Israel Keyes: An American Serial Killer
On the 1st of February in 2012, Samantha Koenig, 18, was kidnapped while working at her part-time job in Anchorage, Alaska. She worked at a coffee stand called Common Grounds when a man came up to the drive thru window holding a revolver. According to All That’s interesting, the man told Koenig he was robbing the stand and demanded her to turn off the lights. Before anything else could happen, the masked man jumped through the window and bound Koenig before forcing her into his truck and kidnapping her.
Quickly, Koenig’s family and friends became concerned, reporting her as missing the following day.
For a long time there was radio silence from the kidnapper, leaving the family and law enforcement with nothing. It wasn’t until February 24th, over three weeks later, when a message from Koenig’s phone was sent to her boyfriend detailing a package which could be found in a local Anchorage park. Upon investigation by police, a photo of Koenig was discovered. The image showed her posing with a newspaper dating the 13th, 11 days prior. As well as a note demanding a $30,000 ransom.
This giving Samantha’s family and friends the hope they needed, her parents deposited the ransom money into her bank account just as the kidnapper asked. Yet, instead of Koenig being released, alive and unharmed, a dangerous serial killer was discovered; one who possibly killed 11 people dating back to the late 90s.
His name was Israel Keyes.
After depositing the money, the FBI tracked the pinging of the card’s transactions from Alaska all the way to Texas during the month of March. Each time Keyes used the ATM, the FBI were able to obtain footage of Keyes in his disguise. When he reached Arizona, investigators were able to get a good lead after an ATM camera captured video of Keyes’ white ford focus.
Because of this, a Texas state trooper was able to spot the car in a hotel parking lot in the town of Shepard and pull him over while driving on Interstate 10. The owner turned out to be Keyes with Koenig’s cell phone, ATM card, and the same disguise he wore in all the video surveillance.
The worst was yet to be discovered until April 2nd when Koenig’s body was found in Matanuska Lake, reportedly dismembered.
Despite the photo detailing “proof” of Koenig still being alive on February 13th at the very least, the young woman had already been long gone since the early morning of February 2nd
According to Latin Times, Keyes kept her body in a freezer for two weeks while he was on vacation with his girlfriend and daughter. Upon returning home, he planned the ransom note and retrieved Koenig from his freezer in his shed where he applied her face with makeup, braided her hair, and sewed her eyes open using a fishline to make her appear as if she were still alive.
Keyes admitted to all of this after he was arrested, and soon on, he confessed to the murders of the Curriers couple in Essex, Vermont. He gave investigators the details of the location of their remains.
In total, Keyes has admitted to killing “less than a dozen” or 11 victims across 15 years. He never revealed the names of the victims beside the couple, but told investigators he killed five people in Washington: a person in Neah Bay after being discharged from the army in 2001, a couple sometime between 2001-2005, and two separate victims in 2005 and 2006. As well as the murder of a person on the east coast in 2009. The rest of the victims have yet to be identified. Keyes has also alluded to none of their bodies being found.
Details of his early life link him to psychopathy with activities such as killing and torturing animals. Keyes confirmed this while in custody: “I've known since I was 14 that …there were things that — that I thought were normal and that were OK that nobody else seemed to think were normal and OK.”
Ultimately, on December 2nd, Keyes killed himself in his Anchorage jail cell. Prior to committing suicide, he expressed wanting his daughter not to suffer from his actions. This, in part, could be a result of his strong desire for a quick execution before he took action into his own hands.
Overall, what made Israel Keyes a complex case was his lack of specific victim profile. Unlike most serial killers, Keyes chose his victims based on when it was most convenient for him. It didn’t matter whether they were of a certain race, gender, age, or appearance. This, in turn, has made it difficult for investigators to identify his unidentified victims.
