Amazon reviews may seem innocuous enough, as the worst-case scenario is usually a product receiving negative feedback, yet Todd Kohlhepp’s reviews were far more sinister. Todd Kohlhepp, known as “The Amazon Review Killer”, made a name for himself as a reviewer of tools — of murder.
Recommended VideosTodd Kohlhepp had an odd way of garnering attention. Some serial killers write letters to newspapers or media outlets, show up at the scenes of their crimes, and participate in other forms of attention-seeking behavior in connection to their dirty deeds. It is a well-documented behavior exhibited by killers such as the Zodiac Killer, and Ted Bundy. Yet Todd Kohlhepp took that concept to a whole new level. Here’s everything you need to know about the notorious Todd Kohlhepp, and how he got the name “The Amazon Review Killer.”
Who is Todd Koelhepp?
Todd Kohlhepp is a Florida native who, by all outside indicators, seemed a normal enough guy. He had two degrees, was a graphic designer, and even owned his own successful real estate firm. Yet beneath the surface, Koelhepp was filled with rage, a rage that led him to act out in horrifying ways. What many of Kohlhepp’s friends and colleagues didn’t know, was that behind his successful businessman mask, he was a murderer.
By the age of 15, Kohlhepp was already a convicted criminal. He had been sentenced to 15 years in prison after the kidnap and rape of a young girl in Tempe, Arizona. He was released in 2001 and began a new life, leaving his criminal history and sex offender status out of all of his new employment applications. Yet his criminal days were far from over. In 2003, after being laughed at in a Superbike Motorsports store, he returned with a gun, killing the owner, the owner’s 52-year-old mother, and two other store employees. Yet he managed to escape justice for this crime, somehow, for nearly a decade.
While murder was a new addition to Kohlhepp’s criminal resume, violence was not. Kohlhepp reported having a very violent and unsettled childhood. His parents divorced when he was two and began shuffling Kohlhepp back and forth. As his anger grew, so did his erratic behavior. He became a known bully who was cruel to other children and animals alike. His father reported that it seemed like the only emotion Koelhepp had was “rage.” By nine years old he was in trouble with school, and by 15 he was incarcerated.
Yet the 2006 murders would not be the only ones associated with Todd Kohlhepp.
Why was Ted Kohlhepp known as ‘The Amazon Review Killer?’
Later that same year, Kohlhepp would receive his real estate license, and odd Amazon reviews would begin to appear from an account, the author labeled only as “me.” The reviews were insidious, with comments on chainsaws such as “Works excellent … getting the neighbor to stand still while you chase him with it is hard enough without having an easy to use chainsaw …” Another stated, “Keep in car for when you have to hide the bodies and you left the full-size shovel at home, does not come with a midget, which would have been nice.” While these chilling statements were initially written off as some sort of prank, the reviews continued to get more violent, as did Koelhepp’s behavior.
In 2016, 32-year-old Kala Brown and her boyfriend, Charles Carver, were hired to clean at one of Koelhepp’s South Carolina compounds. That was the last they were seen. Finally, Spartanburg police came to investigate and found Kala tied up in a metal container on the property. Her boyfriend, she claimed, had been shot in front of her eyes by Kohlhepp. Kohlhepp was arrested, and eventually confessed to two additional murders, those of Johnny Coxie and Meagan McCraw-Coxie, with the bodies located on his property.
Kohlhepp was charged with seven counts of murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of sexual assault. In 2017 he pled guilty, receiving seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Kohlhepp’s story has recently been turned into an Investigation Discovery series Serial Killer: Devil Unchained.
Yet Kohlhepp’s sordid story may not end there. Even more hauntingly, as reported by All That’s Interesting, when Kohlhepp’s mother asked him how many people he had actually killed, he replied, “You do not have enough fingers to count.” That means that there still may be unaccounted-for murders associated with Kohlhepp.
While Kohlhepp is now safely behind bars where he belongs, we may not have heard the last of him. If his confession is true, then there could still be missing people, and murders that have yet to be discovered. Kohlhepp left a trail of death and destruction in his wake, all bizarrely documented via Amazon reviews, earning him his odd title, and an additional one as one of the most sadistic killers in criminal history.
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