Modern forensic science can help solver murders in a number of unlikely and complex ways, yet one notorious serial killer left an obvious but unlikely breadcrumb trail of evidence for police to find in the form of Amazon reviews.
Amazon has completely revolutionized the world of shopping, giving easy and effortless access to hundreds of thousands of products almost at the drop of a hat.
You can find discounts on some incredible items across the storefront, yet what you might not expect to find is evidence of a serial killer's actions that stretched over a decade before he was apprehended by police.
That was what authorities discovered shortly after real estate agent Todd Kohlhepp was arrested, as an Amazon wishlist linked to his name and account detailed 140 different disturbing reviews of items he seemingly used to perform killings, kidnappings, and torture.
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As reported by the Daily Mail, Kohlhepp was a well known and respective real estate agent in the South Carolina area for several years, yet it was revealed that he'd murdered at least seven people between 2003 and 2016, and had also raped several other women alongside that.
Kohlhepp had already served a prison sentence when he was 15-years-old for kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl, but had portrayed this as an exaggerated misunderstanding after a joyride to anyone who questioned his placement on the sexual offenders registry following his release from prison.
However, upon arriving at his farm in November 2016, police heard banging coming from a 30 foot metal storage container, where they found that Kala Brown - who had been missing for several months - was chained to the wall.
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Brown had witnessed Kohlhepp murder her boyfriend Charles David Carver, and police also found two additional bodies buried on the farm during their search before the real estate agent was arrested, after which he was landed with seven consecutive life sentences.
Among the most chilling aspects of this particular investigation though are the aforementioned Amazon reviews, which provide an insight into the disturbing mind and activities of Kohlhepp's double life as a serial killer.
On one review of a fixed blade, Kohlhepp wrote: "Havnet [sic] stabbed anyone yet...... yet.... but I am keeping the dream live and when I do, it will be with a quality tool like this."
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Another, of an entrenching tool, detailed that he kept it "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."
He also reviewed a high-security master padlock, writing: "Solid locks... have 5 on a shipping container.. won't stop them.. but will sure slow them down til they are too old to care." You can only imagine that these were likely the ones used on the container that kept Kala Brown captive.
It is implied that Kohlhepp was leaving the reviews as early as May 2014, so it's a shock that none of them were flagged up as suspicious and linked back to his account.