Wednesday, August 14, 2013

FBI reveals movements of Alaska serial killer, 34, believed to have killed 11 people before committing suicide in jail

The FBI believe Israel Keyes, who killed himself in his Alaska jail cell, murdered 11 people
The FBI believe Israel Keyes, who killed himself in his Alaska jail cell, murdered 11 people



An Alaskan serial killer who committed suicide in his jail cell last year is now believed to have killed 11 people, the FBI said yesterday.
Officials released an updated timeline of travels and crimes Israel Keyes, which sheds new light on a case that left a trail of unsolved killings around the U.S.
FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said they hope the information will help identify victims who remain unknown and provide some closure to their families.
'We've exhausted all our investigative leads,' Gonzalez said.
The FBI documents said Keyes frequented prostitutes during his travels and killed an unidentified couple in Washington state sometime between July 2001 and 2005.
The FBI said yesterday that Keyes is believed to have killed 11 people, all strangers.
Previous reports had estimated he had killed eight people across the country.
Keyes also told investigators he committed two separate murders between 2005 and 2006, disposing of at least one of the bodies in Lake Crescent, near Port Angeles, Washington.
When he killed himself in jail, the 34-year-old Keyes was awaiting a federal trial in the rape and strangulation murder of Samantha Koenig, 18.
She had been abducted in February 2012 from the Anchorage coffee stand where she worked.
Keyes confessed to killing Koenig and at least seven others around the country, including Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex, Vermont, in 2011.
 The murderer told investigators his victims were male and female, and that the murders occurred in fewer than 10 states, but he did not reveal all locations.
Koenig and the Curriers were the only victims named by Keyes because he knew authorities had tied him to their deaths.
Keyes killed himself while he awaited trial for the abduction, rape and murder of Samantha Koenig (pictured)
Keyes killed himself while he awaited trial for the abduction, rape and murder of Samantha Koenig (pictured)
Video surveillance captures moment Keyes approached Koenig in the coffee shop and abducted her
Video surveillance captures moment Keyes approached Koenig in the coffee shop and abducted her
Bill and Lorraine Currier were the only other people Keyes specifically admitted to murdering
Bill and Lorraine Currier were the only other people Keyes specifically admitted to murdering
Keyes told investigators that only one other body - other than Koenig - had ever been recovered but that victim's death was ruled as accidental. The bodies of the Curriers were never found.
The FBI said Keyes admitted frequenting prostitutes, but it's unknown if Keyes met any of his victims this way.
Officials said Keyes told them he robbed several banks to fund his travels along with money he made as a general contractor.
The father-of-one also told authorities he broke into as many as 30 homes throughout the country, and he talked about covering up a homicide through arson.
The timeline begins in summer of 1997 or 1998, when Keyes abducted a teenage girl while she and friends were tubing on the Deschutes River, he told investigators.
The FBI said Keyes was living in Maupin, Oregon, at the time, and the abduction is believed to have occurred near that area.
The FBI said Keyes lived in Neah Bay, Washington in 2001 after he was discharged from the Army.
The timeline states that Keyes committed his first homicide while living in the area.
The identity of the victim is not known, and neither is the location of the murder.
Keyes moved to Anchorage in 2007, but continued to travel extensively outside the state.
FBI say Keyes killed his first victim in Neah Bay, Washington, in 2001 after being discharged from the Army
FBI say Keyes killed his first victim in Neah Bay, Washington, in 2001 after being discharged from the Army
After killing Koenig, Keyes flew to New Orleans where he went on a cruise.
He left Koenig's body in a shed outside his Anchorage home for two weeks, according to the FBI.
After the cruise, Keyes drove to Texas. The FBI said that during this time, Keyes may have been responsible for a homicide in Texas or a nearby state — a crime Keyes denied.
He was arrested in Lufkin, Texas, about six weeks after Koenig's disappearance.
Keyes had sought a ransom and used Koenig's debit card. Three weeks after the arrest, Koenig's dismembered body was found in a frozen lake north of Anchorage.
The FBI said Keyes also traveled internationally, but it's unknown if he killed anyone outside the U.S.
In December last year, Keyes was found dead after slashing his wrists with a razor blade.
After his death the Alaska Department of Corrections admitted a blade was mistakenly issued to  in his jail cell allowing him commit suicide.
The razor was never found.
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

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