SPARTANBURG COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA — A woman missing for months has been found alive, chained up like a dog on an isolated property owned by a convicted sex offender.

Kala Brown, 30, was found by deputies on Thursday when they searched a property owned by registered sex offender Todd Kohlhepp, NBC affiliate WYFF reported.

Brown was discovered when deputies heard banging coming from inside a metal container. She had been held in the container since going missing in August, unable to escape because of a metal chain around her neck.

Brown told investigators there could be four bodies on the property. Her boyfriend Chris Carver, who disappeared around the same time, remains missing.

Investigators also found Carver’s car on Kohlhepp’s property, WSPA reported.

Kohlhepp is likely to be charged with kidnapping and investigators continued to search the property for bodies.

Investigators said they were trying to establish if they had a serial killer on their hands.

The case came to national attention when posts appeared on Carver’s Facebook page that his family suspect were written by someone else. They were later deleted.