Samantha Koenig, Most Terrifying 18, went to work on February 1, 2012, just like any other day, but the day ended in disaster.
The young barista was finishing off her shift at the Common Grounds coffee shop in downtown Anchorage, Alaska, when she was approached by a man wearing a ski mask who ordered coffee, a man later identified as Israel Keyes.
Keyes pulled out a revolver and demanded money when Samantha handed him the order, and the terrified teen promptly complied.
After pushing himself inside the stand, Keyes tied the young woman’s hands together with zip ties before forcing her into his white Ford Focus, where she tried and failed to flee the abductor, who held a gun to her head and warned if she tried again, he would murder her.
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With Samantha still bound, Keyes told her that she was being kidnapped for ransom and that if she cooperated, she would be returned to her family safely.
Samantha was kept alive for several scary hours by Keyes, who even drove back to her coffee shop to get her phone so that she could send a bogus text message to her boyfriend, who was supposed to pick her up after her shift.
“Hey, I’m spending a couple of days with buddies, let me dad know,” the text said.
Keyes then drove her to his house, where he bound her in a shed and turned up the radio so no one could hear her scream.
After demanding Samantha’s address, he drove to her house to take the ATM card from her boyfriend’s pickup.
Keyes was challenged by Samantha’s boyfriend while stealing the debit card, who was already on edge after learning Koenig was not at work when he arrived to pick her up, as well as having received the unusual text message from her phone earlier, which had, in fact, been sent by Keyes.
The boyfriend raced inside to get help, thinking he was a random thief attempting to break into his car, and Keyes disappeared.
When he returned to his property, Keyes poured himself a drink of wine and went back to his shed, where he raped a crying Samantha. He strangled her to death after that.
Keyes came back inside, prepared for a cruise to New Orleans that he had arranged ahead of time, woke his daughter for school, and went for the airport.
On February 17, 2012, when Keyes returned to Anchorage, he began preparing a ransom note, but first he chose to take Samantha’s body from the cupboard.
He put cosmetics on Samantha’s frozen face before stitching her eyes open with fishing thread to make her appear alive and taking a Polaroid of her “handling” the newspaper that day.
Before using Samantha’s phone to text her boyfriend, Keyes hid the typed note demanding $30,000 and the faked photos of Samantha in a park under a memorial flyer of a dog named ‘Albert.’
Keyes travelled to Matanuska Lake a few days later, dissected her body, dug a hole in the ice, and discarded her body in the lake.
Samantha’s father, James Koenig, was transferring the ransom money into Keyes’ account at the same time, assuming his daughter was still alive after seeing the horrible photograph. The $30,000 had been graciously given by members of the community.
Authorities were able to determine that the perpetrator was driving a white Ford Focus since he had told her relatives to pay the money into her debit account.
Authorities pulled Keyes over for a traffic stop, where they discovered dye-stained banknotes from a bank heist, a ski mask, a revolver – and Samantha’s phone and debit card.
Keyes was apprehended soon
All of your worst nightmares are personified in Israel Keyes, one of the most horrifying serial killers of the twenty-first century and as near to a real-life horror movie villain as one could get.
Authorities agree that if he hadn’t been complacent and killed Samantha Koenig in his hometown on that fateful day, he would never have been found at all.
Not only did he have a confirmed murder count of three people (with investigators believing there are at least eight more), but unlike some of history’s most feared killers, such as Son of Sam, BTK, and Jeffrey Dahmer, Keyes didn’t target specific types of victims – or even ones in his own area, with the exception of Samanta, his last victim.
He confessed to kidnapping Samantha Koenig from the coffee shop after his arrest. Later, he would provide police more facts — on the condition that they honour one promise: that nothing would be revealed to the press.
What is the explanation for this? He didn’t want his small daughter to know what he did to Samantha.
“I’ll tell you all there is to know about it.” If you like, I can go over it with you in detail. He informed investigators, “I have a lot more stories to share.”
Authorities quickly realised they were dealing with more than just a murderer; they were dealing with one of history’s coldest and most systematic serial killers.
Victims
It was became apparent that Samantha Koenig was only one of many murder victims. According to Keyes’ confession to authorities, the first occurred in Washington state in the late 1990s.
He told authorities that he had killed at least seven other people across the country, though it’s thought that the total number of victims killed by Keyes is closer to 11 — with the only other names revealed (aside from Samantha Koenig’s) being missing Vermont married couple Bill and Lorraine Currier.
On the night of June 8th, 2011, Keyes allegedly stormed into the Curriers’ home, launching a “blitz attack” on the couple, severing their phone connection before entering their home wearing a flashlight and tying them up before transporting them to an abandoned farmhouse.
Bill Currier was shot in the basement with a.22-caliber 10/22 Ruger Charger, and Lorraine Currier was sexually raped and strangled. Their remains were never discovered.
“It is evident from the facts of the case that, although facing death, Bill and Lorraine displayed incredible bravery, extreme dedication, and love for one another,” stated Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan. “They fought till the bitter end.”
Keyes would subsequently reveal that he hid a “murder kit” near the Curriers’ home two years before to their deaths, containing a handgun, silencers, ligatures, ammo, and rubbish bags, and then used the same equipment to kill them.
Modes of Operation | Most Terrifying
Keyes planned his murders ahead of time and took great care not to be discovered. In contrast to other serial killers, Keyes did not have a specific victim profile, claiming to have slain both men and women, but claiming that children and parents were off-limits.
He never killed in the same place twice, and he never killed close to home. He would only pay in cash and turn off his phone during these excursions, and he had no contact with any of his victims.
He would bury a “murder kit” in the intended region once he had decided on a victim, just as he did before the Currier killings. His murder kits have been discovered in Alaska and New York, but he claims to have more in Washington, Wyoming, Texas, and possibly Arizona.
Keyes had previously shown admiration for fellow serial killer Ted Bundy, telling detectives that he “saw himself” in the infamous killer. He did, however, call fellow serial killer Dennis Rader, dubbed BTK, a “wimp” for expressing regret for his crimes.
“[He] didn’t abduct and kill people because he was crazy,” said Anchorage homicide Detective Monique Doll of Keyes. He didn’t abduct and murder people because his god commanded him to or because he had a horrible upbringing.”
“Israel Keyes did this because he got a lot of pleasure out of it, just like a drug addict gets a lot of pleasure out of narcotics.” He was an addict in a sense, and he was addicted to the high he experienced from doing this.”
When investigators asked why he did what he did, Keyes just said, “Why not?”
Death
Keyes committed suicide on December 2, 2012, while incarcerated at the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
A rambling note, later dubbed a “creepy” ode to murder, was discovered beneath his body, offering no clues as to the names of his unidentified victims, instead describing them as “beautiful, imprisoned butterflies.”
“Your face framed in dark locks like a painting, the sun gleamed through highlights of crimson,” another fragment said. What colour will it be, and how straight will it be plastered back with your sweat?”
Most Terrifying , Heidi, and four of his sisters attended a short burial service for him in Deer Park, Washington, on December 10, 2012.
Jake Gardner, the preacher, began the ceremony by noting, “He is not in a better place.”
“He’s in a place where he’ll be tormented for all eternity.”
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