Israel Keyes is the most prescient maniac in history

Israel Keyes is a cold-blooded and ruthless killer and rapist from the United States, with at least 12 victims. But he entered the history of crime not thanks to the number of victims, which looks very modest. Keyes is considered the most resourceful maniac. No one before him had thought of using “murder kits” and passing off corpses as living hostages.

Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and one of the most comfortable settlements located in the Arctic. But still in winter it looks empty and dull. When daylight hours are reduced to a minimum, the city streets become empty. Only occasionally do police cars and lonely pickup trucks of townspeople pass by, driven out onto the frost-free streets by some urgent matter.

On February 1, 2012, a lone Chevrolet pickup truck pulled up to a coffee stand on Tudor Road. Inside, 18-year-old Samantha Koenig was just finishing her shift and getting ready to go home. 34-year-old Israel Keyes got out of the car. He watched the kiosk for several days and became convinced that the time 10 minutes before closing was ideal for his plan.

Keyes was carrying a thermos, a compact Taurus revolver, plastic zip ties and a portable scanner that listens to police radio frequencies. It is clear that the man did not come to the kiosk to drink coffee. He was planning a robbery, but when he saw Samantha Koenig, he changed his plans.

Israel Keyes entered the cramped space of the kiosk and asked the girl to pour coffee into his thermos. Then he pulled out a weapon and ordered Samantha to take all the money out of the cash register and give it to him. When Koenig followed his instructions, Keyes tied her hands behind her back with plastic zip ties. He asked the victim if she had time to press the panic button and, having received a negative answer, warned that he would kill her if something went wrong.

The kidnapper ordered the girl to lean on him as if she were drunk. In this position they left the kiosk. Halfway to the car, Keyes saw a Canon camera lost by someone in the snow. When he bent down after her, Samantha broke free and tried to run. But the man quickly overtook her and poked her in the ribs with a revolver. After that, the girls behaved quietly, even when they passed by a group of young people in the parking lot.

Israel Keyes brought the girl to his home. His car drove into the yard in full view of neighbors walking their dog. Waiting for Keyes at home was his wife and 10-year-old daughter, who were already asleep. The man took Samantha to a shed behind the house and carefully tied her up. He then sent messages from the victim's phone to her father and boyfriend. It looked like she was offended by something and decided to go to another city to visit friends for a few days.

In a few hours, Keyes and his daughter were scheduled to set off on a two-week trip. He called a taxi at 5 am and packed a bag of things. Having finished with urgent matters, Israel returned to the barn. He came up with a plan in his head that lifted his spirits.

In the morning, Israel Keyes and his daughter left for vacation. While they were enjoying the trip, panic gripped Anchorage. In a city with a population of 300 thousand people, no one remembered such treacherous kidnappings. Samantha's father and boyfriend, having received messages from her phone, immediately guessed from the style of what was written that they were written by someone else. First, the police and city residents took over the search, and a couple of days later the FBI got involved.

Investigators had no evidence at their disposal. All that fell into their hands was video footage from a surveillance camera. It showed a man leading Samantha, who appeared to be drunk, through the parking lot. And two weeks later, her relatives were contacted from the abducted woman’s phone. An unknown person sent them a photo of the girl. Samantha looked into the lens with wide open eyes, and held a fresh newspaper in her hands. Thus, the kidnapper showed that the girl was alive. He demanded that a ransom of $30,000 be transferred to her bank account.

Samantha's father immediately realized that something was wrong with his daughter in the picture. She looked very unnatural. But, nevertheless, he complied with the requirements and transferred the money. Meanwhile, the police and FBI received a lead. Now they knew that the criminal had taken possession of Koenig's bank card, and it could be traced.

Special capture groups in different settlements of Alaska sat and waited for the command. But money began to be withdrawn in small amounts from ATMs in Arizona and New Mexico. The local police were not prepared for this. While the cops arrived at the scene, Keyes managed to escape. But they soon got lucky. In Texas, 6 thousand km from Anchorage. The patrol happened to be near the place where Koenig’s map “lit up.” At the scene, law enforcement officers saw a white Chevrolet pickup truck, which appeared in the video footage.

The man who withdrew the money was detained. As you may have guessed, he turned out to be 34-year-old former military man Israel Keyes. In Anchorage, he worked as a mechanic and laborer on construction sites. Texas police acted within their authority. The man was arrested and extradited home to Alaska. He was accused of fraud with bank cards.

In Anchorage, the police and FBI were waiting for Keyes, who were more interested in the fate of Samantha Koenig, and not in the money from the card. Interrogating Israel was not easy. He constantly joked, dodged and gave out information bit by bit, in exchange for coffee, cookies, cigars and other pleasant little things.

But it soon became clear that Keyes killed the girl shortly after the abduction. He then placed the corpse in a refrigerator in the barn. After that, he calmly left to travel with his daughter. After returning, the killer decided to demand a ransom. To take that same photo with the newspaper, he took out the frozen body and made it up. Keyes even did the corpse's hair to make it look natural.

After taking the photo, Israel dismembered the body and threw its parts into a hole in Lake Matanuska north of Anchorage. The killer accurately named the place and the remains were immediately found. The criminal behaved as if he had considerable experience in such actions. Therefore, FBI agent Jolene Gaudin continued the interrogations. Keys opened up about his life, filled with terrible atrocities.

Israel Keyes was born into a Mormon family. Since childhood, he grew up in an atmosphere of racism and intolerance towards people with different beliefs. As a teenager, Keys became involved with skinheads. Two of his friends soon killed a man and ended up behind bars. After school, Israel himself had a strong quarrel with his parents and joined the army. There he became a convinced atheist. In 2000, the man was demobilized and began working in the construction industry.

Keyes committed his first crime between 1996 and 1998. He raped a tourist girl in the forest who was lagging behind the group. He let his victim go and then worried for a long time, fearing that he would be found. He swore to himself that he would never let his victims live again. To avoid getting caught, Israel Keyes traveled long distances to hunt women.

He usually attacked his victims at their home. The maniac had carefully prepared himself beforehand. The standard of murder he developed amazed investigators. Having chosen a victim, Keyes buried a “murder kit” near her house. It was a plastic bucket or box containing things necessary for the criminal. The kit included a shovel, plastic bags, money, a flashlight, various weapons, a saw to dismember the body, and bottles of Drano cleaner to clean up the crime scene.

Based on Keyes' testimony, police found two such kits, in Alaska and New York. The maniac also admitted that he made similar hiding places in Washington, Wyoming, Texas and Arizona. Having hidden the set, Israel returned to this place after many weeks or even months to commit another murder. At the same time, he robbed banks, since his activities in different parts of the United States required certain financial investments.

Agent Jolene Gaudin believes that the maniac killed at least 12 people. But by the time the investigation was completed in the fall of 2012, only two crimes had been solved - the murder of Samantha Koenig and the Currier family. Bill and Lorraine Currier died on June 8, 2011 at their home in Vermont. Keyes flew from Anchorage to Chicago and then drove 900 miles to take down a middle-aged couple.

He ambushed the couple's home and cut the telephone wire as darkness fell. He then broke into the house through the garage and kidnapped Bill and Lorraine. Israel planned to take his victims to an abandoned house and rape and kill them there. His plan was partially successful, and the maniac was able to deliver the victims to the place. But there Bill began to scream and struggle. Furious that things didn't go according to plan, Keyes beat the man to death with a shovel and strangled his wife with a rope. Then he shot Bill in the head with a pistol.

The maniac hid the bodies so well that they could not be found. Nothing remained of the crime scene - the abandoned house was soon demolished. But the details given by Israel directly indicated that he had in fact killed the Curriers. Keyes turned out to be a very restless prisoner. He attempted to escape from the Anchorage Correctional Center several times.

Convinced that he could not escape, Israel Keyes committed suicide in his cell. He cut his veins with a blade that he got somewhere during a walk and then hanged himself. The maniac's body was found a few hours after his death. The security guard who was supposed to monitor the killer's camera was negligent in his duties and was chatting on social networks all night. On the table in the cell they found “Ode to Murder,” written by Keys before his death. In it, the maniac recalled the brightest moments of his terrible life and relived them.