The Scariest Serial Killer I Know: Israel Keyes

It's the last vestiges of Halloween, and this one will scare the ess out of ewe.  Meet Israel Keyes, who was really, really good at what he did, which was murdering people.

Transcript

[Israel Keyes recording]

That was taken from an interview that the FBI conducted with a man named Israel Keyes. Yeah, I know. Happy Halloween!

You’re listening to Wicked Gay, a true crime podcast about gay people doing awful things. 

Hello! I'm your host, J. Harvey, and it's Halloween, well, a couple of days after, look, I had stuff. Before I start jawing at you - I’ve got Patreon subscribers! And it’s a growing population! I can't believe it! Thank you, thank you, thank you. It’s still sort of a small group, which is in good in a way because it means I can give the entire crew a shoutout though. Ready?

Thank you to Rob the first, Cat meow, Beatriz just lovely, Wolf woof?, Marie, just wonderful, Paul, deep friend of the pod,  Drew, fantastical, Greg, tremendous, Nick, another deep friend of the pod who looks good in blue, Susan, one of the coolest, sweetest, most beautiful badasses I know, Rafael, your name seems romantic, Luiz, yours, too and last and the least is very far from here - Sizzlor!  With that name, I wonder if I know them or if they’re just highly amusing or a bacon demon. You guys are podcast-listening angelic types. Thank you.

Okay, so it was  Halloween. By the way, I make it a point always to watch one of the Halloween movies on Halloween. I finally watched the last one. What was that? Anyone? Hit me up at wickedgaypod on social media or at gmail. And explain to me what the hell was going on. Who was that guy? Why was he the focus? Who’s that? Why was Michael in it for like 3 minutes? What extra strength Boniva was Laurie Strode on cuz her ass got tossed around that kitchen. And what happened to all her guns and her going from doomsday prepper gun witch to like lesbian librarian avocado turtleneck granny with a bob? What was the weird Jesus analogy at the end with the…sorry, that would be a spoiler. It was a weird movie. That DJ murder was crazy, though, huh? Yikes. It was fiction, so I can say he had it coming. 

Anyway, it's that time of year. Well, it was. So, I thought I would do a scary episode. Except this is less Ghostface wants to know what your favorite scary movie is and more like oh, this horrible nightmarish thing really happened.

So - what terrifies you? What taps that one particular piano key in your mind, that glassy-sounding plink of fear that signals the beginning…the beginning of your heart pounding, your gut sinking, the hair on the back of your arms standing up, the horrible slow-mo feeling that this feels like a dream but you know that it isn’t? And it’s going to get you. Death, I mean,

 I’ll tell you one of mine. And I can take horror, I used to be ALL about horror. Although, I’ve kinda gotten a little more sensitive when it comes to the gore and violence. It must come with age. I’m talking about the real stuff. I have literally hundreds of fears, but if this podcast goes for more than 1 hour and 5 minutes an episode, people start reaching for a gas can and a match. 

I’m scared of randomness. Last week, a mentally ill man with a large gun walked into two public establishments in the second most populous city in Maine and opened fire. He killed 18 people. No apparent pre-selected targets. As far as I can read, he had no particular animus against anyone he killed. It reads like he was delusional, and the buildings themselves were part of it. Who knows. But yeah, bowling with your dad, or having a beer with friends. Bang. Gone. No reason. 

Random violence feels like it’s been on the rise since we tumbled into the 21st century, doesn’t it? Where individuals harm others without a clear motive. Usually, with guns. While some incidents involve personal grudges, others seem driven by a desire for attention to alleviate inner turmoil or just to express hatred. And if you are nearby when these acts occur, you're just unlucky.

That type of random crime is terrifying. But there’s an even scarier scenario to me that comes under the heading of randomness. This one’s thankfully way less common. Like, I’ve never heard of anyone else pulling this shit. 

It’s when someone spots you and marks you for death. It’s regardless of your gender, age, background, ethnicity, tax bracket, or what have you. They just spot you on the street or at the mall or what have you, and they decide to kill you. And not just blow you away. I mean in a horrible, terrifying way, sure to traumatize those you leave behind. 

Picture an ever-wandering individual silently designating people for death across the nation, meticulously plotting their demise, either in advance or sometimes that very first day. He strategically hides kill kits across the country for just this purpose; he goes vast distances to avoid capture. This is his career, really, and he’s smart resourceful, and determined enough to do it well for years. That chills me to the bone. I've only ever heard of one such person. His name was Israel Keyes. Everything I just noted is stuff that he did. That was his modus operandi. How scary is that? 

His official FBI victim count is relatively low compared to some of the other serial killers and mass murderers. However, there is compelling evidence to suggest that his actual number of victims is significantly higher, as he concealed the evidence meticulously, only slipping up a couple of times. It’s believed that he may have started his killing spree during his teenage years and that his victims spanned across all age groups and genders: men, women, and children. Some of these murders appear to have been carefully planned, while others were horrifyingly spontaneous acts. As in, he saw you placing flowers on your relative’s grave and just happened to be lurking around the desolate cemetery and moved to kidnap and kill you. That was Israel. He operated as a relentless killing machine, and like individuals such as Ted Bundy, HIS favorite serial killer and like a deity to him, the only thing that could ultimately halt his murderous rampage was his own demise – which eventually came to pass.

Before I start, I want to recommend another podcast I used as a source. It's called "True Crime Bullshit," and it provides a wealth of detailed information about the life of Israel Keyes. . It’s a multi-season, in-depth exploration of his life, times, and death. If you're interested in a deep dive into crime cases on the granular level, I highly recommend it.

In fact, I think the host and his researchers have actually uncovered possible crimes of Izzy’s that the FBI hadn’t gotten around to uncovering yet. 

Additionally, I also used Wikipedia, Biography.com, The New York Post, Reddit, and AlaskaPublic, org as my other sources.

This episode has a trigger warning for sexual violence and murder. I try to keep the gore and bad stuff to a minimum, but it’s there.

Israel Keyes was born on January 7, 1978, in Richmond, Utah. He had a tumultuous upbringing. He came from a large family and was raised in a strict religious household; his mom especially had some deeply entrenched fundamentalist beliefs. He was the second oldest of ten siblings, and his family's religious mania played a big role in his formative years. His mom kept bouncing them around from state to state and church to church, and many of these churches were of the Jesus loves the White -Nationalists kind. Yes, praise Jesus and march with a tiki torch before you run over a civil rights activist. Cuz’ extreme racism is so Christ-like. 

The Keyes family lived on the brink of destitution and were pretty much nomads. So, the kids had to hunt for food, chop firewood, and work on local farms at very young ages to support the family. It wasn’t an easy upbringing.

Israel was, to put it mildly, a weird kid who got progressively weirder as he got older. He loved to hunt and play in the woods, which was kind of his early training for hunting some of his victims in certain locales. Don’t hunt or fish alone. Being an outdoorsman would also benefit him greatly when it came to evidence disposal.. 

Keyes later told the FBI that he began to obsess about dark subject matter as he got older. He definitely had at least two of the Macdonald triad going on, you know, the three signs you might grow up to be a Netflix special? Israel set fires and, even worse, was known for torturing animals. He was so disturbing, in fact, that other kids started to avoid him entirely, and he was very much a loner at a young age. It was hard enough to make friends when your family had a nomadic lifestyle, but it’s especially hard when the other kids see you brutally torturing and killing household pets, and they run away. 

As Israel himself put it:

"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."

In addition to starting fires, Israel, who was 6’2 by the time he was 14, (a steady diet of the Bible and racism builds strong bones), Keyes would also shoot at neighbors' houses with a BB gun, as well as break into those houses, stealing real guns, and selling them. Keyes’ mother, Heidi, would later tell the authorities that this was the time period when she began to notice some “troubling signs” about her son.

You can’t say that Israel wasn’t handy; by the time he was a teenager, he was reportedly a skilled carpenter. And built a wooden cabin for his family to live in at the age of 16. Ugh, the evil serial killer was WAY more industrious than me at that age. I was drinking Nestle’s Quik and reading comic books in my bedroom. Heidi Keyes doubled down on religious fanaticism at this point and forbade the kids from watching movies and playing musical instruments. I don’t know where Heidi was coming from with that last one. Aren’t there trumpets from on high all over the Bible? In addition to being a burgeoning serial killer, Israel was also a rebellious teen. This was the point where he renounced his Christianity and got into Satanism. He would eventually declare himself an atheist. This caused his mom to exile him from the family for a while and forbade his siblings from having any contact with him. 

In the summer of 1997 or 1998, so he would have been around 19 or 20, Keyes committed his first major crime. He staked out the Deschutes River in Maupin, Oregon, hiding behind the trees on the shore. By the way, this story will make you never want to go tubing ever again. Or go to a river. Or leave the house. 

A group of teenagers floated past,  tubing on the river. One girl was lagging behind, and Israel struck. He told this story to the FBI and described the girl as somewhere between 14 and 18, and he apparently waded into the water to grab her and her tube, I guess. He threatened her at knifepoint, dragged her into some restrooms nearby and raped her. He later said he planned to sacrifice her to Satan, but this brave young woman was smart and gave forth a steady stream of talk, which probably saved her life. She talked him into letting her go. He even let her get back into her tube and float away down the river. How kind of him. He later regretted not killing her, telling the FBI that he was too timid, and not violent enough and was never going to let it happen again, meaning let someone live.

Now, this victim of Israel’s was female. I should point out this is Wicked Gay, and Israel was bisexual, the evil kind. He didn’t like to talk about it but he used rent boys, looked at gay porn, might have fooled around with his best male friend from the army, and lastly and most horribly, sexually assaulted both his female and male victims. How equal opportunity hellish of him 

In July of 1998, Keyes registered for the US Army in New York State. Like I’ve said before, Israel grew up as a nomad and remained one. Although he would settle for a time in both Washington and Alaska, he was also constantly crisscrossing the US. And his constant travels allowed him to wreak havoc across the country with bank robberies, arsons, and rape and murder. 

Keyes ended up becoming an Army Ranger, stationed at both Fort Lewis in Washington, as well as Fort Cavazos in Texas, which was formerly known as Fort Hood (cuz the guy they named it for was a Confederate solider). Israel also spent time abroad, being stationed in Sinai, Egypt. Weird behavior hinting at violence is a little more acceptable in the armed forces as opposed to when you’re at recess, and despise his oddness, Israel actually made some friends. One of whom he told he would like to kill. Imagine thinking about that special moment after hearing his friend was arrested, and for what? 

Isarel’s pals noted that he was quiet and mostly kept to himself. He was also a big drinker on the weekends and often finished bottles of Wild Turkey by himself. Another way that we know Israel was evil is that he was a huge Insane Clown Possee fan. Israel was down to clown! You know what, though? The Juggalos seem like nice people, for the most part, people who just want to get drunk and high and crazy, and they don't kill people. So I’m sure they didn’t appreciate a serial killer also enjoying Faygo soda. Oh, and on a lighter note - I don’t know the name of it off the top of my head, but the Insane Clown Possee documentary is indeed insane and a must-watch. I'm not even sure it's anything anymore, but I got into that culture. It’s pretty wild. 

Israel was honorably discharged in July of 2001 and embarked on a career as a handyman, contractor, and construction worker. He moved to Neah Bay, Washington. Which is on the Olympic Peninsula; he settled on an Indian reservation where he worked for the tribe the Makah. The FBI would later ask him if he began murdering people after he left the Army, and his response was Yeah, Neah Bay’s a boring town. Yikes. Get a fucking hobby, Actually, he probably thought he had one. 

Israel also owned a falling apart cabin on 10 acres of land in upstate New York in the town of Constable, way upstate, like almost Canadian upstate. In the town of Tupper Lake, about 50 miles away, he committed one of his later crimes: he robbed a bank. He later said he committed more than one bank robbery in New York, as well as committing a bank robbery or robberies in Texas, a state in which he also committed arson and burglary. 

Keyes’ official body count is 11. But the FBI believes there’s way more than that. There IS evidence of Keyes committing crimes prior to the Army, and there’s even a couple of cases in the Middle East that he may be connected to; he said they were both rapes, but murder is suspected. He was very close friends with one army buddy, the one he might have been fooling around with. True Crime Bullshit refers to this guy as Matthew and has said that Israel brought up his lust for death to him.  

However, it appears that his murder career really got up and running when he moved to Neah Bay. Like I said, he’d travel around, and he began to pick random (there’s that word again), random people all across the United States to kill, and bury and unearth his kill kits in places across the country so he wouldn’t have to fly to other states with murder tools on him. These were usually watertight buckets where he would usually include guns, silencers, zip ties, ugh, yikes, and materials for body disposal, like Draino, money, and other stuff to aid him. He might not recover these kits for literally years. Some he buried just in case he was in that state and decided he wanted to commit a murder. It was all about the planning, the follow-through, and the escaping detection. Keyes was a detail-oriented motherfucker. And he was very, very patient, at least for most of his crime time. Near the end, he finally started getting sloppy, sort of falling apart, which seems to happen to these guys, and it's usually when they get caught. 

On these murder trips he would take, he might fly to one state, rent a car, and then drive 1,000+ miles to kill someone in another state. For instance, he flew into Chicago and then rented a car, and then drove to Essex, VT, to kill a middle-aged married couple, the Curriers, using a murder kit he’d buried nearby two years before. How fucking scary is that? This guy was like one from the movies or fiction, right?  I’ll get to that horrendous crime in a second. Israel would turn his phone off so it couldn't be traced, and always used cash. He would pick random victims that he had absolutely no connection with. He always killed people who were complete strangers to him. 

Israel liked to stalk his prey in campgrounds, parks, near boat ramps or popular fishing areas, and other isolated locations. Or he’d just be driving around and see people that piqued his interest, or a house that he decided to explore. He preferred to strangle people to death because he was that cliche type who liked to watch the life drain out of his victims. Ugh. He shot people when he had to. He claimed to avoid killing kids and parents with kids because he had a daughter, more on his personal life later., but the FBI thinks that was bullshit, and he had killed both.  He also said he let his victims come to him, choosing them for how unlikely they were to be connected to him.

Keyes burglarized maybe 30 houses across the US, as well as knocking over several banks between 2001 and 2012.

Let’s get into his crimes if you’re still with me. I don’t know about you, but I get chills from this dude, and it's awful, but I’m kinda glad he’s dead. We don’t need that sort of population control.

Israel is suspected of kidnapping and murdering a 13-year-old girl named Julie Marie Harris in Colville, Washington, on March 1, 1996, while waiting for a ride to church. This was only two years before he went into the Army. Not only did he maybe kidnap and kill a child, he maybe kidnapped and killed a disabled one. Julie was a Special Olympics medalist in skiing and had two prosthetic feet. They found her prostheses by the Colvile River a month after she disappeared. And her remains in April of 1997. They were unable to find a cause of death. Keyes was 18 and lived in the area at the time. The FBI asked him about this in 2012, and he didn’t confess to it, but he didn’t say he didn’t do it either.

Keyes always said his first act of arson was a trailer in Colville. Marlene Kay Emerson, 29, was discovered dead in her burned-out trailer in June of 1997. Her daughter Cassie was missing, Cassie’s remains were found in 1998, 13 miles from the trailer.. Israel is a suspect. 

Actually, Israel told the FB that he murdered five people in Washington State. He said that he either buried a victim near or submerged a body in Neah Bay, between July and October of 2001. A body had been found in the lake, but it was ruled an accidental death. He also said that he killed a young straight couple sometime between 01 and 05. He said he beat the man to death and strangled the woman. And burned them both. 

I should say at this point that, in his dealings with the FBI after he was caught, many of which were recorded, he would sort of dribble out info, mostly as a way to bargain for ways to protect his young daughter. Yeah, Israel had a kid, with a woman he met while living on the Makah reservation. Pray for her, she’d be an adult now, and can you imagine? Keyes would try to bargain for a quick execution date to spare her and his mom further pain. He sort of took matters into his own hands on that. I’ll get to it. 

Israel claimed to have killed two more victims in the 05-06 time period, whom he said he dumped in Lake Crescent in Washington. They’ve never been found. The only outstanding victim the authorities could link with that confession was known only as Lewis County Jane Doe, who was found in Morton, Washington, in April of 2011 by a passing motorist. In 2022, they reportedly identified her, but her name hasn't been released. Keyes also confessed to at least one murder in New York State. In late 2012, authorities had not determined the identity, age, or sex of the victim, or when and where the murder may have occurred, but regarded the confession as credible.

Let’s turn to Florida for a moment. The cops think Israel might have been known as the Boca Killer, and responsible for unsolved murders in Boca Raton that took place in 2007. 

Like I said, he got around. Keyes is a suspect in a series of 2007 crimes by the "Boca Killer", near Boca Raton, Florida. Randi Ann Malitz Gorenberg, 52, was abducted from a mall parking lot on March 23, 2007; her body was found an hour later in a different location, having been fatally shot twice. A woman whose name has been withheld claims she and her toddler son were kidnapped from the same parking lot in August of that year, by a tall, athletically built young man in a mask and sunglasses. She did see his face at one point, and the guy matched Keyes’ description. This guy made her withdraw cash from the ATM and released her and the kid unharmed, so she was lucky, 

The third case in Boca Raton was Nancy Bochicchio, 47, and her 7-year-old daughter Joey, who were found fatally shot in their vehicle in the same parking lot on December 12, 2007. That’s terrifying. Did they tear the mall down? They should tear the mall down. 

Debra Feldman was 48 years old and a sex worker with a substance abuse problem. She was last seen in her apartment in Hackensack, NJ, on April 8, 2009. Her body has never been recovered. The FBI is 95% sure that Israel kidnapped and killed her. They showed him her pic, and he got quiet and then finally said I don't want to talk about her yet. They also went through his computer after his arrest, where they discovered that he had searched for numerous missing people online and that he had looked at Debra’s case more than a few times. They think he might have buried her in Tupper Lake, where he would later commit a bank robbery. 

On May 28, 2011, Madison "Maddy" Geraldine Scott was last seen during the early morning hours at Hogsback Lake near Vanderhoof, British Columbia, on May 28, 2011. After she was at a party, They found her body this year in May 2023.[43] Hogsback Lake is a 33-hour drive from Anchorage, Alaska, where Keyes lived at the time. Yes, Israel moved from Neah Bay to Anchorage in 2007, where he started a construction firm, dated a local woman whom he eventually moved din with, and shared custody of his daughter, sometimes having her most of the time because his ex had a substance abuse issue she was trying to get a handle on. Keyes loved visiting Canada, btw and when they asked him whether he'd ever killed anyone in the Great White North, he replied, "Canadians don't count." ew, we do not stan a xenophobic serial killer. First of all, whore, Canadians count; in fact, they're superior. 

One of the crimes that Israel absolutely committed because he confessed to it was the murder of Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex, Vermont, on June 8, 2011. This one scares the shit out of me. This is a very it could happen to your moment, cuz this man had no connection to these people, and no one thinks of a full-on couple being abducted from their home to be murdered for kicks. He broke into their home, held them at gunpoint, tied them up, and put them in a car.

This next bit is from a book about Israel called American Predator by Maureen Callahan. This is by way of the New York Post. Prepare to be grossed out.

As Keyes approached this part of the story, he became physically excited, bobbing his knees, jangling his shackles, rubbing against his armchair so hard he scraped a layer of wood clean off. This would become another tell, his signature expression of sexual excitement. It would be the way investigators knew there was much truth to his story. 

Ugh. So, supposedly on a trip to see his brothers in Maine, that’s what he told the girlfriend in Alaska. He actually went to check on a farmhouse he owned in upstate NY; he had flown from Anchorage to Chicago, then drove to Indiana, then drove to NY, and then drove to Vermont. He dug up his kill kit he had buried two years earlier. He left his hotel on foot at nightfall. He was dressed in black, with a headlamp strapped to his forehead. Hesus. He just wandered around town, his phone shut off, battery out of it. Then he came to the Currier’s house. He cut their phone line. Then he broke into their garage, noted they had a green Satun, then broke into the kitchen and pulled what he called a blitz track, and he was suddenly in their bedroom, waking them up with his gun. Can you imagine?

So he zip ties them, and let me stop here and tell everyone everywhere, NEVER LET THEM TIE YOU UP. Ever. That’s when it's over and out. Every true crime story I've ever seen or read, that’s when things tip towards you’re doomed, if you let them tie you up. Fight. Much better to be shot or stabbed while fighting a fucker off than get hogtied and lose all hope. Be stubborn. Watch me end up dying due to a serial killer whose victim profile is annoying podcasters, and I die cuz he scared me into letting him tie me up. I’ve sealed my own fate. Nevermind.

He kidnapped them,, and put them into their own car, and drove off. There are other details I'm skipping over cuz they hint that the crime is a lot more awful than the official story lets on. He told them this was a kidnapping for ransom. They begged him just to take their money and car and let them go. He drove them to an empty farmhouse with a for sale sign out front that he’d found earlier in the day. 

He takes Bill into the cellar and leaves him tied to a stool. Can you imagine the terror? Lorraine, god love her, managed to get out of the car and down the driveway to the main road. But it was an isolated area, and she was a middle-aged woman tied up and trying to run. And Israel is basically the apex predator of serial killers. He got her and brought her back to a bedroom upstairs. He tied her to the bed. The story gets pretty awful. Israel first went down to the basement to sexually assault and torture Bill and then murder him. However, when he went down there, Bill managed to shatter the stool he was tied to and was about to be freed. This put Izzy in a snit, the sonuvabitch.

“That pissed me off,” Keyes said. “Because there’s a very specific way I want things done, and I have the whole thing planned out. I have everything I need to do it.”

Poor you. So he hits Bull with a shovel, and he thinks he killed him. Meanwhile, a propane stove he had brought with him, don't ask, fell through the rotting bedroom floor, and he went to ensure it wasn't burning the house down. Meanwhile, Bill got up, still alive. Keyes came back to the basement to discover this, and the Curriers fought hard, so credit to them. They really annoyed Israel. That was when he shot Mr Currier dead, firing several times. 

And then he went back upstairs, and I'm not going to get into it, but it wasn't good. Fast forward, both bodies are in the basement; he pours drano on them so they can't be unidentified, puts them in trash bags, and covers them with trash and wood. He had planned dot burn the house down, but tu was daylight, and there were people driving to work on the main road. So he left them there, figuring that the new owners would have the gross house razed and that people would assume any smells were from dead animals. 

He left their car in a Rite Aid parking lot, it's where he had parked his and then drove to Maine. The whole thing had only taken six hours. Six hours and all that evil 

The Curriers' remains were never found. Israel’s theory was right. The house was torn down and ended up in the local landfill, presumably with the Curriers' remains. The only way they ever found out the CUrrier’s fate was Israel confessing. Before that, it was a really bizarre missing persons case. And it was pretty awful,  Oh and Israel moved that murder kit to Parishville, NY, where it remained until after his death. 

The other crime that Israel Keyes is most infamous for is the gruesome, horrific murder of 18-year-old Samatha Koenig. Samantha worked at a drive-through coffee shop in Anchorage called Common Grounds. He later said that he chose it because it was in a fairly isolated location, and it stayed open later than the other ones. On February 1, 2012, he approached the place right before they were ready to close. He wore a ski mask and ordered a coffee. I know it was Alaska, but Jesus screams serial killer; why don't you? Israel pulled a gun on her and forced his way into the coffee stand. An understandably terrified Samanta was zip-tied and taken to Israel’s tuck in a nearby parking lot. 

Israel lied to Samantha as he did to the Curriers, telling her he was going to hold her for ransom. Samantha noted that her family didn't have any, and Israel spun a lite about how he was basically going to crowdsource this supposed ransom. He actually intended to go through with at least part of this plan. He found out that Samantha had left her cell phone back at Common Grounds, so he turned around and returned to get it, leaving her tied up in the truck. He used the phone to send text messages to Samanha’s boyfriend and her boss at Common Grounds, saying she'd had a bad day and was going away for the weekend. Then he nixed the battery out of her phone and found out her debit card was in her boyfriend's truck., He took Israel home - the house where he lived with his girlfriend, and where he also was co-parenting his daughter. He put her in the shed, tied up, and played music loud so no one could what her. He also told her he monitored the police scanner and would know if she alerted the neighbors. Bold as brass, Israel went to Samantha's dad’s house, where the truck was parked in eh driveway, and stole the debit card out of it. He then returned to the shed, sexually assaulted Samantha, and strangled her to death. He then returned inside the house to continue getting ready for a cruise he was taking with his girlfriend. Leaving her body in the shed. Just there in the shed. And he left for the cruise the next morning. Callous creature, wasn't he?

When he returned two weeks later, he set in motion an elaborate plot to make it seem like Samantha was still alive and to get a 30,0000 ransom for her. It involved him making her body look like she was still alive. Just gruesome. He basically fucked himself with this. Samtha’s father deposited money in her account for her kidnapper. Meanwhile, Israel disposed of Samantha's body in a nearby lake. Then he took off. And the cops traced withdrawals from that account. In Alaska, then in Arizona, then New Mexico, and finally Texas. This is when the Texas Rangers got involved. They were able to discern that the person with the ATM Card was driving a white Ford Focus. 

And during what was basically spiraling out of control crash and burn, Keyes committed a few bank robberies. 

Israel was arrested by the Texas Highway Patrol in the parking lot of the Cotton Patch Café in Lufkin, Texas, on the morning of March 13, 2012. He had been driving slightly over the speed limit. They found cash with dye on it from a bank robbery, as well as Samatnha’scell phone and ATM card. 

However, before his arrest. Keyes might have been able to fit in one more murder. 58-year-old James "Jimmy" Lamar Tidwell Jr., was an electrician who disappeared in Mount Enterprise, Texas, on February 15, 2012. He was last seen at 5:30 a.m. that day after he had finished working a night shift. 

During a bank robbery in Azle, Texas, on February 16, 2012, the culprit – believed to be Keyes – wore a white hard hat similar to Tidwell's. Even creepier, Tidwell's hair also resembled a dark-haired wig worn by Keyes during the robbery. While interrogated, Keyes stated that his "wig" was, in fact, human hair. When asked where he had obtained the human hair, Keyes refused to elaborate but said, "You don't have to buy real hair to get real hair." Blergh.

Keyes was extradited to Alaska, where he confessed to killing Samantha. Keyes was indicted in the case, and his trial was scheduled to begin in March 2013. While incarcerated, Keyes spoke to FBI investigators several times over a period of months. He cooperated 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.

On Wednesday, May 23, 2012, Keyes attempted to escape during a routine hearing. He used wood shavings from a pencil to pick his cuffs. US Marshals used a taser to subdue him. This was sort of a homage to his idol, Ted Bundy, who escaped police custody twice. 

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 differences in victim choice and modus operand.

Keyes also admired and studied other serial killers, but actively shunned media attention for his crimes as he was fearful for his family and being labeled a "copycat" for his admiration of Bundy and other murderers; he also expressed admiration for serial killers who hadn't been caught yet. At one point, he admitted, "I probably know every single serial killer that's ever been written about. It's kind of a hobby of mine.

So then Israel did that SUPER annoying thing that evil cowards do after they take a bunch of lives and ruin the lives of the ones left behind. He killed himself. What an asshole. 

While being held in jail at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on suspicion of murder, Keyes was being held at the Anchorage Correctional Complex and somehow managed to conceal a razor blade in his cell despite being a known flight risk. Didn't they toss that cell every day?  He killed himself on December 2, 2012, not only cutting his wrists by also hanging himself. He left a weird suicide note, found under his body, that was described as an "ode to murder" but offered no clues about other possible victims. In 2020, the FBI released the drawings of eleven skulls and one pentagram, which had been drawn in his 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 is believed to be the total number of his victims. I'm sorry, but that's corny as hell.

Israel Keyes is suspected of plenty more murders, and it’s not far-fetched. His primary joy in life was raping, torturing and murdering people. Seriously, I can't recommend True Crime Bullshit highly enough for the most comprehensive study of one criminal I’ve ever experienced. The dude is only Season 4 or something now and is still spinning yarns about this creepy asshole.

It’s funny; the more I wrote about Israel, the less scary he seemed. I mean, first of all,f he's dead, but the more I learned about him, the more I saw him as a creepy loser who gave in to his shitty impulses and destroyed people because he was an evil dickbag.  Honestly, if you listen to some of his FBI interviews,s he’s got this annoying laugh, and he’s like trying to appear all cool….and you're like, is this fool for real You’re the scum of the earth? You’re literally the lowest of the low; just couldn't you have killed yourself BEFORE you killed all those people?

Thank you for listening this evening. So, Wicked Gay’s Patreon has a good amount of bonus content and Wicked Gay episodes you’ve never heard of. If you’re into it go to patreon.com/wickedgay. I know this is the part of the podcast when people tune out, but if I can catch yo before you go to the next podcast, please rate and review Wicked Gay. It helps draw in more listeners. You can reach me at wickedgaypod@gmail.com and wickedgaypod on all social media, particularly on TIkTo, where I seem to have the most WickedGay followers. Gino the Goons is Wicked Gay’s theme song; they re on Spotify and Facebook. JB does some more of the music, as does an AI called AIVA. Paul Chapman is the cover artist, and the other Mr. Harvey takes care of the sound.  Have a lovely rest of the month, and stop belittling yourself. You’re way better than that. I’ll stop if you will. Bye!