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Israel Keyes

On Sunday, December 2, thirty-four-year-old Israel Keyes committed suicide by slitting his wrists and strangling himself with the bedding in his jail cell in Anchorage, Alaska. It was, perhaps, the first time in his sorry life he had done something that benefited society rather than merely feeding his own dark desires. If only he would have done it years ago. He left behind a legacy of burglary, bank robbery, arson, kidnapping, rape and murder.

Before checking out on his own terms, Keyes granted an interview to an Anchorage police officer and an FBI agent. And it is the report of this interview that has shocked and outraged so much of the public and law enforcement community.

Keys stated that he killed people – primarily young women – because he enjoyed it.

To which we say, “Oh, really?” Forgive us for not being surprised. Anyone who has read the books John Douglas and I have written know that sexual predators are consumed with three related motivations: Manipulation, Domination and Control. Never having met Mr. Keyes, we can be reasonably assured that this was the most important and fulfilling aspect of his life.

This is what these guys live for. It gives them adventure, satisfaction, the thrill of the hunt and the high of the attack and the kill. They are on the prowl continually, they fantasize about the crime beforehand and reminisce about it afterward. Even if they are married or involved with a woman, even if they are employed, this aspect of their lives is what gives them their identity.

Many serial predators have told John Douglas that they never felt so alive as when they were assaulting and killing one of their prey. The more crimes they get away with, the more they perfect their techniques and the more confidence they get that they are omnipotent – above the law and all other human beings. Most times this grandiosity is warring inside with deep-seated feelings of inadequacy. But as long as they can continue to manipulate, dominate and control, they can banish that inferiority to the subconscious.

“I’m too different people, basically,” Keyes told his interrogators.

In March 2012, Keyes was arrested for the murder of eighteen-year-old Samantha Koenig, whom he had abducted from her job as a barrista in an Anchorage coffee shop. He raped her, strangled her, and dismembered her body. Before disposing of the pieces, he went on a two-week cruise.

On Sunday, December 9, one week after his suicide, Keyes’ family had him buried in Washington State. At his funeral, which was attended by his mother and four of his sisters, the family’s pastor Jake Gardner diverted from typical eulogistic form in saying, “He is not in a better place. He’s in a place of eternal torment.”

Let us pray that Pastor Gardner is correct.

Postscript: At a news briefing  December 11, Anchorage Police Detective Monique Doll stated:

“Israel Keyes didn’t kidnap and kill people because he was crazy, he didn’t kidnap and kill people because his deity told him to or because he had a bad childhood. Israel Keyes did this because he got an immense amount of enjoyment out of it, much like an addict gets an immense amount of enjoyment out of drugs.

“He was addicted to the feeling he got when he was doing this, addicted to the feel of the hunt and of killing,” Doll said.

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7 Responses to Killing For Fun

  1. amantdopera says:

    Suppose that at the end of your life you could choose to be someone you would like to be in your next life. I can hardly imagine than anyone would like to be a serial killer a rapist a mass murderer a pedophile or an arsonist. In other words what drives certain people to commit heinous crimes is not fully understood. It is true that they have a choice between right and wrong and they still do the wrong thing When they gain pleasure from torturing raping and whatever they do they still know it is wrong. So what is their alternative. As far I understand it they must be locked in for the safety of others and that means the end of everything that gives meaning to their lives. In other words they had better be executed and buried.

  2. Christopher says:

    Chad what are saying I feel Mr. Olshaker sees something I missed but what sympathy?

  3. DoUKnowTheLord says:

    I agree Mr. Olshaker, number one we really now have a hard time finding and accounting for the other victims he took. I know that what the man did was not only to commit murder but do so such that the families would never recover there loved ones. This is of the deepest and most upsetting aspect of his crimes.

    How many do we estimate or do we even know I can state at least four based on M.O. and deeper more difficult aspects to explain but in time the families will receive retribution and peace.

    Fidelity Bravery and Integrity.

    Thanks for creating a secure place to communicate now I do not worry I am assisting them evade justice, they watch and try to learn from us and it is the danger of which may sometimes save our life.

  4. We share your sympathies on this completely, Chad. But I wonder if it was guilt or just an egotistical unwillingness to spend the rest of his life locked up on someone else’s terms. For him, suicide might have been the ultimate act of control.
    Thanks.

  5. Chad says:

    Well at least he finally found some guilt inside his soulless self and made the right choice for once in his life. Considering Alaska is not a death penalty state. I imagine the people of Alaska appreciate his final act a lot. Since they will not have to house, feed, or provide medical care for this lowlife for life.

  6. DoUKnowTheLord says:

    Truly if not we may be in trouble Mr. Gardner. Mr. Douglas and other because consider Helter Skelter as a function of their ability to for a while mislead an investigation and the idea he is of a man who would have a follower like he seems not a leader or he would have led a much more controlled life before he was caught.

    I also think of it then as a source of the Highway 16 murders and it shows the same M.O and he is likely one of many of a group and this notion though scary is not if we all form communication as they may. We still in the Law Enforcement and partner groups fail here and in Pierce Brooks dream the goal is to save lives lost to serial murder.

  7. DoUKnowTheLord says:

    I do not know where to begin with this mutt. I guess you are 2 murders for 1 Angel and that is 3 total. The man wanted to Ted Bundy and was failure. I think in the end he lost bad the victims love bleed him like the Metallica song when you went to the show. Like you went to 500 race and now Lauren will be coming home!
    And if that form abusing the long standing “Iloveyou2much4everand1more suited you.
    Then when you had committed that act toward the Harrington Family it had and lost to her you did it for Save The Next Girl. You killed yourself because of you inability to face them because the end was coming. Bundy rode the chair you failed, just wannabe.

    Any Ideas SSA? What do you think?

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