American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century
Serial Killer Israel Keys
Today you can join me into the mind of Serial Killer Israel Keys. In the book American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century. We get information about Keys as a person. Besides, we obtain knowledge about suspicious findings in his cell after his suicide.
The case of Serial Killer Israel Keys is compelling as well as chilling read. If you have an interest in reading about serial killers, I give you a 100% non-affiliated book review. I have no gain from my recommendations. I base all my reviews on an interest in the criminal mind. Today I take you through the latest book about Serial Killer Israel Keys join me
Maureen Callahan
Maureen Callahan is an author writer and editor. Callahan is known for covering pop culture in The New York Post. With her book American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century she has joined the true-crime book community
Review
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century
To be honest with you. I have never tended to study Serial Killer Israel Keys. Guess because he is lesser-known as Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dhamer, John Wayne Gacy, and Edmund Kemper. Therefore I got surprised to how captivating I found the case and the information shared in American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century.
So without further ado, let’s get into the book without spoilers.
Part one
In part one of the book, we get to know how Samantha Koenig got abducted by Israel Keys. Because of the video footage recorded of the abduction, it seemed odd in some way. Therefore it was first suspected Samantha was with the man by her free will.
The case went as far as suspecting Miss Koenig of staging her abduction. On surveillance video, Samantha was together with a man having his arm around her shoulder. But suddenly she managed to break free from his grip. The footage showed how she broke away, and her wrists were tied together. But the man tackled her, and therefore they knew she got taken against her will
A ransom note and a polaroid picture of Samantha showed up. But it was difficult to see if Samantha was alive in the picture. Therefore experts in snuff films were bought into the investigation.
First, when Israel Keys was under arrest, they managed to figure out if Samantha Koenig was alive in the pictures.
Samantha Koenig in the News
The abduction of Samantha was in the headlines on ABC, NBN, and Fox News
A suspicious man though to be a former marine, was seen withdrawing money from an ATM. That information leads to a possible suspect.
The predator turned out to be the now infamous serial killer Israel Keys. When Keys got arrested, they saw a tall and slender older woman; she wore a simple cotton dress that covered her from the neck to her ankles. She wore no makeup, and her hair was braided; the lady looked Amish. This woman was Heidi Keys the mother of Israel Keys.
Part two
On arrest Keys had a girlfriend named Kimberly but she wouldn´t cooperate.
The police found information about how Keys had been in the army from 1998 to 2000
It turned out the only people who meant anything to Isreal Keys were his mother, Heidi, his daughter and the mother of his daughter.
Just a few minutes into the investigation it was clear to Keys how little the police knew this gave him confidence
Keys was not interested in telling the police anything as in his mind his victims belonged to him. He said he would speak to leading detective Monique Doll.
When speaking to Doll, he told how he had been observing the kiosk where Samantha worked for days. He said how he could see Samantha was scared, and that made him feel invincible. Keys gave a graphic description of how he had moved the dismembered body of Samantha Koenig. Besides, he told how easy it is manipulating victims by letting them believe he would let them go.
Israel Keys had a weak spot
While speaking to Keys detective Doll figured out he had one weak spot and that was his daughter. Therefore, she asked him questions about the little girl.
Keys didn´t mind sharing more graphic details about what he did to Miss Koenig. I will not go into details as I don´t want to make any spoilers. But I will reveal this much to you. Israel Keys were into necrophilia. Besides doing these awful deeds to Samantha, he was taking care of his daughter at the same time.
The chilling polaroid
When asked if Samantha were alive when he took her picture, his answer was no. Israel Keys got asked how he managed to stage her, so it was that difficult to discover if she was dead or alive in the photo. To the question, he gave very graphic details once again, I don´t want to reveal too much, but as a hint for you, he used a needle.
In the book American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century, you will get graphic details to how the body of Samantha Koenig got found. The particulars made one officer who retired in 2014 suffering from post-traumatic stress
Part three
Keys told he didn´t want any glory for what he had done. I have to agree with the author, Maureen Callahan how chilling it is that he could even think about glory in connection to rape and murder
Israel had particular demands to what he wanted, and he wanted to make sure those demands would get complied before he spoke. He wanted an execution date in exchange for the information he would give the police every gory detail of the murder. Besides he wanted his daughter growing up not being involved with his crimes.
The murders of Bill and Lorraine Currier
Mr. Keys paid a lot of mind games with the police with promises of giving names of more victims in exchange for what he demanded. But he revealed he had been the killer of Bill and Lorraine Currier. While talking about killing the couple, he got physically excited when telling about details on what he did that day. Some of the questions he was asked regarding the murders of the Currier couple he wouldn´t answer, but Israel revealed he had wanted to rape Bill.
When Keys picked Bill and Lorraine as his victims, he told a part of his code were no children and no dogs because he didn´t want to mess with kids. Even though he liked bragging there were some specific details about Lorraine Currier, he wouldn’t reveal.
In part three of the book, we once again get back to the murder of Samantha Koenig. Because here, he reveals that he killed the young woman in his backyard.
I´m overwhelmed with the information revealed about the case of Israel Keys in American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century. We gain fascinating in-depth insight into who Israel Keys were not only as of the infamous serial Killer Israel Keys but as a father as well.
Even though you get a glimpse into Keys as a father, you get an even more in-depth look into Keys as a serial killer. One detail I think is essential to mention is how he asked to see pictures of the crime scenes as he wanted to see the bodies he said.
Part four
It took detective Doll a lot of conversations with Israel Keys to figure out about more bodies he had left behind. He finally spoke about a body he had left in New York.
One will wonder how come a man like Keys had surgery to limit his food intake when being in as good a shape as he was
We learn that while he was in the army, most people held a distance to him. There was only one guy who wanted to hang out with Keys during his army time.
At one time he did try to make a run for it this happened in a packed federal courtroom while he was chained and eight armed guards were around him. It took a taser to take him down. That day he nearly escaped.
What Keys revealed before his suicide
Before his suicide, he explained how he had killed four people in 2006. The people he allegedly killed were a man and female couple, and the other couple was a mother and her daughter. When finding the bodies of the mother and daughter, they were posted.
Serial Killer Israel Keys didn´t want his name mentioned in the media, so he got furious when learning how an NBC affiliate had said his name.
Keys revealed how he once raped a girl he grabbed from a bathroom, but he didn´t kill her. Somehow the girl managed to speak to Keys in a way that made him let her go after the rap. He described she was scared but didn´t show fear. Keys expressed how he did regret letting her go.
When Keys spoke to officers, he was always on guard. He made sure not to reveal too much. He gave bits of details but without providing any details anyway.
Part four
Suicide and terror
Israel Keys told one of his victims was found, but it got presumed as an accident.
Keys had traveled with guns, but he was never once questioned by the TSA. Therefore a new classification was added to Keys case, and this was terrorism. The official timeline of his travels issued by the FBI after his death remains heavily edited and knowledge of any terrorist activities or potential plans remain secret
More secrets
Approximately 45 thousand pages of casefiles remain unreleased by the department of justice because of national security claims
The visitation rooms Israel Keys used got secretly wired, and they stay wired
The suicide of Israel Keys
We may never know what he had planned or what massive unsolved crimes he may have committed
On December 1, 2012, Israel Keys committed suicide in his prison cell. He used a razor blade and a noose.
In the book, you will get a graphic description of how Keys got found and what he did to himself. I will leave those pieces of information out of my review not to spoil anything for you.
I will reveal that Keys had left a message in his blood on the wall. He had written a suicide note over several pages to his brother. But the FBI didn´t offer many clues to the public about the letter.
The Department of corrections special incident report provides some details about the day he took his life. But even despite requests from the press the prison has kept everything about Serial Killer Israel Keys suicide secret.
What I found strange is the description of how paramedics found Keys´blood contained in two cups size unknown and two milk cartons. I will not go into further details about this.
Summary
American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century is one of the best books that have ever crossed my path.
It is odd thinking about how Keys did an interview just three days before he took his life.
Allegedly someone handed Keys a razor blade while removed from his cell.
When the police found 100´s of pictures on Kimberly´s (Keys´ girlfriend) computer, one image stood out. It was a picture of Samantha Koenig, whom he might have been stalking.
Israel Keys had planned to build a dungeon to keep his victims alive for much longer. We learn how he had a life long hatred towards The United States of America. We get to know about some wordings he made confirming his hate.
I will keep wondering how come video and audio records from the night he passed away has never been released as well as the medical report.
As mentioned in American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century, you can´t help thinking about corruption in the case of Israel Keys
Besides for information about Israel Keys, the book provides us with a new view into tactics used by detectives. Like when detective Doll laughed when Israel laughed. The data gives some answers to questions I had read on YouTube when detectives spoke to Chris Watts.
Books read by Israel Keys
We as vivid, real crime readers can read one book after the other. But Keys read two texts carefully Dark dreams sexual violence homicide and criminal mind by Ray Haselwood and The FBI´s elite serial crime unit by John Douglas. If you would like to read a review of the latest book by John Douglas, you find it here.
Some final information you might find valuable is the book reads like an interview with questions asked and answered.
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