It can take time, and patience, to catch a serial killer when they’re laying low. But when one flew so low under the radar, it took the world by surprise. Not only because he went unnoticed for so long, but because no one can ever be sure of his total number of victims.
Israel Keyes was born on January 7th, 1978, in Cove, Utah. He was the second of ten children born in a large Mormon family who were homeschooled. Keyes’ parents, Heidi and John, did not believe in the governmental interference in family affairs, in the public school system, or in modern medicine.
At the age five, Keyes’ parents decided to reject Mormonism, and moved away from Utah to the community of Colville, Washington. There, the family lived in a one-room cabin. They did not have electricity, or running water.
In Colville, the Keyes family attended church services regularly. They attended both the Ark, and the Christian Israel Covenant Church. This church was known for its white supremacist Christian Identity ideology, and the Keyes absorbed the teachings like a sponge. They also befriended the family of Chevie Kehoe, a white supremacist who was later convicted of three murders in 1996.
As a child, Keyes was known to break into his neighbours’ homes, and committing petty theft. He would steal guns, as he loved hunting, and enjoyed ‘pursuing anything with a heartbeat’, and torturing animals. As a teenager, Keyes announced to his family that he was renouncing his Christian faith. Instead, his interests turned to Satanism, though it doesn’t seem he practiced.
Between the years or 1998 and 2001, Keyes served in the United States Army. He was stationed in Fort Lewis, Fort Hood, and Egypt. Keyes was quiet, and often kept to himself, but he was also known to drink heavily. His favourite drink was Wild Turkey bourbon.
In 2007, after living for a time in Washington, Keyes moved to Anchorage, Alaska, where he began a construction business. He also worked as a handyman, contractor, and a construction worker. He also tended to travel across the United States. He called these trips his “business trips”.
For years, Keyes flew under the radar. He was an unassuming man, and kept to himself. But what he was doing was planning, meticulously. He was planning, and plotting, and making sure that he could never be traced. While on his “business trips”, Keyes was often careful to turn off his mobile phone, so it couldn’t be traced or tracked.
What Israel Keyes was doing was travelling across the United States, and committing murders.
He did not adhere to a particular victimology. He would target anyone at random. If the urge struck him, he would find a victim. Keyes claimed that he liked to look for his victims in isolated locations, or campgrounds. He preferred to gain control of his victims through fear, threatening them with a gun, and then he would strangle them. He never went after children, as he had a daughter, and this was his limit.
For years, Israel Keyes got away with murder. Until 2012.
On February 1st, 2012, Samantha Koenig was working in a coffee kiosk in Anchorage, Alaska. It was a late shift, and she was expecting her boyfriend to pick her up after work. However, when he arrived at the coffee kiosk, the lights were all off, and she was nowhere in sight.
He called Samantha’s phone multiple times, to no avail. Hours later, he received a text from Samantha. The text said something along the lines of Samantha wanting to get away for a while, as she was tired. This didn’t make sense to her boyfriend, or her family. This move was entirely out of character for Samantha. They called the police, and reported Samantha as a missing person.
When police began their investigation, they were pleased to note that the coffee kiosk had surveillance on the inside. Upon viewing the footage, they saw that at around 8:00 PM on February 1st, Samantha was tending to a customer. The customer then made her turn off all lights, and instructed her to lie down on the floor. The customer, a man, then climbed in through the window, and walked Samantha out to his vehicle.
Valiantly, Samantha broke free, and ran from the man, but he caught up to her, and threw her in his truck before driving away. No one saw the altercation.
Israel Keyes then drove Samantha to his property, where he tied her up and left her in a shed. He told her that he wanted her for ransom money. To accomplish this, he needed her debit card, PIN number, and her mobile phone. The phone was still at the coffee kiosk, she told him, but the card was in her boyfriend’s truck.
Keyes then forced her to give him the PIN number to the card, and her boyfriend’s address. Receiving the information, he then drove to the coffee kiosk, and retrieved the phone. Still, no one saw him.
Then, he drove to the address Samantha had given him, and spotted her boyfriend’s truck in the driveway. Silently, he broke into the truck, and stole Samantha’s debit card. This time, he nearly got caught. Samantha’s boyfriend caught him, and yelled at him. Then, he ran back into the house for help. When he came back out, Keyes was gone.
Keyes then tested the card and PIN number to make sure they worked. They did. With the required items in his possession, Keyes returned to the shed where Samantha was being kept. He sexually assaulted her, killed her, and then left her in the shed. The following day, Keyes, his girlfriend, and his daughter, went to New Orleans where they left on a two-week cruise in the Gulf of Mexico.
Two weeks later, Keyes, now back in Alaska, returned to the shed. The next phase of his plan was about to begin.
In the shed, Keyes applied makeup to Samantha’s face, and sewed her eyes open with a fishing line. He then took a photo of Samantha with a four-day-old issue of the Anchorage Daily News. Keyes pinned this image to a billboard, then sent a taunting text to her boyfriend from her phone with the location.
Keyes then returned to the shed, dismembered Samantha’s body, and disposed of her in Matanuska Lake.
Having received the strange text, Samantha’s boyfriend and her father immediately called the police. They all arrived at the location of the billboard, and found not only the photo, but also a ransom demand for $30,000, to be deposited into the account associated with Samantha’s debit card. Police immediately requested assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Police gathered their resources, and Samantha’s father deposited approximately $5,000 into her account. Police gave the bank strict instructions to inform them immediately if and when the card was being used.
Hours later, Keyes, covering his facial features, went to an ATM and made a maximum withdrawal of $500 using Samantha’s card. Police were notified, but he was gone by the time they arrived.
This pattern would repeat, until, week later, on March 7th, 2012, they received notice that Samantha’s card had been used in Wilcox, Arizona. A few days later, it was used again, this time in Lordsburg, New Mexico. Police traced the cards next movements to Humble, Texas, and then Shepherd, Texas.
Keyes had been careful while using Samantha’s card, but he’d made one mistake. In Arizona, surveillance at the ATM machine that he’d used managed to capture images of the car Keyes was driving: a white Ford Focus. Quickly, law enforcement in Texas, and its surrounding states were notified to be on the lookout for the vehicle.
On March 13th, 2012, a Texas Highway Patrol officer and a Texas Ranger spotted the Ford Focus in the parking lot of the Cotton Patch Café, in Lufkin, Texas. They staked out the car, waiting for the driver to come out of the restaurant. When the driver returned, he was questioned.
The man was behaving oddly, which prompted the officers to investigate further. Inside the vehicle, they found Samantha’s debit card, and her phone. Israel Keyes was placed under arrest.
After his arrest in Texas, Keyes was extradited to Alaska. Upon his arrival there, he freely admitted to murdering Samantha Koenig, and informed law enforcement as to the location of her body. He was indicted for her murder by a grand jury, and his trial was set for March of 2013.
While in custody in Alaska, Keyes tried to control the situation. He told investigators that he wanted to cooperate, but only if he was guaranteed the death penalty, and a quick execution date, as well as reassurance that there would be no publicity as to his crimes. He didn’t want his daughter finding out about what he’d done.
Keyes took pleasure in taunting investigators. He informed them that he had killed four people in Washington State, but would not disclose their identities, or the locations of their bodies. He repeatedly told investigators that none of his victims’ bodies’ had ever been found – they were all listed as missing persons.
Keyes also informed them that his first planned attack had occurred in 1997 or 1998 in Oregon. He had abducted a teenage girl, sexually assaulted her, and intended to kill her. She convinced him to let her go. Keyes referred to this as a mistake, stating: “I wasn’t violent enough.” Keyes never identified this survivor.
In addition to this confession, Keyes also confessed to committing his first murder in 1998. He did not disclose the location, though he did say he did not kill while he was in Army.
Following his discharge in 2001, Keyes resumed his meticulous planning and plotting and killing. He confessed to a murder in New York State, where he had ties to a property in the town of Constable. Some believe that this may be in reference to the disappearance of Suzanne Lyall, a college student in New York who disappeared from her college campus after getting off the bus on her way back to her dorm from work.
As if teasing law enforcement, Keyes confessed to funding his “business trips” by committing bank robberies, and petty theft by breaking into houses, just as he’d done as a child. The FBI were able to confirm that in April of 2009, Keyes robbed the Community Bank in Tupper Lake, New York.
Around this same time, law enforcement believe that Israel Keyes murdered Debra Feldman in New Jersey, but buried her near Tupper Lake, New York.
Later, Keyes admitted to having murdered Bill and Lorraine Currier in Essex, Vermont. To get there, he flew to Chicago, then rented a car to drive the 1,000 miles (approximately 1,600 km) to Vermont. There, he scoped out the area, looking for his victims at random.
On June 8th, 2011, Keyes broke into their home, where he subdued them, tied them up, and then abducted them. He drove the couple to an abandoned farmhouse. He then shot and killed Bill, sexually assaulted Lorraine, and then strangled her.
To prepare for his attacks, Keyes planned meticulously. All across the United States, on his “business trips”, Keyes would bury buckets in random locations. These buckets, his “kill kits”, contained guns, zip ties, and various other items that would assist in his plans for abduction and murder.
In Vermont, Keyes dug up his “kill kit”, and then targeted the Curriers at random. After the murders, he moved his “kill hit” to Pariahville, New York. Keyes told law enforcement where to find it. The bodies of Bill and Lorraine Currier have never been recovered.
On May 23rd, 2012, during the course of a routine court hearing, Israel Keyes attempted an escape. He broke his leg irons, and then jumped over the railing. He was recaptured quickly after being subdued by a taser.
Keyes continued to communicate with police, but never offered any kind of tangible detail. He ceased his cooperation when he discovered that his identity had been released, and discussed, in the news media relating to the case.
On December 2nd, 2012, Israel Keyes was found dead in his cell by suicide. He left a suicide note, which has often been described as an “ode to murder”. This note did not disclose any details in relation his crimes, or the identities of his victims.
In 2020, the FBI released some information in relation to Israel Keyes, hoping the public may have information about his movements, or his crimes.
While in prison, Keyes drew 11 skulls and one pentagram. The drawings were done in blood, and were found beneath his suicide note. Law enforcement believe that the 11 skulls may represent 11 potential victims of Israel Keyes. One of the drawings had the words “WE ARE ONE” along the bottom.
The FBI asks that if anyone has any information in regards to Israel Keyes, call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or submit an online tip at https://www.fbi.gov/tips.
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Sources:
FBI reveals new evidence in hopes of identifying unknown victims of serial killer – Peter Van Sant – CBS News
Israel Keyes – Sara Kettler – Biography.com
Israel Keyes is the most terrifying serial killer you’ve probably never heard of – Jessica Lynch – The Brag
Israel Keyes: ‘The Most Diabolical’ Serial Killer You May Not Have Heard Of, Who Stumped the FBI – Laura Dorwart – A&E
The FBI Managed To Keep This Serial Killer Under Wraps, But A Chilling New Book Reveals All – Leah Carroll – Refinery29
Crime Junkie podcast – SERIAL KILLER: Israel Keyes
Israel Keyes Wikipedia page
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