back on the grooved steel walls. They were greeted immediately by a scream.

It was Kala Brown.

Brown, 30, a missing Anderson woman who deputies had been searching for, had been found — alive.

With this stunning discovery, a shocking story of multiple murders rapidly unfolded around a man who had been living a seemingly uneventful life since serving time in prison as a teenager.

And the many people who had crossed his path over the years — colleagues, clients, friends, classmates, neighbors — were suddenly wondering: Who is Todd Kohlhepp?

A DIFFICULT LIFE

Todd Kohlhepp was born Todd Christopher Sampsell on March 7, 1971, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Court documents detail a troubled childhood. Kohlhepp’s parents, Regina and William Sampsell, divorced when he was still a baby, and Kohlhepp initially had no contact with his birth father.

His mother remarried when he was 3, and at 5, Kohlhepp was legally adopted by his stepfather and his name was changed.

But Kohlhepp's family life was dysfunctional. Kohlhepp, by his own admission, never got along with his stepfather and never accepted him. The strained relationship gave rise to problems in his mother's marriage, causing his mother and stepfather to divorce and remarry twice.

As a child, Kohlhepp showed aggressive, antisocial behaviors. In nursery school, he would destroy other children's projects or hit them. He was twice dismissed from the Boy Scouts for being "too disruptive" in the group.

Documents also note incidents where he hit other children, put a goldfish in bleach because he wanted a gerbil instead and shot a dog with a BB gun.

In 1980, he was admitted to the Georgia Mental Health Institute because of hostile and aggressive behavior at school. It was the first time his behavior led to sessions with a mental health professional, but far from the last.

During his therapy sessions in Georgia, Kohlhepp "was very open about his hostility toward his stepfather" and "was preoccupied with sexual content." He was eventually placed on Thorazine, which he seemed to be responding to.

After his mother and stepfather separated in 1982, Kohlhepp spent the summer with his birth father in Arizona. When he returned from the visit, he began acting out, he later told court officials, destroying his newly remodeled bedroom with a hammer and threatening to kill his mother unless she let him go live with his father.

On Oct. 5, 1982, Spartanburg School District 3 officials recommended an evaluation for Kohlhepp. That exam found he disrupted class, was easily frustrated, defiant and sensitive to criticism.

Between December 1982 and May 1983, Kohlhepp participated in eight therapy sessions with William Baker, a licensed psychologist, in Spartanburg.

Regina Kohlhepp finally agreed to let her son go live with his father temporarily so she could "get herself together," so at age 12, he moved to Tempe, Ariz.

Kohlhepp told court officials that initially his relationship with his father was good, but began to rapidly deteriorate. He stated the two fought frequently, and alleged his father was physically and verbally abusive toward him.

William Sampsell later stated that "the only emotion Todd seemed capable of showing was anger." Sampsell said he frequently had to reprimand his son about being a bully, especially with younger children, and that when he bought him model kits to teach him how to build things, his son would either throw them out or destroy them when they were partially built.

A VIOLENT CRIME

Then, on Nov. 25, 1986, Kohlhepp pointed a gun at a 14-year-old girl and forced her to walk to his home. There, he placed duct tape over her mouth, bound her hands with rope and sexually assaulted her.

When questioned by investigators later, Kohlhepp said he didn't know why he had assaulted the girl and said it may have been an "act of rebellion" against his father for being out of town.

In a letter to Kohlhepp's probation officer, his mother asked for leniency for her son, saying Todd "is not a bad boy" and knew he had done wrong.

"My heart aches for the little girl," Regina Kohlhepp wrote. "But it also aches for my son. He was only 15 years old."

Kohlhepp eventually pleaded guilty to kidnapping in exchange for the sexual assault charge being dropped. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and had to register as a sex offender.

A 1987 psychiatric exam, performed while Kohlhepp was in jail, found he had emotional issues which “could result in emotional deterioration in the future or continued aggressive behavior toward others in the future.”

Dr. Roger Martig, who performed the exam, concluded that while Kohlhepp was "not psychotic," he often ignored and distorted reality through the use of defense mechanisms. Kohlhepp also had “excessively strange impulses and feelings” and a “limited capacity to tolerate unpleasant affects,” Martig found.

His testing also determined Kohlhepp was in the "above average range of intelligence, even near superior range," but that he had a highly "antisocial personality."

An Arizona court official concluded, “this writer viewed the defendant (Kohlhepp) as an extremely cold and somewhat callous young man, who has no comprehension whatsoever of the devastating effects of his own violent and aggressive behavior.”

During his time in prison, Kohlhepp earned a certificate in computer science through a prison rehabilitation program.

RETURN TO SOUTH CAROLINA

After his release from prison in August 2001, Kohlhepp moved back to Spartanburg. He registered as a sex offender here on Nov. 30, 2001.

Between 2004 and 2007, he was a student at the University of South Carolina Upstate, a university spokeswoman confirmed.

Frank Rudisill taught Kohlhepp in one of his business classes, but doesn’t remember anything remarkable about him.

“He was a pretty good student, and I recall that he was working for a real estate company at the time,” Rudisill said.

Cherry Laurens, who became friends with Kohlhepp, said the two of them were study partners in statistics class. She said he was talkative and outgoing.

"I’m still having a hard time thinking this is the same person," she said. "It just doesn't seem to fit."

He worked as a graphic designer for a while and held a few other jobs before obtaining his real estate license in June 2006. Less than a year later, he bought his Moore home, from which he operated TKA Real Estate for a number of years.

In 2014, he spent $305,632 for 95.57 acres along Wofford Road in Woodruff. His LinkendIn page states he planned to turn the land into a “wildlife refuge for the next generation.”

PASTORAL SETTING

The rural property, covered in tall grass that abuts a heavily wooded area, is surrounded by modest homes, longtime residents and farmland. It’s an area where “everyone knows everybody,” said lifelong resident Jay D. Bagwell.

“Nothing ever happens here,” said Dale Durham, another resident along the two-lane street.

Kohlhepp often talked enthusiastically about the property, telling people he was planning to build his "dream home" there.

“He talked about getting a good chicken coop, putting in a garden, what type of plow to get. …Every conversation we had about the property it was always normal stuff," Laurens said. "He liked having a large property. He could get away from the stress of being a Realtor."

One of Kohlhepp's agents said after 6 p.m., he was generally unreachable because he would be working on “the farm,” as he often referred to it. Several co-workers and friends said Kohlhepp even invited them out to the property, though none of them actually paid a visit.

“He called me a couple years ago when he bought it. ...I was going to go, but I had been tied up,” said Candy Hawk, who’s known Kohlhepp for 10 years. “He called and asked if I knew anybody who could put up a fence, and I said I’ll come by and we’ll walk it and look at it.”

Many neighbors said they found it strange when the fence was erected. Kohlhepp put up the chain-link fence and no trespassing signs not long after buying the land.

Johnny Ravan, who lives across the street from the property, said he used to go there to hunt, and told Kohlhepp about it after meeting him for the first time.

“He told me, ‘Well, your hunting days are over,’” Ravan said.

Some neighbors said they often heard “hundreds of dollars” worth of bullets being fired at night, leading them to wonder what was going on behind the fence.

WORKAHOLIC PERSONALITY

By many accounts, Kohlhepp threw himself into his work as a Realtor. Many of his friendships and connections were formed through his business, and as broker in charge, he built his company to have about a dozen agents working for him.

His Zillow profile gives him a five-star rating based on 10 reviews, and states he sold 16 homes within the past year.

He had a reputation for being professional, eager, a go-getter, a workaholic. Arrogant, yes, coworkers and friends said, but he was always confident in his ability to get his way.

“He looks like young man USA, and from what I’ve been told, a very good Realtor as well,” Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said.

Hawk met Kohlhepp when the broker sold Hawk's first house, and the two remained friends.

“Anything I asked him to do, he would do it,” Hawk said. “We were always cutting up and carrying on. … We’d hug goodbye. I would have never been afraid of him.”

Hawk described Kohlhepp as nice, well-dressed and “cocky.”

“He knew his stuff, so you could call him cocky, arrogant, or whatever you want to call it,” she said.

Another friend, Charlotte Groce, called Kohlhepp "a catch" — funny, likeable and handsome — but something about him seemed a little off.

“I asked him if he’d ever been in love, and he said, ‘No, I’ve never been in love.' For some reason I got this feeling that he lacked certain emotions,” Groce said. “You could tell he had a disconnect and did lack normal emotions you and I would have.”

ANOTHER SIDE

Others who met Kohlhepp were immediately turned off by him.

“I had the most adverse reaction to the man. He creeped me out, and I did not like him. Just something about him that just gave me the creeps,” said Tammy Whaley, who met with Kohlhepp once to consider using him as a real estate agent.

She called him a “sleazy businessman.”

Sandy Clayton, who became a real estate agent the same year as Kohlhepp, remembered meeting him out at a commercial listing a few years ago.

“Todd shows up in his BMW and he just seemed real self-absorbed, real annoying as hell. He came off as one of those salespeople where you think, ‘How do these people stand him,” Clayton said.

But friends say they never would have thought him capable of hurting anyone.

“I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around it. Not only was he a good businessman, he was a good friend and protected his Realtors,” said Pamela Lyda. “He wasn’t the biggest people person … but he was a very smart guy, very business-like and very protective of us. Never did I not feel safe around him.”

'DRIVEN BY THRILL'

That's not an uncommon reaction for people to have to someone who fits the typical profile of a serial killer, said Deborah Leporowski, a clinical and forensic psychologist based in South Carolina. Leporowski, who said she’s been following the case, said Kohlhepp has many of the characteristics associated with people accused of serial murders.

“He’s agreeable, charming, says the right things when he needs to but can also be gristly underneath when he doesn’t get his way,” she said.

And, she said, he’s a man who has to be in control.

Leporowski said if it turns out Kohlhepp didn't commit any slayings between the Superbike Motorsports homicides and the most recent ones, it could be he was deliberately trying to avoid detection.

State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry confirmed that until Kohlhepp was charged in Brown's kidnapping, he had no criminal history in South Carolina.

Leporowski said Kohlhepp's mental state likely makes him unable to feel certain emotions that “normal” people may experience.

“There’s a disconnect between him and any appropriate kind of emotional aspect or response to what he’s done," Leporowski said. "He’s expressed remorse, but he can manipulate people. ‘Oh, I’m at a funeral? I should act sad’ and not really be sad. Remorseful? I don’t think so. It’s not genuine remorse. They are not fazed. They don’t have the same level of fear. They don’t have the same emotional reaction as so-called normal people do.”

Like the majority of serial killers, Leporowski said, Kohlhepp is likely “driven by thrill, power and control, often mixed with lust or sexual deviancy.”

STRANGE COMMENTS

Not long after Kohlhepp bought his Woodruff property, a strange series of product reviews began appearing on Amazon from an account that could be associated with Kohlhepp.

The reviews include disturbing comments that may be relevant to the current investigation, something the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office is examining.

“Solid locks ... have five on a shipping container … won’t stop them … but sure will slow them down til they are too old to care,” states a review of a silver lock.

“Keep in car for when you have to hide the bodies and you left the full-sized shovel at home,” says a review of an entrenching tool.

Kohlhepp's neighbors in Moore said he was "cordial," but that they didn't know much about him. Ron Owen said there were women frequently coming in and out of his home who he believed to be employees of Kohlhepp's.

“It's one of those things where now you'll be a little more cautious about your neighbors," Owen said.

SHOCKING DISCOVERY

When deputies broke through several layers of locks on the container on Kohlhepp's property on Nov. 3, they found Kala Brown "chained like a dog" by the neck, Sheriff Wright said. He said she also had restraints around her ankle, and was being held within a metal enclosure that looked like a "shark cage."

Kohlhepp was arrested soon after.

The body of Brown's boyfriend, Charlie Carver, who went missing at the same time, was found in a shallow grave not far from the container on Nov. 4. Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said Carver had been shot multiple times.

The following day, investigators took Kohlhepp back to the property, where he showed them two more gravesites. The bodies within the graves were later identified as Meagan McGraw-Coxie and Johnny Coxie, a married couple from Spartanburg who had been missing since December 2015. Both had been shot, Clevenger said.

But perhaps the most stunning revelation came that evening, when Wright announced that Kohlhepp had confessed to the November 2003 quadruple homicides at Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee, in which Brian Lucas, Scott Ponder, Beverly Guy and Chris Sherbert had been gunned down.

Wright said the confession came about four hours after he allowed Kohlhepp to meet with his mother and stepfather.

In an interview with WSPA, Kohlhepp's mother, who now goes by Regina Tague, said her son told her he became angry after he said the staff at Superbike embarrassed him when he asked for help learning to ride a motorcycle.

“They sent him down a big field with plants this high and he fell off and they laughed and laughed at him,” Tague said.

She said Kohlhepp then asked for his money back, and said he didn't want the bike anymore.

“They told him they’d take it back, but they wouldn’t give him his money back and they were laughing at him,” Tague said.

Tague said she also had asked her son why he'd killed Carver.

“All he told me is that Charlie had a really smart mouth and that he didn’t like it,” she said.