Israel Keyes - Serial Killer (recommended book and podcast)

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Only recently I found out about Israel Keyes, an American serial killer who was caught back in 2012 and who committed suicide in jail. Wanting to learn a bit more about the case, I read Maureen Callahan's book on him. I didn't like the writing style of the book, but the content was worth it. Several weeks ago we did a MindMatters show on it. For those who haven't checked that out, here it is:


Keyes is an interesting case study because for years he was completely successful at what he was doing. No one even suspected there was a serial killer on the loose, and none of his victims were connected. Unfortunately, he was very careful about the information he told the FBI during interrogations. It's possible he killed dozens of people, but he's only been definitively tied to around 4. He would meticulously plan everything, often kidnapping a victim (or victims) in one state, killing them in another, and then disposing of their bodies in a third location. Police only ever recovered one of this victims, because he told them where to find her body. They recovered a couple bones connected with one of his other murders, again, because he told them where to look. But all his other victims simply got classified as missing people, and most remain so because there's no firm evidence to tie them to him.

Like a lot of the serial killers covered in Whoever Fights Monsters, his crimes were sexually motivated (and the Mindhunter series). He liked Ted Bundy and especially H.H. Holmes (but thought BTK was a hack). He realized early in life that he was different, but only after assuming everyone was like him and just pretending not to be. After reading some FBI profiler books on serial killers, he realized what he was, and from then on developed a mask of sanity to keep his true nature secret. (He was a successful handyman/contractor, a good father, well-respected, etc.) Luckily before he committed suicide, the FBI interviewed Keys multiple times. I think there were something like 30 hours recorded. We read a few excerpts on the MindMatters show (you can find about 6 hours on YouTube).

If anyone is interested in digging deeper, a YouTube commenter recommended a podcast that I've been listening to and highly recommend: "True Crime Bullsh**". (That's what Keyes called true crime shows in one of his interrogations.)


The podcaster, Josh Hallmark, did a TON of research for this, using thousands of pages of FOIA docs and the recordings. Some of the first few episodes are kind of annoying, but after a while he gets around to just sticking to his investigation, and that's where the really interesting stuff is. He traces Keyes's movements between states, correlating them with known missing persons cases and coming up with several that may have been victims of Keyes. Sounds like he did as much or more work on the case as the FBI. He also includes lots of clips from the interrogations so you can hear Keyes in his own words. Those are some of the creepiest bits, in part because Keyes sounds so otherwise normal. But like a true psychopath, he talks about his crimes as if he's talking about making dinner or going shopping - absolutely zero empathy.

There are also some weird aspects to the case, which we got into a bit at the end of the MindMatters show. After learning that Keyes knew how to make bombs, the FBI reclassified his case as relating to terrorism and national security. No one knows any of the details of what they discovered, but significant portions of the documents are still redacted and no one's talking.
 
He also includes lots of clips from the interrogations so you can hear Keyes in his own words. Those are some of the creepiest bits, in part because Keyes sounds so otherwise normal. But like a true psychopath, he talks about his crimes as if he's talking about making dinner or going shopping - absolutely zero empathy.

I watched the Jody Arias trial (the woman who stabbed her ex-boy-friend about 30 times, slit his throat and almost decapitated him and then shot him in the head, leaving him to rot in his shower - literally) and as someone said she talked about the murder as if she was talking about a school project. She used every trick in the book to get away with murder, she even accused the deceased of domestic violence and pedophilia even though no evidence was found. At the end of the trial she even claimed that the victim was still conscious when she slit his throat and then turned around while saying this (to look at his family?). She has given interviews to the media and from prison she is still wreaking havoc, taking revenge on the prosecutor (who could read her like a book) and hoping for a retrial as he is accused of misconduct. It is mind-boggling what these psychopaths get up to. I have read Whoever Fights Monsters and thought it was a very hard read, just like watching Jody Arias on trial.

But all his other victims simply got classified as missing people, and most remain so because there's no firm evidence to tie them to him.

I think it is interesting that some criminals try to get away with murder, claiming that the husband or wife they murdered has gone off with a new partner and so on. How many 'missing' persons (including children) are actually murdered, whose bodies will never be found?
 
Like a lot of the serial killers covered in Whoever Fights Monsters, his crimes were sexually motivated (and the Mindhunter series). He liked Ted Bundy and especially H.H. Holmes (but thought BTK was a hack). He realized early in life that he was different, but only after assuming everyone was like him and just pretending not to be. After reading some FBI profiler books on serial killers, he realized what he was, and from then on developed a mask of sanity to keep his true nature secret. (He was a successful handyman/contractor, a good father, well-respected, etc.) Luckily before he committed suicide, the FBI interviewed Keys multiple times. I think there were something like 30 hours recorded. We read a few excerpts on the MindMatters show (you can find about 6 hours on YouTube).

It's like an opposite of what souled individuals do in attempting to grow. Individuals like Keys seem to be actively pursuing a STS path. The above/below principle can really be seen at work in our personal lives, and extremely psychopathic individuals are like a microcosm of STS principles.

Great show guys.
 
It's just nuts to read about these types.

The other day, I got an article notification by email from a science site I'm subscribed to. The article was titled something like "The Source of the Belief in Evil Discovered?" Well, their take on it was that illness was the reason people believed that evil existed.

Good thing I wasn't drinking tea at the time or I would have snorted it out my nose!
 
Jana Monroe has written a memoir, 'Hearts of Darkness: Serial Killers, the Behavioral Science Unit, and My Life as a Woman in the FBI'
Published December 31, 2023 4:00am EST
Jana Monroe wasn’t expecting to receive a phone call from "The Co-Ed Killer."

It was the early 1990s, and Monroe was a member of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit at Quantico, Virginia. She wasn’t afraid to go face-to-face with a serial killer – but this encounter with Edmund Kemper was different.

"He left me shaken," Monroe admitted to Fox News Digital. "I certainly didn’t give him any way to contact me, and yet he was able to do just that. It’s very difficult in prisons or mental institutions to make phone calls. You can earn that right with good behavior. So I was surprised to hear from him. And that monotone voice – it’s very chilling. Very creepy."

The former FBI agent recently wrote a memoir titled "Hearts of Darkness: Serial Killers, the Behavioral Science Unit, and My Life as a Woman in the FBI." It explores the challenges she faced as a woman in the male-dominated Bureau, as well as the cases that have stayed with her over the years.

Monroe was the model for Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs." She even helped train Jodie Foster for the Oscar-winning role. Monroe has consulted on more than 850 homicide cases, including those involving serial killers such as Kemper.

In the '70s, Kemper murdered eight people, including his mother and her close friend.
Edmund_Kemper_1964_Mugshot.jpg
Mugshot of Edmund Kemper after his arrest in 1964, age 15 years old

"I don’t know whether Anthony Hopkins used him as a model, but his role as Hannibal Lecter reminded me so much of Kemper," Monroe explained. "Kemper had a way of staring at you and through you. He didn’t blink very much. His face was emotionless.

He would just stare at you and not blink. The same was true of his voice. It’s completely devoid of emotion. Just flat. Hearing it gives you the chills. He just didn’t seem human."

Kemper, known as "Big Ed" for his towering 6’9" frame, first committed homicide at age 15 when he fatally shot his grandparents in 1964. Kemper, diagnosed with schizophrenia, was remanded to the custody of San Luis Obispo County’s maximum-security Atascadero State Hospital, Investigation Discovery reported.

According to the outlet, he was released in 1969 at age 21. Kemper was allowed to live with his mother in Aptos, California, because he convinced psychiatrists he was no longer a threat to himself or society. Soon after, he went on an 11-month killing spree. His last known homicide occurred in 1973. He was convicted that year and sentenced to life in a maximum-security prison.

Screenshot 2023-12-31 at 14-38-45 Former FBI agent recalls the one serial killer who left her ...png
"I don’t know if you believe in IQ tests or not, but he always tested very high on those standardized tests," Monroe said. "He was very intelligent. But what was so significant about him was that he had no conscience… A true sociopath. He would try to conjure up a tear when he spoke of his mother because he knew that’s what normal people would do if they were feeling sad or guilty. But he could never quite pull it off. So to see someone who truly has no feelings, someone who tries to mimic feelings… it’s just creepy. I hadn’t seen anybody do it to that extent."

Screenshot 2023-12-31 at 14-40-13 Former FBI agent recalls the one serial killer who left her ...png
Monroe was never in the same room as Ted Bundy because he wanted "absolutely no females present." One of the nation's most prolific serial killers, who slaughtered at least 30 women and girls across the country in the ‘70s, was executed in 1989. He was 42.

"The reason he didn’t want to speak to a female investigator was based on how he looked at females," Monroe explained. "He didn’t look at women with respect. He didn’t think they could hold a position above him, even with him being behind bars. He degraded women and did not want to think of them in any kind of professional setting."

Monroe learned that Bundy only chose what he described as "worthy victims."

"What he meant was he selected women that were, by his standards, very attractive," she said. "They were in college or had jobs, careers. He didn’t think prostitutes were worthy because anybody could have them. Part of that excitement and thrill he got was having an attractive, well-accomplished woman take note of him and being able to take control of them."

"For him, it was all a challenging game," she said.

In 1994, Monroe was supposed to interview Jeffrey Dahmer, known as "The Milwaukee Cannibal." But two days before their sit-down, Dahmer was bludgeoned to death by a fellow inmate. He was 34.

"I wasn’t surprised," Monroe admitted. "We have a term called ‘prison justice.’ It’s a pecking order. Within prison walls, the worst are the child molesters and incest cases, but especially any case involving a child. Although not all of Dahmer’s victims were that young, some were certainly under the age of 21. He was also homosexual. Typically, prisoners like that are in protective custody or have them isolated from others for that reason."

There was one serial killer Monroe felt "very badly" for – Aileen Wuornos. She was convicted of murdering six men working as a prostitute along highways in central Florida. She was executed in 2002 at age 46.

If you look at her history, in my opinion, she didn’t have a chance," Monroe said. "From the day she was born, her mother gave her up in a card game. Then she was molested [by an adult]. She went to live in a variety of foster homes. After she was apprehended, she claimed she was either molested or assaulted at these foster homes."

"She had, from her perspective, a really good reason not to like men," Monroe continued. "I think it would have been outstanding if she had grown up to have morals and be on the spectrum of normal. But when talking about a bad childhood, she had one of the worst that I’ve studied."

Monroe also studied women who fell in love with serial killers. She said they were the greatest mysteries of her career.

Screenshot 2023-12-31 at 14-42-46 Former FBI agent recalls the one serial killer who left her ...png
"One of the women we interviewed was an emergency room nurse with a master’s degree," she said. "She could have easily made her own money and lived on her own… Many of these women stayed with these serial killers. I would have assumed these women would have been really needy and financially dependent. That proved to be inaccurate… They loved these bad boys on steroids. They’re the ones, in my opinion, that should really be studied. How can an emotion be so strong that it overcomes any kind of judgment?"

Monroe hopes her book will shine a light on the cases she studied over the years. A common question people tend to have about serial killers is why.

"The big misconception that still exists is that a serial killer looks a certain way," Monroe said. "People expect a serial killer to look like Charles Manson – someone with weird eyes. There must be something physically different about them, or they just don’t engage in conversation. But the truth is, serial killers can mask all of that."

"If you were to run into one at a grocery store, they would have a conversation with you," she shared. "I think people don’t expect that. They underestimate some of the pretense and social skills they can have… It’s compelling and repulsive at the same time."

"Why are people fascinated by serial killers?" Monroe reflected. "Well, it’s like a traffic accident. People don’t want to see others hurt or injured. But at the same time, they can’t stop looking."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
 
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