Weeks later, a call was placed from Koenig’s cellphone, which led authorities to a ransom note demanding that money be placed in her account in exchange for her return. Meanwhile investigators failed to find any evidence apart from the video, which did not provide a discernible look at the assailant. This created a palpable and quite justifiable sense of fear in Anchorage, and for weeks the high-profile crime obsessed Alaskans. Security footage showed a man walking up to the window, robbing the stand, then jumping in and abducting her. Readers are next introduced to the team of FBI agents and Anchorage Police Department officers assigned to the case. Then she tells the story that brought Keyes to notice, the disappearance of Koenig on that winter night as she prepared to close the coffee stand where she was working alone. It’s the only assuring note in an otherwise very frightening tale. In her brief preface, Callahan reminds readers that serial killing is the rarest of all forms of murder. But by drawing from documents, court records, and interviews with those involved in the case, Callahan has produced a superb work of true crime writing that will haunt its readers long after the final page has been turned. It isn’t easy reading, and it definitely isn’t for the squeamish. In “American Predator,” veteran journalist Maureen Callahan provides a chilling account of Keyes’ killing spree, one that traversed multiple states, possibly extending into Canada and, during his military service, the Middle East. 2, 2012, he committed suicide in his prison cell, taking his secrets with him. Insisting he could provide precise information on each killing, he spent months toying with investigators, dribbling out cryptic details but never providing names or body locations. He was, possibly, the most masterful serial killer in American history. Extradited back to Alaska, he told interrogators her dismembered body could be found at the bottom of Matanuska Lake.Įven as divers recovered her remains, Keyes shared the details of a double murder he had committed in Vermont, alluded to other killings, and explained the methods he used to carry out the crimes.

It dominated headlines for weeks.Ī month later, an Anchorage contractor named Israel Keyes was arrested in Texas after repeatedly using Koenig’s debit card while traveling across the state. 11, 2012, news spread throughout the state. Almost immediately after she was abducted from the Anchorage coffee shack she worked at on the night of Feb. No crime in recent memory has shaken Alaskans as deeply as the kidnapping and murder of Samantha Koenig. Maureen Callahan, Viking Press, 304 pages, 2019. 'American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century,' by Maureen Callahan American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century

American Predator by Maureen Callahan