Israel Keyes

Israel Keyes was born on January 7, 1978, and grew up in what FBI records describe as an "Amish" type upbringing, as the second oldest of nine children.[2] He enlisted in the United States Army and served from July 9, 1998, through July 8, 2001, including a posting with an infantry brigade at Fort Lewis, Washington.[1] He was processed out of the service in Albany, New York.[1]

After leaving the Army, Keyes settled in Neah Bay, Washington, where he remained from 2001 through 2007.[1] By 2005, an associate described him as working in sales.[2] He subsequently relocated to Anchorage, Alaska, where he lived at 2456 Spurr Lane from approximately June 2009 until his arrest in March 2012.[2] The FBI also described him as a sometime construction worker at the time of his arrest, when he was 34 years old.[1]

The FBI characterized Keyes's crimes as meticulously planned rather than spontaneous, even when victims were chosen at random.[1] A central element of his method was the use of buried supply caches containing weapons, money, and tools in locations around the country.[4] The FBI said the money came from bank robberies and that the caches reduced the risks of carrying weapons on airplanes or using credit cards that could connect him to a particular crime or location.[1]

The Currier crimes illustrate his use of long-distance travel: Keyes flew from Alaska to Chicago, rented a vehicle, drove approximately 1,000 miles to Vermont, and selected the couple at random.[1] He said he carried a backpack containing premade ligatures, rope, duct tape, latex gloves, a headlamp, a propane stove, and water bottles during those crimes.[5] Searches of his Anchorage residence recovered or documented knives, ropes, electrical cords and wire, disguise clothing, bondage straps, fishing weights and cables, a curved suture needle, fishing line, and plastic sheeting.[2] Keyes also admitted to multiple kidnappings, bank robberies, home invasions, and arsons.[1]

The FBI publicly identified three homicide victims to whom Keyes confessed: Samantha Koenig and William and Lorraine Currier.[1]

Samantha Koenig — On the evening of February 1, 2012, Keyes abducted 18-year-old Samantha Tessla Koenig from the Common Grounds coffee stand on Tudor Road in Anchorage and took her to a white 2004 Chevrolet Silverado registered to him.[2] He took her to a shed at his Spurr Lane property, where he sexually assaulted and killed her, then photographed her body to make her appear alive.[2] He subsequently dismembered her remains and disposed of them in Matanuska Lake.[2]

On February 24, Koenig's boyfriend received a text message directing him to a sign at Conner Park, where investigators found a photograph of Koenig and a ransom note demanding $30,000.[2][3] The note included a stolen Credit Union 1 VISA debit-card number, and $5,000 was later deposited into the account.[3] Keyes made six successful withdrawals totaling $2,440 across Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; other withdrawal attempts were declined.[3]

On April 2, 2012, an FBI underwater search team recovered Koenig's remains beneath the ice at Matanuska Lake at the precise location Keyes had identified.[3] Presumptive blood tests at the shed returned positive results on the rear wall, a green rope, and a garden sprayer.[3]

William and Lorraine Currier — On June 8, 2011, Keyes flew from Alaska to Chicago, rented a car, and drove approximately 1,000 miles to Essex, Vermont, near Burlington, where he selected the Curriers at random.[1] He cut their telephone line, entered their home at night, restrained them, and transported them to an abandoned farmhouse.[2] He confessed to shooting William Currier in the basement and strangling Lorraine Currier after sexually assaulting her.[2] He said he concealed their bodies beneath bags, shelving, and ductwork and poured approximately one gallon of Drano over each body.[2]

The farmhouse was later demolished, and its debris was taken to the Coventry Landfill in Vermont. Investigators dug out and sifted the farmhouse basement in April 2012 and searched the landfill from May 7 through July 20, but they did not recover the Curriers' remains.[3]

After disposing of Koenig's body, Keyes traveled from Anchorage to Las Vegas and rented a white Ford Focus, continuing to use Koenig's stolen debit card at ATMs across the Southwest and in Texas.[3] Investigators connected the vehicle to withdrawals from the ransom account, and Texas authorities stopped him in Lufkin, Texas, on March 13, 2012.[3] A search of his wallet recovered the stolen Credit Union 1 debit card.[3] He was arraigned in Anchorage on March 27, 2012, on an access-device-fraud charge and was subsequently charged federally with kidnapping resulting in death.[3]

Following his arrest, the FBI conducted more than 40 hours of recorded interviews with Keyes.[1] He explicitly admitted murdering Koenig in early April 2012 and identified the location of her remains.[3] He confessed to the Currier murders on April 6, 2012.[2]

Keyes also admitted to bank robberies in Tupper Lake, New York, on April 10, 2009, and Azle, Texas, on February 16, 2012, as well as a burglary and arson in Aledo, Texas, on the same day as the Azle robbery.[5] For the Azle robbery, he described taping human hair inside a helmet to make his hair appear longer, later remarking that "human hair is free if a person just takes it."[5] He also identified a weapons cache near Blake Falls Reservoir in upstate New York. Investigators recovered firearms, gun parts, ammunition, and related items, and an FBI latent-print examination identified a fingerprint on the bucket lid as Keyes's.[3]

Throughout his interviews, Keyes controlled the flow of information to investigators, appearing to plan each disclosure and using possible additional confessions as leverage.[1][3] He told investigators he had been "two different people" for "fourteen years," that he had "lots more stories to tell," and that he had "many cards to play."[3] When asked during one interview to identify the location of one victim, he paused and responded, "I'll give you two."[2] The FBI characterized his behavior as deliberate and said he sought to control the timing, publicity, and legal consequences of his disclosures.[1]

The FBI publicly stated that it believed Keyes had 11 victims, based primarily on his own statements, but several alleged victims remained unidentified.[1] In a November 29, 2012, interview, Keyes discussed a body allegedly submerged in Lake Crescent with ropes and at least four or five milk jugs used as weights. The interview transcript does not establish that the account was independently verified or that a body was recovered.[6] FBI records document confessions involving only three named homicide victims: Koenig and the Curriers.[3]

Keyes died by suicide while incarcerated on or about December 2, 2012.[3] The federal indictment was dismissed following his death, but the FBI continued investigating possible additional victims, reviewing evidence, and comparing forensic material with his records.[1][3] Because Keyes died before disclosing all the information he implied he possessed, the full scope of his crimes has never been definitively established.