A New Kind of Monster

A predator who struck at random, Israel Keyes had no M.O. or victim type—which helped him go undetected by law enforcement for over a decade. He would fly into a city, rent a car and cross state lines, abduct his victims, kill them, and dispose of their remains so expertly he left no DNA. Then he’d get back in his car and put thousands of miles between himself and the crime scene.

Callahan calls Keyes “an analog killer in a digital age,” because he would “go dark”: using only cash, turning off his cell phone, and burying weapons, body disposal tools, and money in remote locations—and to which he would return to dig back up, months or years later, whenever the urge to kill struck next. He left a trail of monstrous crimes in his wake, many of which are still unsolved. And then he would return home, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter.

Behind the Scenes of the Alaska PD and the FBI

Callahan takes readers to a singularly remote setting—Anchorage, Alaska—where the disappearance of a young girl named Samantha Koenig eventually led to Keyes’ arrest. But the Alaska PD and the FBI had no idea just who—or what—they had on their hands when they brought him in. And in such a rural and isolated environment, the process of interrogating and investigating Keyes didn’t exactly go by-the-book.

Callahan describes how the FBI deliberately kept Keyes’ existence a secret from the public, and how the federal prosecutor’s methods could have put the case in jeopardy—had it gone to trial, which (spoiler alert) it never did. Because even though Keyes was one of the scariest and most high-profile criminals in modern history, he was somehow able to commit suicide in prison.

The Book the FBI Doesn’t Want You to Read

Callahan was given unprecedented access to the agents who worked the Keyes case, but at a certain point, the DOJ started stonewalling her requests for documents. She spent over five years—and tens of thousands of dollars of her own money—researching and delving into classified files, including a court battle that led to the unsealing of 13 hours of interview footage with Keyes.

Callahan also got her hands on fascinating psychological evaluations of Keyes that illuminated much about his childhood, including an off-the-grid, Educated-type upbringing as the oldest of ten children, an affiliation with a white supremacist cult, and a friendship with two young men who would go on to become among America’s Most Wanted.

She interviewed law enforcement, lawyers, and even Keyes’ mother, a private woman who had never before spoken to a reporter. And though the book lays bare some of the bureaucracy and institutional issues that could have damaged the case, as she puts it, “I think the Bureau will be happy with AMERICAN PREDATOR—one of the things it really highlights is the granular work, obsessive dedication, and big-picture approach that allowed these very talented men and women to capture one of this century’s greatest monsters.”

Case Not Closed

Keyes is believed to have killed at least 11 people, but likely many more. At one point during his interrogation, an investigator said, “We have to assume that every time you traveled, you killed someone.” Keyes didn’t confirm or deny, but the statement was treated like fact in the room. Callahan believes Keyes killed many more people than what’s been determined so far, and hopes this book will help to reopen—and eventually close—cases where he could be the culprit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Maureen Callahan is an award-winning investigative journalist, author, columnist, and commentator. She has covered everything from pop culture to politics. Her writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, New York, Spin, and the New York Post, where she is currently critic-at-large. She lives in New York.