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Freaky Friday Files: The Amazon Killer

ashey9111

CONTENT WARNING: This blog discusses topics that may be upsetting to readers (such as murder and assault). Please read at your own discretion.


Hi friends! Happy Friday. I hope you've had a wonderful week so far. For this week's edition of Freaky Friday Files I thought we could take a look at The Amazon Killer (or Amazon "Review" Killer). I don't want to romanticise this guy in any way but I do think it's an interesting thing to learn about and a way we can learn about the psychology of offender's minds.


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The Amazon Killer


You might be wondering what the h*ck I mean by the Amazon K*ller right? When I first heard about this I was like is it something to do with the Amazon Rainforest or is it to do with the online store? And, it's the latter, but it's definitely not what I expected.


There isn't A LOT of information out there about this guy but here's what we know. Todd Kohlhepp (1971 - ) is a convicted s*x offender, serial k*ller, and mass sh**ter. Between the years 2003 and 2016, he m*rdered 7 people in South Carolina, USA. Additionally, he kidnapped and SA'd at least 2 women. He also claims to have k*lled more victims but we don't know who or if he's telling the truth - often offenders like this "get off" on discussing their crimes and they can exaggerate them to make themselves seem more important or impressive as a serial offender. He is dubbed The Amazon Killer because he would leave reviews on Amazon of products he used for his crimes - this information was found after his arrest. Todd would leave reviews on Amazon as a user named "me". This is an excerpt taken from Wikipedia directly (see below image):

Text about Todd Kohlhepp's arrest highlights reviews on Amazon for items like padlocks and shovels, with jokingly dark comments.
Wikipedia excerpt
Review of SOG Entrenching Tool shows 5 stars, with humorous text suggesting keeping it in the car for emergencies. Black shovel image.
More examples of Reviews he'd written

There are now a lot of documentaries and fictional shows being made about The Amazon Killer - it's interesting to me how we see serial killers in popular culture.


Todd Kohlhepp lived a double life - he had a great career in real estate, was described as a great boss, and won lots of real estate awards. But it wasn't all as it seemed as many people (i.e., those closer to him) said they were deeply disturbed by Todd's behaviour at work. Some of these behaviours included watching p*rnogr*phic material at work, openly discussing s*x convictions, and making gruesome jokes.


As he lived his double life, no one was expecting what happened in 2016 - Todd being caught for at least 7 sadistic m*rders over 13 years. Todd is now imprisoned for life. What led to his demise was when authorities found one of his victims, Kala Brown chained up in a 30-foot-long storage container on his property in August 2016. Brown was chained by the neck and had witnessed Kohlhepp m*rder her boyfriend.


In November 2016, 3 bodies were found on Todd's property in shallow graves.


What leads a man to do something like this? Are we at that whole nurture vs nature debate again? I definitely think it can be a mix of both, but then again I think it's possible that some people are just evil.


Let's take a look at Todd's Life (I'm just going to outline some things here):


  • Todd was born in Florida in 1971

  • Todd's parents divorced when he was 2 years old

  • Todd's mother got custody of him and re-married within a year to another man

  • There were psychological reports that Todd had an unhealthy relationship with his step-dad and wanted to live with his biological dad

  • Todd was ab*suve towards other children at kindergarten

  • At age 9, Todd starting seeing a psychologist and was described as being "pre-occupied with s*xual content" and "explosive"

  • Todd displayed cruelty towards animals, he shot a dog with a BB gun and k*lled a goldfish with bleach (this is awful)

  • He spent 3 months in a psychiatric hospital as he could not get along with other children

  • In 1983, his mother and stepfather separated, so he was sent to live with his biological father in Arizona. Here, he started a hobby of collecting weapons and also his biological father taught him how to make b*mbs

  • Even though he had this bizarre connection with his biological dad, as his dad was preoccupied with entertaining women, Todd became desperate to return to his mum. However, she always found reasons to extend his stay with his dad

  • That brings us to 1987: In November 1987, Todd (15 at the time) k*dnapped a young women Kristie Granado (who was only 14) and SA'd her. Folllowing this, Todd walked Kristie home and threatened to k*ll her family if she told anyone about what happened. Obviously she did because Todd was charged with kidnapping, SA, and committing a dangerous crime against a child. It's really hard to think about something like this happened, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Todd pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and the other charges were dropped (I'm assuming because he was 15 but I'm unsure) - he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and was registered as an SO

  • Todd was diagnosed with BPD - borderline personality disorder

  • The judge in the kidnapping case believed that Todd could not be rehabilitated. However, his lawyer believed he would not harm anyone else in the future. Well, that definitely didn't end up being true but kudos for the criminal defense lawyers)

  • Todd didn't have too many mishaps in prison - some minor violence but nothing major and he was released in 2001 after serving 14 years. He then moved to South Carolina where his mum was living

  • In prison he obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science

  • Following his release, Todd worked as a graphic designer and then in 2008, he had obtained another degree - a bachelor's of science in business administration-marketing

  • Even though he was a registered SO, he still managed to obtain a real estate license in 2006 (he lied about felony charges) and then built his own well-established, successful real estate company

  • His company was shut down following his arrest


So to me that's a lot of nature and nurture - I think we have to consider ALL factors in a case like this. Now that we've talked about The Amazon Killer's life, I want to turn now to his victims because I don't think enough emphasis is ever put on the victims. I'm a strong believer that we should get to know the victims more in cases like this because they deserve their story to be told more than the damn offender.


The Victims


  • 6th November 2003 - At the store, Superbike Motorsport, in Chesnee, a customer found 4 people shot d*ad. These included: owner Scott Ponder (30), service manager Brian Lucas (29), mechanic Chris Sherbert (26) and bookkeeper Beverly Guy (52) - also Scott's mother. At the time of the sh$$tings, authorities believed a g*nman had entered the shop at random and k*lled them. It wasn't until 2016 that they learned it was The Amazon Killer. According to Scott's widow, Todd was a disgruntled customer trying to return a motorbike and the staff laughed at him.

  • 31st August 2016 - Kala Brown (30) and her boyfriend Charles David Carver (32) went missing after they went to remove brush (unwanted vegetation) from one of Todd's properties (I won't go into too much detail here as I talked about these people earlier) but authorities became extra suspicious when it seemed as if Carver's Facebook account was taken over by someone else (i.e., Todd).

  • 12th November 1987 - Kristie Grando (survivor - kidnapped and SA'd)

  • 19th December 2015 - Johnny Joe Coxie (29)

  • 25th or 26th December 2015 - Meagan Leigh McCraw-Coxie (26) - married to Johnny



There isn't a lot more information out there about the victims which is really sad because I'd love to learn about them and I really think we should be doing more to talk about victims' stories rather than romanticising serial k*llers.


Thanks for reading this edition of Freaky Friday Files. I hope to keep bringing you some dark and mysterious topics each week that I can.


Stay safe out there team


Much love,

Ash


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