Serial killer pulled from protective custody after victims’ families protest

The sicko South Carolina serial killer serving life for murdering seven people has been pulled from protective custody and sent to the less cushy confines of general population — a move cheered by victims’ families eager for him to have as rough a time as possible in prison.

Todd Kohlhepp, 47, who kidnapped a woman and kept her chained in a shipping container for two months, had been in protective custody at Broad River Correctional, a high-security men’s facility in Columbia, since his sentencing almost a year ago, despite protests from the families of his victims, WYFF reported.

He was moved to general population this month, the South Carolina Department of Corrections confirmed to Fox Carolina on Monday.

Kohlhepp was arrested in 2016 after a missing woman named Kala Brown was found chained by the neck in a 30-foot-long container on his property. Investigators found the remains of Brown’s boyfriend, Charlie Carver, and of Spartanburg couple, Johnny and Meagan Coxie, buried on his rural 95-acre spread. He also killed four people inside a motorcycle store in 2003.

The former real estate agent pleaded guilty to the seven murders in May 2017, and later wrote in a letter that he has more victims who haven’t yet been discovered.

Brian Lucas, whose son Tom was one of the four people killed at Superbike Motorsports, told WYFF, “That’s what we wanted,” referring to Kohllhepp’s change in status.

Melissa Ponder was seven weeks pregnant when her husband Scott was also killed in the bike shop.

“This is something we wanted all along…” she said. “I feel like he should be in general population. He shouldn’t be protected. This is an answer to one of our prayers. I think he’s going to have a really hard time, as he should.”

Her son Scotty, named after his slain father, told the outlet: “I am glad he’s going to be punished because people in prison can look down on him. I hope he feels bad about what he has done after these people treat him badly for the rest of his life.”

In a chilling letter to The Post last year, Kohllhepp blamed his victims for their deaths, calling them “criminals” and saying he was trying to “save” the woman he viciously imprisoned and raped.

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