The Secret Life of Israel Keyes: America’s Most Organized Killer

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When is the last time you saw your neighbor taking out the trash and you thought,

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"That dude probably stashes bodies in the woods."

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Right?

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You don't think like that.

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Most people don't think like that anyway.

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But maybe we should.

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Israel Keys ran a construction business.

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He showed up on time.

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He had a kid.

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When on family vacations, paid for things in cash, and kept to himself.

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Nothing about him really set off any alarms.

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He built his life to blend in.

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He studied what got other killers caught and figured out how to sidestep every single one of those mistakes.

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He planted "kill kits" years in advance.

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He picked victims with zero connection to himself.

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He flew across the country, murdered strangers, and went home like it was just another Tuesday.

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This is not a murder story about chaos.

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It's about patience, precision, and a guy who treated murder like a side hustle.

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With an escape plan in every state.

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This is part one of two parts on Israel Keys.

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Let's get into it.

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[Music]

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Israel Keys wasn't living in a bunker or hiding out in the woods.

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He owned a construction business in Anchorage.

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Drove a pickup, showed up on time, had a girlfriend, a young daughter,

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and neighbors who thought he was quiet, but normal.

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He spent weekends fishing, took care of being cruises, paid in cash, held the door open at the gas station for people walking in.

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While everyone else was going about their lives, Keys was planning murders with military precision.

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He studied case files and FBI reports, followed other killers, took notes on what worked, and what didn't work.

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He flew across the country with burner phones and empty backpacks.

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He buried "kill kits" in random states.

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Each one filled with guns, cash, zip ties, gloves, and cleaning supplies.

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Some sat on the ground for years before he came back to use them.

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He picked victims by chance, isolated trails, remote houses, people with no ties to him.

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Then he got in, got out, and disappeared.

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He robbed banks to cover his travel.

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Took long drives through back roads, used prepaid debit cards.

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He knew what left the trace, and he avoided it.

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For over a decade, no one noticed.

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Not because he got lucky, because he planned every move.

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Then, one night, in his own city, he stepped outside his routine.

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He picked someone nearby, took a risk.

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And that's when the walls started to crack.

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Israel Keys was born in Co-Vutal in 1978.

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Second of 10 kids in a family that rejected almost everything mainstream.

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No public schools, no doctors, and absolutely no government.

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His parents packed up when he was little and moved the family deep into the Washington wilderness.

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They lived in a cabin with no electricity, no running water, no connection to the outside world.

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The goal wasn't just to live off grid.

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It was to raise a family completely detached from the rest of society.

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They jumped from one fringe church to another until settling into a white supremacist Christian sect

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that made isolation feel like salvation.

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That's the world Israel grew up in.

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Even in a household like that, he stood out.

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The other kids played and prayed.

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Israel hunted.

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He stole guns from neighbors and broke into homes just to see what was inside.

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He tortured animals.

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He tied up the family cat and shot it.

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Cut open a deer and watched it bleed.

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Not out of anger.

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Curiosity.

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Nobody stepped in.

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No teachers.

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No neighbors.

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No system.

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When he finally told his parents he didn't believe in God.

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His father cut him off.

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That was it.

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One decision and he was out.

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No diploma.

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He went looking for structure.

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He found it in the US Army.

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In 1998, Israel keys joined the army.

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He trained at Fort Leonard Wood.

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He served at Fort Hood and Fort Lewis.

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He deployed once to Egypt.

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He followed orders.

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He kept to himself.

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Past every test.

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Most people saw him as reliable and unremarkable.

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After his discharge in 2001, he moved to Nehabe, Washington.

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Took a job as a contractor.

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He became a dad.

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Neighbors knew him as the quiet guy who showed up on time and kept to his work.

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He later admitted he started killing not long after leaving the military.

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Four victims while living in Washington.

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No names.

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No reports.

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No bodies to tell of.

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He picked isolated spots.

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Trails, lakes, remote roads.

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He planned every step.

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Where to park.

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Where to leave the body.

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How to leave the area without being seen.

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Once after dumping a body in Lake Crescent, he asked investigators how long a corpse would

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stay submerged in cold water.

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He already knew.

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He buried kilkits across the country.

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Buckets packed with weapons, cash, masks, gloves and chemicals.

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Some stayed hidden for years before he returned to use them.

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When he traveled, he didn't need to stop for supplies.

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Everything was already in place.

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Israel keys left nothing to chance.

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He read case files.

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Studied other killers.

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Took notes on where they slipped up.

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Then he built a system that worked for him.

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He buried the weapons, the cash, the zip ties.

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He had disguises he would use in random spots across the country.

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Rule trails, fishing spots behind gas stations.

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These weren't panic moves.

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These were step by step murder kits stashed years in advance and ready to go.

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He picked his victims identity by opportunity.

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A house with an open garage.

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A hiking trail with no one around.

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A car parked off a back road.

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He chose areas with low traffic and no surveillance.

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He paid in cash.

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Kept his phone turned off.

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Took long drives to nowhere with no one asking questions.

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His victims had no connection to him and the scenes he left behind had nothing that pointed

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back.

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The timing was always in his favor.

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He used work trips and vacations as cover.

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Left on flights with no luggage.

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Slept in cheap motels, ate fast food and drove rental cars.

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He treated every step like part of a checklist.

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Keys rob banks to fund these trips.

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He broke into homes to scout neighborhoods.

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Sometimes he burned the place down on his way out.

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When the killing was done, he cleaned up, tossed the tools and left town.

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Didn't brag, didn't make headlines, just back to his everyday normal life.

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He blended in because he built his life to blend in.

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It wasn't accidental.

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That was the point.

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February 1, 2012.

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Anchorage, Alaska.

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Samantha Canig was working alone at a coffee kiosk finishing up her shift.

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It was dark, cold and business had slowed for the night.

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She was texting with her boyfriend and getting ready to close.

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A man walked up to the window.

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He wore a ski mask and asked for coffee.

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Samantha turned her back for a second.

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When she faced the window again, there was a gun pointed at her.

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He told her to turn the lights off.

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She followed his instructions.

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Then he climbed inside.

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His cameras caught some of it, her hands in the air, her body stiff, the lights going dark.

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Israel keys walked her away from the stand and vanished into the night.

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She didn't come home.

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Her boyfriend got a text the next day, supposedly from her, saying she needed a break and had gone

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out of town.

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But the wording was off.

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Her dad knew something was wrong.

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He called the police.

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The investigation moved quickly.

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She's reviewed the security footage and saw a man, masked man, and they started tracking

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her cell phone in debit card.

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Nothing made sense in this case.

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Samantha didn't live recklessly.

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She didn't just disappear.

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Ten days later, a text came in.

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A location, a park.

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Under a flyer for a missing dog, pinned to a bulletin board was a photo and a typed ransom

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note.

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The photo showed Samantha holding a newspaper from four days earlier.

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The ransom note demanded $30,000 deposited into her bank account.

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Her dad put in a partial payment.

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That night, someone withdrew the cash from her account at an ATM in Anchorage, then another

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withdrawal in Arizona, then New Mexico, then Texas.

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The FBI tracked the route and found surveillance footage of a white Ford focus near one of the

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ATMs.

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The plate was visible.

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They traced the rental found out who had it and waited.

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On March 13, the Texas State Trooper spotted the car near Lufkin.

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He pulled it over for speeding.

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Behind the wheel was Israel Keys.

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Inside the car was Samantha's ATM card, her cell phone, a gun, a mask, and a roll of cash.

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They had their suspect.

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Now they needed the truth.

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When investigators pulled over Israel Keys and Texas, he gave them nothing.

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Calm voice, normal ID, no panic, but the car gave them everything.

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They found Samantha K.N.A.T.M. card, her phone, loaded gun, dark clothes, and a mask.

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He was flown back to Anchorage.

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At first, he claimed he found the card, claimed he had nothing to do with Samantha.

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Then he stopped talking.

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That silence didn't last.

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He told them he targeted her with no plan.

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Walked up to her stand, pulled a gun, and forced her into his truck.

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He brought her home, tied her up in a shed, assaulted her, killed her.

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The next morning, he took a pre-booked flight out of Alaska and boarded a cruise with his

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girlfriend and daughter.

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He ate shrimp, drank cocktails, and smiled for family photos.

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Two weeks later, he returned to Alaska, posed her body with a newspaper, took a photo,

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and used it to demand a ransom.

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He cut her up, drove to a frozen lake, and dropped her into the water.

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Then he stayed and fished.

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Investigators recovered her remains.

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Everything he told them matched.

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Then he offered more.

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Names, cities, timelines, but only if they promised him an execution date.

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He didn't want a trial.

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Didn't want cameras.

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While they considered it, he kept talking.

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The interviews added up.

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Each one filled in more of the timeline.

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Each time he spoke, they realized they weren't looking at one case.

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They were tracking a man who had been perfecting this for years.

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Thanks for listening to Ten Minute Murder.

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Bingeable True Crime Stories.

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I'm Joe, the host, and Israel Keys built a life that looked normal on the surface, but

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underneath he was planning murders like logistics jobs.

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Every move was calculated.

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Every tool already in place.

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In the next episode, Israel starts talking.

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Confessions, kill kits, victims without names, and the FBI realizes the story is way bigger

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than they initially thought.

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Episode 2 of Israel Keys is next.

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I'll see you there.