Meagan Leigh McCraw-Coxie

In December 2015, the lives of a young Spartanburg, South Carolina couple were tragically cut short, their disappearance a mystery that would unravel into a story of unimaginable horror nearly a year later. Meagan Leigh McCraw-Coxie, a 26-year-old White woman, and her husband, 29-year-old Johnny Joe Coxie, vanished, leaving their family consumed with worry. Meagan’s mother had recently bonded her out of jail for what Meagan said was a job opportunity. The couple, who had at least one child and were known to panhandle, then disappeared. Their families reported them missing on December 22, 2015, after losing all contact.

For eleven agonizing months, their whereabouts remained unknown. The break in the case came not from a lead about the Coxies, but from a separate, terrifying incident in November 2016. On a 95-acre property in rural Woodruff, South Carolina, investigators responding to a tip about a missing couple discovered a woman chained inside a metal storage container. The rescued woman told a horrifying story: the property owner, Todd Kohlhepp, had shot and killed her boyfriend and she believed other bodies were buried on the land. This led Spartanburg County Sheriff's investigators to launch a massive search of the property.

The search soon confirmed the worst fears. On November 6 and 7, 2016, authorities unearthed two bodies from shallow graves. Using their extensive tattoos for identification, the Spartanburg County Coroner confirmed the remains belonged to Meagan and Johnny Coxie. An autopsy determined Meagan died from a single gunshot wound to the head, while Johnny had been shot in the torso. They had been buried on the property for approximately eleven months.

Kohlhepp, a 45-year-old real estate agent with a previous felony conviction as a sex offender, was arrested. During questioning, he confessed to killing the Coxie couple, providing chilling details of their final days. He told investigators he had hired the couple to do some work on his property. He murdered Johnny around December 19, 2015, shortly after they arrived. He then held Meagan captive for nearly a week, raping her before killing her on or around Christmas Day, 2015.

Kohlhepp’s confessions did not end there. He also admitted to a long-unsolved quadruple homicide from 2003 at Superbike Motorsports in Chesnee, revealing details only the killer would know. In total, he confessed to murdering seven people. Investigators found an arsenal of weapons on his properties, which he had acquired illegally due to his felony status. Authorities also discovered disturbing, joking-style product reviews he had left on Amazon for items like shovels and padlocks, hinting at his crimes.

In May 2017, to avoid the death penalty, Todd Kohlhepp pleaded guilty to seven counts of murder, as well as kidnapping and criminal sexual assault charges. A judge sentenced him to seven consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 60 years. He is currently serving his sentence at a maximum-security prison in Columbia.

The families of Meagan McCraw-Coxie, Johnny Coxie, and another victim, Charlie Carver, later filed a lawsuit against Academy Sports for negligently selling firearms to a straw purchaser who supplied Kohlhepp with his weapons. In November 2023, the families reached a $2.5 million settlement with the company. While the criminal case is closed, the pain for Meagan's family endures, their questions about her final days answered in the most brutal way imaginable.