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

American Predator, a true-crime story by journalist Maureen Callahan, was published by Penguin Books in 2019. Covering the murder spree of Israel Keyes—a name with which most Americans are not familiar. American Predator chronicles the dramatic and heartbreaking murder of Samantha Koenig, an 18-year-old Anchorage, Alaska native—the last victim in Keyes’s serial killing career. After Koenig’s family galvanized law enforcement to treat her disappearance as an abduction, the FBI discovered not only Samantha’s horrific fate, but a serial killer who truly struck at random, killing methodically all over the country. Israel Keyes’s interviews reveal an unprecedented type of serial killer, who used his intelligence and strategic mind to kill for decades before finally being caught. 

This guide references the Penguin Books paperback 2019 edition.

Content Warning: This book covers extremely distressing themes, including drug abuse, violence against children, sexual abuse, abduction, gun violence, rape, murder, death by suicide, and desecration of corpses. Additionally, bigoted, racist, and misogynistic beliefs are expressed by the serial killer and members of his family.

Summary

American Predator begins in Anchorage, Alaska, in February 2012, when 18-year-old Samantha Koenig vanished from her workplace, a small coffee kiosk. Surveillance footage revealed her interaction with a customer who abruptly pulled a gun on her and forced her to comply. Due to the absence of a struggle and a lack of alarm, investigators were initially skeptical, suspecting Samantha may have staged her own disappearance. However, the desperate advocacy of her father, James Koenig, forced the police to reconsider the case and eventually treat it as a kidnapping. Days later, a ransom note, accompanied by Polaroids of Samantha, confirmed everyone’s worst fears.

The investigation into Samantha’s disappearance accelerated. After ATM withdrawals in several states were linked to her bank card, the suspect—Israel Keyes—was identified and arrested in Texas. In Keyes’s car, authorities found Samantha’s ID, ATM cards, and items linking him directly to the crime. As investigators Steve Payne, Jeff Bell, Miki Doll, and others rushed to secure a confession before Keyes could obtain a lawyer, they encountered a composed, unsettling man who exerted careful control over the situation. Eventually, Keyes agreed to talk—but only under conditions that shielded his daughter from publicity and removed the death penalty from consideration.

Through a series of grueling interrogations, Israel Keyes slowly revealed the horrifying truth: He had kidnapped, raped, and murdered Samantha Koenig, keeping her body frozen while he traveled with his unsuspecting daughter. After staging ransom photos, he disposed of Samantha’s remains under the ice at Matanuska Lake. The FBI Dive Team’s painstaking recovery of her body provided closure to her family but marked only the beginning of the true scope of Keyes’s crimes.

Keyes admitted he had killed before—not just once, but many times. He offered to tell investigators everything, but only if they promised to give him the death penalty, despite having asked to avoid it in the earlier negotiations. He described the murders of Bill and Lorraine Currier in Vermont, recounting how he invaded their home, abducted them, and murdered them at an abandoned farmhouse. Throughout his confessions, Keyes displayed a mixture of cold detachment and physical excitement, revealing himself as a sexually sadistic killer who took pleasure in domination. His buried “kill kits” across the country, filled with weapons and tools to facilitate future murders, provided further evidence of his methodical nature.

Despite the investigators’ skill in uncovering these crimes, their efforts were constantly undermined by internal failures. Prosecutor Kevin Feldis, an Anchorage attorney, repeatedly interfered, making crucial errors during interrogations that allowed Keyes to realize how little evidence they had beyond his own confession. Meanwhile, prison security was lax, leading to a dramatic courtroom escape attempt by Keyes that was barely thwarted. The FBI agents, particularly Steve Payne and Jeff Bell, found themselves working against not only a killer but a bureaucratic system ill-equipped to contain him.

As the investigation continued, Keyes hinted at other murders, often withholding specifics and using his confessions as bargaining chips. Investigators linked him tentatively to several other high-profile cases, including the unsolved Pinnacle Lake double murder in Washington State and a series of kidnappings and murders in Boca Raton, Florida. Yet without concrete evidence, and with Keyes increasingly defiant, many cases remained officially unresolved.

Simultaneously, a deeper understanding of Keyes’s background emerged. Raised in isolation by survivalist, white-supremacist parents, Keyes experienced a childhood marked by social deprivation, violent ideologies, and early signs of cruelty toward animals. His military service sharpened his skills in endurance and discipline but failed to correct his fundamental sadism. Over time, Keyes honed himself into what investigators came to recognize as a terrifying new model of serial killer: adaptable, mobile, random, and virtually undetectable.

The investigation revealed that Keyes was not only a serial killer of individual victims but also plotted acts of domestic terrorism, having built explosives and harbored ambitions of large-scale destruction. His deep hatred for organized religion and the government reflected an ideology rooted in the extremist environments of his childhood.

Despite these revelations, systemic failures persisted. Prison guards continued to allow Keyes access to dangerous materials. Tensions between agencies remained unresolved. Ultimately, Keyes took final control over his fate: On December 1, 2012, he died by suicide in his cell by slashing his wrists and strangling himself with a bedsheet. Before dying, he painted 12 blood-drawn skulls on the wall, a final message that left investigators debating the true number of his victims.

The aftermath of Keyes’s death left more questions than answers. Despite their best efforts, the FBI remained unable to fully account for the scope of his crimes. Families of missing persons across the country continued to wonder if their missing loved ones fell prey to him. A closed-door review of Alaska’s prison failures further eroded public trust in the justice system, but no significant reforms occurred.

In her epilogue, Callahan reflects on the perplexing randomness of Keyes’s predations, noting that anyone could have been his victim. Even today, the investigation into Israel Keyes remains open—a testament to an anonymous killer.