Israel Keyes | |
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Born | January 7, 1978 Richmond, Utah, U.S. |
Died | December 2, 2012 Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. | (aged 34)
Cause of death | Suicide |
Children | 1 |
Details | |
Victims | 3–11+[1] |
Span of crimes | 1996, 2001 – 2012 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | Alaska, New York, Vermont, Washington (Confirmed) |
Date apprehended | March 13, 2012 |
Imprisoned at | Anchorage Correctional Complex, Anchorage, Alaska |
Israel Keyes (January 7, 1978 – December 2, 2012) was an American serial killer, bank robber, burglar, arsonist, kidnapper, and sex offender. He murdered at least three people, is suspected of murdering between 11 and 20 people, and committed dozens of felonies including armed robbery, arson, rape, and burglary across the United States from July 2001 to February 2012.[2]
While awaiting trial, Keyes killed himself by slashing his wrists and hanging himself. Evidence left behind in his jail cell—including a suicide note, drawings of eleven skulls, a drawing of Baphomet, and an inscription of "Corozal" on the cell's wall (all written or otherwise stained with Keyes' blood)—led the FBI to suspect Keyes murdered at least eleven victims in total.[3] He admitted to having committed violent crimes as early as 1996, with the aggravated sexual assault of a teenage girl in Oregon, in a series of meticulous crimes across multiple states that lasted until his capture in 2012.[4]
Israel Keyes was born in Richmond, Utah, on January 7, 1978, the second of ten children for Heidi Keyes née Hakansson and John Jeffrey "Jeff" Keyes (October 4, 1952–November 13, 2002).[5] His parents were members of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from Torrance, California.[6][7]
Keyes and his siblings were homeschooled until 1983. After leaving the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Keyes's father moved the family to a remote plot of land north of Colville, Washington in Stevens County when Israel was 5 years old.[7] Isolated from society, the Keyes family lived in a one-room cabin without electricity or running water[8] on Rocky Creek Road. In Colville, the family attended services at a church called the Ark, which subscribed to white supremacist Christian Identity ideology.[5] Keyes later described the Ark as an Amish-like environment.[9] During this period of attending the Ark, the Keyes family befriended the neighboring family of Chevie Kehoe, who was later convicted for a 1996 triple murder.[10]
The family attended another church in Colville called the Christian Israel Covenant Church that taught British Israelism as doctrine, that miscegenation was abominable and deviant, that Anglo-Saxons were to rule over the perceived inferior races,[11] and that Keyes later alleged to have been militia-like.[11] For years, some of the Keyes children had been forced to sleep in a tent due to their cabin's small size. To survive, the Keyes children were made to hunt their food, chop firewood, and work on local farms to support the family;[9] as a hobby, Keyes hunted "anything with a heartbeat" and freely admitted to skinning a deer alive to his peers at the church. As a result, Keyes was ostracized and actively avoided by other children who attended the Christian Israel Covenant Church, with one girl recounting that Keyes's presence "made my skin crawl."[11]
"I've known since I was 14 that there were things that I thought were normal and [okay] that no one else seemed to think were normal and okay. So that's when I just started being a loner. [...] People found out about some of the stuff I did. Like my parents, and parents of other kids who would hang out with me. They would find out about some of the stuff I did. And that's when I just started doing stuff by myself exclusively."
Keyes during an interview with the FBI.[12]
As a youth, Keyes admitted to shooting at neighbors' houses with his BB gun, starting fires in the woods, and breaking into houses for fun.[9] He also occasionally broke into houses with another youth, who subsequently avoided him after witnessing Keyes shoot an animal.[13] On one occasion, Keyes stole several guns from his neighbor's residence and was forced to apologize by his parents after their discovery of the cache.[9] On occasion, Keyes—who stood 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall by age 14—would also sell stolen guns to local adults.[13]
Around this time, Keyes's parents provided shelter to personal friends; in the presence of their son and daughter and Keyes's sister, Keyes tied a cat to a tree with a parachute cord and gored it with a .22 revolver. The cat then began circling the tree before crashing into it and vomiting; Keyes allegedly chuckled before noting that the boy—who later informed his father—had vomited in response to the incident. Keyes had an epiphany in which he felt that he was different from his peers, who ran away from him.[11] Upon this realization, he kept his increasingly antisocial behavior to himself, withdrawing socially due to being ostracized.[14][9][15] In addition, Keyes's mother began to notice "some troubling signs" in Keyes during this period, when he began tuning into various "radio stations and different things."[16]
By his teenage years, Keyes had become a skilled and proficient carpenter, building his first wooden cabin for his family at age 16.[5] He also began working for a Colville contractor from 1995 to 1997.[5] Around this time, Keyes kept a journal from early childhood littered with Bible scriptures, documenting daily sins for which he felt shame such as lusting after his girlfriend.[17] Soon thereafter, the family relocated to Smyrna, Maine, where they collected sap for maple syrup production in a mostly Amish community. Due to their mother's religious zealousness, the Keyes children were forced to secretly flee their parents to watch movies with friends and were forbidden to learn musical instruments as they were "against God." Sometime during this period, Keyes renounced his former Christian faith.[18]
On one occasion, Keyes declared his atheism to his parents—both of whom he had previously made tireless and constant efforts to please[17]—after an intense argument. This led his parents to evict their eldest son from their residence, shunning him for apparent blasphemy; they then instructed his younger siblings, who looked up to Keyes, to never have contact with him again.[18] Keyes then developed an inordinate interest in Satanism, with plans of committing a ritualistic murder.[9]
In the summer of 1997 or 1998, Keyes committed a sexual assault on a teenage girl who had been tubing with her friends down the Deschutes River in Maupin, Oregon. Although this was not his first sexual assault, Keyes admitted that he stalked her from a tree line before "very violently sexually assaulting" the girl—whom he estimated to be between 14 and 18—at knifepoint. Originally planning to murder her as part of a Satanic ritual, Keyes let her go in the river tube he had abducted her from.[19] "I was too timid. I wasn't violent enough," he told investigators. "I made up my mind I was never going to let that happen again."
Israel Keyes | |
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Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/ | U.S Army |
Years of service | 1998–2001 |
Rank | Specialist |
Unit | 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division |
On July 9, 1998, Keyes relocated and enlisted in the United States Army in the state of New York, where he served as a Specialist in Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment. He passed a rigorous month-long preliminary course for United States Army Rangers training.[20] He was stationed at Fort Lewis and Fort Hood, also spending some time abroad. While stationed in Sinai, Egypt, Keyes befriended several soldiers, informing one of them that he would "like to kill" him.[19]
While at Fort Lewis, Keyes served on a mortar team in the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Former Army friends of Keyes have noted his quiet demeanor and habit of keeping to himself. On weekends, he was reported to drink heavily, consuming entire bottles of his favorite drink, Wild Turkey bourbon.[21] Keyes was also a fan of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse and displayed posters of the musical act in the barracks.[2]
In February 2001, Keyes was arrested for driving under the influence in Thurston County. Pursuant to a plea agreement, he was fined $350.[22] Keyes was awarded an Army Achievement Medal for his meritorious service as a gunner and assistant gunner from December 1998 to July 2001. Keyes was then honorably discharged, and he relocated to Neah Bay, Washington,[19] where he lived in the Makah Reservation community of Neah Bay, on the Olympic Peninsula.[23] In 2007, Keyes started a construction business in Alaska,[24] called Keyes Construction, while working as a handyman, contractor, and construction worker.[7][25] When asked if his murders started after his discharge from the Army, Keyes cryptically replied, "Yeah, Neah Bay's a boring town."
Keyes targeted random people all across the United States to avoid detection with months of planning before he committed a particular crime. He specifically frequented campgrounds and isolated locations. He claimed to only use guns when he had to and preferred strangulation; this was due to the pleasure he derived from witnessing victims lose consciousness in the struggle. He claimed to not kill children or parents of children, primarily because of his daughter, whom he feared finding out about him and his crimes.[15] However, police and FBI investigators were skeptical of this claim and suspected Keyes of killing several teenagers and children.[20]
Keyes did not admit to any murders during his three years in the United States Army, but he did admit to twice attempting rapes of women, once with a sex worker while on leave in Egypt, and another time with a college student he met in Israel.[20] He is believed to have resumed his killing spree in 2001 following his discharge. Keyes had ties to New York; he owned 10 acres (4.0 hectares) and a dilapidated cabin in the town of Constable. He also confessed to committing bank robberies in New York and Texas.[26] The FBI later confirmed that Keyes robbed the Community Bank branch in Tupper Lake, New York, in April 2009.[27] He also told authorities that he burglarized a Texas home and set it on fire.[4]
An FBI report stated that Keyes burglarized twenty to thirty homes across the United States and robbed several banks between 2001 and 2012. He is believed to have been responsible for as many as eleven deaths in the United States and potentially even more victims outside the country.[28] Keyes planned murders long ahead of time and took extraordinary action to avoid detection. Unlike most serial killers, he did not have a victim profile, stating that he chose victims randomly.[29] On his murder trips, he kept his mobile phone turned off and paid for items with cash. He had no connections to any of his known victims. For the Currier murders, Keyes flew to Chicago, where he rented a car to drive 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) to Vermont. He then used the "murder kit" he had hidden two years earlier to execute the murders.[30]
Having read Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit in his youth and continuing to meticulously study serial killers, Keyes idolized Ted Bundy and felt that he shared many similarities with him. Both were methodical and felt as though they possessed their victims despite their difference in victim choice and modus operandi.[30]
Keyes even went as far as to imitate Bundy's court escape and was immediately seized by guards. He also admired and studied other serial killers, yet actively shunned media attention for his crimes as he was fearful for his family and being labelled a "copycat" for his admiration of Bundy and other murderers.[50] Keyes called Dennis Rader a "wimp" for apologizing in court and showing remorse for his crimes[15] but expressed admiration for serial killers "that haven't been caught."[51]
When asked in an interview about Robert Hansen, Keyes replied enthusiastically, stating, "Yeah, I know all about him," before continuing, "I probably know every single serial killer that's ever been written about. It's kind of a hobby of mine."[52] When FBI agents informed him of the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting he inquired as to the status of the shooter. Keyes had also expressed mild interest in the mass murder's perpetrator, James Holmes.
After Koenig's murder, Keyes demanded ransom money, and police were able to track withdrawals from her account as he moved throughout the southwestern U.S.[25] During that time, the police controversially refused to release surveillance video of Koenig's abduction.[53] Keyes was arrested by Texas Highway Patrol Corporal Bryan Henry and Texas Ranger Steven Rayburn in the parking lot of the Cotton Patch Café in Lufkin, Texas, on the morning of March 13, 2012.[54][55] Investigators had circulated a lookout bulletin for the suspect's car, which had been used at ATMs to withdraw money from Koenig's account. Keyes's car matched this description. Keyes was stopped after he drove slightly over the speed limit.[20] His vehicle was searched after officers spotted cash stained with bright ink, indicating a dye pack from a bank robbery. Koenig's ATM card and cell phone were also discovered in Keyes's car.
Keyes was subsequently extradited to Alaska, where he confessed to the Koenig murder. He was represented by the Rich Curtner, Federal Public Defender for Alaska. Keyes was indicted in the case, and his trial was scheduled to begin in March 2013.[56] While incarcerated, Keyes spoke to investigators several times over a period of months.[20] He cooperated at first to an extent, confessing to some of his crimes, and stated a wish to be executed within a year. Keyes said he wanted to avoid publicity due to the negative attention his young daughter might face but largely stopped cooperating after his identity was discussed in the media.[20] On Wednesday, May 23, 2012, Keyes attempted to escape during a routine hearing. He used wood shavings from a pencil to pick his cuffs.[20] US Marshals used a taser to subdue him.
While being held in jail at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on suspicion of murder, Keyes managed to conceal a razor blade in his cell. He was not allowed razor blades, as he was under security restrictions of using an electric razor under supervision.[20] He died by suicide on December 2, 2012, via cutting his wrists and attempted strangulation.[57][58][59] A suicide note, found under his body, consisted of an "ode to murder" but offered no clues about other possible victims.[60] In 2020, the FBI released the drawings of eleven skulls and one pentagram, which had been drawn in blood and found underneath Keyes' jail-cell bed after his suicide. One of the drawings included the phrase "WE ARE ONE" written at the bottom. The FBI believes the number of skulls correlates with what are believed to be the total number of his victims.[61]
Keyes has been the subject of multiple books. Multiple true crime podcasts have discussed him, including True Crime Bullsh**, which focuses exclusively on Keyes and his victims. The name for the podcast comes from a quote from Keyes in one of his interviews with the FBI, "My concern — the problem is nowadays, uh, the more stuff my name is attached to the more likely it is that somebody’s gonna try to do some kinda stupid freaking TV special or, you know — you know how it is. Nowadays like with all this true crime bullshit that people are obsessed with."[62] Keyes is also the subject of the documentary Method of a Serial Killer released in 2018 by the Oxygen channel.[63]
Most of the FBI interrogations were released publicly by Anchorage Daily News to SoundCloud that same year. They were removed from SoundCloud in 2019 but have since become available on YouTube.