The Dark Devotion: Unmasking Israel Keyes - Who Was Israel Keyes? (Part 2)

“The Dark Devotion: Unmasking Israel Keyes - Who Was Israel Keyes? (Part 2)”

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🎙 The Dark Devotion: Unmasking Israel Keyes 🎙 – 🎞 Part I | 🎞 Part II | 🎞 Part III | 🎞 Part IV | 🎞 Part V

Part I – The Introduction
Part II – Who Was Israel Keyes?
Part III – Into the Mind of Israel Keyes
Part IV – Remembering Bill & Lorraine Currier
Part V – Samantha Koenig

Books
📚 Devil in the Darkness By: JT Hunter

Welcome, fellow true-crime enthusiasts, to today’s case file: “The Dark Devotion – Unmasking Israel Keyes”  

Part II – Who Was Israel Keyes?

 

INTRODUCTION

In today's spine-tingling installment, we invite you to step into the enigmatic world of Israel Keyes, a man who thrived in the shadows, leaving a haunting trail of mystery and terror behind. While some have labeled him as one of the most meticulous, intelligent, and elusive serial killers of our time, we dare to ask: was he merely a troubled fanboy, consumed by a sinister obsession, his path shaped by a reclusive and extreme upbringing?

This unsettling journey will unravel the mysterious monster who was Israel Keyes—a man driven by a relentless quest for significance and control. With a chilling level of calculation, he operated on the fringes of society. Only one body has ever been recovered, with two more deaths confessed to but never found, leaving us with an unsettling sense of unease and intrigue that refuses to fade. Get ready to explore the mind of a killer who defies easy explanation, a man who yearned to be perceived as godlike, yet whose actions unveiled a nightmarish reality.

But before we plunge deeper into the abyss of his crimes, let's rewind to the beginnings of Israel Keyes. 

THE BEGINNING

Born under the sign of Capricorn, Israel Keyes made his entrance into this world in the heart of Richmond, Utah, a picturesque town steeped in the history of Mormon pioneers. Founded in 1859 by pioneers under the guidance of Thomas S. Smart, Richmond was an integral part of the grand vision of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) to establish flourishing communities across Utah and the Intermountain West.

Israel, the second of ten Keyes siblings and one of four Keyes sons, spent his early years in this rugged landscape. Richmond's economy revolved around agriculture, with fertile soil in the Cache Valley fostering the growth of wheat, barley, and sugar beets—thanks to ingenious irrigation systems that sustained the town's farming community.

The influence of the LDS Church ran deep in Richmond's development, as was typical in many early Utah settlements. The local congregation, known as a ward, served as the beating heart of community life, while the town itself adhered to the principles of the Church.

Israel's early life was profoundly shaped by his parents' unwavering devotion to the Mormon faith. His father, John Jeffrey Keyes—known as Jeff to those who knew him—had English roots and carried a name imbued with significance, "Yahweh is Gracious." Israel's mother, Heidi Hakansson, hailed from a German background. Both of them were devout members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, a faith that held its leaders, often regarded as prophets, in the highest esteem—almost akin to divinity itself.

In the initial five years of his life, Israel's family resided in California, attending a particular branch of Mormonism known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Torrance. This branch boldly practiced polygamy, defiantly breaking away from the broader LDS community, which had come under pressure to renounce plural marriages. 

This faction drew significant media attention due to allegations of rape, unlawful marriages, molestation, and even the marriage of minors. One of the most infamous names associated with this group was Warren Jeffs, who had an astonishing number of wives and children. Disturbing cases within this religious sect raised concerns about potential trafficking of minors. The group's views on women often diverged markedly from mainstream Mormonism, with women sometimes seen as homemakers and child-bearers, and, in certain instances, possibly considered mere property.

This deeply ingrained upbringing within a religious sect rife with controversial practices and beliefs may offer a glimpse into the complex and troubled background of Israel Keyes and his psyche, which we will deconstruct in a future episode. Israel Keyes would be a man who would later become infamous for his chilling and calculated crimes. 

At the age of five, Israel's life would take a significant turn as his family, now including his father, mother, older sister America, younger sisters Charity and Sunshine, relocated to Coleville, Washington. Over the years, more siblings would join their ranks—At seven, Keyes welcomed his sister Autumn-Rose and brother Ezra, at ten, his brother Isaac, at twelve, Elijah, and eventually sisters Hosanna and Jubilee Keyes.

But as Israel Keyes grew older, he began to realize that he was not like all the other boys and girls.  He would find himself fascinated with hurting and torturing animals.  His boyhood friends would distance themselves from him.  He thought everyone enjoyed the same sadistic activities and failed to understand the rejection.

 

ADOLESCENSE & BECOMING AN ADULT

During his adolescent years, Israel Keyes was surrounded by sisters, in a harsh and strict religion.  He would hone a unique skill - hairdressing. This talent would later earn him accolades as a stylist, a role he would embrace alongside his daughter, his only child.

His family's unconventional lifestyle took them to Coleville, Washington, where they lived off the grid, homeschooled, and resided first in a tent, and eventually in a one-bedroom cabin without electricity or water. Their journey also led them to the Ark Church, a place where they would rub shoulders with the Kehoe family. 

The Kehoe brothers, Chevie and Cheyne, later became notorious for their deadly rampage under the banner of the Aryan Republican Army, which included Chevie Kehoe's torture-murder of a family of three in Arkansas in 1996. There were also potential links to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Both the Keyes and Kehoe families attended another Christian Identity church, the Christian Israel Covenant Church, led by Ray Barker, a former acolyte of Dan Henry, who pastored the Ark Church. Barker played a role in Chevie Kehoe's surrender to law enforcement officials in Washington in 1997.

Israel Keyes began to grapple with his identity during these formative years, acknowledging early on that his thought patterns, lack of empathy, and grandiose mindset set him apart from his peers. While he enjoyed hunting, his behavior became increasingly unsettling, such as tying a cat to a tree, shooting it, and allowing it to run to its demise. His close bond with his sisters contrasted with his less-than-typical fascination with girls, though he did become involved with a girl approved by his family. Their relationship, however, fizzled, leaving her with the impression that he was somewhat peculiar.

In 1997, at the age of 19, Keyes confessed to detectives during his 2013 arrest that he sexually assaulted a girl during a river tubing trip near the Deschutes River in Maupin, Oregon. The FBI appealed for the young victim to come forward, but as of 2021, no official word has emerged regarding her response.  He would indicate and allude to this not having been his first sexual assault.

In 1998, at the age of 20, and eager to escape his parents' stringent and extremist beliefs and seclusion, Israel Keyes made a life-altering decision. He joined the U.S. Army, a choice that required him to earn his GED and apply for a social security number. He entered the Army through Albany, New York, in July 1998, just months after another failed romantic relationship. 

Basic training and Advanced Individual Training (AIT) took him to Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the Infantry, where he trained as an infantryman. Infantry service involves ground combat on foot, often humorously referred to as "moving rocks" due to its lower ASVAB score requirements.

Despite a mediocre record at best, Keyes achieved distinction by earning an Expert Infantry Badge (EIB), a coveted accolade with a pass rate of only 15%, and an Air Assault Badge, which demanded a grueling obstacle course, run, and a 12-mile weighted ruck march. However, Specialist Keyes would ultimately distinguish himself little further within his military career, serving only three years with a six-month overseas assignment in Egypt.

During his time in the Army, he encountered Tammie Hawkins, who would become the love of his life and the mother of his only child, a daughter. In October 2000, Keyes proposed to Tammie, picking out a ring before spending a weekend with her.

Like many young soldiers, he grappled with drinking-related issues and received a DUI, potentially accompanied by a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMAR) or a Bar to Reenlistment. Despite these setbacks, he retained the option to exit the service with an honorable discharge.

As Israel Keyes moved forward through this tumultuous period of his life, little did anyone suspect the chilling depths of darkness that lay beneath the surface. 

 

ADULT 

Israel Keyes' life took a significant turn when he married Tammie Hawkins, a union that his family did not fully embrace. Tammie, a woman nearly twice his age, brought a child from a previous relationship into the marriage, along with their daughter, Laney Bug. It was a complex family dynamic for a child who didn't choose her father and found herself navigating a tumultuous path filled with heartache, scrutiny, and adversity. Despite the challenges, Laney Bug would use her experiences as a springboard to achieve remarkable success, far beyond what her father ever attained.

Keyes, despite his outward appearance and brands, identified as an atheist and rebelled against many of the values his parents upheld. He was a relatively normal dresser, often seen with a toothpick in his mouth and what most would describe as a dad bod. He underwent a vasectomy after the birth of his daughter, firmly expressing his desire not to have more children. He was known for his cleanliness, organization, and culinary skills, with a love for coffee. He was also a passionate fan of the Minnesota Vikings, even going so far as to honor a lost bet by donning a cow costume when the Vikings lost to the Eagles in September 2004.

In 2004, while still with Tammie, Keyes began a relationship with a woman he met on match.com. She described him as an introvert who enjoyed Wild Turkey and had quit smoking, although she expressed concerns about his drinking habits. Their relationship lasted just a year, during which he flew back and forth to see her.

After parting ways with Tammie, Keyes moved to Alaska, following his girlfriend Kimberly in 2007. They both obtained hunting and fishing licenses annually in Alaska, beginning on May 7, 2007. Keyes officially established Keyes Construction in Anchorage on August 1, 2008, although he had been working in the field prior to that. He took on various odd jobs, and those who employed him never seemed to have any complaints about his work, or did they?

At one point, he worked out a deal to perform upgrades in exchange for reduced rent on his living space. Keyes was known for being frugal, but he also enjoyed traveling and hunting. He adhered to some old-school habits, such as maintaining a handwritten calendar, but he also kept a journal and used his laptop to log and research information.

During this period, he visited family, attended his sisters' weddings, and spent time with Kimberly, even accompanying her to a medical conference for PriMed in March 2006.

In terms of his relationships, sexual partners described him as non-aggressive and relatively normal. He didn't possess an excessive amount of pornography or any particularly unusual content. However, one item found on him in Texas following his arrest was a pornography DVD featuring transvestites—a discovery made following his arrest while he was traveling from state to state with his daughter and had recently attended his sister's wedding.

The infamous orange buckets, often associated with Keyes, were also seen in a Google Earth image showing him with Laney Bug in front of their Anchorage home, alongside his Keyes Construction work truck and trailer. The enigma of Israel Keyes deepens as we uncover more facets of his complex life.

 

CONCLUSION

 Israel Keyes remains perplexing.  A multifaceted individual with a challenging past, Israel Keyes, appears to most like a normal neighbor, living a normal existence.  His foray into bank robberies, arsons, kidnappings, and murders remain buried in a persona that no one is aware of except himself.  He will tell FBI investigators that he is two people.  A father, a friend, an Anchorage business owner on the outside.  A serial criminal with a penchant for rape and murder, fueled by stolen cash from banks littered across America and Canada, with caches of murder kits strewn across the landscape.  When asked if he committed murders in Canada, Isreal Keyes will say, Canada doesn’t count, restricting our ability to peer into the darkness of his soul and his mind.  Join us on the next episode where will deep dive Israel Keyes psyche, peeling back the layers of his mind as we dare to look deeper into his persona.

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Creators & Guests

Host

Crystal Garcia

Host

Jose Medina

What is Body of Crime?

Body of Crime is a true crime podcast for crime lovers. Join hosts, Crystal, Joe, and Alicia as they present cases and dissect each body of crime. Rather your love is to hear true crime stories, research, debate, and / or even attempt to solve some of the world’s most intriguing cases, we have you covered. Get ready to put your detective hats on and take some notes – you never know which mysteries will get messier with each case!

 Welcome fellow true crime enthusiasts to today's case file, the dark devotion, unmasking Israel keys. Part two, who was Israel keys?

Welcome to body of crime. Your go to true crime podcast. Where we plunge headfirst into the gripping world of criminal mysteries. Join your hosts, Jose Medina, Crystal Garcia, and Alicia Anaya, as we deliver the full stories immersing you in the heart of each case. With spine chilling cases, in depth analysis, captivating interviews, and a comprehensive examination of the evidence, embark on a thrilling journey with us as we explore bone chilling cases from around the globe.

Seasoned true crime enthusiasts or a fresh face in the genre, we guarantee to keep you on the edge of your seat. So put on your detective hat, grab your notepad, and get ready to dive into the thrilling world of body of crime.

There is no one who knows me who. Or who has ever known me, who knows anything about me, really. They know, they're going to tell you something that does not line up with anything I tell you because I'm two different people, basically. And the only person who knows about what I'm telling you, the kind of things I'm telling you, is me.

How long have you been two different people? A long time. Fourteen years. Spine tingling installment, we invite you to step into the enigmatic world of Israel Keyes, a man who thrived in the shadows, leaving a haunting trail of mystery and terror behind. While some have labeled him as one of the most meticulous, intelligent, and elusive serial killers of our time, we dare to ask, was he merely a troubled fanboy, consumed by a sinister obsession, his path shaped by a reclusive and extreme upbringing?

This unsettling journey will unravel the mysterious monster who was Israel Keys. A man driven by relentless quest for significance and control. With a chilling level of calculation, he operated on the fringes of society. Only one body has ever been recovered, with two more deaths confessed to, but never found, leaving us with an unsettling sense of unease and intrigue that refuses to fade.

Get ready to explore the mind of a killer who defies easy explanation, a man who yearned to be perceived as godlike, yet whose actions... Unveiled a nightmarish reality, but before we plunge deeper into the abyss of his crimes Let's rewind to the beginnings of Israel

Born under the sign of Capricorn is your keys made his entrance into this world in the heart of Richmond, Utah a picturesque town steeped in the history of Mormon pioneers founded in 1859 by pioneers under the guidance of Thomas as smart Richmond was an integral part of the grand vision of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints to establish flourishing communities across Utah and the Intermountain West.

Israel, the second of ten key siblings and one of four key sons, spent his early years in this rugged landscape. Richmond's economy revolved around agriculture, with fertile soil in the Cache Valley fostering the growth of wheat, barley, and sugar beets, thanks to the ingenious irrigation systems that sustained the town's farming community.

The influence of the LDS Church ran deep in Richmond's development, as was typical in many early Utah settlements. The local congregation, known as a ward, served as the beating heart of community life. Well, the town itself adhere to the principles of the church. Israel's early life was profoundly shaped by his parents unwavering devotion to the Mormon faith.

His father, John Jeffrey Keyes, known as Jeff to those who knew him, had English roots and carried a name imbued with significance, Yahweh is Gracious. Israel's mother, Heidi Hankinson, held from a German background. Both of them were devout members of the Church of Latter day Saints, a faith that held its leaders, often regarded as prophets, in the highest esteem.

Almost akin to divinity itself. In the initial five years of his life, Israel's family resided in California, attending a particular branch of Mormonism known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints in Torrance. This branch boldly practiced polygamy, defiantly breaking away from the broader LDS community, which had come under pressure to renounce plural marriages.

This faction drew significant media attention. due to allegations of rape, unlawful marriages, molestation, and even the marriage of minors. One of the most infamous names associated with this group was Warren Jeffs, who had an astonishing number of wives and children. Disturbing cases within this religious sect raised concerns about potential trafficking of minors.

The group's views on women often diverged markedly from mainstream Mormonism, with women sometimes seen as homemakers and childbearers, and in certain instances, they Possibly considered mere property this deeply ingrained upbringing within a religious sect Rife with controversial practices and beliefs may offer a glimpse into the complex and troubled background of Israel Keyes and his psyche Which we will deconstruct in future episodes Israel Keyes would be a man who would later become infamous for his chilling and calculated crimes.

At the age of five Israel's life would take a significant turn as his family, now including his father, mother, his older sister America, his younger sisters Cherry and Sunshine, relocated to Colville, Washington. Over the years more siblings would join their ranks At 7, Keys welcomed his sister Autumn Rose and his brother Ezra.

At 10, he had his brothers Isaac. At 12, his brother Elijah. And eventually sisters Hosanna and Jubilee. But as Israel Keyes grew older, he began to realize that he was not like the other boys and girls. I've known since I was 14 that there was, there were things that, um, that I thought were normal and that were okay, that nobody else seemed to think were normal and okay.

So that's when I just started being a loner, I guess. Israel, he's had no remorse at all. He, um, he enjoyed what he did. He talked about enjoying what he did. He talked about, you know, had he not been caught, um, some of his future plans and what he would have done, which included continuing to do what he was doing, continuing to, um, to kidnap and murder people.

So he, he had no remorse at all.

He would find himself fascinated with herding and torturing animals. His boyhood friends would distance themselves from him. He thought everyone enjoyed the same sadistic activities and failed to understand the rejection.

The guy that we brought up that's very well known in the Mormon community that was a big name that shed some bad light on the Church of Latter day Saints and on. A lot of the Mormons within the, you know, community, cause I'm sure they're not all the same. I'm sure they're not all exactly the same. The guy who made the news, he had a daughter who actually came out and spoke about him and she talked about how he had.

Like 80 wives, somewhere around 80 wives and like, yeah, and like 30 something kids. So he had a very large family, but some of the things that came out around that timeframe were girls getting married under age, the women being mistreated possible, what would be considered human trafficking of young girls and even of adult women as well.

So a lot of negative things came out of that, but just like any religion, I don't think that. Everybody's the same. Like you just said. Now, Israel Keyes would have been around five years old when he was exposed to this religion. So how much of an impact do you think that would have had on him as a child?

Oh, I think it would have been significant. And the reason is because for starters, he was born in Utah. And the city that he was born in, in Utah, it's a huge, like, especially at the time, it still was like the Mormons were the community. And so whatever the background was at that point in time for his family, like whatever it was that his family was into at that particular time, whatever religion they were following at that particular time, having to do with the Church of Latter day Saints and with Mormons, he was going to be exposed to, and it was going to be significant.

So... When he turns five, the family relocates to Colville, Washington, and the family continues to grow. He's the second oldest, he's got an older sister named America, and he continues to add brothers. But one thing that I did want to say is when they moved to Colville, supposedly they lived in a tent. And then like a one bedroom cabin after that.

So a huge family. But he helped build that cabin. He did. And you see what it looks like. Yeah, but he was five. He was five when they moved there. Which means that, It was slave labor. No, it wouldn't have been until he was older that it got done building. So they lived in the tent for like several years.

That would've been pretty challenging as a kid growing up in, I don't know. You probably would've, if I was five, I would've thought that was cool. You'd have thought that was cool when you turned seven, and then when you turn 10 and you're all sleeping on the floor in a tent together, you're assuming they're, they're sleeping on the floor.

you're still really making an assumption there. . Yeah. Wash saw the tent, so it wasn't that big. We were both in the military and we know that there's nice tents and Yeah, saw there's nice cots and I saw thet. It wasn't, wasn't nice. Wasn't, no, it was. What did it looked like? It was a downgrade from from the one bedroom cabin.

No water, no toilets. It was very rural. I say that because I think it would have been very impactful that level of poverty. You got to think they hunted all their food. But that also means that early on they didn't have Kind of the mentality that kids who are exposed to maybe what we were exposed to, you know, the thought process that we have.

So as far as wanting things, thinking that they need things, looking up to certain people as people that are inspirational to them, they probably didn't have access to any of those things. And so to them, it didn't seem like an abnormal lifestyle, at least at that point in time. He ends up helping the family build the, uh, the cabin and they will continue to add family members.

Obviously, all of them weren't living in that tent when he was five, it would have only been his mother, his father, himself, his older sister, and maybe one younger sister would have been moving into that, that tent. As they started building the cabin up. And so as they started adding brothers, you know, and sisters, they would have been building up the cabin that they would eventually live in.

That would be very impactful as a child to live at that level of poverty, where everything you have to do, you have to do for yourself living off the grid, no medicine, no doctors, no grocery stores. Like it was just very. 1800s. You know? 1800s. Yeah, it would be like 1800s. I assume that's how it was in the 1800s.

I don't know. That's probably how kids nowadays, they probably assume that of the 1900s, right? They're like, oh, and it was like nothing. No Walmart, no clothes, no cars. I don't know. You never know. It may not have been that bad to them. Yeah, it might not have been. I guess I'm just putting myself in that position and comparing it to what I know life experience should have been at that age for a five year old going to school and like learning and like doing all that good stuff.

And I would assume he went to school. Well, he was homeschooled. So he was schooled by, and I don't know his mother's like level of education or anything of that nature. I know that. His dad, a lot of his family is in California, continues to be in California. I'm not too sure about his mom. I haven't been able to find a whole lot on his mom.

I did reach out to his mom to see if his mom wanted to speak to us. The majority of his dad's family really is in California. Gotcha. And then his brothers, I believe most of them are in Maine, in the Maine area. His sister's in Texas. Got it. Now there's a couple sisters who are not, I don't believe have any communication with the family.

The cabin is a fixer upper. One bedroom cabin, all these kids, how, where are they making these babies? They're having, and they're having these babies at home. This is really strange to me. That's what I was trying to say. I was, that's exactly what I was saying. They're all, they're all being born by midwives inside the cabin more than likely.

There's no individual rooms in there. Everybody's together. Everybody's sleeping on the floor or on whatever beds they have. I don't know if they have beds or not. But I'm saying, like, are their parents... I kind of envision it being like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where you, he walks in his room and everybody's sleeping on one big bed.

That's how I envision it to be. That's really gross. I hope his parents are not having sex in the bed with all of them in the bed. Well, I don't know. On a realistic note, if any of the children were exposed to anything like that, that would play a significant role in their sexuality, in their belief as to what is normal or not, concerning sex, and concerning exposure to sex, and all those kind of things, especially through different development phases based on their ages.

So, um, It's just an interesting dynamic.

During his adolescent years, Israel Keys was surrounded by sisters in a harsh and strict religion. He would hone a unique skill hairdressing. This talent would later earn him accolades as a stylist. A role he would embrace alongside his daughter, his only child. His family's unconventional lifestyle took them to Colville, Washington, where they lived off the grid, homeschooled, and resided first in a tent and eventually in a one bedroom cabin without electricity or water.

Their journey also led them to the Ark Church, a place where they would rub shoulders with the Kehoe family. The Kehoe brothers, Chevy and Shane, later became notorious for their deadly rampage under the banner of the Aryan Republic Army, which included Chevy Kehoe's torture and murder of a family of three in Arkansas in 1996.

There were also potential links to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. Both the Keys and the Kehoe families attended another Christian identity church, the Christian Israel Covenant Church, led by Ray Barker, a former acolyte of Dan Henry, who pastored the Ark Church. Barker played a role in Chevy Kehoe's surrender to law enforcement officials in Washington in 1997.

Israel Keyes began to grapple with his identity during these formative years, acknowledging early on that his thought patterns, lack of empathy, and grandiose mindset set him apart from his peers. While he enjoyed hunting, his behavior became increasingly unsettling, such as tying a cat to a tree, shooting it, and allowing it to run to its demise.

His close bond with his sisters contrasted with his less than typical fascination with girls, though he did become involved with a girl approved by his family. Their relationship, however, fizzled, leaving her with the impression that he was somewhat peculiar.

In 1997, at the age of 19, Keyes confessed to detectives during his 2013 arrest that he sexually assaulted a girl during a river tubing trip near the Deschutes River in Malpin, Oregon. The FBI appealed for the young victim to come forward, but as of 2021, no official word has emerged regarding her response.

He would indicate and allude to this, not having been his first sexual assault. In 1998, at the age of 20, and eager to escape his parents stringent and extremist beliefs and seclusion, Israel Keyes made a life altering decision. He joined the U. S. Army, a choice that required him to earn his GED and apply for a social security number, which he had not had up until this point.

He entered the army through Albany, New York, in July 1998, just months after another failed romantic relationship. Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training, or AIT, took him to Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the infantry, where he trained as an infantryman.

Infantry service involves ground combat on foot, often humorously referred to as moving rocks due to its lower ASFAP score requirements. Despite a mediocre record at best, Keyes achieved distinction by earning an Expert Infantry Badge, a coveted Alkalade with a pass rate of only 15%, and an Air Assault Badge, which demanded a grueling obstacle course, a run, and a 12 mile weighted ruck march.

However, Specialist Keyes would ultimately distinguish himself, little, Further within his military career serving only three years with the six months overseas assignment in Egypt During his time in the army He encountered Tammy Hawkins who would become the love of his life and the mother of his only child a daughter in October 2000 keys proposed to Tammy picking out a ring before spending a weekend with her like many young soldiers He grappled with drinking related issues and received a DUI potentially Accompanied by a general officer, memorandum of reprimand or Gomorrah or a barter enlistment.

Despite these setbacks, he retained the option to exit the service with an honorable discharge. As Israel keys moved forward through this tumultuous period of his life. Little did anyone suspect the chilling depths of darkness that lay beneath the surface.

So we talk about. Ezra Keyes being raised around his sisters. Why do we say around his sisters? Well, I just think it's important to understand and laying the foundation of who he later becomes and some of his different behaviors and some of the things that we'll talk about psychologically. It's important to note that he was raised with a lot of girls and the girls were, were the older ones.

The boys were, were more the younger ones. And so he would do things with the girls and he would have conversations with the girls and he would do hair and he would braid hair and, and so it just is a little bit different than being raised with a bunch of boys. Yeah, but I would think that he would have a lot of responsibility in terms of hunting, prepping for the family, like taking care of, he would, he'd be like, almost like the, his dad's assistant.

Cause he was the oldest boy. Oh, I'm sure. I feel like he probably would have also been one of the ones that his father would have depended on to make sure that his daughter stayed in line too, to make sure that they were doing what they were supposed to, so he would have more of an authoritarian type role in the family.

Right. And that makes a lot of sense. We talked a little bit, um, during, during the first part of our conversation, when we talked about him moving to Colville and then living off the grid in that one room cabin with no electricity and them attending the Ark Church. What do we know about the Ark Church?

Why is that significant? So the Ark Church in My relationship to keys has been brought up a lot because the Ark Church is known for being, for their faith to be surrounded by believing that basically the white race is superior. They believe that Jews are inferior. When people think about the Ark Church, they think about it being Jesus.

Almost a, like a white supremacist type environment. Right? And this is kind of where the Kehoe Brothers kind of started building their Aryan Nation type of mindset. And at the ARC Church there's, there was an article that I had found where the, the person who was in charge of the ARC Church at the time, where the Keys family would have been attending, he says he doesn't remember the Keys family.

I would guess that the Ark Church isn't big, and so I'm thinking if you had a family of all these kids, I would think that you would remember them. So I don't know if that means that they didn't go to church very often, or if he just doesn't want to admit that the Keyes family was there for whatever reason.

Sure. Even though he lived in the same community, he lived in the same community with the Kehoe brothers. Was there a relationship there? Were they around the same age or what was the connection with the Kehoe brothers? Supposedly they were and I'm not too sure what the age difference was. I didn't look into the Kehoe brothers a whole lot.

They were neighbors. They lived fairly close together. They went to church together and you're talking about a secluded area. So it's not like you have this whole group of friends and You know, you're very selective and you have these different cliques, like there was only so many kids. So, the likelihood of them hanging around with one another is probably pretty significant.

Later when Keyes gets arrested, and he's going back and talking about his past, and he's talking about these different experiences, there's not really anybody that says that these things are accurate. So, you'll hear him say one thing, and then you'll hear everybody else say something different. So there's kind of like a, is this just a feeling that he had, or is what he is saying accurate?

That's a good call out. And even in my experience, when I think back to my childhood, there are things that I remember differently than my siblings. Right. Maybe it's because of that was my experience, or maybe over time, my memory has kind of... And I don't remember things the same exact way. You start to kind of align your memories based off of the stories that you tell to keep those memories alive.

So sometimes those stories can modify, they can be exaggerated, they can grow, and then they don't really align. And somebody else will go back and remember something totally different than what you remember. Not just that, but The human body is really smart, especially the human brain, and if you experience any type of trauma, your brain will create these disconnects, and sometimes it'll fill it with something that's either inaccurate, something that you heard.

That can happen, and if there were situations where maybe, you know, some of his sisters or brothers were uncomfortable, or something occurred where their memories may not align. So, you know, he may be believing or thinking that something happened, even knew that something happened because it was something that was significant to him, but was maybe traumatic to one of them that they just kind of have kind of blocked out.

Right. Now, when he was going through his teenage years, I would assume this would be the time when boys start to go through puberty and start to evolve into men. It's also when hormones are raging and they're finding out who they are and who they'll be as they grow older. Now, as, as Israel Keyes is developing into a young man, he starts to have experiences where he enjoys being a little sadistic.

He also is realizing that he doesn't have a certain level of empathy. And he realizes this when he becomes rejected by the boys and the girls that are in his age group. Where he thinks, this is cool, and you may want to experience this with me. They're like, that's a little disgusting, that's a little disturbing.

I don't want to experience that. And so they start to create distance. There was one, there was one kid, uh, that I grew up with. And we used to break in houses together, and mostly like kid stuff. And, uh, but then, uh, there was a time when I, uh, I think I shot, I shot something. I think it was a dog or a cat or something, and, uh, and that was too much for him.

He couldn't handle it, and so after that I wouldn't do anything illegal, I guess you could say, with him. When I was fourteen, uh, there were some friends staying with us, and there was, uh, a cat of ours that was always getting into the trash, and, uh, It was my sister's cat, and I told her at the time, I was like, if that cat gets into the trash again, I'm gonna kill it, and then there was this kid, and some of the other, some of his, I think maybe one of my sisters, and one of his sisters, we all went up into the woods, and I had the cat with me, and um, took a piece of parachute cord, and uh, I tied it to this tree, and um, the parachute cord was about ten feet long, and I had a 22 revolver with me, and um, I shot it in the stomach, and it ran around and around the tree, and then, like, crashed into the tree, and then started, uh, started vomiting, and as soon as that, like, for me, I didn't really react, I mean, I actually kind of laughed a little, I think, because of the way it was running around the tree, but, Then I looked over at everybody else, and the kid who was about my age was with me.

He was, he was throwing up, like, he was, like, really, I don't know, traumatized, I guess you would say. He told his dad about it, and then, um, and then of course his dad talked to my parents about it. And that was, that was pretty much the last time anybody went in the woods with me.

And you know, what's unfortunate about that is that during that time, not to say that you should be shooting a cat and letting it run around a tree, but At that age, it's so very important psychologically where you have positive reinforcements and when you're experiencing things as a younger child and you're going through your creative process or you're going through puberty or you're, you know, like, like you're starting to figure out who you are and what you like and what you don't like, all those things during some of those ages, it is very negative psychologically for her.

Kids to feel like they're not meeting a certain standard. And if it is a consistent thing that they're experiencing, and if they're experiencing like other people saying, you're not normal, or you're not doing as good as me, or you're in this other bracket over here, it starts to mess with their confidence.

And it can mess with their confidence way into the future. So even though some of these things might seem like, Oh, well, he was younger. Oh, it's insignificant. Some of those things can play a very critical role in his future. Then I guess he's set up by his family with a relationship. And you kind of reference it fizzling out and it leaves her with the impression that the relationship was a little peculiar as well Here he is in a relationship with someone and she's like, uh, He's a little strange and that relationship also leaves him rejected as well So there again, you know now that's just one more thing on top of everything else, you know, and for anybody who has well daughters or sons because there's odd little girls out there too, but you know You'll experience like if your daughter is speaking to a boy and you're like, oh, that's kind of weird And he may not be a weirdo and it might just be something that you're not used to Those things that we think are minor and insignificant can actually be pretty impactful for kids Yeah Especially at those ages when they're trying to build those relationships and they're coming off as being strange and being weird in 97 When at the age of 19 he commits a sexual assault and in this story He finds a girl who's been isolated from her group who's going down a inner tube down a river She becomes isolated.

He takes her and he sexually assaults her. What do you know about that? So, this was a story that he told the police. To my knowledge now, somebody did tell me, I was chatting back and forth on social media with somebody about the Keys case, and he had told me that there was some documents outside of what the FBI has put out that indicate that this girl came forward, and From what I could find up until 2021, nobody had still come forward.

I don't know why anybody would have come forward in the last couple of years. Like, you know, it's been a long time since he was arrested and whatnot. So I don't know how accurate that is. So I don't want to say that that actually occurred, but so to my knowledge, that person has not come forward, which I find odd because this is a pretty high profile case.

I find it hard to believe that this person wouldn't come forward in efforts to help. If there are other bodies to assist in somehow figuring out his profile to maybe help assist, you know, the FBI with finding these other victims so that their families can bury them. Now, one thing that's disturbing is that he says this isn't his first sexual assault, so at 19, he supposedly has had other sexual assaults with nobody coming forward.

Is that a possibility or do you think he's embellishing? You know, a lot of times when I'm able to observe him speaking and when I hear some of the things he says and I catch some of the things like the pauses that he has or the way his responses are, it seems like he's being deceptive and like he's embellishing on some things.

And so it kind of makes me wonder, and if he is telling the truth, is it a sibling? That's what I was wondering about too because... Like they're all very close in age and, and they're being homeschooled. So there's not a lot of socializing. So he decides to join the military and this is a big move for him because not only is it going to require him to go in, get a conventional ed type of education and pass the GED.

But he's also joining the military and his family's anti government so much so that he doesn't even have a social security card. So what do we know about his entry into the military and how that went? In order for him to enlist, obviously he had to have a social security card. He had to get his GED.

Anytime that you enter the military, there's, you know, dependent on the. They have specific waivers that you can qualify for, typically not many, you know, like you, you can't go into the military with five waivers. Typically you'll get like one or two waivers that are approved depending on what they are, how significant they are.

So, so he definitely had to make a couple of things happen in order to be able to join the military. So obviously it was important to him. It was a move he wanted to make. He did the things that he needed to do in order to. Um, one thing that I do want to highlight is that a lot of people will make jokes about the low ASDAB score required for the infantry, but a lot of people join the military and want to do an infantry type job.

They want to be that. You know, soldier that goes out and fights on the front line. And that's what they, I know a lot of very, very smart infantry guys, infantry officers that that's the job they want. And a lot of those guys advance very, very quickly because they enjoy that type of, and I say that because I don't think that that was the only job available to keys.

I think he wanted that job. They actually have one of the highest degree rates in the army. The infantry does a lot of people make jokes because yes, it is one of the lower scores. So depending on how you score on your ASVAB opens you up to certain jobs. So they'll make recommendations based on the higher, the ASVAB, the more technical the job you can, right.

You can apply for. And, and being an infantry isn't very technical, but it's a high demand position. They're the ones that are put on the front lines. So yeah, they're in high demand. Now, the one thing that I do want to call out is that. When we look at his service, if I'm not mistaken, he was assigned to a mortar platoon, and I call that out because in my experience, I'm also a veteran.

So I've also been in the military and I've been assigned to infantry units. So, and I understand the value of an infantry soldier, and it's very rare that they take an infantry soldier, then move them into a mortar platoon, typically there's a mortar position that for someone who's been trained with the mortar to go into that position, it's not a good thing for an infantry soldier to be moved out of infantry and moved into a mortar platoon.

Right. I'm actually awaiting for his full records. Um, the records that I've been able to acquire between what the FBI released and some other sources, they're not all inclusive. So there's some things that I want to see. I want to see his disciplinary record. I want to see the moves that were made. I want to see if he ever attended anything like the soldier of the month board, or if he was recommended for promotion early, you know, those kinds of things.

I really want to see what kind of soldier. He really was obviously with us having been in the military. We know a lot about what to look for. And, um, I'm just curious what his time in service actually. Looked like as opposed to the little bit that's been, you know, released. It's very vanilla So one of the things that they talk about his military service is that he was doing a lot of drinking and that's something that you And I have both seen is a common trend in the military, especially with young soldiers.

That's kind of like A right of passage type thing. Like, you know, yeah, it's, it's a thing that you do. Unfortunately, he does get a DUI and that oftentimes is a career ender for most people. Actually, at that point in time, it probably was. So prior to that, they were doing things like, you know, they'd give you, uh, we mentioned a GOMAR, um, which is a letter of refer man that they would put in your file.

Typically what that does is that blocks you from being able to re enlist. And so yes, you get out with an honorable discharge, but it's because you're not given the option to stay in. Right. So even though you get out positively, there's a blocker there that doesn't allow you to continue to serve. And that's some of the things that I want to see.

So I want to see those kind of those deeper details to see. The expert infantry badge and I participated in EIB and the expert infantry badge when I was in the military as a grader for some of the tasks like first aid and things like that. I was a medic at the time and that's a very challenging badge to get.

It's not very easy. And I've seen. A lot of guys fail that course. The expert field medical badge is actually way harder to get than the expert infantry badge. And so you've gotten the expert field medical badge. How hard would you say that was? On a scale of one to 10, probably like a nine, yeah, because anything can kick you out.

So, and this is the same thing with infantry badge. Like you have to score expert with your weapon. You've got to throw a grenade into like a small little tiny hole. Like it's, it's not a very easy thing to do. It's, it's very challenging physically, mentally, you can't make no mistakes. You got to be very like focused.

And the fact that he got it means that, you know, he was driven to get it. You don't get it by accident. Also, the Airstall Badge is another one that I also have as well, and that... Is also challenging to get to very physically demanding and very intellectually demanding too because you have to Know how to sling load how to load helicopters and how to repel out of helicopters and off of buildings It's not an easy thing to do.

So the fact that he did those things He was advancing pretty nicely in the military and if he would have probably not got that dui There's probably a high probability that he might have stayed in now. I think it's very interesting if he did get a If he did get a letter of man, and he did get a barter re enlistment.

It's very likely he could have felt rejected from the military. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, that could have ate away at him. Especially if he felt like, man, I was like cream of the crop. I made a mistake. Yeah, he was a specialist. He was, he was advancing his next promotion would have been a leader. Yeah. He would have been a leader in the military.

So he was a specialist. So his next promotion would have been a sergeant. So he would have been for infantry. He would have been like a squad leader or something of that nature with that rank. And you know, one thing that I, that I want to point out as far as in the military, in order for you to advance, there's a number of different kind of, uh, Um, triggers that you have to hit in different areas.

So in order for you to be well rounded, and so there's education, there's your firearm, there's additional training that you do. So it looks like whoever his first line leader was, was probably telling him, Hey, like you need to do all the things you possibly can while you're in good physical shape, because typically when you first join is when you're in your best physical shape.

So they were having him do all these things, you know, like, Hey, like let's get you promoted. It's a shame if it was the DUI that. put him out. Yeah. Now I do want to say that based off the years that he was in and the fact that he only had one assignment overseas to Egypt, Egypt was not a combat assignment.

So it was, it would have been like an admin assignment type deal, right? And so he did not see combat. So there was nothing that he saw that was so That would have been significant. Yeah. That would have been significant in any kind of way that would have made him break or, you know, become a different individual, you know, yes, the military changes you in terms of discipline, in terms of focus, in terms of attention, in terms of planning and understanding how to follow through.

Like there's a lot of value that comes from being in the military service that maybe he could have adapted into his persona because that definitely does happen. But there was nothing devastating. That impacted him negatively while he was in the military that he would have seen or been exposed to that would have broken his psyche, right?

Yeah, I agree with that for sure Definitely not, you know him not having deployed or not having anything, you know significant in nature happened and nothing's significant nature has happened in egypt And anybody that I so i've I was never stationed in egypt but anybody that I've known that was ever stationed in egypt talking about how amazing it was how it was like You know, you got to go see the pyramids and you got to, you know, everybody loved being there.

So I never heard anything negative whatsoever about being stationed in Egypt. It was a place that everybody was happy to go to. Got lucky to go to. Yeah. Yeah. And considering he came from where he came from, he was seeing the world. That's true. And I noticed that he did mention something about how he had never been anywhere and then he went into the military and I think, like you said, I think he felt rejected.

I really do. I think he felt like he was doing good in it and the rug was pulled from under him. Now while he was in the military, two things that stand out that had that he did that I'm familiar with is he got a couple of brands while he was in the military. One brand was an upside down cross and the other brand was an A.

I can't remember which one was the one that he told, so in, in one of the interviews that the FBI did with some of the different people that they talked to from his past, I believe it was a girl that they spoke with that he had dated, she talked about how it. He told her a story about I don't know if he was drunk and I think it actually occurred while he was in Egypt But where they branded him as a joke and that they would make fun of him And I'm sure you know soldiers talk they talk about where they came from and they talk about things They like they don't like and I'm pretty sure that when he talked about his family and not being exposed to a lot I'm pretty sure that he was probably you know teased and not even so much in a like a really negative manner But more of like a man we've never met anybody like that Like we've never met anybody that was Living off the grid like that.

One of the things that I can say about, especially in the infantry, is that there is a little bit of hazing that goes on, but no one would have branded him against his will. Now he could have gotten drunk and they could have convinced him to do it. And he could have been inebriated. And he said, yes, I'll do this.

And that was probably more, yeah, it's more likely that that happened as opposed to him just being a victim of circumstance or being so intoxicated that they did this. To him, there definitely would have been some people getting in trouble over that. If that was to happen, that's definitely assault and against army policy.

So it wouldn't have been something that would have been allowed to fly. And the fact that he'd already gotten his own brand. Indicates that that would have been something I've got a brand. So that would have been something that I probably would do if I had gotten drunk and I'd be like, yeah, I already got one.

Let's do another one. But I think the significance is in the A was for atheism, right? So he was basically branding his body with the fact that he was rejecting the theological upbringing that he had had. Right. He was trying to make a separation, you know, like, like I'm a grown man. Now I'm making my own decision and I'm creating my own path now.

Yeah, but I think it's a little deeper than that. Oh for sure. The upside down cross. What was his logic around the upside down cross? Was he a devil worshipper? You know, I don't even think that he was associated with like with devil worship. No, I don't think he was. Yeah, he wasn't into Satanism. No. You can make a decision for yourself and say, this is what I choose to do for me.

This is what I'm going to do. This is the path that I'm going to take. And you don't need to like wave a flag and you don't need to get a brand and you don't need to go back and show everybody, but he felt the need to openly announce it. He needed people to know that he was serious and he was extreme about it.

And you know what? And that can actually come from. The extremism of his parents. So even though it's not in alignment with what they believe, what they currently believe, it can be in alignment with the fact that he grew up with that extreme type of behavior. And so he's repeating that he's doing the same thing.

He's replicating it, even if it's in a different direction. I hear you on that, but I would say that branding yourself. Is an action. So, so having yourself branded with an either upside down cross or an A or whatever. That's an action that you're marking yourself with to tell yourself it's commitment.

Right. You're committing to it because you're, you're putting it on your body in a way that's not removable. So I feel like this was a commitment of his to say. This is the path that I'm going on and I know that from understanding a little bit of what I read about Israel keys Is that he didn't believe in a higher power.

He believed that he was his highest power He believed that there was no higher power above him. Well, what's funny is that for him to say that And I know that for the amount of time that he was with his family and the amount of time that he was practicing the religion with his family that he knows that in the Mormon church, they believe that that president of the Mormon church is basically like just right there with God.

So even though he's saying he's not part of that religion, he's still talking in alignment with some of those views. You know, so, which I find interesting. So there's some parallels. So he's saying, I'm not going to believe what you're believing. I'm going to take my own route, but, but he's still, some of the things that he's saying and he's doing are parallel to how he grew up

is your keys. Life took a significant turn. When he married Tammy Hawkins, a union that his family did not fully embrace. Tammy, a woman nearly twice his age, brought a child from a previous relationship into the marriage, along with their daughter, Laneybug. It was a complex family dynamic for a child who didn't choose her father and found herself navigating a tumultuous path filled with heartache, scrutiny, and adversity.

Despite the challenges, Laneybug would use her experiences as a springboard to achieve remarkable success far beyond what her father ever attained. Keys, despite his outward appearance and brands, identified as an atheist and rebelled against many of the values his parents upheld. He was a relatively normal dresser, often seen with a toothpick in his mouth, and what most would describe as a dad bod.

He underwent a vasectomy after the birth of his daughter, firmly expressing his desire not to have more children. He was known for his cleanliness, organization, and culinary skills with a love for coffee. He was also a passionate fan of the Minnesota Vikings, even going so far as to honor a lost bet by donning a cow costume when the Vikings lost to the Eagles in September of 2004.

In 2004, while still married to Tammy, Keys began a relationship with a woman he met on Match. com. She described him as an introvert who enjoyed wild turkey and had quit smoking, although she expressed concerns about his drinking habits. Their relationship lasted just a year, during which he flew back and forth to see her.

After parting ways with Tammy, Keys moved to Alaska, following his girlfriend Kimberly in 2007. They both obtained hunting and fishing licenses annually in Alaska beginning on May 7th, 2007. Keys officially established Keys Construction in Anchorage on August 1st of 2008. Although he had been working in the field prior to that.

He took on various odd jobs, and those who employed him never seemed to have any complaints about his work. Or did they? At one point, he worked out a deal to perform upgrades in exchange for reduced rent on his living space. Keyes was known for being frugal. But he always enjoyed traveling and hunting.

He adhered to some old school habits, such as maintaining a handwritten calendar, but he also kept a journal and used his laptop to log and research information. During this period, he visited family, attended his sister's weddings, and spent time with Kimberly, even accompanying her. to a medical conference for primate in March of 2006.

In terms of his relationships, sexual partners described him as non aggressive and relatively normal. He didn't possess an excessive amount of pornography or any particularly unusual content. However, one item found on him in Texas following his arrest was a pornography DVD. Featuring transvestites, a discovery made following his arrest while he was traveling from state to state with his daughter and had recently attended his sister's wedding.

The infamous orange buckets, often associated with Keyes, were also seen in a Google Earth image showing him with Laneybug in front of their Anchorage home alongside his Keyes construction work truck and trailer. The enigma of Israel Keyes deepens as we uncover more facets of his complex life. On

November 13th of 2002, Israel Keyes was only 24 years old when his father died. And this would have been right after he got out of the military. And his dad was young. His dad was only 50 years old. Yeah, that's what happens when you don't go to the doctor. And actually he was, I believe on a train and something had occurred.

I don't know if he was having a heart attack or what the case was, but the people on the train actually told them they needed to get off the train because they're like, he needs help. And they're like, we don't believe in it. And they're like, we don't care. He needs help. And like, you need to get off the train.

So he ended up passing away. So at 50 years old, he died potentially more than likely of something that he could have been saved from. Right. Now I know during this time. Israel didn't have a good relationship with the family because they had kind of disowned him because he joined the military. And he also denounced the church.

So he didn't have a very close relationship at the time with his parents. They had actually kicked him to the curb. That is true. But when they did his funeral, so they did his funeral on November 25th of 2002. And this would have been after he had his daughter. On November 25th, he was one of the pallbearers for his dad's.

Coffin and he attended his service, but I say that because he probably didn't have a chance to reconcile with his father Oh, yeah, and that could have been very painful for him If he had a close relationship with his dad That could have been something he wishes you would have had the opportunity to have before his deaf father passed away well, and definitely as the oldest son and being you know, living a lifestyle like how his family Lead and like how we had talked about earlier where he's the oldest he's a boy And so he's kind of the person that his dad looks up to as you know Hey, you're gonna be the next one to take the reins You're gonna be the one to make sure that everything's taken care of for the family And so I'm sure that there was a sense of that.

Maybe he failed to do his duty properly That you know, maybe he was failing to you'd be the person that maybe his dad wanted him to be or thought he'd be So one thing about is your keys that I find interesting Is that he comes off as a normal dude. He's got a toothpick in his mouth. He's got a dad bod He has a construction company.

He's a minnesota vikings fan like these are all things that I could probably point to like 10 of my friends and be like This guy could be his israel keys based off of this description. How did he live this double life? How did he? Separate the monster that he was from the good dad and the normal neighbor and the business owner that he was.

I think that he probably had some blurring. I think that the story he told wasn't fully accurate. I think that the stories that he was telling, some of them were embellished. I think some of them were missing information. And I think some of his responses were almost. Only for the purposes of the benefit of whoever was asking.

I think sometimes we think that it's hard to live a double life and that we think it's just so impossible. And I don't think that's the case. You know, you have people who cheat on their spouses all the time and the other spouse doesn't know. You have people who... have other kids, have a complete other family, and the other family doesn't know.

I don't think it's so far fetched to think that somebody can have a life that maybe others don't know. Now, do I think that that says something about the people that you have in your life? Absolutely, because let me tell you, if I heard you tinkering around in a in a shed outside, or if you were always gone, And you were a contractor, like, I'd be like, Hey, red flag, red flag, like I would be looking into those things.

And so sometimes I think that when somebody's living a double life, that there's some disconnect with the people in their lives. And I know that with the girl that he was dating last, which is who he was dating and living with whenever He was arrested. She worked a lot. She was in the medical profession, still in the medical profession.

And she, I'm sure, worked a lot of hours, so there was probably some, not that she was completely disconnected, but she worked a lot, so she wasn't home a lot. So I'm pretty sure that there was opportunity there for him to kind of do whatever it was that he wanted during the times when, you know, she wasn't there.

His daughter also lived with them. Right. And so, you know, there's a little bit different of a dynamic there, but I don't think it's too far fetched to think that somebody can be living a different life. Do you? Do you think that there is? No. Not at all, especially someone who is a sociopath. I've done a lot of research on someone like Scott Peterson, who's also a sociopath and he lived a double life as well.

And when you have someone who is mimicking the people around them and not really feeling those emotions that like, for example, you and I may feel a feeling of connection, a feeling of empathy. Like if you cannot feel empathy, you pretend. If you're trying to fit in, you pretend for Israel keys. I could see him being rejected, rejected, rejected until he starts to better pretend to be like everybody else.

I don't know that he loved the Vikings, but I think he thought he was supposed to. And so he acts those roles out and that's why he says, nobody really knows me, nobody knows me, they only see the persona that I present and he says this, not in those words, but he says it in his interviews when they're interviewing with the FBI, he goes, nobody really knows me.

Only I can tell you the stories about me that are true. I think it's true. I think he's looking for those connections and he's trying to do the things he's supposed to do based off of the role that he's in. He's supposed to be a good dad. He's supposed to do his daughter's hair. He's supposed to... And you know, what's unfortunate about that is that in a lot of families, so not even just like the Church of Latter day Saints or Mormons or just, you know, any religion, when you're placed in an environment and grow up in an environment where you feel very judged, And you feel like you're supposed to have this very perfect life and you're never supposed to mess up and you're, you're not supposed to like this and you're not supposed to like that.

It creates a very tense situation for you psychologically of what's right and what's wrong and makes you feel ashamed about certain things, even if they're not even significant things. Like if you're not hurting people or maybe you like watching porn, but yet you're beating yourself up because you're like.

I'm not supposed to do this. I'm not supposed to like, I'm going to go to hell. And so, yeah. And so you're not telling anybody. And so it becomes this secret, this secret life. And so a lot of people end up in those positions where they're hiding a piece of themselves because they have grown up in an environment where they feel like they are supposed to be ashamed of whatever that is.

And they're afraid of being rejected. Right. Which is a common theme for Israel keys. It is there's a common theme of rejection and and we're gonna dig into that when we go into his psyche But I want to talk really quick about his sexuality. So it sounds to me Like according to his sexual partners, he was just a vanilla dude.

He wasn't into anything sadistic He wasn't into no S& M. He wasn't into anything kinky. He wasn't into you know Bestiality or anything like that. He was just a normal dude With just a normal non aggressive sex life. What do you make of that? Same thing, you know, if there was something that he was into and he felt like based on his upbringing, that that wasn't something that, you know, like, let's just say, I don't know that much about.

I don't want the Mormon religion to be able to speak that deeply about it, but I grew up in a very religious home, and you know, there are certain things that you could kind of be ashamed of or think isn't normal, and so like, for instance, if in his relationship, if he was very confident and comfortable in his relationship, but he feels like in order for it to be a solid relationship or in order for it to be a clean union that they can only have sex in a certain position or they can only do, you know, certain things.

He might think that by exposing her to any of those things that it somehow taints their relationship. And so he's not honest with her and he doesn't tell her, you know, like this is what I like, or this is what I like to do. And maybe it's not anything significant at all, but he's just ashamed and he doesn't want to be rejected.

I think you're right about that. And I think that even in having sex with his partners, he's doing what they want to do and not what he wants to do, because you hear the stories when he talks about sexually abusing Samantha, sexually abusing the courier's wife, you hear about him tying him up and violating the body and even the acts of necrophilia.

These are things that he doesn't experience with the people that he's with. There's no role playing, there's no tying up. There's none of that is happening in the bedroom. It happens in the perverse nature of his assaults. So that's where he can be himself everywhere else. He's not being himself. I know that there's going to be a question from a lot of people about the fact that he had a child and he had made several comments that he had a rule that it wouldn't be any parents.

And it wouldn't be any children that he killed and they believe that that came from his thought process of he had a daughter, but he also had a mother and he also had sisters. And so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. It means nothing actually. Yeah. And he had a vasectomy. Got, went and got a vasectomy after he had his daughter, meaning that he wanted no more kids.

So I don't think he wanted that kind of life. He didn't want a life full of, of a bunch of kids. And not to say that he didn't care about his daughter at all, but I do believe that when you have morals and values and you have a belief system and you're setting your priorities, that if you're saying that your daughter is very important, that you don't do things that place your daughter at risk.

I agree with that 100 percent and I was going to say, again, just like when his relationship with his lovers as a father, he's doing what he thinks he's supposed to do as a father, right? He's supposed to love his child. He's supposed to go through those motions. He's supposed to be caring, but he's not because he's putting her at risk.

He's putting her in a situation where she's, she can lose him. to the law or to death. And then eventually he, she does lose him. He hurts her in the end. And he actually says that he knew that the day was coming. If a lot of the things that he said were indeed true, he continued to move forward knowing that he was going to get caught.

Knowing that it was inevitable was what he said, regardless of the fact that he had a daughter or a relationship or any of that. Right. And what's funny is that. He's living with the love of his life, but he doesn't say anything about her at all but there was some conversation that In matter of fact, not long before he was caught where he had spoken to a friend and told him that he had planned to split up with her.

So I think they were kind of already starting to kind of part ways. Yeah. At that point in time. And you know, it seems like he kind of had a cycle with the amount of time he was with people and he wasn't ever faithful. Like, you know, he met the girl on match. com. Like he kind of had a little bit of a, I do feel like the one person.

He was raping and murdering. What's adultery? Yeah. What's cheating? You know, when you compare it to those crimes. We will talk about later kind of where his daughter is a little bit. I don't want to give too too many details about her, but I feel like she's in a good place. She looks like a great kid. She looks like she's doing a lot of good things in her life.

And I think that that's awesome. I think that it's awesome that she's been able to move forward in a situation like this that a lot of people just couldn't handle. That her own father couldn't handle. It speaks volumes of

Israel Keyes remains perplexing. A multi faceted individual with a challenging past, Israel Keyes appears to most like a normal neighbor living a normal existence. His foray into bank robberies, arsons, kidnappings, and murders remain buried in a persona that no one is aware of except him. He will tell FBI investigators that he's two people.

A father, a friend, an Anchorage business owner on the outside. A serial criminal with a penchant for rape and murder. Fueled by stolen cash from banks littered across America and Canada with caches of murder kits strewn across the landscape. When asked if he committed murders in Canada, Israel Keyes will say Canada doesn't count, restricting our ability to peer into the darkness of his soul and his mind.

Join us on the next episode where we'll deep dive Israel Keyes psyche, pilling back the layers of his mind as we dare to look deeper into his persona.

And that's a wrap on today's investigation, fellow detectives. If you found this episode, both enlightening and captivating, then please subscribe to our podcast show and our Patreon, leave a review and hit that like button, share our podcast with others and engage with us on our website and social media platforms.

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