Alaska prisons officials refuse to say how confessed serial killer Israel Keyes obtained a razor before his jail-cell suicide.

The state Department of Corrections denied a public records request from The Associated Press that seeks to determine whether the 34-year-old Keyes was allowed to have a razor, which he used to slit a wrist. The state cites prisoner confidentiality and "anticipation of litigation."

Keyes, who also strangled himself, was found dead Dec. 2.

Keyes was awaiting a March trial in federal court in the 2012 slaying of 18-year-old Anchorage barista. He was in state custody in Anchorage because there are no federal prisons in Alaska.