(CNN) -- A South Carolina man accused of killing seven people over 13 years -- including four in 2003 and three others whose bodies were found last year on his property -- pleaded guilty Friday to seven counts of murder.
Todd Kohlhepp, who was arrested in November after police found a woman bound inside a shipping container at his farm near Woodruff, also pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping and a count of criminal sexual assault in South Carolina's Spartanburg County Courthouse.
In a plea deal reached with prosecutors, Kohlhepp would avoid the death penalty and instead receive seven consecutive life sentences, plus 30 years for the sexual assault charge and 30 years for kidnapping.
The deal was read in court, and a hearing on the matter continued Friday morning.
