5 chilling details about Israel Keyes' crimes

Israel Keyes is perhaps one of the most prolific serial killers to ever exist and his criminal activities go far beyond just murders or assaults. As a sharp and calculated criminal, Keyes was active from the late 1990s to February 2012, leaving behind a huge list of crimes in his wake. He also killed himself before answering for his crimes, ending a saga that has since been the subject of multiple pop culture representations.

The latest of these is Hulu's true-crime exploration, Wild Crime: Eleven Skulls, which premiered on December 5, 2024. The true-crime series explored the murder of Samantha Koenig, which ultimately led to the arrest of Israel Keyes, who admitted to murdering at least two more people and hinted at many more.

As one of the most prolific criminals in the history of the country, there are a lot of details about Keyes that are extremely disturbing. Let us go over five such chilling facts about Keyes' crimes and eventual arrest.

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5 chilling facts about Israel Keyes' crimes

1) Israel Keyes started exhibiting disturbing behavior from a young age that was not limited to animal abuse

Like many other serial killers, Israel Keyes' tendency of antisocial behavior began early in his life. Despite belonging to a devout Christian family, he began harming wild animals from a very young age. He also admitted to shooting at neighbors' houses with his BB gun and starting fires in the woods.

He also allegedly broke into houses with another youth, who stopped staying around Keyes after witnessing him kill an animal. He continued his increasingly antisocial behavior in the future.

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2) Keyes assaulted women even during his time in the army

Keyes served in the United States Army (Image via Pexels)

Keyes first assaulted a teenage girl around 1997 in Maupin, Oregon, at knifepoint, whom he also considered killing. Later, he enlisted in the United States Army, and as an officer of the force, he reportedly assaulted a s*x worker while on leave in Egypt and a college student in Israel.

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3) He killed people randomly but in an extremely planned manner to avoid detection

Israel Keyes meticulously planned his murders and reportedly picked his victims from various parts of the country to avoid connections or detection. He claimed that he avoided killing young children or parents of children because of his daughter, a claim authorities do not completely believe.

He claimed that he did not have victim profiles and picked his victims randomly. Keyes also reportedly had a "murder kit," which he used to execute his murders. He used this on William "Bill" Scott Currier and Lorraine Simonne Currier.

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4) Keyes used Samantha Koenig's corpse to ask for ransom money

Israel Keyes was arrested after Samantha Koenig's murder (Image via Pexels)

Keyes reportedly kidnapped Koenig from her workplace on February 1, 2012, and murdered her after s*xually assaulting her. After the murder, he went on a two-week cruise with his family in the Gulf of Mexico. After returning, he retrieved the corpse, sewed her eyes open, and took a picture of a four-day-old issue of the Anchorage Daily News alongside her body to make it appear that she was alive.

He used this to try and extract a ransom for her release, which ultimately led to his arrest.

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5) Israel Keyes worshipped other serial killers and left behind a possible hint about his victim count

Israel Keyes reportedly looked up to other serial killers like Ted Bundy and did extreme research on serial killers, their methods, and their motivations. In an interview, Keyes had claimed:

"I probably know every single serial killer that's ever been written about. It's kind of a hobby of mine."

After his suicide, police found drawings of eleven skulls and one pentagram, drawn with blood, under his bed in the jail cell. This seemingly hinted that he had 11 victims in total.

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Wild Crime: Eleven Skulls covers this case in more detail.