0:01

So, due to the nature

0:03

of this killer's crime, listener

0:05

discretion is definitely advised. This

0:08

episode includes discussions of animal

0:10

abuse, rape, torture, kidnapping, and

0:12

murder. Consider this one deciding

0:14

how and when you'll listen. There

0:22

is no one who knows me or who

0:24

has ever known me who knows anything

0:27

about me really. They

0:29

know they're going to tell you something that does

0:32

not line up with anything I tell you because

0:34

I'm two different people basically.

0:37

And the only person who knows about

0:40

what I'm telling you, the kind of things I'm

0:42

telling you is me. How

0:44

long have you been two different people? Long

0:48

time. Fourteen

0:50

years. It's

0:53

Israel Keys. And

0:55

this is the story he

0:57

never wanted to get out. I'm

1:02

Vanessa Richardson, and this is Serial

1:04

Killers, a Spotify podcast. You can

1:06

find us here every Monday. Be

1:09

sure to check us out on Instagram, at

1:11

Serial Killers podcast. We'd love to hear from

1:13

you. If you're listening on the Spotify app,

1:15

swipe up to share your thoughts. This

1:18

is part one of our three-part

1:20

series on Israel Keys, the serial

1:22

killer who may have murdered upwards of 11 people

1:25

across the United States. His spree

1:27

lasted for over a decade before

1:29

he was finally apprehended. Over

1:32

the next three episodes, we'll be welcoming

1:34

Josh Hallmark, an expert in this case,

1:36

to lend us his insight. And

1:38

we'll also be hearing Israel Keys'

1:40

chilling interrogation by the FBI.

1:45

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responsibly. Before.

2:53

We get into this story. Amongst

2:55

the many sources we used, we

2:57

found a book American Predator by

2:59

Maureen Callahan and our interview with

3:01

just Hallmark host of true crime

3:03

bullshit. Extremely helpful. To our research. The

3:06

audio book edition of American Predator is

3:08

available for Spotify premium subscribers in our

3:10

audio book catalogue where you can check

3:12

it out after listening to this episode.

3:21

We'll change how we act.

3:24

Compartmentalize. Hide pieces,

3:26

Of ourselves as we move through

3:28

different spaces. In that sense,

3:31

Israel Cheese. Was no different than the rest

3:33

of us. But none of us

3:35

are born examining our actions. In

3:37

real time, guessing what others are

3:39

thinking about us. That's

3:42

learned. When.

3:44

Israel was fourteen, his sister had

3:46

a cat, and he took a

3:48

bunch of his friends out into

3:50

the woods. This is Hi, I'm

3:52

Josh Hallmark, the host and executive

3:54

producer of True Crime Bosses The

3:57

Investigation into Israel Keys Have been

3:59

researching these for ten years now

4:01

and producing the show for five.

4:04

He's. Spoken to many of Israel's

4:06

friends and loved ones, as well

4:08

as I witnesses, F B I

4:10

agents who worked Israel's case and

4:12

some of the world's most prominent

4:14

criminal psychologist. He's talking

4:16

about a turning point in Israel's

4:18

childhood. So.

4:21

When Israel was fourteen at the time,

4:23

his sister had a cat and she

4:25

took a bunch of his friends out

4:28

into the woods and. Tied.

4:30

A rope around the cats and tied

4:32

to a tree. And. Sought

4:34

the cat. Watch it. Angle

4:37

itself up around the street. As

4:39

a tried to flee him, he

4:41

watched as the cat died. And.

4:44

To keep this was. The funniest thing

4:46

in the world. But as we looked around. He

4:49

saw that his friends were horrified by it. Those

4:52

friends never talk to Israel again

4:54

which taught him to lessons. A

4:57

that he was different from others but be that

4:59

he had to conceal. These. Things

5:01

that entertained him were amused him

5:03

poor that she perceived as and

5:05

different or other because people would

5:08

judge them and respond poorly to

5:10

it and I think. That.

5:12

Really fundamentally set up his criminal

5:15

behavior for the future and how

5:17

he. And. Public would take

5:19

on one identity that was separate

5:21

and different from his true identity.

5:25

Silk. for the next. Twenty years the

5:27

world only knew the side of

5:30

Israel seats you rated. He

5:32

grew up as the second oldest

5:34

is ten siblings and a family

5:37

who lived off grid, know seed

5:39

or electricity, no access to public

5:41

schooling or modern medicine. They didn't

5:43

trust government oversight and hunted for

5:46

their own food Israel and particular

5:48

developed of love of hunting. The.

5:51

Family moved ah since first. From

5:53

Utah to Washington, then Oregon,

5:55

New York main usually relocating

5:58

for their face. His

6:01

mother changed religions. like most

6:03

people change their underwear. At

6:05

some point, the family attended a

6:08

church affiliated with a racist, anti

6:10

Semitic version of Christian identity theology.

6:13

According to the book American Predator

6:15

by Maureen Callahan, the family's evolving

6:17

religious beliefs cause. Problems for

6:19

Israel. Socially. And

6:22

romantically he silt same.

6:24

Over his crushes hid his

6:26

relationships with girls. In his

6:28

late teens, he rejected religion,

6:31

Which. Created a lot of tension

6:33

between him. And his parents. Israel.

6:36

And his family essentially severed ties,

6:38

though he stayed in contact with.

6:40

His mother and sister over the years. Less.

6:43

To his own devices, Israel was

6:45

resourceful. He had already built his

6:47

own cabin and sixteen old pickup.

6:50

Truck. He branched off on his

6:52

own. And you could

6:54

say he flourished. He enlisted

6:56

in the army at twenty,

6:58

traveled the country, was stationed

7:00

in Egypt for a bit.

7:02

He was generally liked and

7:04

respected. As a soldier, he

7:07

held down jobs and relationships.

7:09

He spent three years in the

7:11

military before being honorably discharged, then

7:13

moved to the Mccall Reservation in

7:15

Washington to live with a girlfriend

7:17

he'd met. Online and in two

7:20

thousand to the couple welcomed

7:22

a daughter. She.

7:24

Was one of the only white men and town

7:26

and when he first got there. People

7:29

would com white boy and they didn't respect

7:31

her much because he was an outsider. That.

7:33

Pretty quickly he was able to

7:35

endear himself to that community who

7:37

were quite insular and he was

7:40

hired by the tribe and started

7:42

beautifying the town and people really

7:44

loved him and respect his room

7:46

and thought of him as a

7:48

stand guy despite some incidents that

7:50

occurred bear. That. Probably

7:52

would have otherwise raise some

7:54

eyebrows. Sees. was suspected

7:56

of burglarizing one of the tribal offices

7:58

at one point And he got into

8:01

some heated disputes with his partner. Nothing

8:03

violent, Josh says. Nothing that

8:05

couldn't be excused. He

8:08

had endeared such great respect from folks that

8:10

they overlooked a lot of his bad behaviors.

8:13

People really just were proud of

8:15

him and the work he had done. And

8:17

by 2012, Israel's criminal record included one

8:19

DUI from when he was in the

8:22

military, and that's it. But

8:25

with stories like this, one question

8:27

always comes up. How

8:30

did no one notice? Israel

8:33

wasn't perfect. There were warning

8:36

signs besides the incidents on the reservation.

8:39

He would disappear for periods of time, turn off

8:41

his phone, not tell anyone where he was. He

8:45

would occasionally get drunk and brand

8:47

himself with like hangers. He would

8:49

poke them in the fire and

8:51

brand various things onto his

8:53

body. But he was

8:56

really good at picking partners and picking

8:58

people in his life. Most of his

9:00

friends were coworkers. So they knew him

9:02

first as this great employee. And

9:04

then that would, I suspect, define how

9:06

they saw him outside of that role. His

9:09

first partner had some

9:11

drug addiction issues. He was the one

9:13

who was supporting her. She

9:16

didn't have the frame of mind to

9:20

really be worried about what he was doing. His

9:23

later partner wasn't around often. She traveled

9:25

for work. From what

9:27

I've heard, she considered him her boy toy.

9:29

And I think there was this perceived

9:32

power imbalance on her end.

9:35

And when you are the one with more power, you

9:38

aren't as concerned about the other

9:40

people in your life. Still

9:44

that question, how did no

9:46

one notice? It might

9:48

cross your mind from time to time the further

9:51

we get into this story, especially as it

9:53

relates to the women in Israel's life. His

9:56

girlfriends, his mother and sisters,

9:58

his daughter. We asked

10:01

Josh what he thinks about that. I

10:04

would say that there's a

10:06

cultural problem with

10:09

Americans, or maybe

10:12

just people holding women

10:14

accountable for the misdeeds done by

10:17

the men in their lives. To

10:20

Josh, it's easy for us to see the

10:22

forest from the trees, especially with the advantage

10:24

of hindsight. But we

10:27

know people how we know them, and we're

10:29

also living our own lives. A

10:31

lot of us aren't looking

10:34

into the minutia of the weird things that

10:36

our partners do because we're just wrapped up

10:38

in our own stuff and just trying to get

10:40

through the day. For that reason, and

10:42

many more, no one noticed that

10:45

Israel Keys had been killing for

10:47

more than a decade, and

10:50

studying how to get away with it

10:52

for longer. We

10:55

studied other serial killers. He

10:58

loved H.H. Holmes, idolized

11:00

Ted Bundy. We suspect

11:02

he may have alluded to the Golden State

11:05

Killer several times. Obviously, he didn't know who

11:07

he was, but he talked about his favorite

11:09

serial killer being one who hadn't been caught

11:11

yet. He was a consumer of true crime.

11:14

He wanted to learn. From

11:17

his predecessors, from his contemporaries, and

11:19

she said that he learned from

11:21

their mistakes. He read

11:23

a lot of really terrible Dean Coontz

11:25

books, and he learned from those or

11:27

chicked up tips from those. So

11:30

he was very knowledgeable

11:32

and actively consuming

11:34

true crime, like the rest

11:36

of us just for very different reasons, hopefully. Hopefully,

11:41

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you believe Israel, the beginning of

12:36

his downfall started, as all

12:38

his killings did, with a

12:40

whim. A chance encounter with

12:42

an 18-year-old woman named

12:44

Samantha Koenig. Samantha

12:46

was, she was kind

12:49

of overcoming, I think, a fairly

12:51

normal troubled teenage period in her

12:53

life, and kind of getting her

12:55

life back on track. She was

12:57

saving money, she had big plans,

13:00

she had just gotten a job at

13:02

a drive-through coffee stand, before that she'd

13:05

been working at a sports bar, which

13:08

is important and strangely never makes it

13:10

into the media surrounding Ky's. Josh

13:13

is right, that does become important. But

13:15

for now, what you need to know

13:17

is, when Samantha and Israel cross paths,

13:19

they're both living in Anchorage, Alaska. Israel

13:22

with a new girlfriend and his

13:24

daughter. Samantha with her single father

13:27

James and boyfriend Dwayne. Samantha's

13:29

working shifts at that coffee stand.

13:32

And then one night, as she

13:34

was getting ready to close up the coffee

13:36

stand, a man approaches the window wearing a

13:38

ski mask. It's winter in Alaska, so

13:40

it's not that unusual. The

13:43

man orders a coffee. And while

13:45

she was making it, climbed through the window

13:47

and abducted her from the coffee stand. The

13:50

man, of course, is Israel. He

13:52

carries a gun and zip

13:54

ties. It's February,

13:56

about 8 p.m. The

13:58

sun set hours before. The

14:00

coffee stand. It's. Essentially.

14:03

A big said in a parking lots

14:05

across the street from a Home Depot

14:07

and several fast food restaurants. Nets are

14:09

tiny but on a pretty major intersections.

14:12

In fact, I went out to Alaska

14:14

last year and was surprised by like

14:16

how public this coffee stand was. You

14:18

could see it from everywhere. There are

14:20

tons of cars passing by even at

14:23

eight o'clock at night. Israel. Tell

14:25

Samantha he's robbing the place. He points

14:27

the gun in her direction and tells

14:29

her to turn off the lights, empty

14:31

the cash register. Then he zip ties

14:34

her hands, subs, napkins, and our mouth.

14:36

So she can't speak and pushes her

14:38

out the door. This. Happens at

14:40

around eight fifteen pm. Now

14:43

as we walked through what happens

14:45

next, I want you to imagine

14:47

how much time is passing. Keep

14:49

a mental clock in your head. She's.

14:54

Parked across as very busy street.

14:56

Now it is winter summer. It's

14:58

dark out already and their snow

15:00

banks everywhere, but they're still cars

15:02

driving by. Non. Stop, they don't

15:05

see anything unusual. Neither.

15:07

Do the people out walking? He.

15:11

Holds a gun up to her and puts his

15:13

arm around her so it looks like they're a

15:15

couple. He tells her to acts like she's drunk

15:18

and he's helping her to her car. There's. Video

15:20

footage taken by a surveillance

15:22

camera. Across the street at Home

15:24

Depot, you see Israel and Samantha waiting

15:26

to cross the street to the parking

15:29

lot where Israel's truck is park. A

15:32

white Chevy. As the

15:34

light for the crosswalk changes, Samantha.

15:36

Breaks free, she runs but her

15:38

arms are bound. Israel quickly tackles

15:41

her and pulls her to her

15:43

seat. He. Whispers something in

15:45

her ear. whenever.

15:47

He says get Samantha to cooperate.

15:50

He wants to his truck and stop

15:52

for a second just outside. Their.

15:54

strangers hovering around the car directly

15:57

next to his just a few

15:59

feet away He waits for

16:01

them to leave. And he gets

16:03

her in the car, zip ties her to the seat,

16:06

and because it's still early enough that his

16:08

girlfriend and his child are still awake, he

16:10

drives around with her in his car for hours

16:12

waiting for them to go to bed. Stop

16:15

the clock. What time would

16:17

you say they pulled out of that Home Depot

16:19

parking lot? Well, Samantha's

16:22

boyfriend, Dwayne, arrives outside the coffee stand

16:24

at about 8.23 to pick her up

16:26

from work. Meaning,

16:29

if Dwayne had arrived just a few

16:31

minutes earlier, he might have run into

16:33

Samantha and Israel on the street. And

16:36

there's a chance he drove right by them.

16:40

The lights inside are turned off. He

16:42

looks in the window. He sees napkins

16:44

strewn about the floor, a rag still

16:46

laying out on the counter. He

16:49

figures Samantha got a ride home with a

16:51

friend, maybe left in a rush. Hours

16:56

later, he receives a text from

16:58

Samantha's number. It reads, F

17:01

you, asshole. I know what you did.

17:03

I am going to spend a couple of days with

17:06

you. Needing to think. Plan.

17:09

Acting weird. Let my dad

17:11

know. The text doesn't

17:13

sound like Samantha wrote it. It comes

17:15

in around 11.30 p.m., about

17:17

the same time as Israel and

17:19

Samantha arrive at Israel's home. He

17:22

had a shed in his driveway.

17:26

So he pulled up and put her into the

17:28

shed. And then zipped

17:31

tighter to various pieces of pipes

17:34

and furniture in the shed. The

17:36

shed is 12 feet away from where

17:39

Israel's nine-year-old daughter is sleeping.

17:42

Israel tells Samantha he wants her to be

17:44

comfortable. He gives her a bucket so she

17:46

can go to the bathroom. They talk for a bit. At

17:49

some point, Israel asks for Samantha's ATM

17:52

card and she tells them her boyfriend

17:54

has it. It's back at home in

17:56

their truck. So he leaves

17:58

her in the shed alone. and

18:01

drives away. Meanwhile,

18:04

Dwayne and Samantha's father James are up

18:06

late waiting to see if she'll come

18:08

home. Sometime before 3 a.m.

18:10

Dwayne becomes inexplicably

18:13

called to open the front door and

18:15

look outside. When he does,

18:17

he sees a masked man standing

18:19

about six feet away, rifling

18:21

through Samantha and Dwayne's pickup truck.

18:24

The two men stand there for a

18:26

second, then the masked man closes the

18:29

door and just walks away. Dwayne

18:31

goes inside to tell James when they

18:33

return, the masked man's

18:35

gone. They check the

18:38

truck. Samantha's driver's license is missing, which

18:40

is all they notice at the time.

18:44

The next morning, Israel and his family

18:46

are up early. They've got a plane

18:48

to catch. They're flying to Houston, then

18:51

driving to New Orleans to go on a cruise. They're

18:53

gone by the time Dwayne wakes up at 930. It's been

18:56

more than 12 hours since Samantha

18:59

went missing, but Dwayne doesn't

19:01

call the cops. Neither does Samantha's

19:04

father. Her father

19:07

had kind of a rough history with law

19:09

enforcement because of his own stuff, and I

19:12

think they also were just hopeful that these

19:14

texts were from Samantha and they would hear

19:16

from her. So I think they were just

19:18

waiting it out. Dwayne later

19:20

says he didn't think police would do anything

19:23

unless Samantha was missing for 24

19:25

hours. The police are notified

19:27

later that day. One

19:29

of her co-workers goes to open up the

19:32

coffee stand. They notice

19:34

that it hadn't been shut

19:36

down properly and they alert the owner

19:38

who had surveillance and pulled

19:40

up the surveillance and saw Samantha abducted

19:44

from the coffee stand and he

19:46

alerted the police immediately. And

19:49

as is often the case, started looking into

19:51

her boyfriend and her father right away. Pretty

19:54

early on they were focused on her father.

19:56

He was associated with some sketchy people

19:58

and so they were looking at a few

20:00

different angles there. One was that perhaps this is

20:02

a scheme for money. The other

20:05

that perhaps he had upset the wrong

20:07

person. So they are

20:09

pretty squarely looking at James Koenig

20:13

for weeks until Israel gets really

20:16

sloppy and connects himself to the

20:18

case. At 7.56

20:20

p.m. on February 24th,

20:22

Duane gets a text from Samantha's

20:24

number. It's been more than three

20:27

weeks since the last correspondence. The

20:29

text reads, Connor

20:32

Perks Fine Underpick of Albert Ain't

20:36

she purdy? Connor's

20:41

bog is a popular park in

20:43

the area. Duane and James notify

20:45

police before racing there themselves. They

20:48

find a missing poster for a dog

20:50

named Albert and, underneath it,

20:52

a folded piece of paper in a

20:55

Ziploc bag. On one

20:57

side is a ransom note asking for $30,000

21:00

to be deposited in the bank account

21:02

attached to the ATM card Israel stole.

21:05

On the other is a black and

21:08

white Xeroxed Polaroid of Samantha. Her

21:10

eyes are wide open, facing

21:13

the camera with heavy eyeliner.

21:16

There's silver duct tape around her mouth

21:18

and chin, and you can see a

21:21

forearm enter the frame from the left. It's

21:24

holding Samantha's hair at the back of

21:26

her head and wearing a light-colored latex

21:29

glove. Her hair was

21:31

worn down at the coffee shop,

21:33

but sections now appear to be

21:35

braided. Perhaps most importantly,

21:38

prominently featured in the foreground is

21:40

a copy of the Anchorage Daily

21:42

News and it's dated February

21:44

13th, 12

21:46

days after Samantha's abduction. All

21:49

this time later, Samantha might still

21:52

be alive, and if the ransom

21:54

notice to be believed, so long as $30,000 gets

21:56

deposited in that account immediately

21:59

and All other

22:01

demands are met. Samantha will

22:03

be freed in six months.

22:11

To things happen as a result of the ransom.

22:13

Note First, the money is

22:15

immediately deposited in Samantha. As

22:17

account officials want her abductor

22:19

to start withdrawing money, it'll

22:21

make it easier to find

22:23

him. And. Second, since the

22:26

case can officially be classified

22:28

as a kidnapping a federal

22:30

crime, the Spl I gets

22:32

involved sears. Returned to Texas

22:34

about a month after

22:36

Samantha was abducted and.

22:39

As he's want to do he didn't

22:41

fly directly to Dallas or any for

22:44

and to Las Vegas and then drove

22:46

and she. Was. Using her debit

22:48

card for money from a random

22:50

a chance across the United States

22:52

southwest. So they started pinging and

22:54

be cops are obviously watching for

22:57

activity and day would send someone

22:59

out to the bank and they'd

23:01

have just missed him little surveillance

23:03

he was wearing ski masks or

23:05

nylon and and finally I think

23:07

it was one of the last

23:09

a T M C used in

23:12

New Mexico. They actually got his

23:14

rental cars plate on surveillance and

23:16

so they're able. To track that

23:18

pretty quickly. He. Was a

23:20

White Ford focus they find Israel at

23:22

a motel room and Luskin Texas. After

23:25

surveilling him for a bit of, the

23:27

troll officer stopped. His car for a

23:29

routine traffic violation. Their radar clock

23:32

and going to miles over the speed

23:34

limit. When the officer pulls up to

23:36

the side of the car and asks

23:38

where Israel is from, he doesn't lie.

23:40

He says. Alaska. The

23:42

officer asks for a license and for Israel to

23:44

step out of the car. He

23:46

does. The officer notices he's carrying

23:48

two knives, one in his front

23:51

pocket, another in his back pocket.

23:53

He instructs Israel the place them

23:55

on the trunk of the car.

23:58

Before. long officers find a

24:00

lot more in Israel's vehicle.

24:02

Highlighted maps, rolls of

24:05

cash, porn, alcohol, sunglasses,

24:07

binoculars, a handgun, a

24:09

ski mask, and a

24:12

headlamp. They also find

24:14

a wallet on his person. And inside

24:16

the wallet is

24:19

Samantha Koenig's driver's license.

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25:47

if you believe Israel had he had his handgun

25:49

on in the day of his arrest, and it

25:51

wasn't in the trunk of his car, he

25:53

would have gone down in a blaze of

25:56

gunfire. That's what he tells the

25:58

FBI. Athena

26:00

video and like he basically throws like

26:02

a little hissy fit the let some

26:05

custom gets in the car and just

26:07

looks like and disgruntled toddler. Officers.

26:10

Drive Israel to the Luskin Police station.

26:12

They signed the A T M card

26:14

is real, stole from some answers truck

26:16

in his wallet. Keys tells

26:18

detectives that he doesn't wanna talk. But

26:21

he never asked for a lawyer

26:23

from Luskin is transported. In handcuffs

26:26

and leg irons to a

26:28

Federal penitentiary in Beaumont, Texas.

26:31

Meanwhile. Detected in Alaska. Tell

26:33

James Konig about the man in

26:35

custody. the one they suspect had

26:37

a hand in his daughter's disappearance.

26:39

For James, the name is real.

26:42

cheese. doesn't ring any bells. Is

26:44

there is a connection between Israel

26:46

and his daughter? He's unaware of

26:48

it. For. The sake of

26:50

their investigation authorities ask. James to

26:52

keep Israel's name private for now.

26:56

It. Takes two weeks for officials to

26:58

extradite Israel from Texas to Alaska.

27:00

In that time, the F B

27:03

I digs up everything they can

27:05

on him. They speak to his

27:07

girlfriend and mother. His. Mother doesn't

27:09

speak to his guilt on

27:11

his girlfriend, insists he's innocent.

27:13

They run background checks, grade

27:15

his home, confiscate his computers,

27:18

The evidence will take a while to

27:21

sort through, but in the meantime they

27:23

learn Israel is finally willing to talk

27:25

so long as his demands are met.

27:28

He. Wants the death penalty taken off

27:30

the table and his name to

27:32

stay out of the press as much

27:35

as possible. but more than anything,

27:37

Josh. Believes she wanted control.

27:40

Over his seat, over the narrative

27:42

and in a way he's given

27:44

control officials except his demands because

27:47

more than anything they want to

27:49

find Samantha. And Israel

27:51

may the only person who knows.

27:53

Where she is. on

27:58

march thirtieth the him down for

28:01

an interview with an unconventional setting at

28:03

the U.S. Attorney's office in Alaska. FBI

28:06

agents are in the room, but the interview

28:08

is led by the state district attorney and

28:10

his team. Many

28:12

believe it's unorthodox and not in the best

28:14

interest of the case. For

28:17

starters, the FBI can lie to

28:19

Israel and make false promises. The

28:21

DA and his team cannot. Israel

28:24

starts the interview by explaining why

28:27

he's cooperating. He thinks it'll make

28:29

the process easier in the long run

28:31

for himself and his family. He

28:34

adds that down the line, he'll probably have

28:36

more requests for officials, demands he

28:38

expects to be met. Then

28:41

he talks. He

28:43

leads detectives through the evening of

28:45

Samantha's abduction, how he planned

28:47

to rob the coffee stand after staking it

28:49

out in advance, how he stopped

28:51

at a grocery store for candy and cigars

28:54

ahead of time, how he

28:56

wore a tiny police scanner in his ear

28:58

so he could track their movements. He

29:01

knew most officers would be stationed at

29:03

a festival across town. It's

29:05

why he chose that night. Importantly,

29:08

he tells investigators he didn't

29:10

know Samantha, never met her

29:12

before that night. He

29:15

says he only chose that coffee stand

29:17

because it was open late. Samantha

29:20

was just in the

29:22

wrong place at the wrong time.

29:27

The district attorney asks Israel where he'd

29:29

like to start the story of what happened

29:32

after Samantha's abduction. He

29:34

says he doesn't want to go through everything beat

29:36

for beat. So someone suggests

29:38

they start at the end. What

29:42

happened to Samantha Koenig? He

29:46

had over a period

29:48

of days dismembered her and submerged her

29:50

while he was ice fishing. And

29:54

he genuinely was ice fishing while

29:56

he was doing this. them

30:00

home and chooking them up for his ex-girlfriend

30:02

and kid. After

30:04

returning to the shed with Samantha's ATM

30:07

card, it was late. Israel

30:09

raped Samantha twice, strangled

30:12

her with gloves on, and at

30:14

some point stabbed her below her

30:16

right shoulder blade. He

30:18

then went into the house, took a shower,

30:20

and woke up his daughter for the

30:22

cruise. Detectives

30:25

now have a much clearer picture of

30:27

the man sitting before them, but

30:29

it's just the beginning of their education. After

30:32

that initial interview, two different

30:35

stories emerge. The

30:37

first is an ending. Authorities

30:40

now believe that she was killed that

30:42

night, and Israel Keys

30:45

was charged with kidnapping that

30:47

led to her death. Authorities say

30:49

that he dumped her body in

30:51

a frozen lake north of Anchorage

30:54

after using a chainsaw to drill

30:56

through the ice. Israel

30:58

leads the FBI to Samantha's

31:00

body, submerged in the vastness

31:03

of a frozen Alaskan lake.

31:06

Even with Israel's precise location, it

31:08

takes teams of divers hours

31:11

to recover her remains. Her

31:13

loved ones learned the real origin of

31:15

that ransom photo, the one that gave

31:17

them the hope she might still be

31:19

alive. Israel staged

31:22

the photograph 11 days

31:24

after he killed Samantha.

31:26

Winter temperatures had slowed

31:28

the decomposition process. Israel

31:31

had sewn her eyelids open to

31:33

make her look alive, added

31:35

makeup, and braided her hair as well.

31:39

After so many weeks spent missing,

31:41

after all the suspicion casts on

31:43

her father and boyfriend, the ransom

31:45

note and close calls, no

31:48

one could have predicted this. The

31:51

city of Anchorage hosts a memorial for

31:53

Samantha. The guards

31:55

attend to honor a life cut

31:57

unimaginably short. Many come wearing

31:59

long-term clothes. Green samantha stay of what

32:01

color. They match the balloons

32:04

released into the sky and the

32:06

embroidered wings on the back of

32:08

James Caan eggs best. It's not

32:11

the ending any wanted. the pain

32:13

and grief from losing someone so

32:15

young with amplified by knowing what

32:17

a stranger put them through in

32:20

their final hours trying to not

32:22

let their last chapter of life

32:24

overshadow everything before it. and on

32:27

top of it all to be

32:29

told. It was just a random

32:31

act of violence. A

32:33

limb. Bad

32:35

luck. On

32:38

another day, it could have

32:40

been someone else. Samantha as

32:42

boyfriend Dwayne learned he was

32:44

the lucky ones. Israel almost

32:46

abducted him and Samantha together

32:48

as a pair. At

32:50

least that's what Israel tells the F

32:52

B I. The

32:55

second story that emerges after that

32:57

first interview. Is only

32:59

just beginning. They.

33:02

Say they have been operating for

33:04

more than a decade and that

33:06

they believe. There could be victims in

33:09

other states as well. By. The

33:11

time the F B I finish is. Going through

33:13

Israel's to computers, he had

33:15

already destroyed a third with

33:17

a hammer. They find hundreds

33:19

of photos of people, some.

33:21

Alongside missing person flyers and news.

33:23

Articles about disappearances, Nothing

33:26

obvious connects them. Their

33:28

photos of women and men

33:31

of all races. Body types

33:33

and backgrounds ranging in. Age.

33:35

From the elderly down to

33:37

children. Samantha Cone egg

33:39

is one of them. But.

33:42

Just to. Officials

33:45

run the photos through a national

33:47

database for missing. And unidentified people.

33:49

Called name us and

33:52

there were forty five

33:54

matches. And it's worth noting

33:56

that there were thousands of images and name

33:58

is is not a list. So

34:00

many of those images could have

34:02

been missing person such as Far

34:05

on Amos. And so the F

34:07

B I and Israel Keys begin

34:09

a long, tedious game of cat

34:11

and mouse. To find out

34:14

how deep is. well really

34:16

went. Didn't kidnap and

34:18

kill people because he was crazy. He didn't

34:20

turn up until people because as deity. Tell

34:23

them to or because he had a bad

34:25

childhood Israel. Kids to death because he got

34:27

an immense amount. Of enjoyment out of

34:29

it. I mean, disturbed is kind

34:31

of be easy adjective. Four homicides

34:33

in the state of Washington and

34:36

one in New York. Very

34:38

meticulous buried. his crimes were very.

34:40

Well thought out. There is nothing that

34:42

was for the moment. he broke into

34:44

the garage, has been hiding in it

34:46

for hours. No remorse at all. She's

34:49

set a house on fire and then

34:51

robbed the bank. We believe there are

34:53

eleven victims total. When asked where he

34:55

got the hair from, he said human

34:57

hair is very easy to find. It

34:59

was the mean chilling to lists or.

35:07

Five. Hundred and Two Sundays.

35:10

Within. A year. In

35:13

all, I'll tell you about everything.

35:15

August you plead guilty to whatever.

35:17

Give you every single gory details

35:19

you want. But

35:23

that's what I want. Thanks.

35:32

For listening to serial killers sponsored

35:34

by podcast are here. With a

35:36

new episode every Monday, be sure to

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check us out on Instagram at Serial

35:40

Killers Podcast and we'd love to hear

35:42

from you. So if you're listening on

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Spotify app, swipe up and give us

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your thoughts. Once again, we'd like to

35:48

give a special thanks to Joss Hallmark

35:51

for lending his expertise to did a

35:53

story you can check out. True crime

35:55

bullshit. Josh is investigation. Into Israel Keys

35:57

which is going into it's sixth

35:59

season. As well as Josh is

36:01

other podcasts from studio. Both and

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on Spotify. Or wherever else you

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listen. Stay safe out

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there. Serial

36:10

Killers is a spotify podcast.

36:12

This episode was written by

36:14

Conor Sampson. Researched, edited,

36:16

And produced by Conor Samson

36:18

and Chelsea Would Suck checked

36:20

by Lorrie Siegel and sound

36:22

design by Alex Button. Or

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head of programming is Julian Borrow or

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head of. Production is Nick Johnson

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host Vanessa Richardson.