48 Hours - Tracking the Murders of Israel Keyes

Episode Date: May 10, 2020

The FBI believes skulls drawn in blood are the number of victims murdered by a prolific serial killer. Inside the FBI search to identify them. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Once I started, you know, there was nothing else like it. What are you holding in your hands now? These are items that were seized out of Israel Key's jail cell.

Has the public ever been shown this before? No. These skulls are drawn in blood. The blood. Where do you believe the blood came from? I think it was Israel's blood. Israel Keyes is a serial killer who hid his crimes for many years. He was meticulous, he was incredibly bright, and he was incredibly lethal. And the significance of the 11 skulls, what is that? We believe that 11 is the total number of victims.

I don't think anybody in his family, his friends, his relationships, his spouses, had any idea what he was doing. It gives me the chills to think I had talked to him, had known him. That's where I got my kicks, I guess, was being able to live two different lives and have no one have a clue. Unless you heard him talk about the murders, you would not know that he was a serial killer.

With Kizit, it wasn't about a particular victim. It was about a location. Why did you pick these folks? I didn't. It was just random. Samantha Koenig is an 18-year-old girl who was raised and lived in Alaska. She went to high school here. She worked at the coffee stand. She was a young girl working her job.

I'm terrified of what she went through. At this point, Samantha is just, she's making coffee. She has no idea her entire life is about to change in a horrible way. No. People never expect stuff to happen to them. He would wait until he had the victims under control and then that's when I think the real monster came out. There's a specific way I wanted things done, a very specific way I wanted things to happen, and I have the whole thing planned out. I have everything I need to do it.

He loved to travel. Every time I'd drive, I'd be looking for places, good places to do it. He loves to travel. Every time I drive, I'd be looking for places, good places to do stuff. You'll see locations in Seattle, Gresham, Oregon, Port Angeles, Washington. He would rent cars, he would drive thousands of miles, he would take people from one state and he would bury them in other states. San Diego, Tijuana, Salt Lake City, Utah, Cleveland, Ohio, Edmond, Washington, Fort Wayne, Indiana. There are potential victims wherever Israel Keyes traveled. Do you believe that this weapon somewhere in the United States may have been used to kill someone? It's possible.

I had big plans for that gun. We know that there are families out there whose loved ones died at the hands of Israel Keyes. Right now, we're just trying to find them. Thank you. In February of 2012, the residents of Anchorage, Alaska, were shaken by a frightening mystery. It basically looked like someone just literally walked out of their shift. It was the evening of February 1st when 18-year-old Samantha Koenig vanished after her night shift at this roadside espresso stand. She went to work that day expecting to go home, go home to her boyfriend and her dad. Michelle Tasker is a family friend. Her boyfriend was supposed to pick her up that night. But that didn't happen. Multiple calls went unanswered. Several hours later,

her boyfriend's cell phone lit up with a message from Samantha's phone. The text messages said something to the effect of, I'm going on vacation, I'm tired, you know, that she was just going away, and she'd just left. But we knew she hadn't left. That wasn't her character. So they knew something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

And the next day, investigators watched it all unfold on security camera video. FBI Special Agent Jolene Godin soon joined the team trying to find Samantha. What are we looking at? This is Samantha. 8 p.m. is closing time, so she's doing all of her normal things that she would do to get ready for closing. That's when a masked man walked up to the window. He wanted much more than just coffee. So Samantha's over at the window here. She handed something to the customer.

She backs up, and this is where you see Samantha do this. You see her raise her arms. When you raise your hands like that, it's usually because somebody's doing this. Something, exactly. What started as an apparent robbery suddenly took a darker turn. She turns the lights off. Do you think her assailant said turn off the lights? Yes. At this point, you see an individual jump in through the window. Right through the window? Right through the window. Have you ever seen something like that before? No.

Have you ever seen something like that before? No. And then you see two individuals walk away. It looks like an abduction. As the news spread... Just please help find my daughter. ...Samantha's father, James Koenig, went public. I don't know if my daughter's being fed, taken care of, if she's still alive, if she's getting any sleep. daughter's being fed, taken care of, if she's still alive, if she's getting any sleep.

As time went on, there was a tremendous amount of fear about what happened and who was in our community that could do something like this. The FBI joined the Anchorage Police Department in looking at family and friends. Did you have a sense you were getting to know this young woman? Yes. yes. FBI special agent Kat Nelson learned everything she could about Samantha and the people she knew. She seemed like she had a very good spirit, like she was a very kind individual, caring about others. You could tell that she had a lot of friends that cared about her a lot. Samantha's boyfriend was quickly ruled out as a suspect. There was no obvious lead in this case and it posed so many

barriers for us in the beginning as to where to start looking for her. Ten days after Samantha disappeared, a vigil was held. Hundreds hundreds of people came what else can we do flyers hand out flyers ask around if you know somebody who knows something get them to talk we just need some so it's that one lead that one tip that's going to bring her home as friends and family fan out across Anchorage to try to find Samantha, the question is, could she also be out here somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness? Then finally, after three agonizing weeks... That's when the text came in that said there was a ransom note and where to go.

The text to Samantha's boyfriend was as mysterious as her disappearance. It said to look in Connor Park under pick of Albert. It also said, ain't she purdy. We just got up and just ran. And everybody took off to the park. One of the girls kind of noticed something on the bulletin board. I walk up, and there's a picture of a missing dog named Albert, and right underneath is a plastic bag

with what looked like a clipping and a photograph in it. Didn't touch it. We called the police. That note contained a picture of Samantha and a long, typed-out message that talked about putting $30,000 into Samantha's bank account. That account was connected to Samantha's debit card, which the kidnapper had. And the photo, which has not been made public, was of Samantha holding a newspaper. I believe it was dated February 13th, so well after Samantha's abduction. So the hope, of course, is that Samantha is alive.

Samantha's dad deposited $5,000 into her account. Several hours later, a man makes an ATM withdrawal using Samantha's card. He has a covering over his face, dark clothing. He has gloves on his hands, so there's very little you can tell. Investigators rushed to the ATM, but were too late, missing the suspect by minutes. One week later, another ATM withdrawal is made. This one is very different. This withdrawal occurs in Wilcox, Arizona. Nearly 4,000 miles away.

And then a short time later, we have one in Lordsburg, New Mexico, then Humboldt, Texas, and then Shepherd, Texas. He's heading east. He's heading east. We can see that he's moving across the I-10 corridor. But the suspect had made a crucial mistake. During the ATM withdrawal in Arizona, a white Ford Focus can be seen in the background. That information was pushed out to law enforcement across that entire corridor. Then, on March 13th, a state trooper notices a vehicle matching that description in a Texas hotel parking lot.

And a short time later, a man comes out, he gets in the vehicle, and he starts to drive away. The trooper follows. And once that vehicle exceeds the speed limit, he has his probable cause to pull that vehicle over. And when he asks the driver for identification... He ultimately presents him with an identification card for Israel Keys. And who the heck is Israel Keys? Israel Keys was not even on our radar.

That trooper's instincts were spot on. A search of the car uncovers Samantha's ID, her debit card, her cell phone, and a gun, along with a disguise that matched the man in the ATM photos. At this point, we believe we have our guide. But now the FBI wanted to know, what had Israel Keys done with Samantha Koenig? The race is on because we still don't have Samantha. We have him, but we don't have Samantha.

So if Samantha is alive, then we really need to find her quickly. And we really need to find her quickly. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and

defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows

early and ad-free right now. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. In March 2012,

two weeks after Israel Keys was arrested in Texas, he was extradited to Anchorage, Alaska. At the point, we didn't really know, you know, was he the one who took and kidnapped Samantha Koenig, or was he someone who was just using a credit card that he found? FBI agent Jolene Godin says investigators initially didn't know what to make of Keyes. What was it like to look into the eyes of Israel Keyes? I spent a lot of time with Israel Keyes. You could

be in a room with him and it was like you were in the room with your neighbor. And then there were other times where the hair on the back of your neck stands up a little bit. Investigators scrambled to learn everything they could about Israel Keyes, the man. Did he have a criminal record? I believe he had a DUI, but that was it. No, no crimes of violence in his history, no sex offenses in his history, nothing like that. He's a 34-year-old man from Alaska who has a construction business, small kind of quiet life. Even one of my colleagues at the U.S. Attorney's Office used him as a handyman. One of your colleagues hired him to do some work?

Sure. This is someone you felt comfortable giving a key to your house so he could go there when you weren't there to fix things. An Anchorage resident since 2007, Keyes lived in this house with his girlfriend and his 10-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. Neighbors say he didn't stand out. Nothing suspicious at all except for that he worked hard. But investigators had suspicions and one very

pressing question. We started off with where is Samantha? No one knew if Samantha Koenig was still alive. Anchorage assistant U.S. attorney Frank Russo and his colleagues knew time was of the essence. He would have been sitting right here. So they confronted Keyes about Samantha. Once we heard what he had to say, it went from being a very happy day as a prosecutor to one of the worst I've ever had. We ended up hearing a confession. Keyes admitted he had killed Samantha. We wanted to find out why he did what he did. that appear in a confession. Keyes admitted he had killed Samantha.

We wanted to find out why he did what he did. But before he would say more... One of the lawyers got you this. Keyes began what would become a pattern for giving information. He wanted an Americano coffee from Starbucks, he wanted a Snickers bar, and he wanted a particular cigar. Ultimately, Keyes lays out the entire story of how the abduction of Samantha occurred. The video of that confession has never been made public. In it, Keyes said he pointed

a.22 caliber pistol at Samantha. I remember asking him, you know, why did you pick that coffee cart at that time? And he just simply said, well, it was open late. Meaning he chose her completely at random. Keyes said as they walked off into the night, Samantha broke free and ran. He chased after her and tackled her. He indicates that his plan is to hold her for ransom, suggesting to Samantha that if she cooperates, he'll release her, she'll be able to go home.

It was all a lie. Instead, Keyes drove Samantha to his home, chained her up in his shed, and sexually assaulted her. Keyes then strangled her to death. Keyes' family, the FBI later determined, knew nothing about the horrors that had just taken place. He was talking about the murder of this girl like someone else would discuss what they had for lunch. Within hours of murdering Samantha, Israel Keyes left Anchorage for a Caribbean vacation with his family. And where did he leave Samantha? Where was she? Where was her body? Samantha was in the shed at his family. And where did he leave Samantha? Where was she? Where was her body? Samantha was in the shed at his house. Keyes didn't return until two weeks later. It was then that he posted the ransom note and texted Samantha's boyfriend, knowing she was already dead. Keyes told investigators

he had driven some 35 miles north of Anchorage to Matanuska Lake, where over the course of three trips, he disposed of Samantha's remains. He had drilled a hole and went ice fishing in the lake, and he had tied it up with bailing wire and weights, and he had placed parts of her body down the lake as he fished. I remember asking him, did you catch any fish? And he said, yeah, I caught fish. And I said, well, what did you do with the fish? And he said, well, I took them home and ate them.

And for me, that just turned my stomach. It took the FBI's dive team 10 hours to recover Samantha's body. I remember I was the one who told both Samantha's mom and dad and that was that was a bad day. Koenig family friend Michelle Tasker. He has a daughter and you did that to somebody else's daughter. I don't understand. daughter and you did that to somebody else's daughter. I don't understand. After talking to Keyes, investigators realized they had a depraved killer on their hands and that Samantha was likely not Keyes' only victim. I'm two different people basically. How long have you been two different people? Long time. 14 years. And that tells you what?

That he had been a serial killer for 14 years. Special Agent Catherine Nelson knew every aspect of Key's life needed to be examined. Cleveland, Ohio. So she started a deep dive into his paper trail. Cell phone records, financial records, anything we could find out about his background, his travels, anything that would just tell us a better story about him. It was starting to look like Keyes could have victims across the United States. We know that Israel Keyes traveled to places such as Washington, California, Wyoming, Texas, Vermont. such as Washington, California, Wyoming, Texas, Vermont.

We'll get the whole story eventually. And he teased his interrogators with details of other murders. I'll tell you about everything or give you every single gory detail you want. But before Keyes would agree to do that, he wanted something extraordinary in return. I want an execution date. For you? Yes. And he said, I want a promise that I'll get the death penalty. If you do that, then I'll tell you about all the people I killed. What we said is, the more murders you give us, the more likely it is that they're going to want to impose the death penalty on you. But without a guarantee of death, Keyes was reluctant to say anything more.

So give me something to work with, hold a bunch of your cards back, but give me a card. Finally, Keyes folded. All right, I'll give you two bodies and a name. Can you imagine being inside the same room with Israel Keys? Watch more of the FBI interrogation at 48hours.com. Hey, what are you doing?

I'm good. You know how much you're going to eat? No, I'm fine. Candy bar? They are odd moments to see. Investigators casually bonding with their interview guest. their interview guest. Get him a cigar. So we got you over here. Awesome. Wow, a cigar for nothing.

In some ways to the outsider, it looked like you guys were in a way befriending a serial killer. Yeah. Can you give me like an hour on the internet for me? Sure. But there was method to this madness, says Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Russo. It was just the act that we had to put on when we went in that room.

It was just trying to kind of do anything we could to get information. Israel Keyes voluntarily granted two dozen interviews to various investigators in the seven months after his arrest. Is it true he could have walked out at any time? Sure. FBI Special Agent Jolene Godin. I think he wanted to tell the story. He wanted to talk about what he did. He enjoyed the rush.

He enjoyed the thrill of it. That strategy paid off when Keyes gave up the names of two victims, a married couple more than 4,000 miles from Anchorage in Vermont. He gave us the names of the people. We wrote them down. And what was the couple's name? Bill and Lorraine Currier. Do your intel guys immediately try to find out if there's a missing couple?

Absolutely. What do you learn? Right away that Bill and Lorraine are missing. And have been missing for some time. Correct. Bill and Lorraine Currier are a couple that lived in Essex, Vermont. Nothing stands out really about them. They were just kind of living their life. The Curriers vanished on a night in June 2011, leaving their family bewildered. We love them both with all our hearts. We're devastated by their disappearance and in fear for their lives. After interviewing neighbors, police drew this sketch of a possible suspect. Police say this composite sketch of a man who may have been seen driving the couple's

dark green Saturn sedan is a big break. But the case went cold for nearly a year until Keyes laid out the roadmap of what had happened. He flew into Chicago and he drove east. He intended on that trip to commit a homicide. He didn't know who it would be yet. On that trip, Keyes stayed at this hotel in Essex, Vermont. While there, he dug up a bucket similar to this one that he had buried a few years prior. So this is just the standard Orange Home Depot bucket. For the first time, the FBI is showing 48 Hours. These are several boxes of.22 ammunition. The contents of what Keyes liked to call a kill cache. So he would pre-position these caches and then when the urge came upon him, if he happened to be in that state, he had his tools of destruction ready to go. Correct. Or he'd plan a trip to a particular

state knowing he already had a cache there. He didn't know who he was going to kill, but he already knew that he had the items there that he needed. We have the silencer for the.22. We have a wood stock for a.22, a plastic stock for a.22, a portion of a.22 rifle, and then we have the drum magazine, the.22. Had a number of.22 caliber bullets. That's correct. You ever seen anything like this in your career?

No. The cache used in the courier attack has never been found,.22 caliber bullets. That's correct. You ever seen anything like this in your career? No. The cash used in the Courier attack has never been found, but Keyes told the FBI where they could find this, a weapon he had used in Vermont. This is a silencer that Keyes actually constructed himself. With his murderous tools in hand, Keyes went hunting for victims and found himself outside the Courier house.

I decided I was going to look for a house with a couple in it. I was looking for a fairly easy way to get into the garage. And theirs was the first house I found that had all those things. He just happens to take a walk from his hotel into a neighborhood. He just happens to take a walk from his hotel into a neighborhood. And this unsuspecting couple just living their lives is about to have a monster at their door. Yeah. The monster didn't knock.

He's very quickly in the house. He restrains Bill and Lorraine very quickly. You just make sure they know right away who's in charge and immediately tie him up. And then he moves them to their car, and he drives them to an abandoned farmhouse that he had scoped out earlier. Keyes attacks Lorraine first. She's upstairs in the bedroom. He had restrained Bill downstairs. But the couriers were not going down without a fight. Bill's yelling for his wife.

Bill ultimately starts to break free from the restraints, and Keyes has to go back downstairs in order to restrain him again. What happens down there? There's a struggle that ensues. So I knew I was either going to have to knock him out or just kill him. He saw the gun. He started to say something. It just pissed me off, and I just started pulling the trigger. Do you think this silencer might have been used in the murder of Bill Currier?

I think it's very likely. Keys then strangled Lorraine Currier and left the couple in the basement of the abandoned farmhouse. Did anyone ever find these bodies? No. A short time after this happened, the house ended up being demolished, and it was taken to the landfill. We made numerous attempts at the landfill. It was, I believe, a 10 or 12 week search at the landfill. The FBI was searching in an attempt to find them, but we were not able to recover their bodies.

But as meticulous as Keyes was in covering his tracks, he slipped up. This is the one item in all the things that we found that belonged to Keyes that actually had his fingerprint on it. There's a perfect right thumbprint. Yeah, right. No, there is. I don't have the left. Wow. Yeah, I'm impressed. Well, I'm disappointed in myself mostly, but I'm sorry. What other clues had Keyes left behind? What other murders had he committed? Investigators began focusing on his time in Washington state, where Keyes was raised, a place where he would admit to killing at least four more people. Where he goes with his shot, it's trying to believe. We'll get the whole story eventually.

How do you think Israel Keyes went undetected for so long? See more of what Keyes called his kill cash on Facebook at 48 hours in the Pacific Ocean halfway between Peru and New Zealand lies a tiny volcanic island it's a little known British territory called Pitcairn and it harboured a deep

dark scandal there wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with.

In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely, Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy

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It's just The best idea yet. Effort is far back because I can remember. You know, that's where I get a lot of the ideas, either fishing or out hunting. See somebody in the woods. To understand Israel Keyes, you have to go deep into the vast, remote wilderness where he was raised. The place where he lived off and on for more than 20 years, Washington State. How many people in the state of Washington do you believe Israel Keyes killed? We believe he killed four victims total in Washington state. FBI Special Agents Ted Holla and Colleen Sanders first questioned Keyes in 2012.

They have spent eight years investigating his life and crimes in Washington, searching for more victims. This is like a horror movie, isn't it? It's very much like a horror movie. The opening scenes of Key's life took place in a secluded cabin outside the small town of Colville. He grew up poor. He grew up in a large family. There were ten children in all, and they kind of lived apart from society.

John, where are we heading now? So we're heading north out of Caldwell. We're going to go see if we can find where Israel Keyes grew up. Just right up here on the right. John Smith and his wife Desiree knew Israel Key Keys when he was a teenager. Desiree hasn't been in this area since she was 15. Yes, this could be it. Yeah, I remember it being long and steep and kind of headed up the mountainside. And yeah, it was completely impassable through most of the winter. It was built to be completely off the grid,

to be completely isolated from society. No radio, no television, no electricity, nothing. Nothing. The Keyes family attended a church that preached Christian identity theology, a philosophy John and Desiree were also raised on but have since disavowed. and Desiree were also raised on, but have since disavowed. Christian identity theology is very white supremacist. They come from the perspective that the other races are subhuman. So with Israel, Keyes, specifically, he could dehumanize anybody if they rejected his worldview. Schooled at home, cut off from the outside world, Keyes was socially awkward. Very quiet, very loner-ish, standoffish. It's hard to explain how he made me feel, but I felt unsafe being near him. So one specific conversation about killing a deer,

he said that the initial shot didn't kill it, and so when he arrived, he started to gut the thing while it was alive. This is interrogation audio of Keyes describing himself. I've known since I was 14 that there were things that I thought were normal and that were okay that nobody else seems to think are normal and okay. But just when Keyes committed his first murder is still an open question.

Whose picture are you holding? My daughter, Julie Marie Harris. She was 12 years old and disappeared on March 3rd, 1996. Sherry Odegaard says her daughter Julie, a special Olympics athlete with prosthetic feet, vanished from Colville while waiting for a ride to church. Then I went up and down every street in this town and screamed her name. And there was no trace? No, there was no trace.

Israel Keys, then 18 years old, lived in the area at the time. Julie's prosthetic feet were discovered at the mouth of the Colville River. The next year, her skeletal remains were found. We asked Israel Keyes about Julie Harris and her death, and he said he was aware of it, but that he was not involved in it. I remember the name. I don't remember the details of the story. Keyes told investigators the birth of his daughter convinced him to never target children. Something kind of changed in the way I thought,

and I didn't want to do anything that would mess with kids or whatever. But Keyes' daughter was born after Julie Harris was murdered. 48 hours tracked down friends of Julie who have never spoken with law enforcement. One of those friends told us she remembers Key's talking to Julie at this pool where she often swam. And that Julie ended up giving him her address and phone number. Have you heard this? No. I did not know that. Does that sound tantalizing as a possible clue?

Like any other lead that we have, we would want to investigate it fully. We would certainly be interested in talking with her. People have wondered if your daughter was the very first victim of Israel Keyes. And I'm wondering that too. Despite the intrigue surrounding Julie Harris, Keyes claims his first attempted murder came in 1997 or 1998 when he abducted and sexually assaulted a young woman near Bend, Oregon. It was weird.

She was scared, but also just talking about random stuff. I don't know. It was weird. I mean, she was scared, but also just talking about random stuff. I mean, it was weird. I was just convinced that I had screwed up that time in Oregon because, you know, I let her go. He indicated he never let another go after that. Sometime after that assault, Keyes joined the U.S. Army. Our investigation led us to believe that he was a model soldier and excelled in the Army. Keyes told investigators he waited until he completed a three-year stint in the Army before he stalked his next victim. You were told this wasn't law when you got out of the military, that you killed somebody, and it was that sort of feeling that you needed to do something

that was hard to resist. Yeah, I'm a basic oriental. Neah Bay, at the farthest northwestern tip of Washington, is best known as home to the Makah tribe, legendary whale hunters. Keyes moved here after marrying a tribe member he met online. They started a family. He lived there. He rented the house out. Eric Johnson worked with Keyes at the Parks and Recreation Department.

This is his shop here, the blue part. The blue part, that was his shop. That's where he worked. Yeah. There are reminders of Keyes' skilled carpentry all around town, including this structure. He was a great family guy, a smart guy, gifted carpenter, you know, well-spoken. An upstanding member of the community. An upstanding member of the community, yeah. I would do something, and then I would go back, like business as usual, and go out with friends,

go out to bars. You know, for all the years they've known me, they actually don't know me at all, really. About 60 miles southeast of Neah Bay is another spectacular location, one of the deepest lakes in the United States, which investigators suspect is also a watery grave. You guys know about Lake Crescent in Washington? He revealed to us that one of the Washington state victims was actually, their body was sunk in this particular lake. I think that lake is 500 to 700 feet deep.

Here's a picture of Israel Keys' boat. Sometime in 2005 or 2006, Keys had a body in this boat. Any idea who this person may be? Any idea how this person was killed? No. How long did the body last in the freshwater lake? How long does a body last in a freshwater lake? In the last months of 2012, special agents Hala and Sanders were hopeful that Keyes would give them more information on who is at the bottom of this lake. But the killer had another plan. I can't be satisfied sitting in prison for all my life. I'd rather go out while I still have some sanity. Good memories. Do you really think I would feel like when you need more information?

After seven months of interrogations, seven months of teasing investigators with bits and pieces of his violent past, Israel Keyes decided to take one more life, his own. Serial killer Israel Keyes was found dead at the Anchorage Correctional Complex. We received a call early in the morning that on December 1st, 2012, Israel Keyes had committed suicide in his jail cell.

He used a disposable razor to slit his wrist, and Keyes attempted to strangle himself with bedding. And what was your reaction to that? My reaction was, a lot of these secrets are going to die with him now. For Samantha Koenig's loved ones, the news hit like a gut punch. He should have been executed. Now he killed himself. That's great. It's not what we wanted. We wanted him to stand trial. We wanted him to answer for what he did. But the world's better off he's gone.

Inside Key's cell, jailers discovered a bizarre, blood-soaked suicide note with passages like, Crushed like a bug, you still die. We had hoped that that note was going to be clues and tips for us on and that he was finally going to give us all of the information on the homicides. And it really wasn't. It was kind of a rant. But the end of Keyes was by no means the end of this case. A few months before his suicide, investigators found those macabre drawings.

He drew a series of 11 skulls and these were found underneath his bed in his jail cell. Drawn in Israel Key's own blood. You have 11 skulls. What does this mean? I think this is the entirety of his crimes. And it indicates that there are seven victims we don't have identified. Prior to his death, Keyes had pointed the FBI to another victim. There's one in New Jersey. He refused to provide that victim's name, but investigators believe it happened when Keyes took a road trip through New York State in the spring of 2009. So they combed through missing persons reports and Keyes' computer.

Is this the person buried in New York? No. Her name was on your computer. What's your computer? Mine. When they confronted him with photos, one in particular rattled him. It was a photo of a woman named Deborah Feldman. Given the way he looked at it and he started shaking a little bit,

I would say she is definitely one of his victims. Deborah Feldman is a woman who went missing from New Jersey. It was in 2009. Her body has never been recovered. We're relatively confident about Deborah Feldman. However, we do not have any forensic evidence to make that connection. According to the FBI, that would make Deborah Feldman Key's fourth known victim, along with Samantha Koenig and Bill and Lorraine Currier. Agents are now determined to identify the remaining seven, and there are clues that point to at least two other states. Tell me about Wyoming and what was there for him.

The Green River in Wyoming is where Keyes had buried his cash near. Is there a sense that there may be a body somewhere near that river? We have a strong suspicion that Keyes may have a victim located in that area. In the late 2000s, Israel Keyes also spent time in California's wine country, including visiting the posh Sonoma town of Healdsburg in May of 2007. Healdsburg in May of 2007. Keyes has often talked to investigators about using boats and also kayaks in the disposal of bodies. We know that he rented a single-person kayak in Healdsburg near a campground during that time in 2007. But Keyes' road trips weren't limited to the U.S. In 2007, he drove along the Alcan Highway by himself for about a week of that year. The Alcan Highway goes through Canada up to Alaska.

Yes, correct. We know that Key's traveled to Canada quite extensively and specifically said that he would go to Montreal. When he was asked about whether he killed anyone in Canada, what did he say? He said Canadians don't count. It's been seven and a half years since Israel Keyes killed himself. The FBI hopes investigators across the country will take a second look at suspicious deaths in their area. They're also hoping the public can help. If anyone has any information on Israel Keyes and his travels, or if they have a family member that they think may have been potentially a victim of Israel Keyes, that they come forward to the FBI with that information. That includes the Lake

Crescent area of Washington state, where Keyes told investigators he had dumped a body. We absolutely want people to come forward who think they may have seen something connected to Israel Keyes, especially on this lake. And what about those kill caches buried throughout the country? If anyone out there comes across one of these, what should they do? First, for people not to touch too much and not to contaminate it too much and definitely contact local law enforcement

and their community who can then reach out to us. For the FBI, their focus is clear. For me, the important thing is Samantha and Bill and Lorraine and Deborah and all the victims that we don't have identified. That's what this case is about. And their commitment, unwavering. Do you have an optimistic streak that says we can find answers to the other seven cases?

I do. I absolutely do. And it won't be easy by any means. And it may take a long time, but I will never give up trying. Right now, it seems as if everything is unpredictable. We're all stuck at home. And like you, I'm feeling a bit helpless right now. But I want you to know we are here for you. All working together. You are not alone.

That's right. Because we're all in this. And we're all in this. We're all in this together. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.