04x02 - You've Got Your Monster

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music]

[birds chirping]

♪ ♪

[police radio chatter]

The white Ford Focus is
two vehicles in front of me.

It accelerated rapidly,

faster than everyone else.

So I said, well,
hang on a minute.

He might be speeding.

And so sure enough,
checked him with radar.

He was running 58 in a 55.

I activate the lights.

[siren wailing]

He pulls into
a local restaurant.

♪ ♪

You're excited that
you found a vehicle

that you were looking for.

But still, in my mind,
the odds of us

getting the correct white Ford
Focus were astronomical to me.

[elk bugles]

NARRATOR:
Secrets in the wilderness.

Beautiful yet
treacherous landscapes.

These are the stories
of investigators

who solve murders
in wild places.

♪ ♪

[wolf howls]

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[birds chirping, cawing]

BRYAN: So he pulled
into the parking lot.

As I walked up, I did
realize we might be dealing

with a kidnapping suspect.

So I kind of paused and
looked through the window

to see if I could
see his hands.

[suspenseful music]

BRYAN: When he said
he was from Alaska,

it makes the hair on the
back of your head rise.

BRYAN: At the time, I probably
had 23, 24 years on.

And I can't remember
if I'd ever seen

an Alaska driver's license.

His name--Israel Keyes.

It's just crazy.

You know, it's like,
hard to hold your composure.

♪ ♪

The Ranger and the FBI were
both there pretty quickly,

and then they took over.

- You don't want to lay all
your cards on the table.

And, in fact, we didn't have
many cards to put on the table.

He told us he had flown
from Alaska into Las Vegas,

and that he'd
rented a car there.

And he had driven from
Las Vegas to Texas

to attend his sister's wedding.

- We decided to perform
a warrantless search

on the vehicle,
because if we hadn't,

then Israel could have
left in that car.

- The ranger saw a pair
of white tennis shoes

in the passenger side
of the car.

In the ATM videos, the person
taking money out of the ATM

wore what looked like
the same shoes.

When we open the trunk,
and the ranger started

going through things
in the trunk of the car--

DEB:
We found a gray hoodie

that appeared to be the same
hoodie that the perpetrator

had been wearing
in the ATM videos.

And in the pocket of that
was this gray piece of cloth

that looked like a mask.

We also found the
amber sh**ting glasses.

♪ ♪

DEB:
After he was put under arrest,

he was transported to the
Lufkin Police Department.

The ranger and I do a thorough
search of Israel's wallet,

and we found
Samantha's ATM card.

Samantha's cell phone
was in the car.

At this point, we still don't
know if he is the person

who has abducted Samantha,
but we are convinced

that he is the person
who was withdrawing money

from the ATM.

As the pieces of the puzzle
start coming together,

it's a feeling like nothing
you can ever experience.

A girl's missing.

And we might have
the guy who took her.

We might be able to find her...

And bring her home safe.

♪ ♪

- We have a name.
We have a name of Israel Keyes.

- He's not on our
radar screen at all.

It's like, who is this guy?

I sent our officers
to Keyes' residence

immediately to see
if Samantha was

being held inside the house,
or being held c*ptive there.

- And that's the first question.
Is Samantha there?

She could be tied up in the
basement and they don't know.

♪ ♪

OFFICER:
Check the garage.

JEFF: The special
assignment unit officers

made entry into the home.

We then searched the house,

still hoping that Samantha
would be found alive.

♪ ♪

But we were then faced
with the reality that

Samantha's not in the house.

- So they've got the guy,
but they don't have Samantha.

She's not in the car in Texas.

She's not in the house
in Anchorage.

So where is she?

- In front of the house,
the first thing that I noticed

that I see is the white truck
parked in the driveway.

[ominous music]

It was clear that
the truck matched

the description of
the truck that we had

in the video at Home Depot.

It appeared to me obvious that
that lumber rack and toolbox

had been removed at some
point in time recently

and put back on.

We also found a silver
Nissan Xterra SUV,

which matched the
description of the vehicle

that was used during one
of the ATM withdrawals.

- We have the truck
and the Xterra.

JEFF: And then our crime
scene team was called out

and did a complete
investigation in the house.

[camera shutter clicking]

The crime scene team
seized anything that could

hold digital information.

- We were able to seize some
computers from his home.

- A lot of that evidence
would have to be analyzed,

like the computer evidence.

We were hoping
for fingerprints.

We were hoping for maybe DNA.

JEFF: Looking for fibers
and those type of things

that could have attached
to Samantha.

- There was a shed
separated from the house.

KAT: The whole shed was
put onto a flatbed

and taken back to the FBI
building here in Anchorage.

JEFF: Anything that would
lead us to Samantha.

[phones ringing]

KAT: It was just chaotic
in the office.

We're trying to find out
absolutely everything

we can about this individual.

- How is he connected
to Samantha?

Is he connected to
Samantha at all?

- There was just a lot
of mystery behind him.

What does he do for a living?

What's his
criminal history like?

Does anyone else
live in his house?

[dramatic music]

- We found out that Israel
Keyes was a single father

who had a daughter.

Lived with the girlfriend.

Had a contracting
business in Anchorage.

No run-ins with the law.

There wasn't any indication

that he was capable of doing
something like this.

- At this point,
Keyes is charged federally,

extradited back to Alaska.

KEVIN: The US Marshals
notified the court today

that Israel Keyes is in custody
in the District of Alaska.

KAT: He's charged with
theft of an access device,

which is
for the debit card,

the use of that debit card.

JEFF:
In the grand scheme of things,

that's a pretty small offense.

He's looking at

maybe for that federal
access device charge.

But we were going to find

physical evidence
at his house.

We were going to find digital
evidence on his computers.

We're going to find cell phone
information that would lead us

in the direction that he was
responsible for the kidnapping

of Samantha Koenig.

And I think he knew that.

In fact, Israel's defense
attorney had a discussion

about him being willing to
at least come to the table

and talk with
law enforcement about

the disappearance
of Samantha Koenig.

KAT: Myself, Jolene, and
some other investigators

were in a separate room
where we were able

to listen in
to what was going on.

- We have no idea
what to expect.

So we're just sitting there
on the edges of our seat

just wondering what
he's going to say.

SLAWOMIR: He knew that
we had his computer

and he figured that
having his computer,

we'd be able to find
big pieces of evidence.

♪ ♪

JEFF: He directed us
north out of Anchorage

towards the Matanuska Valley.

- And he pointed to
a spot on the lake.

[footsteps crunching on snow]

[chainsaw whirring]

- And Israel Keyes
said that is where

we would find Samantha Koenig.

SLAWOMIR: We knew that
Samantha Koenig is dead.

We knew that
there is no more hope.

[somber music]

It's like
my heart was sinking.

I felt very emotional,
and, you know,

all kinds of emotions
go running through the head.

- I think it was obviously
difficult for all of us.

♪ ♪

JEFF:
It was devastating.

But we have to still continue
to concentrate

and move towards
the recovery of Samantha,

and coming up with some
answers for her family

and for law enforcement
as to what happened to her.

[soft dramatic music]

[birds chittering]

After our interview
with Israel Keyes,

where he identified
Matanuska Lake,

I drove out here
with the latitude

and longitude coordinates
that we took off

the map that he had given us.

Matanuska Lake is about

He picked this lake
because of the depth,

and thought that
he found a spot

where it was 80-feet deep

that he could put
Samantha's remains.

[wind whooshing softly]

We're pretty close
to the coordinates.

I can see a clump
of snow or something

that was protruding
from the snow.

So I walked over to it,
and I knelt down,

and I removed the snow
from the clump of ice.

And I was able to see a
rectangle that had been cut out

of the ice about this size.

And it looked like it had
been cut with a chainsaw.

So at that time, I knew
that this was the location

that Israel Keyes had disposed
of Samantha Koenig's remains.

We brought some APD officers
out here to secure the scene

and watch it until we could
get the FBI's dive team here.

♪ ♪

- They recovered her
rather quickly.

Keyes was so accurate as
to where her remains were.

It was rather incredible
how well he remembered that.

JEFF:
She had been dismembered.

And those remains were
brought up to the surface.

I was able to
identify the remains

as being Samantha Koenig.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- There was breaking news, and
I just remember them at a lake,

and my phone was blowing up.

Is this happening?
Is this her?

I felt like everything stopped

in that moment when it was her.

- [sobs]

A lot of people right now
I know are just heartbroken.

Everyone was rooting for her
until the very end.

RESIDENT: We just--
we couldn't believe it.

We--we feel for the family.

It's--it's absolutely
devastating.

- I'd like to welcome you today

to Samantha Koenig's
celebration of life.

PEGGY:
Her memorial was huge.

I don't think there
was an empty seat.

SPEAKER:
When I hear Samantha's name,

I'm reminded of her
contagious laugh.

It could brighten any room.

- It was a very sad service,

knowing that she wasn't
going to be back.

Just like any parent
loves their child,

James was devastated.

James will not have
any grandchildren.

James will not be able
to give his daughter a hug

ever again because
of this creep.

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

JOLENE: We continued
with the investigation

and continued to try to have
additional conversations

with Keyes to learn more.

KAT: We still have a lot
of unanswered questions

at this point.

[ominous music]

- He didn't know who was
going to be there

before he got there.

He assumed it would be a girl--
a young girl that worked there,

but he didn't know for sure.

♪ ♪

- He threatened Samantha
with the g*n.

We see her put her hands up
in the video.

He instructs her
to turn off lights.

SLAWOMIR: He told her
not to turn the alarm on,

that if she tries
to do something,

he would hear
in the police scanner

that the police is coming,
and then he would k*ll her.

♪ ♪

- He's definitely picked
a fighter with Samantha.

I think she was just fighting

in every way that
she possibly could.

♪ ♪

JOLENE:
Samantha's talking with him

and really trying to
engage him in conversation,

and asking him questions.

And she's doing what
she should be doing.

She's really trying to
personalize herself to him,

and she's trying to--
to do what she needs to do

to get out of that situation.

KAT: While Keyes is
driving around Anchorage,

he asks for
Samantha's cell phone.

And Samantha tells him that
it's still at the Coffee Hut.

So he drives back
to the Coffee Hut

in order to retrieve
Samantha's cell phone.

KAT:
He needed the phone in order

to send the text
to Samantha's boyfriend,

which would ultimately
buy him some time

before police are notified
that she's missing.

JEFF: After picking up
the cell phone,

Israel takes her
back to his house.

KAT: It's after midnight,
early morning hours,

when Keyes gets back
to his residence.

He takes Samantha
into his shed,

which is adjacent to his home.

[door creaks]

At the time, his girlfriend
was in the home,

was still awake.

His daughter was
also at home asleep.

♪ ♪

JOLENE: Keyes realizes that
he does not have her ATM card.

And Samantha tells him
where it is.

And that is when he leaves
Samantha and goes back

to Samantha's residence,
and goes into Duane's truck,

and ultimately finds
the debit card.

JEFF: Comes back to the shed
and he gets the PIN number

and he scratches it
in the debit card.

He then leaves again--
leaves Samantha in the shed.

He drives to the closest ATM
to his house,

and he confirms that the PIN
number that Samantha gave him

works on the debit card.

- He's doing all
of these things,

and Samantha is
restrained in the shed.

- He's seemingly
out of control,

taking very high risks.

But I think that
the higher the risk,

the higher adrenaline,

and the more satisfaction
he got

in doing what it was
that he was doing.

It's now at least

Israel gets back to the
house after confirming

that the PIN number works.

And he's now going
to fulfill his plan.

JEFF: Israel told us that he
sexually assaulted Samantha.

And then he strangled
her to death.

♪ ♪

- I think this is every woman's
nightmare of what could happen.

ISRAEL: This whole time, there
wasn't any light in the shed.

JOLENE: And hearing it
firsthand from somebody

who was doing this
was chilling.

It was horrifying.

It was difficult
to--to listen to.

♪ ♪

SLAWOMIR: That very morning
after k*lling Samantha,

he was going on a cruise
from New Orleans.

He woke up his daughter,
got her ready,

made sure that her
luggage was packed.

Then they went to the airport,

and then they went
to New Orleans

where his girlfriend
joined him the next day.

♪ ♪

- This is one of the
worst details of all...

That someone r*ped
and m*rder*d a teenage girl

in his shed at his home.

And when he's done,
goes back inside

to his live-in girlfriend
and small daughter,

and hours later,
takes them on a cruise.

Pure evil.

[tense music]

KAT:
At that point upon his return,

Samantha is still in his shed.

SLAWOMIR:
When he was on the cruise,

he still followed
the media attention.

And he also saw that
there was a big reward fund.

♪ ♪

[camera shutter clicks
and whirs]

- So he bought an old Polaroid
camera in a thrift store.

He wanted to make her
very much alive.

And so he puts some
makeup on her body,

because, by then,
there was some discoloration.

[camera shutter clicks
and whirs]

MAUREEN:
The proof-of-life photo to me

is one of the most harrowing
and indicative pieces

of just how sadistic
this guy was.

He made her up.

He braided her hair
to take that photo.

This tells you this is
not just any k*ller.

JOLENE:
The way that Keyes described

what he did to Samantha was--
there was no emotion.

We're hearing this
horrible thing

that this girl
had to go through,

what this young woman
had to endure,

and he's just telling
any old story.

And it was during those times
he had dismembered Samantha

in the shed that
he was gradually

kind of taking her body
out to Matanuska Lake.

♪ ♪

[chainsaw whirring]

- He set up a shack,

and that kind of secured
that fishing hole

because it looked like
just another fishing hole.

He used a sled to transport

five big garbage bags
from his vehicle

to that hole in the lake.

And he came back on
February 21 and February 22.

MAUREEN:
He's fielding phone calls

from his daughter's school.

He's got a parent-teacher
conference he's missing.

I mean, think about

the compartmentalization
of a psychopath like this.

♪ ♪

- If Keyes had not
used that ATM card,

I don't know if he would
ever have been found.

There was just no connection
between him and Samantha.

♪ ♪

But the way he talked
about the planning

that went into Samantha,
it was evident

that he had planned this out
down to the detail.

And it just didn't seem like

this was the first time
that he had done this.

I started to wonder
very, very early on

who else this could have
happened to.

MARY: We believe there are
other victims in other states.

We are continuing our efforts
to identify those victims.

We have been analyzing
financial records,

travel records,
any other records

that are available to us
over the last several years.

♪ ♪

JEFF:
He takes us to a map

near Burlington, Vermont...

in Essex, Vermont.

We didn't know what
he was going to say.

♪ ♪

[soft dramatic music]

[birds chirping]

REPORTER 1:
Police are searching

for a couple from Essex,

and they're calling their
disappearance suspicious.

Bill and Lorraine Currier

were last seen around

LANCE:
My name is Lance Burnham.

At the time of the Currier case,

I was an investigator with
the Vermont State police.

I had received
a phone call about

two missing adults
out of Essex.

REPORTER 2: A family member
called police Thursday morning

after discovering that
neither Bill or Lorraine

showed up for work,
telling police this was

out of character
for the couple.

We had two adults who had

no involvement with police
ever before.

[suspenseful music]

Bill and Lorraine Currier,
a long-time couple in Essex,

quiet, devoted to one another,

dedicated employees
at their jobs.

REPORTER 2: The Curriers'
green Saturn sedan

is also gone.

Police say the Essex couple
disappeared from their homes

sometime between

and 10:00 Thursday morning.

LANCE: Bill and Lorraine
Currier didn't fit the profile

of people that would
just go missing.

[crow caws]

[somber music]

JENNIFER:
I'm Jennifer Currier.

I'm Bill Currier's baby sister.

He didn't have kids, so it was
always his nieces and nephews.

He loved his nieces
and nephews a lot.

[children laughing
and chattering]

He was planning on a
family reunion that summer.

He loved his house.

He picked that area because

the neighborhood
was beautiful.

It was safe.

He wanted his wife to be safe.

LANCE:
They were not people who would

stray from what
their normal routine was.

They left the house
at a certain time.

They closed the garage door
at a certain time.

They went to bed
at a certain time.

And they weren't known
to have a lot of people

or a lot of friends in their
lives other than their family.

JENNIFER: And of course,
as a family member,

you already know
that there's foul play.

[birds cawing]

[uneasy music]

- After talking to the family,
Essex police department

obtained a search warrant to go
in the house and have a look.

[camera shutter clicking]

LANCE:
Bill and Lorraine lived in

a ranch-style
one-level residence.

You could see your
neighbor to the rear.

JP: When I first got there,
I was struck by the fact

that the phone line junction
box on the side of the garage

had a cut wire.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

Within the garage, there
was a doorway to the house,

and the window was shattered.

[glass shattering]

Some of the broken glass
was in the garage.

The majority of it
was inside the house.

We have, at this point,
clear signs of forced entry.

LANCE:
As you entered the house,

you entered into
a very small kitchen.

JP:
There was no signs of blood.

There was no signs
of a struggle.

One of Lorraine's sisters
mentioned that Lorraine had

recently purchased a firearm,

that she had a p*stol
she had kept in her bedroom.

But the firearm was missing.

JP: There was medications
for Bill and Lorraine

that were still present
in the house.

LANCE: Bill, we knew he had
some medical issues.

If someone was just
going to leave,

they would take
their medication.

JP: We found
Bill Currier's wallet

and all the contents
still inside.

- We could have
gone down the road

of a burglary within the house
because the g*n was missing.

But the likelihood
of someone kidnapping

two grown adults to commit
a burglary is extremely rare.

- We are heartbroken
by their disappearance,

and at a loss to explain
or understand it.

We're here today to
plead for anybody's help.

Anybody's help.

♪ ♪

- We needed to gain information
from their neighbors.

LANCE: When was the
last time you saw them?

Did you hear any screaming?
Did you hear a g*nsh*t?

Did you hear
the glass breaking?

But there was nothing.

It was a dead end.

[dramatic music]

[phones ringing]

TODD: So at the beginning
phases of the investigation,

tips are flowing into
the police department.

We had many tips to run down

about many different people.

The quality of the
information that they provided

was generally not good.

Nevertheless,
it had to be run down.

REPORTER 2: The couple's car
turned up abandoned

at an apartment complex
a few miles from their home.

JP: We did DNA swabs
within the car,

common areas, gear shifters,

things like that that
people would have to touch

to operate the vehicle.

We take samples from
all those areas.

The lab was able to
discern a mix of DNA

from the steering wheel.

One of the sample DNA profiles

was not either
Bill or Lorraine Currier.

We have a third party,

somebody else that
was in that car

other than Bill and Lorraine.

Unfortunately, the result from
testing this unknown sample

was we didn't come up
with a match.

[birds chirping]

REPORTER 3:
It's been nearly two months

since an Essex couple
mysteriously vanished

from their home.

- And while police say that
the disappearance is suspicious

and they do suspect foul play,

investigators have not gotten
the big break that they need.

LANCE: We were getting
phone calls, leads.

But eventually,
as time went on,

a lot of the tips that we
were getting were dead ends.

JP: Certainly in a case
where you don't have

any clear avenues, or suspects,
or persons of interest

that you're pursuing, you're
constantly thinking about,

what have we missed?

What other avenues are there?

What have I not thought about?

Where should we go next?

LANCE: There were
multiple searches,

especially in the community of
where Bill and Lorraine lived.

Adjacent to their development
is a large wooded area.

TODD: People were just
walking around there

trying to locate
some sign of them.

JP: Any abandoned buildings,
any fishing access,

any riverbanks.

But within that area of Essex

and its surrounding
communities,

it's a huge, huge area.

TODD: So it can be
very, very difficult

to come up with
a witness to something,

because it's not like the city
where there's always

going to be people
on the street.

It's not like that here.

LANCE: At this point,
they're still missing.

We have nothing to link them
to any homicide or anything.

The tips were not pouring in
as they did previously.

ADAM: There was just this
overwhelming mystery,

just this pervasive question
that lingered for a long time.

What the hell happened
to the Curriers?

♪ ♪

LANCE: Never gave up
on the investigation.

It was still always there.

But it had been 10 months
since Bill and Lorraine

had been reported missing.

[train horn blares]

[railroad bells dinging]

You stop seeing
the tips come in.

And then all of a sudden,
other cases come in.

But it's still on
your mind every day.

ADAM: But all of a sudden,
seemingly out of nowhere,

the police activity
on this case

really ramped up again
in the spring of 2012.

[phones ringing]

LANCE: My lieutenant
called me and said,

you're not going
to believe this.

A male identified as Israel
Keyes, who had been arrested,

he had committed
another crime in Alaska.

And he was then
talking about

the case that he had done
in Vermont.

[dramatic music]

- It was like a b*mb went off.

I can't even begin to describe

the emotion of that moment.

We just got the thing
that's been missing

all along from this case,
and that's the truth.

LANCE: They gave me
his name as Israel Keyes,

but I didn't know anything
about him at that time.

So I'm pulled right back in
because of Israel Keyes,

because I want to know
what Israel Keyes knows.

♪ ♪

Any true detective
wants to know.

We want to know the answers.

[malicious laughter]

♪ ♪