American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century

by Maureen Callahan

Payne’s elation was tempered by two demands. One, Keyes wanted the death penalty off the table. Two, he wanted very little information released to the media.

FELDIS: Okay. Can you tell us what you pulled out in each one of those trips? KEYES: Uh, the first day was the head, legs, and the arms.

Keyes built a fire in the living-room fireplace. It was about 1:00 or 2:00 A.M., now February 22. He burned the tarp and everything Samantha had touched.

Not all psychopaths are serial killers, but all serial killers are psychopaths.

The Dive Team had recovered the murder weapon at Blake Falls with zero media coverage.

In one case he used a Bayliner boat he’d purchased years ago—from Tammie’s ex-husband, actually—to dispose of at least one body, maybe two, in Lake Crescent.

I did reach out to him again in December 2018 to ask if he would explain his thinking, as federal prosecutor, to not only be present in most of the Keyes interrogations but often lead them. He would not comment.

Thirteen hours of hidden interviews with Keyes were made public after my lawyer requested a hearing in Alaska federal court in 2018.

So far, the FBI is comfortable naming only Debra Feldman, whose body was recovered in New York, as another victim of Israel Keyes.