Alaska Serial Killer Committed Suicide With Hidden Razor and Bedding

Dec. 5, 2012 — -- Serial killer Israel Keyes committed suicide in his Alaska jail cell by embedding a disposable razor blade into a pencil and slitting his wrist and using bedding material to strangle himself, the FBI said today.

Keyes, 34, left behind "crumpled, blood soaked paper" with writing on the pages.

Keyes' death came as he was slowly confessing to a string of methodically planned murders that spanned the country. He had admitted to eight murders at the time of his suicide, but had yet to tell investigators the identities of all his victims and left police wondering how many more victims there may have been.

The suicide occurred while Keyes was locked alone in a cell after 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 1. His body was discovered the next morning at 5:57 a.m., the FBI said.

He used a weapon he had apparently constructed by embedding a blade from a disposable razor into a pencil. He slashed his left wrist with the razor, and then used a strip of bedding to strangle himself.

"There is no indication of any criminal involvement from other persons," according to the FBI in Anchorage. "Pages of crumpled, blood soaked paper that appeared to have writing on them were recovered from the cell."

The papers have been handed over to the FBI for laboratory processing.

Keyes, 34, was in jail after his arrest for the death of teenage barista Samantha Koenig. While in jail, he told investigators how he traveled the country to kill and bury caches of weapons, money and tools for disposing of bodies to use in future crimes.

The suicide was Keyes' last act of violence committed by a merciless killer who told police that he "liked to do it."

Along with details of his suicide, investigators also released the grim details about Koenig's final hours and her killer's intricate plan to kill.

Koenig was abducted, sexually assaulted and strangled by Keyes who went on a two-week cruise before returning to dismember and hide her body, according to the FBI.

"These details are being provided both to fully explain the courage and resolve Samantha displayed in the final hours of her life, as well as in the hopes that the release of additional details will help investigators of other murders committed by Israel Keyes," a statement released by federal prosecutors, the FBI and Alaskan police.

They also released video of Koenig's abduction and part of their interrogation of the confessed serial killer.

When Keyes was on the prowl for a victim, he selected the Common Grounds coffee stand in Anchorage, Alaska, where Koenig, 18, was working. Keyes picked the coffee stand for its location and late hours, authorities said. He had no previous connection to the teenager.

A ski mask clad Keyes approached the coffee stand just before closing time on Feb. 1 and ordered a coffee. After Koenig handed him the coffee, he pulled a gun and demanded money. She complied and surveillance footage released by investigators shows Keyes climbing into the coffee stand and tying Koenig up with zip ties.

He forced her outside and toward his white truck, which he had earlier prepared by removing the license plates and unmounting tool boxes off the bed of the truck.

"Samantha broke away from Keyes and tried to run away," investigators said. "Keyes chased her and tackled her to the ground. He put one arm around her and pointed a gun at her body with the other hand, telling her that she needed to cooperate, that the gun had a very quiet ammo and that she should not do anything to make him kill her."

Keyes "drove around town" telling Koenig that he was kidnapping her for ransom. She explained that her family did not have much money and tried to convince him to let her go. Police said he intended to kill her all along.