Daily Star
The most audacious act serial killer Israel Keyes ever committed is exactly what led the authorities to him.
After raping and killing 18-year-old coffee shop worker Samantha Koenig in February 2012, Keyes went on a two-week cruise with his family in the Gulf of Mexico.
When the 34-year-old returned to his home in Alaska, knowledge of the missing teen’s whereabouts were sought after – and lucrative.
Keyes took the frozen body out of his shed, applied makeup and sewed its eyes open with a fishing line to make it look like she was still alive.
He held a four-day-old local newspaper next to her face, took a grainy Polaroid and sent it to her loved ones. The image is uncanny.
Psycho killer caught
Koenig’s family swiftly transferred the psycho killer $30,000, convinced she was still alive and that the image was real.
Then, he chopped up the body and threw it into a lake.
But it was Keyes’ spending on his credit card that allowed the authorities to trace his location.
ATM withdrawals of varying sizes were made from Keyes’ account all over the southwestern US, from New Mexico to Texas to Arizona. These were easy for the FBI and local enforcement officials to track.
When a Texas Ranger finally pulled him over and searched the vehicle on March 2012, they found Samantha’s mobile phone and the debit card used to make the transaction.
After Keyes was charged and interrogated, he confessed to at least eight murders and many bank robberies.
It’s estimated he robbed 20 to 30 houses across the US and killed 11 people in America, with more murders abroad possible too.
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