Body found on property where woman was discovered 'chained up like a dog'

A body has been found buried in a shallow grave on the property in South Carolina where a woman was discovered "chained up like a dog".

The woman was found in a container on the almost 100-acre property of registered sex offender Todd Christopher Kohlhepp in Woodruff on Thursday (3 November).

Following the discovery of the woman in the 30 by 15ft container, Kohlhepp, 45, was arrested by police, who were in searching the area after receiving a tip-off about a sex crime.

Sheriff Chuck Wright told reporters that the deputies found the 30-year-old woman "chained inside the container like a dog" when she began pounding on the walls.

A friend of the women, Daniel Herren, told the Associated Press she had disappeared around 31 August, after going to the property with her boyfriend.

Prosecutor Barry Barnette allegedly said the woman told them she saw her boyfriend shot dead by her captor, but the body found on the property has not yet been identified, and authorities are currently searching the remainder of the land.

The pair's disappearance had gained press attention after it was reported the man's Facebook account has suddenly become active following his disappearance.

The woman's friend Herren told AP of her kidnapper: "He never took the chain off of her, but he was taking her around, let her get, not so much exercise, but let her walk around some. It didn't sound like it was every day. It was kind of sporadic."

It is believed she was given food every day. She "didn't tell us exactly what she was eating. But from what I gathered, it could have been fast food ... It wasn't like he was keeping her alive on bread and water. He was in a weird, sick kind of way being, I guess, kind of humane, as far as feeding her," Herren added.

The woman is believed to be staying with family, having been taken to hospital after police found her.