ISRAEL KEYES CRUISESHIP KILLER
ISRAEL KEYES MURDERED SWEET SAMANTHA, THEN WENT ON HOLIDAY
Samantha Koenig was thrilled about landing a new job as a barista at a roadside cafe. The 18-year-old would often work nights at
Common Grounds, which stayed open later than other kiosks in the area. Often, it meant she would be locking up alone in the dark.
This also meant the teenager’s chance meeting with serial killer Israel Keyes all boiled down to timing.
On February 1, 2012, Keyes approached Samantha just minutes before closing time and ordered a coffee.
Keyes knew the young barista would be there – he had spent the days prior quietly observing the area for targets.
When Samantha, from Anchorage, Alaska, handed the coffee over to Keyes, she was met with a gun in her face.
“Give me all your money,” he snarled, before forcing himself inside the coffee stand and tying her hands with zip ties.
As he forcibly walked Samantha along the road, she momentarily broke free and tried to run away. Six-foot Keyes quickly caught up with his victim and tackled her to the ground. He then led her into his white truck, bound Samantha and drove away.
As Keyes drove, he explained to Samantha her abduction was for ransom. He was only looking for money, he told her.
Samantha warned Keyes her family didn’t have much money, but her ATM card, which she shared with her boyfriend Duane, was in her truck at home.
He took Samantha’s phone and sent two texts – one to her boyfriend and one to the owner of Common Grounds.
“The text messages made it appear that Samantha just had a bad day and was leaving town for the weekend,” investigators told reporters. “Keyes then took the battery out of Samantha’s phone.”
“THE TEXTS MADE IT APPEAR THAT SAMANTHA WAS JUST HAVING A BAD DAY”
Keyes drove Samantha to his house and tied her up in his back shed, before putting the radio on and dialling the volume up so no-one would hear her scream.
He then travelled to Samantha’s home and retrieved her ATM card. While he was rummaging through the truck at around 3am, Duane spotted Keyes. Duane yelled at Keyes, unaware he was his girlfriend’s abductor, and raced back inside for help. But Keyes pocketed
the bank card and drove away before being caught.
He tested the card on an ATM machine, before driving home to his victim.
The kidnapper had gotten what he wanted. Now he needed to get rid of Samantha.
Keyes returned to the shed and sexually assaulted her, before strangling her to death.
Not one to let a murder get in the way of his plans, Keyes then went back inside and packed for a pre-planned cruise he was due on the next day.
He left on February 2 for the two-week holiday, and left Samantha’s body in the back shed.
On February 17, Keyes returned and prepared a ransom note, demanding $30,000 be wired into the account.
He knew Samantha’s family wouldn’t transfer the funds without proof their daughter was alive. So he glued her eyelids open, before taking a polaroid picture of her lifeless face next to a newspaper with the current date.
The note was left in a local park for the Keonig family to retrieve, and they received the gruesome photograph of Samantha with the belief their daughter was still alive.
Meanwhile, Keyes dismembered Samantha’s body and drove out to a frozen lake, where he cut a hole in the ice and disposed of her remains.
The Koenig family had scraped together the cash – which had been donated by community members – and transferred the money.
Police tracked withdrawals in the following days, and were able to find and arrest the perpetrator.
Keyes had Samantha’s phone in his car and her ATM card stashed in his wallet.
While being held in prison, the killer died by suicide in December 2012.
Keyes has since been linked to at least 11 other murders in the US. The true number may never be uncovered.