Unmasking the Alaska Polaroid Serial Killer | The Case of Samantha Koenig | UNSEEN

I'm Harvey Guillen and this is Killer Stories. Every Monday I'm cutting the lights and telling you a bedtime story. Except these stories are all real. We're talking brazen heists, devastating cons, serial murders, and cases that defy tidy categories. So join me for new episodes of Killer Stories with Harvey Guillen every Monday. Pay attention to this footage. It shows what happened before Samantha Koenig was kidnapped. February 1, 2012. 18-year-old Samantha Koenig is busy closing up the coffee stand where she works in Anchorage, Alaska. She constantly checks her phone, expecting a text message from her boyfriend. The temperature outside is well below zero, and no one has been seen in the area for a while. It's 8:15 p.m. On one of the Sundays, security cameras, a dark figure emerges from across the parking lot, walking towards the drive-thru window. Samantha is then seen talking to someone, before she goes off to make a coffee. At first, everything seems normal. She engages with the man as she would any other customer. Until… Samantha takes a step back, holding both her hands up. She seems terrified, but watched closely. In the next few minutes, she's going to leave a clue behind that could ruin his plan. Following the man's orders, she turns off the lights in the front and in the back. It's hard to make out what's happening inside the coffee stand, but Samantha appears to remove money from the cash register before she crouches on the floor and puts her coat on. The man then asks her to turn around before he leans in through the drive-thru window and binds her hands behind her back. He then jumps through the window and into the coffee stand. For the next several minutes, Samantha is trapped, not knowing what's going to happen to her. When they get up to leave, she has something stuffed in her mouth. At 8:25 p.m., Samantha walks out of the coffee stand with the man close at her side. They cross the parking lot and turn right on Fairbank Street before disappearing out of the frame. Eighteen-year-old Samantha Koenig has been kidnapped and no one knows she's been taken. But look closer. Inside the coffee stand, there's a light flashing. Samantha has left her phone behind, which will come as a shock to police because her boyfriend will get a text from her three hours after she disappears. The year is 2012. In the city of Anchorage, Alaska, 18-year-old Samantha Koenig is living a happy life with her father, James, who loves her more than anything in the world. James has had full custody of Samantha since she was two years old. And does all he can to keep her safe. But she's now a high school senior and enjoys going out with friends. James has allowed her boyfriend, Dwayne, to come live with them at his house, knowing it would make her happy. Samantha and her dad were very close. He's a really sweet person. A biker-type fellow. Samantha was his only biological child. Samantha was his world. Samantha has dreams of becoming a veterinarian. Her dad has been helping her prepare, and she's been saving up money for the future. She just started work at a new place called the Common Grounds, and on February 1st, she's working the evening shift, alone. Her boyfriend, Dwayne, is supposed to pick her up after work. It's 8:30 p.m. Dwayne arrives late at the coffee stand and finds all the lights are off and the place is empty. He tries calling Samantha's cell phone multiple times, but gets no answer. Because he was late, Dwayne thinks Samantha simply got a lift from someone else, so he decides to go home and wait for her there. It's 11:30 p.m., three hours later, when Dwayne finally gets a text back from Samantha, but the message only confuses him further. She writes, " , I know what you did. I'm going to spend a couple of days with friends. Need time to think plan. Acting weird. Let my dad know." Dwayne is shocked. He doesn't understand what he could have done that would make her angry. He shares the message with James, Samantha's dad, who immediately thinks, "This doesn't sound like Samantha." It's 3:00 a.m. Dwayne is unable to sleep. He waits on the porch outside, hoping Samantha will come home when he sees a dark figure rummaging through his truck. Dwayne shouts out to the person and runs inside to get James. But when they get back outside, the figure is already gone. February 2nd, at 12:39 p.m., the Anchorage Police Department receives this: 911 call. 911, what is the location of the emergency? I am at Common Grounds Espresso on Old Stewart and Tudor. My daughter works at the Common Grounds Espresso. She's been missing since she got off work last night. What's your daughter's name? Samantha. That's what I'm calling it. You got officers heading your way. Before we continue, we'd like to take a brief moment to thank our sponsor, Aura Frames. 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That's A-U-R-A Frames dot com. Promo code UNSEEN. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast. So order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Thanks for supporting Unseen, and thanks again to Aura Frames for sponsoring this episode. Now, back to Samantha's story. Officer Kevin M. is the first to arrive at the scene. Got a call towards the end of shift about a possible abduction. A barista at a coffee shop. I get there and talk to the barista's father and her boyfriend. I was concerned when he showed up at 8:15 to pick her up, and she wasn't here. So I'm trying to put all this together. I have a father and boyfriend who say that a girl didn't come home. You get this weird text, and now somebody's rummaging through her truck, but they didn't call the police. That would be the most logical thing in my mind. In her truck? Yes, sir. At home? Yeah. Any reason we didn't report it? I just figured that she just had someone go get something out of her truck. I'm thinking maybe she's got another boyfriend somewhere, and she didn't want to come home. I don't know if this is truly an abduction, but we still have to investigate it as if it was. When Officer M. turns his attention to the coffee stand, he talks to the barista who had opened the shop that morning. It basically looked like someone just literally walked out of their shift. I started kind of noticing a little bit more things. I looked in my register. I looked for the money that goes in my register. It was gone. Then I looked in our deposit bags. They were all gone. Several officers were at the scene. We searched the coffee stand, collecting evidence. I worked and worked and worked, trying to find evidence of any kind inside that coffee hut. Not only did I not find anything, there was no sign of struggle. But everything changes when they get their hands on the security footage. Detectives cue the tapes to 8 p.m., around the time Samantha was supposed to get off work. Right away, they can see she's alone, cleaning and wiping things down. At 8:15 p.m., a man approaches on foot and walks up to the drive-thru window. Samantha goes to greet the man and starts making a coffee. Several times, she is seen engaging with him. At one point, she turns towards the window and she reacts. Samantha recoils and puts her hands up. Detectives are convinced the man is pointing a gun at her. She then walks across the coffee stand and turns the lights off. The officers watching the footage then see her go to the cash register and remove the money. She puts her coat on and drops to the floor so he can bind her hands together. Detectives have no idea what the man looks like as he's completely out of the frame until Samantha moves away from the window. And he jumps through the window. In like almost one leap, he just comes into the window. At that point, it almost seems like things calm down. He's in there a long time before they leave. The man stuffs napkins in Samantha's mouth and leads her out of the coffee stand. Officers then see them both walking away in the parking lot. They then rewatch the footage over and over, and there's a few elements that raise red flags. Right next to the light switch, there's an alarm. If she was in danger, why didn't she hit the alarm? She had a perfect chance to press the alarm button. She didn't do that. When we looked at that video for a longer time, we noticed that there was like a light showing up on the counter. The light would come on and then it would disappear. This is Samantha's phone, ringing every time Duane called her the night she was kidnapped. The problem is, Duane received this text message at 11:30 pm from Samantha's phone. Investigators fast-forward the footage until they see movement at 11:26 pm. The person came to the coffee stand. That person was wearing a headlight. The man came back, specifically to get Samantha's phone, and left. That also coincided with the fact that the first texts from Samantha's phone came at 11:30 pm. The suspect then sent a misleading text message to Samantha's boyfriend to delay someone calling the police as much as he could. This new development is terrifying. Where was Samantha while the man came back? Was she tied up in his car, held captive somewhere? Or worse? We told the media, we have a video, and it's apparent from the video that it's kidnapping. While the police investigation shifts into high gear, Samantha's father, James, is leading efforts to find his daughter. Samantha was last wearing a pair of furry black boots. It was just so obvious how much her father cared about Samantha and what a close relationship they had. James was devastated that his daughter was missing. And he had no idea where she was or what had happened to her. I don't know if my daughter's being fed, taken care of, if she's still alive, if she's getting any sleep. Please help find my daughter. The city of Anchorage was on heightened alert. It actually happened so out of the blue, I mean, it's scary. I can't believe this happened here in Anchorage. The Anchorage Police Department asked for help from the FBI. The police called the police. They called the FBI. But they have very little to go on. For 48 hours or so, in any case, it's important to try to develop as many leads as you can. February 4, Samantha has been missing for three days. James Koenig has started collecting money for a reward fund, and donations are pouring in by the hundreds. There's a $41,000 reward for her safe return. The investigation expands, and the FBI retrieves surveillance footage from the Home Depot parking lot. It's only a matter of time before the police and the FBI are able to find her. The FBI is trying to find her. The agents are running out of options. If Samantha is in the trunk of the car, they need to get it open fast. When they open the trunk, Samantha Koenig is not there, but what they do find directly connects Israel Keyes to her kidnapping. A gray hoodie, a black shirt, and a black shirt. Samantha Koenig is not there, but what they do find directly connects Israel Keyes to her kidnapping. The whole shed was put onto a flatbed and taken back to the FBI building here in Anchorage. When the FBI dig into Israel Keyes' life, they learn he has a girlfriend and a 10-year-old daughter. He owns a construction company and has never had any run-ins with the law. On the outside, no one could tell he was capable of doing something like this. The U.S. Marshals notified the court today that Israel Keyes is in custody in the District of Alaska. The FBI is hoping to get Israel Keyes talking. Only he knows where Samantha is, but when he's extradited back to Alaska, Keyes learns from his lawyer that the computers from his house were seized, so he makes the most unexpected move. It's 15:48 by my watch. It's March 30th. Are you understanding the rights? Yes. Are you well aware of those rights? Talk to us. Yes. He figured that having his computer would be able to find Beck. It's a piece of self-evidence. I think everybody really wants to know where Samantha is. Is that an okay place to start, or would you like to start elsewhere? Yeah. We can pull up a map there of Palmer area. Keyes directs them to an area north of Anchorage, towards Matanuska Valley, and points to a spot on the lake. And what should they look for specifically? Ice fishing spot. Was it a hole that you cut, or was the hole there? No, it was a hole I cut. You'll see it. You'll see where the hole was, probably. And Israel Keyes said that is where we would find Samantha Koenig. So you killed her? Yes. We knew that Samantha Koenig is dead. We knew that there's no more hope. Earlier today, a forensic dive team discovered in Matanuska Lake, what investigators believed to be the body of Samantha Koenig. A lot of people right now I know are just heartbroken. Everyone was rooting for her until the very end. We just, we couldn't believe it. We feel for the family, it's absolutely devastating. Samantha's father, James, is at home, surrounded by family and friends. When he learns the news, the room falls silent. James' worst fear has come true. I'd like to welcome you today to Samantha Koenig's celebration of life. James was devastated knowing that she wasn't going to be back. James will not have any grandchildren. James will not be able to give his daughter a hug ever again because of this creep. When did you first meet Samantha Koenig? Never met her. Never even seen her before. So why did you go to the Common Grounds grocery shop on that night at that time? Because they were open late. In his interrogation, Keyes gives the details of what happened to Samantha. I had my police scanner on me and I had it in my ear. He tells her not to trigger the alarm because he will know if the police are notified and he will kill her. I told her that we were going for a little walk. We were only about 100 feet from the coffee stand, maybe 200 feet, and she tried to get away. I tackled her. After that, you know, I was serious. After that, she would give me problems. She kept trying to talk to me and I had to tell her to shut up a few times because she was, you know, trying to make friends and stuff. She's doing what she should be doing. She's really trying to personalize herself to him. She's trying to do what she needs to do to get out of that situation. While he's driving around Anchorage, Keyes asks Samantha for her phone. When she tells him it's at the coffee hut, he turns around and heads back. She tries to convince him there's an alarm on the door, but he doesn't believe her. 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. Then, Keyes drives her to his house and leads her inside the shed. At the time, his girlfriend is dead. His girlfriend was in the home, was still awake. His daughter was also at home, asleep. Keyes doesn't think twice about keeping Samantha captive, just a few feet away from where his 10-year-old daughter sleeps. After tying her to the wall and turning on some loud music, he asks Samantha for her ATM card. That's when he learns she left it in her boyfriend's truck. And that is when he leaves Samantha and goes back to Samantha's residence and goes into DeWayne's truck. It's now at least 3:30 in the morning, Israel gets back to the house, and he's now going to fulfill his plan. That same night, Israel Keyes rapes Samantha and kills her. The next morning, Israel returns to his life as usual. He wakes up his daughter and packs her bags. They're going on a family trip to New Orleans, where they will stay for the next few weeks. All the while, Samantha's home. Samantha's body is still in the shed. But the most disturbing thing is what he does when he comes back from his trip. He puts into action the next part of his plan: get ransom money by pretending Samantha is still alive. So, he bought an old Polaroid camera in a thrift store. He puts makeup on her body, and he took a Polaroid of her, and he had a recent newspaper next to her. In reality, Samantha was dead before police were even notified that she was missing. The details of what happened to his daughter are not shared with James Koenig. Yet, he is convinced she was not Keyes' first victim. He creates a Facebook page to piece together a timeline of Keyes' whereabouts from 2004 to 2012. He calls the page "Have You Ever Met Israel Keyes?" to see if there is a possible serial killer. All James wants is to get closure for other families who might have lost someone. But when tips start coming in, the FBI is flooded by reports from multiple missing person cases across the country, and decide to ask Israel Keyes, point blank: "Are there any other people that you're responsible for the death of?" "I have lots more stories to tell if you're interested." Keyes says he's willing to talk. But he wants it done on his own terms. "There are certain aspects of the things that I've done that I would prefer never became public." The reason Israel Keyes doesn't want this to get out is because he doesn't want his daughter to find out. That doesn't stop him from enjoying the attention. "I think that he likes to just sit there in a way and perhaps get some sense of delight by telling these horrific stories in such a casual way, knowing that he's likely shocking the investigators." As it turns out, James Koenig was right. Israel Keyes is a serial killer, and he has been doing this for many years. He explains how he planned each of his murders and how he avoided detection. "He would bury these kill kits in areas and then travel back to those locations to commit the next crime." "He'd have rope. He'd have gloves. He'd have tape. He'd have zip ties. Some of them, he would have a gun in there." Keyes may be talking, but investigators are struggling to get the names of each of the victims. They spend days talking to him, hours on end, bowing to each of his demands. until one day, a TV news channel makes this announcement. A Channel 3 news investigation over the last several months has led us to the identity of the man accused of killing the couriers. He finds out his name has been made public and stops talking. I have no reason to tell you more information. May 23, 2012. Israel Keys is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing. There's reporters from every news channel, but no video cameras are allowed inside the courtroom. James Koenig and his family are there. I was expecting it to be super quick, literally one or two word answers of, do you say you're innocent or guilty? It turned into something else. Keys jumps out of his seat over the guardrails that separates him from the rest of the gallery. One marshal grabs him at the last minute and throws him to the ground while another shoots him with a taser gun. Without making a sound, Keys jumped the railing where family and friends of Samantha Koenig were seated together. James Koenig, Samantha's father, declined to comment outside the courtroom. The next day, I interviewed Israel. What's changed since yesterday? More. Injects. November 29th. Investigators only have two names, but Keys refuses to cooperate further. After 40 hours of questioning over the course of eight months, Israel Keys shuts down. Three days later, a prison guard does a routine check of Keys' cell and stumbles upon a shocking scene. Federal inmate Israel Keys was found dead in his jail cell. A lot of people were glad he was dead. They think that's what he deserved, but there was a lot of information he took with him. Investigators are certain Keys had killed 11 people, but for now, they only have three names: Bill Currier, Lorraine Currier, and Samantha Koenig. However, Special Agent Kat Nelson is convinced more cases will be solved, and she continues to work so that the families of his victims can finally get closure. It won't be easy by any means, and it may take a long time, but I'll never give up trying. As for James Koenig, Samantha's father, it's because of his relentless efforts that a serial killer was caught, finally putting an end to his reign of terror. Since his daughter's death in 2012, he's created an organization that helps others find missing family members. It works to help conduct searches, offering support and advice. The program is called Seeking Alaska's Missing, or SAM for short. Family and friends are also working to pass a bill that aims to improve workplace safety across Alaska so that what happened to Samantha never happens again, naming it the Samantha Koenig Safety Act. As of today, they are still working to pass this bill and are asking for support from the public. While James has lost his only daughter, she will always be in his heart, and through his work, he's making sure Samantha's memory lives on. ♪ ♪