Bowen Yang (3:53)
This is true crime bullshit. I'm your host, Josh Hallmark. And this is a serialized story of Israel Key. There are a startling number of missing persons cases involving car crashes in Washington and its bordering states. And when you consider Keyes references to the book Intensity Notes in his suicide letter. And the many, many tips from drivers claiming that Keyes tried to run them off of the road. It's completely reasonable to take a closer look at some of these cases. Specifically 3. The most notable of which is the case of Leah Roberts. Leah disappeared from Whatcom county in Washington in 2000. In fact, local law enforcement even reached out to me to see if it was possible that Keyes could have been involved in her disappearance. And as I find myself saying quite frequently these days, with Keyes, anything is possible. However, in this case it's highly unlikely. Because at the time of Leah's disappearance, Keyes was in the army, stationed in Egypt. However, again with Keyes, highly unlikely isn't necessarily exculpatory. Keyes did earn 30 days of vacation per year while serving in the Army. And that vacation was use it or lose it. Meaning it's quite likely that Keyes was making the most of his vacation time. Since he'd otherwise lose it all at the end of the fiscal year. And we know Keyes had a history of abusing his paid time off. For the five and a half months that Keyes was in Egypt. He would have accrued about 14 or 15 days of vacation. And unfortunately, there's no available records of Keyes time off while on active duty in Egypt. Leah Roberts was Last seen on March 1st of 2000. Her car was discovered on March 18th. Abandoned along an old logging road in rural Whatcom county, about 85 miles north of Seattle. Her jeep had clearly been in some sort of accident. When it was discovered with significant front end damage in an embankment off the highway. At the time of her disappearance, Leah was on a cross country road trip with her kitten. Following the death of her parents. Authorities found a gas receipt in her car. Which placed her in Brooks, Oregon at around midnight on March 13th. They also found a movie theater ticket stub placing her In Bellingham, Washington, 300 miles north of Brooks. Later that afternoon, searches of her abandoned car yielded no signs of Leah or her cat. Although they did find cat food, a cat carrier, $2,500 hidden in a pair of pants and blankets covering the car's broken windows. There are many theories that Leah walked away from the accident. However, it seems unlikely she'd leave behind all that cash and take her cat, but not its carrier. On the same token, it seems if foul play were involved, that cash would have been stolen. There were, however, eyewitnesses who claimed that a man was seen following Leah as she left a diner in the days preceding the discovery of her car. Additionally, there were no signs that Leah had been in the car when it crashed. Upon further searches of Leah's car, investigators found that a starter relay had been cut. Cutting this would make it possible for the car to accelerate without use of the gas pedal. An unknown fingerprint was also discovered on the hood of the car. Shortly after the discovery of Leo's car, investigators received an anonymous call from a man claiming to have seen Leah after the accident. He said she looked disoriented and confused. But when police pressed further, the man hung up. And the mysterious caller? He was never identified. Now, according to Israel Keys, he didn't murder anyone while in the Army. However, we also know that Keyes liked to play word games, and perhaps he never murdered anyone while he was on active duty or stationed in the Army. But we can't even place Keys in the United States at the time of Leah's disappearance. He left for Egypt two months before her car was discovered. But we do know that Keyes worked on cars and would likely know which wires to cut to immobilize or mess with a car. Additionally, Keyes is known to have stalked his victims and it seems very likely that someone was following Leah at the time of her car accident. The area Leah disappeared from is also one Keyes knew well and could easily return to from Tacoma, Colville and even Neah Bay. And many of Kee's weird references in a suicide note are very similar to Leah's disappearance. A car accident, a young woman with brown hair, and most notably, a line that's mostly illegible due to Israel's blood stains, but ends with a reference to a victim's pet. I personally don't think Keyes was involved in Leah's disappearance, but there's enough similarities to his MO that it's worth exploring. In addition to several other similar missing persons cases involving car accidents or staged car accidents, Kenneth Adrian Greth was last seen on July 8th of July of 2002 in Grants Pass, Oregon. Little is known about his disappearance, including the exact date he disappeared. It is believed Kenneth had a meth problem when he disappeared, and there were rumors he could have been murdered seven years after he was reported missing. His 1989 Geo Metro was found at the bottom of a ravine in the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest about 25 miles west of Grants Pass. Much like Leah's car, all the windows were broken out and the keys were still in the ignition. Additionally, the tires were all flat. And again, as with Leah, there were no signs that Kenneth or anyone was actually in the car at the time of the car crash. Keys was living 540 miles away in Neah Bay at the time of Kenneth's disappearance. And there's no available information regarding Keyes whereabouts at any point in July of 2002. However, July 7th, 8th and 9th are all dates that come up multiple times on the Namus 44. So it's clear Keyes was looking for something that occurred that first week of July. Interestingly, there are about 55 unsolved missing persons cases between July of 2000 and February of 2007 from Washington state and its surrounding areas that match Keyes MO and occurred while Keyes was in the area. Of those 55, seven people disappeared along with their cars from within 15 miles of Grants Pass. Six of those seven cars were eventually recovered, all in remote areas, five of which had incurred significant damage. Thomas Randall Hedgecock was last seen on Monday, May 24th of 2004 in Filer, Idaho. He left his house at approximately 10:30 that evening to attend a barbecue and hasn't been seen or heard from since. On May 31, his truck was found at the bottom of an embankment along the Snake river between Filer and Wendell, Idaho. Again, there was no evidence that anyone had been in the car when it went off the road. And much like in both Leah's and Kenneth's cases, there was no blood at the scene nor were there any footprints nearby. And authorities again suspected foul play. All we know about Israel's life during May of 2004 is that he and Tammy had just split up and he was still working for the Makah in Neah Bay. Filer is approximately 800 miles from Neah Bay but only 500 from Maupin, Oregon and 350 miles from Green River, Wyoming. I mention Green river because Thomas disappeared just three months following Keyes first trip there. The drive from Maupin to Green river takes you directly through the area where Thomas disappeared and where his car was eventually recovered. And maps of this specific region of Idaho were discovered in Keyes home following his arrest. As I mentioned in episode 11, I started looking into car accidents after Israel mentioned he staged one of his victims to look like an accidental death. But pretty quickly into my car research. I hit a excuse the pun roadblock when I tried searching for similar area accidents where a body was discovered in the wreckage. I was understandably overwhelmed. It turns out Washington State has the 8th highest rate of traffic related deaths in the country, narrowing my searches down to rural areas Keyes was known to frequent or pass through. Well, that didn't help much either, especially and somewhat sadly, since most cases where a body is found in a wrecked car are generally written off as accidental and not investigated. So if Keyes did in fact stage his one recovered victim to look like a car wreck, we'll probably never know who that victim was. But there were two mysterious deaths that took place in areas Keyes was known to frequent during his time in Neah Bay, and both strongly match Keyes known mos.
