American serial killer Israel Keyes is thought to have murdered at least 11 people before his 2012 arrest.
Israel Keyes was an American serial killer who typically traveled to different locations and selected victims of opportunity, rather than having a preferred victim type. To finance his actions, he robbed banks and burglarized homes. He was arrested in March 2012. While in custody Keyes said he'd killed "less than a dozen" people, though only three of his victims were definitively identified. His December 2012 suicide left law enforcement with more questions than answers about his crimes.
Keyes was born in Cove, Utah, on January 7, 1978. He's the second of 10 children born to Heidi and John Jeffrey Keyes, a couple who didn't believe in government interference, public schools or modern medicine. Keyes was a toddler when his family left Utah for Colville, Washington. They lived an isolated existence in the woods, where Keyes grew up without heat or electricity.
While in Washington, Keyes' parents left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and became fundamentalist Christians and joined a white supremacist church. In the late 1990s the family relocated to Maupin, Oregon. They next moved across the country, settling close to an Amish community in Maine.
Growing up, Keyes broke into neighbors' homes to steal guns, loved hunting, would pursue "anything with a heartbeat" and torture animals, behavior that has been linked to psychopathy. While in custody Keyes himself said, "I've known since I was 14 that ... there were things that — that I thought were normal and that were OK that nobody else seemed to think were normal and OK."
In July 1998, Keyes joined the U.S. Army. He did well as a soldier, spending time in Egypt, at Fort Hood in Texas and Fort Lewis in Washington. After his honorable discharge in July 2001, he lived on the Makah Reservation with the mother of his daughter.
Keyes received a DUI while in the army but otherwise had had no trouble with the law.
As a serial killer, Keyes targeted victims who happened to cross his path, rather than sticking to a specific profile. He would often wait to accost people in places like parks, cemeteries or campgrounds. "Not as much to choose from, in a manner of speaking," he confessed to law enforcement about his methods, "but there's also no witness, really. There's no one else around."
Keyes also traveled to kill. In 2011 he flew to Chicago before driving to Vermont, where he murdered Bill and Lorraine Currier. He had a history of trips that covered a lot of ground in the United States, meaning he had many opportunities to seek out victims. Foreign journeys — such as visits to Canada, Mexico and Belize — may have played another part in Keyes' killing spree. While on the road Keyes would pay in cash and take the battery out of his cell phone to lessen his chances of being tracked.
Keyes' serial killing incorporated detailed planning. He crisscrossed the country to hide caches of murder equipment that consisted of guns, ammunition and chemicals for the destruction of bodies. When he wanted to kill, Keyes would dig up a cache.
Keyes studied the work of FBI profilers and learned about serial killers like Ted Bundy. In Maureen Callahan's 2019 book about Keyes, American Predator, she noted that he'd been fitted with a gastric band and had visited a plastic surgery clinic in Mexico. She speculated that Keyes might have been trying to become a better killer: A lap band could mean he wouldn't get hungry as often, and he might have changed his fingerprints or removed body hair to lessen the chances of leaving evidence behind.
