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Accused serial killer Israel Keyes, who was found dead in his Anchorage Jail cell Sunday morning, traveled across the country with the specific purpose of “kidnapping and murdering,” law enforcement told reporters in Vermont on Monday.
Keyes, 34, was awaiting a trial in March for the killing of Koenig, whose body was found under the ice at Matanuska Lake in April.
Vermont law enforcement officials say Keyes confessed to killing an older couple, Bill and Lorraine Currier, who went missing from their home in Essex, Vt. in June of 2011.
“They were friendly, peaceful, good people who encountered a force of pure evil acting at random,” said U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin.
Coffin gave reporters a more detailed look into how Keyes selected and killed the couple, saying Keyes told authorities he specifically looked for people who did not have a dog or children.
Keyes broke into the couple’s garage and used a crowbar to break into the home. He then went on what Coffin called “a blitz attack” on the Curriers, and ran into their bedroom where the couple was sleeping.
Authorities say Keyes informed them he wore a headlamp so he could see in the home. He confessed to tying the couple up and put them into their car, which he then used to drive them to an old farmhouse. Keyes told law enforcement he put Bill Currier into the basement of the farmhouse, and that at one point Lorraine Currier escaped but Keyes tackled her.
Keyes told authorities that he beat Bill Currier with a shovel as he repeatedly yelled, “Where is my wife?,” before shooting him to death. Authorities also say Keyes told them sexually assaulted Lorraine Currier before strangling her to death.
In addition to the Vermont killings, officials say Keyes also confessed to bank robberies in New York and Texas.
Surveillance video images taken Feb. 16 inside the National Bank of Texas branch in Azle, Texas, just west of Fort Worth, show a man resembling Keyes, wearing a white hard hat and breathing mask with sunglasses, brandishing a pistol and ordering employees and customers to the floor. Keyes was never charged in relation to the robbery.
According to a story from the Azle News, the robber allegedly ordered tellers to give him money, and left after receiving an unspecified amount of cash. Nobody was injured in the robbery, which took less than two minutes. The branch was closed the next day as stunned employees recovered from the heist.
In a March interview with Channel 2, National Bank of Texas President Steve Parker said that the robber in the Azle incident was "very controlling," and that Keyes being behind bars in the Koenig case was a welcome development.
“We were just glad that as controlling as he was, that nobody was hurt -- that’s the only thing we cared about,” Parker said. “We’re elated that they’ve got the guy.”
The FBI office in Anchorage says it will have more details Monday afternoon describing the timeline for Keyes’ travels across the country.
Contact Rebecca Palsha and Chris Klint