Todd Kohlhepp was running a real estate business while carrying out his crimes (Image: Enderley Pictures)
A two-part documentary on Channel 4 delves into the spine-chilling case of a serial killer who left hints about his heinous crimes in Amazon product reviews.
Businessman Todd Kohlhepp posted a series of 140 disturbing reviews on the online retail giant, detailing horrifying uses for items such as padlocks and chainsaws between 2014 and 2016.
Kohlhepp was apprehended in 2016 after a woman was discovered chained up in a shipping container at his South Carolina property following an anonymous tip-off. The woman had been held captive there for two months and alleged that her boyfriend had been murdered in front of her.
His body, along with the remains of a married couple, was later found at Kohlhepp’s residence.
In 2017, Kohlhepp, a property agent, confessed to seven murders committed over a span of 13 years, including four that took place in 2003 at a motorcycle shop. He narrowly escaped the death penalty and was handed seven consecutive life sentences without the chance of parole, reports .
He was handed seven consecutive life sentences (Image: Enderley Pictures)
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An Amazon account named ‘me’ that linked to a wishlist belonging to someone identifying as Todd Kohlhepp provided a ‘digital breadcrumb trail’ for investigators. Reviews associated with the profile detailed chilling acts involving the items and earned him the nickname of the Amazon Review Killer.
So what exactly did he write in those reviews? In a September 2014 review for a Husqvarna 20-inch chainsaw, the killer gave it five stars, writing: “Works excellent. Getting the neighbor to stand still while you chase him with it is hard enough without having a easy to use chainsaw [sic].”
In another disturbing post from the same month, he reviewed a Master Padlock and alluded to using it to detain people in a shipping container. Awarding it five stars, he wrote: “Solid locks. Have five of them on a shipping container. Won’t stop them… but sure will slow them down til they are too old to care.”
The reviews, often five stars, detailed horrific crimes (Image: Enderley Pictures)
He even brazenly commented on a folding shovel, suggesting it was ideal for concealing corpses. His five-star review of the SOG Entrenching Tool stated: “Keep in the car for when you have to hide the bodies and you left the full size shovel at home.”
The following year, he left a review for a black gripping tool, which he starkly described as “blacker than my soul and priced right,” also giving it a five-star rating. And in a knife review, he chillingly remarked: “Haven’t stabbed anyone yet,” but added, “When I do it will be with a quality tool like this.”
The Amazon Review Killer airs on Channel 4 at 10pm on January 6 and is available to stream on 4OD immediately after the broadcast