Two more bodies have been unearthed at the home of a South Carolina sex offender who has admitted killing a total of seven people, police have said.
The remains of a couple in their twenties were found at a property belonging to 45-year-old Todd Kohlhepp, days after police freed a woman who was found chained up "like a dog" inside a metal storage container there.
Married couple Meagan Leigh McCraw, who was 25 years old and her husband, Johnny Coxie, 29, are thought to have died of gunshot wounds.
Ms McCraw is thought to have been shot in the head and Mr Coxie the torso, coroner Rusty Clevenger said.
The couple, who lived in Spartanburg in South Carolina and had a child together, were identified through matching the remains with their dental records and with photographs of their “extensive tattoos”, Mr Clevenger said.
Authorities said Kohlhepp confessed to a quadruple killing at a motorcycle shop in 2003 and led them to the grave sites of the couple.
Estate agent Kohlhepp was detained in early November after the sheriff’s department investigated a tip-off by a sex-crime investigator and heard banging from a storage container on the property.
They found a 30-year-old woman inside, chained by the neck. She had been reported missing in August along with her boyfriend, 32-year-old Charlie Carver.
She told authorities Kohlhepp shot her boyfriend dead in front of her and that four more bodies could be buried on the property. Mr Carver's remains were discovered in a shallow grave the next day.
The woman, who was employed by Kohlhepp, said she arrived at his property to help clean it with Mr Carver when the 45-year-old pulled a gun on them, according to reports.
Kohlhepp has been charged with murder and kidnapping and has been denied bail. Authorities said additional charges against him are likely to be filed.
