Body found on South Carolina property after kidnapping

A handout booking image released on Nov 3, 2016 by the Spartanburg county sheriff's office shows Todd Christopher Kohlhepp, 45. PHOTO: EPA

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Authorities have discovered a body on a South Carolina property where a woman was found chained in a storage container, according to the Spartanburg County coroner.

At least one body was found shortly after noon on Friday on a 100-acre property in the town of Woodruff, northeast of Greenville, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said.

"In (the) beginning stages of investigation of one body,"Clevenger said by email. "No other information available I can release right now."

Investigators with cadaver dogs began searching the property on Thursday after police found Kala Brown, 30, inside the locked container, Sheriff Chuck Wright of the Spartanburg County police department told a news conference on Friday morning.

Brown and her boyfriend, Charles Carver, went missing on Aug 31.

A tip related to the disappearance of the couple, who live in Anderson, about 55 miles southwest of Greenville, led police to the Woodruff property.

Carver, 32, was still missing and police were looking for him and evidence related to the kidnapping, Wright said.

"She (Brown) said that there's four people buried on this property," Wright said.

"I don't know if that's true or not but we're willing to stay here as long as it takes to make sure what she said is either true or not true."

Police on Thursday arrested 45-year-old Todd Kohlhepp, a registered sex offender who works as a realtor, on suspicion of kidnapping.

Wright said Brown and Kohlhepp knew each other and that her abduction was "not a random act." He did not specify how they were acquainted.

Brown, who is being treated at a local hospital, shared information with police during a brief interview, Wright said without elaborating. "We're gonna' let her heal and make sure she's physically and mentally fine," Wright said.

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