18YO Leaves Clue Behind to Ruin Serial Killer’s Plan | The Case of Samantha Koenig
– Pay attention to this footage. It shows what happened before Samantha Koenig was kidnapped. February 1st, 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 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 watch 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 Fairbanks Street before disappearing out of the frame. 18-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 Duane 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. And 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 Duane is supposed to pick her up after work. It’s 8:30 p.m. Duane 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, Duane 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 Duane 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.” Duane 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., Duane 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. Duane 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. – But before we continue. A quick thank you to today’s sponsor, Aura. Support from partners like Aura helps us bring you more of the stories featured here on Unseen. If you’ve ever looked for your name online, you might have stumbled on your phone number, address, or even private information like your Social Security number.
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Thanks again to Aura for sponsoring this video. And now back to the case of Samantha. – Officer Kevin Ehm is the first to arrive at the scene. – I 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 and- – 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 Ehm 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, 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 8:00 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.
the 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 jumped through the window and 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 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 p.m. from Samantha’s phone. Investigators fast-forward the footage until they see movement at 11:26 p.m. – 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 p.m. – 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 a kidnapping.” – Two of us lift and one with a- – While the police investigation shifts into high gear, Samantha’s father, James, is leading efforts to find his daughter.
– Before you check out and head out, – 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. – For it to actually happen so out of the blue, I mean it’s scary. – I can’t believe this happened here in Anchorage. – The Anchorage Police Department asks for help from the FBI, but they have very little to go on.
– The first 48 hours or so in any case is important to try to develop as many leads as you can. – February 4th, 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 is a $41,000 reward for her safe return.
– The investigation expands and the FBI retrieve surveillance footage from the Home Depot parking lot across the street from the coffee stand. – You could see a couple walking from the parking lot near a busy restaurant and go into a vehicle. – From there, they proceed to get surveillance tapes from nearby street cameras.
While the quality of the footage is too grainy to see the license plate, they now have the suspect’s vehicle. – So we knew it was a white Chevy pickup truck that the suspect was using. – The problem is, there’s around 700 white Chevy pickup trucks identical to this one in the city of Anchorage alone. Days pass, and while investigators follow up on every lead, they’re no closer to finding Samantha.
Days soon turn into weeks. James refuses to stand by idly while his daughter is still out there, so he takes to social media and publicizes Samantha’s disappearance. – Right now we’re probably getting two or three tips a day. Whether they’re helpful or not, I really can’t decide. I don’t know what avenue the police are taking in the investigation.
– There were, of course, trolls like there is in any social media. There were people that had their own view that she wasn’t actually missing. People can be so cruel. – You know, I gotta keep my spirits up and… know that my heart still feels her and she’s okay, and… – James Koenig pretty much, like, called me daily.
“Slav, do you have anything new for me?” “Slav, is there anything we could do?” Of course, I had a lot of sympathy for him. I’m a police officer, but I’m also a father. My daughter at the time was working in a coffee stand. You know, if it happened to Samantha, it could happen to somebody else. – It’s February 24th.
Samantha has been missing for 23 days. James is out having a meeting at a restaurant with the search party team when Samantha’s boyfriend, Duane gets a text. His face goes sheet white. He hurries over to James and shows him the text. – A text from Samantha’s phone. “Under a picture at Conner Park. Ain’t she purty?” – James and his family rush over to Conner Park where there’s a bulletin board.
Underneath a picture of a dog named Albert, there’s a Ziploc bag. Inside is a folded sheet of paper. – It’s the first big break that happened in the case since obtaining some video evidence three weeks earlier. – The letter is a ransom note written with a typewriter. The note confirms that Samantha is alive.
– In the note he is telling us that once he collects $30,000 in six months to a year, then he will give information, potentially, where Samantha’s at. – There’s a debit card number linked to Samantha’s bank account where the funds should be deposited. Along with the ransom note, there’s a photo of a young woman.
– She’s naked, she’s bound, her hair is braided, she’s got duct tape over her mouth. – The picture is a proof-of-life showing a woman next to a newspaper from February 23rd. – I contacted James Koenig if it was really his daughter. I knew that it was going to be heartbreaking for him to see that photo. It was just me and James Koenig in the interview room and I put the photo in front of him.
He stared at it for a long time and then he said, “Yes, it is Samantha in the photo.” – When James learns about the ransom, he immediately tells Sergeant Markiewicz to use money from the reward fund. That same day, $5,000 is deposited into the account. – We had a trace basically on the card so that if the card was used we would be notified.
However, it was a 10-minute delay in being notified, and 10 minutes in Anchorage at midnight, you can drive out of town. – The city of Anchorage has about 500 ATM machines making it impossible for them to monitor every single one. That night, the FBI gets a signal that Samantha’s card has been used. – Our officers rushed to the scene, but the suspect is gone.
– But what do have is surveillance footage from the ATM. The suspect is wearing a mask so they can’t see any facial features. He has his hood up, is wearing goggles, and has on a big puffy jacket with the words “Marine Corps” on the back. But the most interesting part is the Nissan SUV the man is seen driving away in.
This only confuses investigators further. Because the suspect could only withdraw the cash limit of $500, authorities are counting on him making another withdrawal. The FBI calls for backup and sends agents to every single publicly accessible ATM machine in the city of Anchorage. But the next time he uses the card is on March 7th in Wilcox, Arizona, over 4,000 miles away.
The FBI contacts authorities in Arizona but because of the 10-minute delay, the suspect is already gone. When they receive the footage from the ATM, investigators see the same man hiding his identity, but the car he’s driving is now a white Ford Focus. – That ATM withdrawal happens on March 7th. There’s another one that day in Lordsburg, New Mexico.
– On March 10th, there’s a withdrawal made in Humble, Texas. – And then the next day there’s another withdrawal in Shepherd, Texas. – During this whole time, we’re asking ourselves, “Is Samantha with this individual? Is she in the vehicle?” – The FBI gets in touch with the Texas Rangers and agents issue an alert to be on the lookout for a white Ford Focus.
– I get in my patrol car, just take off patrolling. I look to my right and the first thing I look at is a white Ford Focus. So I called the Ranger. – We dropped everything we were doing then and we told Bryan, “Do not lose that car.” – While FBI agents are on their way, State Trooper Bryan Henry follows the white Ford Focus from a distance.
– We gotta get probable cause to get him stopped. So, try to get in position to get him speeding or find another traffic violation. – The white Ford Focus is two vehicles in front of me. It accelerated rapidly. So I said, “Well, hang on a minute. He might be speeding.” Checked him with radar, he was running 58 in a 55.
– Trooper Henry activates his lights. The car pulls into a local restaurant. – As I walked up, I did realize we might be dealing with a kidnapping suspect. – As he approaches the vehicle he looks in the backseat hoping to find Samantha, but the driver is alone. However, he knows there’s still a chance she could be in the trunk.
– I kind of paused and looked through the window to see, you know, if I could see his hands, – From the driver’s license he learns his name is Israel Keyes. – The Texas Rangers and FBI agents quickly arrive on the site and take control of the situation. – 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 mask, gloves, and goggles. The same disguise that was seen in the ATM videos. Inside the pockets, they find Samantha’s phone and debit card.
– Investigators back in Alaska take the name “Israel Keyes” and execute a search warrant on his house. – I sent our officers to Keyes’ residence immediately to see if Samantha was being held inside the house or being held captive there. – When they arrive at the house, the first thing they notice is a white Chevy pickup truck and a silver Nissan Xterra SUV.
– The special assignment unit officers made entry into the home. We then searched the house, but Samantha’s not in the house. – After searching every square inch of the property, they find no evidence Samantha was ever there. – There was a shed separated from the house. – 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. – Do you understand your rights? – Yes.
– And you’re willing to waive those rights to talk to us? – Yes. – He figured that, having his computer, we’d be able to find big pieces of evidence. – I think everybody really wants to know, uh… 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.
– Okay. – Keyes directs them to an area north of Anchorage towards Matanuska Valley. – In Matanuska Lake, how many yards off the shoreline or feet off the shoreline- – Right there. – 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 gonna 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 coffee shop on that night at that time? – ‘Cause 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 we were going for a little walk. We were only about a hundred feet from the coffee stand, maybe 200 feet. And she tried to get away. I tackled her. After that she knew I was serious. After that she didn’t give me problems. She kept trying to talk to me and I had to tell her to shut up a few times.
‘Cause she was, you know, trying to make friends and stuff, and… – She’s doing what she should be doing. She’s really trying to personalize herself to him and 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 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 Duane’s truck and ultimately finds the debit card. – It’s now at least 3:30 in the morning. Israel gets back to the house and he’s now gonna fulfill his plan.
– That same night, Israel Keyes r**** 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 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 some makeup on her body. – And he took a Polaroid of her and he had a recent newspaper next to her. – Like I say, you got your monster. – 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’s 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? 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.
He knows he has the upper hand. – There are certain aspects of the things that I’ve done that I don’t… 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 one of his 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 Curriers.
– He finds out his name has been made public and stops talking. – I have no reason to tell you more information. – May 23rd 2012, Israel Keyes 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?” And it turned into something else. – At this particular juncture, we’re not- – Get him! Get him! – Keyes 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. – Kill him! – No, do not kill him! – Without making a sound, Keyes 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 handcuffs. – November 29th, investigators only have two names, but Keyes refuses to cooperate further. After 40 hours of questioning over the course of eight months, Israel Keyes shuts down. Three days later, a prison guard does a routine check of Keyes’ cell and stumbles upon a shocking scene.
– Federal inmate Israel Keyes 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’s a lot of information he took with him. – Investigators are certain Keyes had killed 11 people, but for now, the 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.
