Todd Kohlhepp

Todd Kohlhepp was born on March 7, 1971, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Regina and William Sampsell. His parents had a troubled marriage and divorced when Todd was still a baby. For many years following that, Todd had no contact with his biological father. His mother married another man when Todd was 3 years of age, and his stepfather made his adoption legal in 1976.

Todd never quite liked his stepfather, and as result, he got beaten up a lot. His mother could not accept this and ended up divorcing and remarrying the same man twice. However, all Todd wanted was to live with his biological father.

The problems at home caused Todd to create trouble in nursery school. As a kid, he showed severe signs of emotional and mental instability. He was violent toward other children and destroyed school property in sudden fits of anger. At the age of 9, he was sent to a mental facility, where it was found that he was “explosive” and already preoccupied with sexual thoughts and desires.

He was excessively cruel toward animals. It is said that he once hunted down a dog with a gun and killed a goldfish. He was hard to control and manage even before reaching his teenage years. Eventually, his mother decided to send him away to his biological father. His father was obsessed with guns and had multiple girlfriends. Todd liked him initially, but he soon got angry with his ways and means. Todd requested his mother to take him back, but it is said that his mother made excuses to extend his stay with his biological father.

Todd was considered a bright student with above-average intelligence.

Todd’s stint with crime started early. He was still a teenager when, in 1986, he decided to kidnap and rape a girl who was a year younger to him. The victim was a 14-year-old girl who lived in Tempe. Todd kidnapped her from her house, tied her with a rope, brought her to his place, and brutally raped her. He further threatened her with a gruesome death if she told anybody about her ordeal, but the rape was somehow reported.

Todd was apprehended by the police, and upon being interrogated, he said he had committed the crime unwillingly. It was his way of rebellion against his abusive father who was mostly absent, even when Todd lived with him. His mother came in support of her son and wrote a heartfelt letter to the probation officer, asking him to be easy on Todd, as Todd was aware of what he had done and felt guilty about it.

The charge of sexual assault was dropped, and Todd was sentenced to prison for kidnapping. He had to be registered as a sex offender and was sent to prison for 15 years. In 1987, a psychiatric exam in prison revealed that he was a man with “superior” intelligence and that his highly “antisocial” personality had caused him to become a menace.

A prison-rehabilitation program had him earning a degree in computer science while in prison. This was supposed to provide him a decent job on being released from prison in 2001, to straighten his crooked sensibilities, and to help make him a decent human being.

He was released from prison in 2001 and moved to Spartanburg soon after. In 2004, he enrolled at the ‘University of South Carolina Upstate.’ One of his teachers claims that Todd was a bright student and that she did not observe any violent streak or anything remarkable in him.

Cherry Laurens, one of Todd’s best friends from the university years, once said that Todd seemed like a decent person and that she found it difficult to believe he could ever commit the heinous crimes he was convicted of later.

In 2006, he became a certified real-estate agent. Prior to that, he had worked as a graphic designer for a while. He bought a home near Moore, and with his above-average intellect and sharp presence of mind, he managed to establish a good real-estate business.

Many of Todd’s friends from those days claim that he was a very hard-working man. They claim that although there was something creepy about him, they had not paid enough attention to it and did not think it was serious enough for them to end their respective friendships with Todd.