Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings/Conspiracy Theories Book II

Serial Killer: Israel Keyes

Israel Keyes (January 7, 1978 –December 2, 2012) was an American serial killer, rapist, arsonist,burglar, and bank robber. Keyes admitted to violent crimes as earlyas 1996, with the violent sexual assault of a teenage girl in Oregon. He committed a long series of rapes and murders until his capture in2012. He died by suicide while in custody, awaiting trial for themurder of Samantha Koenig.

Early life

Israel Keyes was born in Cove, Utah onJanuary 7, 1978, to a large Mormon family, who deconverted from thefaith when he was 3–5, turning instead to radical FundamentalistChristianity he later described as a 'more militant militia sortof church' and 'amish'. He was the second of ten childrenborn to Heidi Keyes (née Hakansson) and John Jeffrey Keyes. Israeland his siblings were homeschooled. When Keyes was between the agesof three and five years old, his family moved to the Colville,Washington area, where they lived in a one-room cabin withoutelectricity or running water. In Colville, Keyes' family becameneighbors and friends with the family of Chevie Kehoe (convicted ofthree 1996 murders). When he was a child Keyes and his familyattended the Ark, a church which taught Christian Identity. As wellthey attended the Christian Israel Covenant Church, another churchwhich taught Christian Identity. Keyes renounced the Christian faithby his teenage years, and in his later teenage years he becameinterested in satanism.

Keyes was also known to have lived inthe Makah Reservation community of Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula.

Military

Keyes served in the U.S. Army from 1998through 2001 at Fort Lewis, Fort Hood, and in Egypt. While at FortLewis, Keyes served on a mortar team in the 1st Battalion, 5thInfantry, 25th Infantry Division. According to his military records,Keyes entered the Army in Albany, New York, on July 9, 1998, and wasdischarged from Fort Lewis on July 8, 2001, at the rank ofspecialist.

Records indicated Keyes was awarded thefollowing military decorations, service medals and awards: ArmyAchievement Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Marksman Badge with RifleBar, Expert Infantryman Badge, and Air Assault Badge.

Former Army friends of Keyes have notedhis quiet demeanor and that he typically kept to himself. Onweekends, he was reported to drink heavily, consuming entire bottlesof his favorite drink, Wild Turkey bourbon. He was also heavily intothe music group Insane Clown Posse and had several large postershanging in his barracks room.

In 2007, Keyes started a constructionbusiness in Alaska, Keyes Construction, working as a handyman,contractor, and construction worker.

Victims

Keyes admitted to investigators that hekilled four people in Washington, claims that are the subject of anactive investigation by the state police and FBI. Keyes did not havea felony criminal record in Washington, although he had been cited inThurston County for driving without a valid license and, in anearlier incident, pled guilty to driving under the influence.Authorities are reviewing unsolved murder and missing persons casesto determine which cases, if any, may be linked to Keyes.

Keyes confessed to at least one murderin New York State. Authorities have not determined the identity, age,or gender of the victim, or when and where the murder may haveoccurred, but regard the confession as credible. Keyes had ties toNew York; he owned ten acres and a run down cabin in the town ofConstable. Keyes also confessed to committing bank robberies in NewYork and Texas. The FBI later confirmed that Keyes robbed theCommunity Bank branch in Tupper Lake, New York, in April 2009. Healso told authorities that he burglarized a Texas home and set it onfire.

Keyes claimed to have killed a woman inApril 2009 in New Jersey and buried her near Tupper Lake in upstateNew York. Keyes also admitted to killing Bill and Lorraine Currierof Essex, Vermont. Keyes broke into the Curriers' home on the nightof June 8, 2011 and tied them up before driving them to an abandonedfarmhouse, where he shot Bill before sexually assaulting andstrangling Lorraine. Their bodies have never been found. Two yearsprior to the Curriers' deaths, Keyes hid a "murder kit",which he later used to kill them, near their home. After the murders,he moved most of the contents to a new hiding place in Parishville,New York, where they remained until after his arrest.

Keyes' last known victim was18-year-old Samantha Koenig, a coffee booth employee in Anchorage,Alaska. Keyes kidnapped her from her workplace on February 1, 2012,took her debit card and other property, sexually assaulted her, thenkilled her the following day. He left her body in a shed and went toNew Orleans where he departed on a pre-booked two-week cruise withhis family in the Gulf of Mexico. When he returned to Alaska, heremoved her body from the shed, applied makeup to the corpse's face,sewed her eyes open with fishing line and snapped a picture of afour-day-old issue of the Anchorage Daily News alongside her body,posed to appear that she was still alive. After demanding $30,000 inransom, Keyes dismembered Koenig's body and disposed of it inMatanuska Lake, north of Anchorage.

An FBI report said Keyes burglarized 20to 30 homes across the United States and robbed several banks between2001 and 2012. He may be linked to as many as 11 deaths in the UnitedStates, and there might be even more victims outside the country.

Investigation and arrest

After the murder of Koenig, Keyesdemanded ransom and police were able to track withdrawals from theaccount as he moved throughout the southwestern U.S. During thattime, in a controversial move, the police refused to releasesurveillance video of Koenig's abduction.

Keyes was arrested by Texas HighwayPatrol Corporal Bryan Henry and Texas Ranger Steven Rayburn in theparking lot of the Cotton Patch Café in Lufkin, Texas, on themorning of March 13, 2012, after he had again used Koenig's debitcard, which he had previously used in New Mexico and Arizona. Keyeswas subsequently extradited to Alaska, where he confessed to Koenig'smurder. He was represented by Alaska federal defender Rich Curtner.Keyes was indicted in the case, and his trial was scheduled to beginin March 2013.

Modus operandi

Keyes planned murders long ahead oftime and took extraordinary action to avoid detection. Unlike mostserial killers, he did not have a victim profile. He usually killedfar from home, and never in the same area twice. On his murder trips,he kept his mobile phone turned off and paid for items with cash. Hehad no connection to any of his victims. For the Currier murders, heflew to Chicago where he rented a car to drive 1,000 miles toVermont. He then used the 'kill kit' he had hidden two years earlierto perform the murders.

Keyes admired Ted Bundy and shared manysimilarities with him: both were methodical and felt a possessionover their victims. However, there are notable differences. Bundy'smurders were spread throughout the country, mainly because he livedin many different areas and not as an intentional effort to avoiddetection like with Keyes. Bundy targeted only attractive youngwomen, while Keyes had no particular type of victim.

Death

While being held in jail at theAnchorage Correctional Complex on suspicion of murder, Keyes died bysuicide on December 2, 2012, via self-inflicted wrist cuts andstrangulation. A suicide note, found under his body, consisted of an"ode to murder" but offered no clues about otherpossible victims.

In 2020 the FBI released the drawingsof eleven skulls and one pentagram, which had been drawn in blood andfound underneath Keyes' jail-cell bed. The FBI believes that 11 isthe total number of victims.