Todd Christopher Kohlhepp (né Sampsell; born March 7, 1971) is an American sex offender, mass shooter, and serial killer convicted of murdering seven people in South Carolina between 2003 and 2016.

[3][4] Later psychological reports found that Kohlhepp had an unhealthy relationship with his stepfather and often wanted to live with his biological father, whom he had not seen in eight years.

Despite this, their relationship deteriorated due to his father's absence with a number of girlfriends, and Kohlhepp repeatedly expressed a desire to return to his mother, though she reportedly made excuses to extend his stay.

[2][5][8][10][11] According to court records, Kohlhepp was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and was noted as having an above-average IQ of 118 (percentile rank 88.5 at σ ⁠= ⁠15).

[13] During his imprisonment, Kohlhepp was initially cited for violations that included some violent behavior; after turning twenty, however, he had no other records of disobedience.

[5] In August 2001, Kohlhepp was released from prison after serving fourteen years and moved to South Carolina, where his mother was living.

Kohlhepp transferred to the University of South Carolina Upstate the following year and graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration-marketing.

[15][16] Despite being registered as a sex offender, Kohlhepp was able to get a real estate license on June 30, 2006, after lying about the felony charge on his application.

[5][12][19] A customer who sold her home to Kohlhepp remembered him as extremely outgoing and professional, but noted that he would often talk about his firearms and sometimes subtly use sexual innuendo during their conversations.

[21] On November 6, 2003,[15] a customer found four people shot dead inside Superbike Motorsports, a motorcycle shop in Chesnee.

Before Kohlhepp confessed to the shootings in 2016, investigators believed that the gunman, armed with a pistol, entered the shop from the back and killed Sherbert as he worked.

[24][25][26] On August 31, 2016, Kala Brown, 30, and her boyfriend Charles David Carver, 32, went missing after they went to remove brush from one of Kohlhepp's properties.

Investigators had tracked her down after tracing the couple's last known cellphone signals, after which they heard banging noises coming from inside the container.

[17][32] They were later identified as husband and wife Johnny Joe Coxie, 29, and Meagan Leigh McCraw-Coxie, 26, residents of Spartanburg, who were reported missing on December 22, 2015.

He later confessed to the Chesnee shootings and the murders of the Coxies[8] in exchange for allowing him to talk to his mother, give her a photograph, and transfer money to the college fund of a friend's child.

[4] A search of Kohlhepp's property uncovered numerous weapons, including 9mm pistols fitted with suppressors, semi-automatic rifles, and an undetermined amount of ammunition.

Because there was no record of a background check under Kohlhepp's name for the purchase of a firearm, investigators believe he likely acquired the weapons illegally.

[37] Shortly after Kohlhepp's arrest, authorities in Spartanburg County discovered a number of seemingly joking product reviews for various items such as padlocks, shovels, tasers, and gun accessories on retail website Amazon.com written by a user known simply as "me".

[4] On November 18, 2016, it was reported that the Tempe Police Department had begun an investigation into Kohlhepp's claim, searching through unsolved homicides in the past three decades.

[53] Dustan Lawson, a man accused of buying firearms and silencers for Kohlhepp despite knowing he was a convicted felon, faced federal charges.