TRUE AMAZON HORROR STORY

For years, the sight of the Amazon logo or the mere mention of the names gives me a panic attack. It's not that Amazon did anything wrong to me personally, but I was horrifically traumatized by someone who used weapons and tools they bought from the site. I never saw it coming either. At the time it happened, my boyfriend and I did work on the side together, doing yard work and odd jobs for people in our community. One day, we went out of town to a secluded property where we thought we would be clearing shrubs for a few hours. It was the second time we did a job there, so we weren't worried about anything going wrong. When we arrived, the owner came outside and asked us to come to the backyard. All three of us were standing side by side as he pointed to the shrubs and went on about what we would be doing. While he spoke, I noticed a strange container in the yard. I remember thinking for a second that it was a weird thing to use as a shed. Then, out of nowhere, the man whacked me in the head with a hard object. I was immediately knocked unconscious. After what must have been only a few seconds, I started to come to, but I was severely dazed. There was a loud ringing in my head and a pounding pain. I could barely see anything, but I was able to start hearing again. The sounds from that moment still replay in my head to this day. Eventually, I regained some of my vision. Through the haze, I saw that psycho stabbing my boyfriend. I knew he was dying, but I didn't have time to grieve. The horror was just beginning for me. The monster turned to look at me. Before I was able to get up and run, he charged at me. He put his hand over my mouth and lifted me up off the ground. I fought back as much as I could, kicking and clawing, but I wasn't able to save myself. He dragged me over to the storage container and threw me inside. I still hadn't recovered my strength from getting hit in the head, so I wasn't able to do much but slow him down. The first thing he did was put duct tape over my mouth, then put my wrists and ankles in handcuffs. Finally, he put a collar on my neck with a chain that was bolted to the ceiling. I knew then exactly what kind of hell I was in. I started to panic even more, but it was too late. That sick freak made it abundantly clear: "You're my property now," along with the 100 acres of trees and grass that surround you. From then on, I was held captive in that container. He did whatever he wanted with me. It was unending torture like I never could have imagined. I was chained up in there all the time, except for when he took me out like a dog on a leash and showed me around his property. He even showed me the graves he dug for his previous victims, just to tell me that I'd end up in one right next to them if I ever tried to escape. Mostly, however, I never saw the light of day. I was completely trapped. There was no bathroom except for a bucket, which was just a few feet away from where I slept, which was a dirty dog bed. I was given a few things to occupy myself when he wasn't there, like a couple of books and a few movies on DVD, but that was it. He fed me once a day and kept me malnourished so I wouldn't have the strength to fight him. The chain around my neck was only a few feet long, so he used the rest of the container as a shed. I remember a bunch of firewood and a few tools that were always out of reach. But what I remember most were the piles of empty Amazon boxes. So many Amazon boxes. I knew everything he used against me came in one of those boxes—the knife he used to kill my boyfriend, the locks on the door, the handcuffs, the chains—all of them were purchased on Amazon and delivered to his door. All those stupid smiling arrows were facing me, mocking me, living salt in the wound, and giving me a horrific little stamp to remember my trauma by—that was if I ever got out and survived. For a while there, I didn't think I ever would. It wasn't until two months later that I was finally rescued. I was always listening to the noises from outside, waiting to hear voices or sirens. Then one day, I did. The police were arresting my captor and raiding his house. I started banging on the walls of the shed and didn't stop until I got their attention. The sound of them sawing through the padlocks was music to my ears. At last, I was free, but I would never be the same. The memories of what happened in those two months haunt me every day. The horrible thing is, I wasn't his only victim—I was just the only one who lived to tell the tale. He had other women in that shed and other people he killed. And of course, there's the psychotic cherry on top: he left reviews on all the tools and weapons he bought on Amazon, literally describing how he used them to be a serial killer and kidnapper, and nobody ever thought to find out if he was being serious. The story was inspired by a disturbing Amazon-related incident that happened on November 3rd, 2016. Police discovered 30-year-old Kayla Brown chained inside a shipping container on the property of a man named Todd Kohlhepp. She had gone missing along with her boyfriend, Charlie Carver, for more than two months. Detectives eventually determined that Brown and Carver had been planning to do some work on Kohlhepp's land the day they disappeared. With this information, they obtained a warrant to search Kohlhepp's property and made the horrific discoveries. After detectives heard banging coming from inside a large metal container, they cut it open to find Brown inside, chained like a dog. Carver was nowhere to be seen, and Brown informed police that Kohlhepp had taken him out as soon as they arrived at the property. Kohlhepp had then locked Brown in the shipping container and repeatedly done horrific things to her for weeks. After Kohlhepp's arrest, investigators discovered that he had posted eerie reviews for the tools and weapons that he used in the kidnapping and murders on Amazon. In a review for a small shovel, he'd written, "Keep in car for when you have to hide the bodies and you left the full-size shovel at home." In another review for a padlock, he said, "Solid locks. Have five on a shipping container. Won't stop them, but sure will slow them down till they are too old to care." What was even more disturbing was how Brown wasn't even Kohlhepp's first captive—she was simply the only one who survived. Kohlhepp was later connected to at least two unsolved cases in the area. He has since been sentenced for his horrific actions.