Body found near where woman was chained in metal storage container

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WOODRUFF, S.C. (AP) -- The Latest on the investigation after a missing woman was found chained inside a storage container (all times local):

4 p.m.

People are praying at a chain link fence bordering the rural South Carolina property where a woman was found chained in a container and the search for bodies continues.

Tina Gowan of Pauline knelt Sunday before a bouquet and burlap cross weaved into the fence. She says she's praying for the families, law enforcement and for healing.

Todd Kohlhepp is charged with kidnapping a woman found in a locked container Thursday. A body excavated Friday has been identified as her boyfriend. Kohlhepp showed authorities Saturday what he says are the gravesites of two more victims. He also confessed to a 2003 quadruple murder.

Gowan says she's thankful the woman was awake and had the strength to yell when officers arrived. Gowan grew up in nearby Moore, where Kohlhepp lived.     

Frances Bradley lives near the 95-acre site. She says she thanked God for answering prayers in solving the cold case and "giving us good out of this." Sunday marks the 13-year anniversary of four people being gunned down at a motorcycle shop elsewhere in Spartanburg County.

A backhoe and dump truck were briefly brought on to the property Sunday. 

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11:45 a.m.

A judge has denied bond for a man charged with a 2003 quadruple slaying and more recently holding a woman captive on his property.

Todd Kohlhepp appeared before a magistrate judge in Spartanburg on Sunday and was denied bond. Magistrate Judge Jimmy Henson said a circuit court could revisit the issue of bond later.

Kohlhepp wore an orange jumpsuit and declined to speak when Henson offered him the chance to make a statement. He didn't have an attorney.

Family members of victims of the 2003 slayings were there.

Kohlhepp is charged with four counts of murder in the shooting deaths more than a decade ago at Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee. The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office said in an investigative report filed Saturday that he confessed to the killings.

He is also charged with kidnapping a woman and keeping her chained on a rural property. Her rescue this week led to the break in the murder case.

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Related: Missing SC woman found alive, chained up in metal storage container


10:30 a.m.

Another person whose family members died in a 2003 quadruple slaying says the unexpected arrest of a suspect in the case will bring the families peace.

Todd Kohlhepp is scheduled to have a bond hearing Sunday on four counts of murder in the killings more than a decade ago at Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee, South Carolina.

Terry Guy spoke with reporters outside Spartanburg County jail on his way to Kohlhepp's hearing. Guy's wife and stepson were among those killed in 2003.

Guy says Kohlhepp's arrest means his relatives and the families of others killed can now finally be at peace.

 He said, "I'm just so relieved."

Authorities say Kohlhepp confessed to the unsolved killings after a woman was found chained up on his property this week in a separate investigation

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9:30 a.m.

Parents whose son was slain in a 2003 quadruple murder are speaking out after an unexpected break in the case.

Todd Kohlhepp faces four counts of murder in the killings more than a decade ago at Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee, South Carolina.

Authorities say Kohlhepp confessed to the unsolved killings after a woman was found chained up on his property this week in a separate investigation.

Tom and Lorraine Lucas lost their son, Brian, who was the service manager gunned down at the store. They spoke to reporters ahead of a bond hearing for Kohlhepp on Sunday, the 13th anniversary of the killings.

Standing with his wife outside the Spartanburg County Detention Center, Tom Lucas said he wants to be in court to look the man accused of killing his son in the eye.

 Tom Lucas said, "We want to see the face. I want to look at him, and I want to try to use that in healing."

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7:45 a.m.

The man arrested after a woman was found chained on his property in rural South Carolina has been charged with multiple counts of murder.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff's website on Sunday says Todd Kohlhepp faces four counts of murder and a single kidnapping charge. A bond hearing has been set.

Sheriff Chuck Wright says Kohlhepp confessed Saturday that he was the shooter who killed four people at a motorcycle shop in 2003. Wright says Kohlhepp also showed law enforcement officers Saturday the gravesites of two of his other victims buried on his 95-acre property near Woodruff.

That's in addition to the body found Friday at the site. Wright and Coroner Rusty Clevenger identified that victim as 32-year-old Charles Carver, the boyfriend of the woman found in a locked metal container Thursday.

Wright says "God answered our prayers" in solving the 13-year-old cold case.

The sheriff says it's possible more bodies will be uncovered. 

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12:00 a.m.

The wife of one of the four people killed in a 2003 shooting at a South Carolina motorcycle shop says the man who authorities say confessed to the killing was a disgruntled customer.

Melissa Ponder told The Associated Press she was resigned that her husband Scott's death would never be solved before getting a phone call Saturday evening from one of the case's original detectives.

Ponder says the detectives told family members of all four victims the news at the same time -- Todd Kohlhepp confessed to the killings.

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright says along with the killings of the people found at the Superbike shop, Kohlhepp showed officers where two other people are buried on his property where they originally found a woman chained inside a container Thursday. A body found Friday has been identified as her boyfriend.

Ponder says detectives told her Kohlhepp was an angry customer who had been in the shop several times.

The Superbike killings stunned the Chesnee community, with rumors like they were committed by a Mexican drug gang or were part of a love triangle crushing the families of the victims.