ANCHORAGE — A thump and then a chorus of screams are heard in an audio recording of an attempted escape from court by a man accused of kidnapping and killing an Alaska barista.
Israel Keyes was quickly subdued with a stun gun in the federal courtroom in Anchorage after he somehow broke his leg irons Wednesday. But for a few moments, people can be heard screaming and shouting, “Get him!” One woman shouted, “Kill him!”
U.S. Marshals said the 34-year-old Keys either tried to leap over the bar separating the public from the defendant’s table or his momentum carried him over it.
Either way, he didn’t get far.
“I knew he was going to do that. I knew it,” a woman’s voice says. Another woman is heard crying.
Soon court personnel decide to clear the courtroom.
Supervisory deputy Dave Long said the attempted escape is under investigation, but it may never be known how Keyes managed to break his leg irons, which are ankle-cuffs linked by chain.
Long said the chain was pulled off from one of the cuffs. The leg irons were fine when they were put on Keyes hours earlier, according to Long.
“I’ve been doing this 20 years and have not seen one pulled like this,” he said.
Keyes is charged with abducting 18-year-old Samantha Koenig of Anchorage on Feb. 1 from the local coffee stand where she worked. The FBI contends Keyes killed the young woman less than a day later.
Koenig’s body was recovered April 2 from an ice-covered lake north of the city.
The state of Alaska has no death penalty but prosecutors have said the crime of kidnapping and killing carries that potential under federal law. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis said Thursday no decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty in the Keyes’ case.
Keyes appeared in court Wednesday so attorneys could discuss setting a trial date. His attempted escape ended the proceeding, which was rescheduled for Friday afternoon.
Long declined to talk about additional security measures to be taken for that appearance.
“I’m sure it’ll be beefed up,” he said.
Keyes’ attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Keyes, who operated a one-man construction business, was arrested March 11 in Texas. Prosecutors say he made withdrawals of ransom money using a debit card he stole from Koenig,.
A surveillance camera showed an apparently armed man in a hooded sweat shirt leading Koenig away from the coffee stand. Koenig’s friends and relatives established a reward fund and plastered the city with flyers with her photo in hopes she would be found alive.
According to prosecutors, Keyes stole the debit card from a vehicle she shared that was parked near her home, obtained the personal identification number and scratched the number into the card.
After killing Koenig, Keyes used her phone to send text messages to conceal the abduction, according to prosecutors. He flew to Texas and returned Feb. 17 to Anchorage, where he sent another text message demanding ransom and directing it to the account connected to the stolen debit card, according to prosecutors.
Keyes made withdrawals from automated teller machines in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas before his arrest in Texas, according to prosecutors.
Koenig’s family said there was no apparent previous connection between the teen and the suspect.
Comments (24)
Add commentDeath penalty
The death penalty isn't justice, it's vengeance.
It's also not a deterrent to murder. If someone wants to kill someone, they will kill them no matter what. The consequences are the furthest thing from their mind.
And the death penalty in the U.S. has been wrongly applied so many times that it should be banned for this reason alone. It's wrong to kill people who kill people just to teach that killing people is wrong.
Let's keep the death penalty out of Alaska. That's the sort of things middle east nations and Texas does.
We are better than that.
Jo, you really should get
Jo, you really should get outside Juneau sometime. There has always been a death penalty in Alaska. Its just a matter of who upholds it. Accidents happen all the time in this remote rugged land...
Whoa Nellie,
kpawsuh, usually your blogs aren't so despicable. I happen to agree with Jo, however I also acknowledge the fact that a state's law is that state's law, and will be so until it is changed. I really do believe in "Thou shalt not kill". I also believe that killing the alleged killers upon conviction and sending them to the next life is little punishment...Spending the rest of one's natural life behind bars...now THAT's punishment brother! Let them sit and think about it for a long, LONG time.
Whoo, lynch mobs. Kpawsuh
Whoo, lynch mobs. Kpawsuh illustrates what a wonderful species we really are. Keep up the good work!
Excuse me! Where did I give
Excuse me! Where did I give my personal opinion yea or nay? I merely pointed out what happens in real Alaska, fairly regularly. Whether you like it or not, whether it fits your moral, religious or political views, thats what happens. Boo me all you want, but I didn't do it. I merely pointed it out.
PP, As you form a literary
PP, As you form a literary lynch mob for my merely pointing out what happens in reality without giving my personal opinion of such.
You misunderstand. I was
You misunderstand. I was merely pointing out the innate lack of worth in our species.
To quote my favorite cynical television character, "do you know what [people] are mostly? Bastards. Bastard coated bastards with bastard filling."
DooDoo onda death penalty!
The death penalty is a real joke! For number one, the idiot that does crap that might invoke it, has no thought of it at the time of the crime!! 2. If a death penalty is ordered, then, as in Bundy's case, we get to put them up for a ton of years on Death Row (secluded) and even get married and father a child. BIG BUCKS n YOUR $. 3. If you do kill the crud, he gets to escape the wonderful experience of INVOLUNTARY brotherly love in the (not secluded) penetentiary. 4. Since the perps have already, by act, forsaken their own claim to humanity, save the animals in labs that have the electrodes on their heads for human medical use experiments and use the perps instead. So, if its REAL punishment you want...DON'T KILL EM. Let them live happily ever after in HELL!
And skatdachef proves my
And skatdachef proves my point with his gleeful advocacy of prison rape. Bravo, humanity, you never fail to disappoint!
No proven point at all!
As in above mentioned misunderstandings, I have only stated the reality of prison. I personally don't care what goes on in a place that is full of human garbage but, if the facts are that they don't have tea parties and cookie recipe sharing....BUMMER!
Of course! Only stated the
Of course! Only stated the reality! And I've only stated the reality that you're a horrible person for advocating--uh, I mean "stating"--such things. Don't worry, though. You're in good company. The only thing that separates you from those criminals you so gleefully want to see raped is action. In intent, you are no better (and possibly worse, given that rape is a worse crime than most) than they are.
The species as a whole!
There are far more wonderful and relevant additives to this human experiment than the poor sad beings we read about, like in this article. If I wanted to judge mankind by only the daily crud news blogs, I might say it's full of Bastards full of bastard filling, but, I see also the tremendous amount of families like my young cousin running alongside his 5yr olds training bike. Or I look at this same paper and see the different photo blogs from nature and families and the beauty that those pictures evoke. Then I see that some so-called human being has gone so totally off grid that, the question of his survival is a reason to judge the whole of society. Sorry, I don't apologize for assumed prejudice. But, when it happens and you are personally affected, as I was in the past, you'll take off the apron and join with reality in this, "small percentages" of sick people and yet violently attuned society we have adopted as our way of life. Peace!
A sad awareness!
Without judgement of, or advocation of diplorable acts, there have arisen accusations and personal attacks of absolutely rediculous aim. The fact that a person can advocate punishment gives reason to somehow equate me to and even being worse than the accused is so far removed from normal conversation is serious reason for dismay and worry for numerous reasons on numerous levels. I am a new contributor to this site and what I've witnessed is some pretty amazing sillyness...I hope I've jumped in on a bad day! But, if not, I guarantee, the game's afoot!
@skatdachef: we have a legal
@skatdachef: we have a legal system that doles out punishment to criminals. You advocate prison rape. If you can't see the difference, then you're an even worse person than I thought.
Criminals do bad things. Some of them horrible things. They are still human beings. The moment you forget that, you become no better than they are.
Chef, you caught it on a
Chef, you caught it on a mellow day. Its normally much worse, but you have encountered one of the main "silliness" contributers. You are always wrong, he's always right and you are an idiot for disagreeing with him. Its just the way the blog rolls...
Tanx n humor!
First off thanks kpaw for the info! 2d PP you're an amazingly funny person! Too good to be true! I look forward to more tete et tete. BTW thats French for "Watch out, it'll hurt!" :) I come to see the glory of the..........
One woman shouted, “Kill
One woman shouted, “Kill him!” She should get a reward for her attempt to save tax dollars that will be wasted on this scumbag. He killed an 18 year old girl. I will wager anyone that he will be found guilty even after all the plea deals and waste of time lawyer crap. Or I should say tax dollar paid public defender crap. What a shame he was only hit with a stun gun.
Bigfoot, Are you aware that
Bigfoot,
Are you aware that putting a person to death is much more expensive than keeping a person incarcerated for life? If you favor the death penalty, that's cool by me. However, don't use the argument about using the death penalty to save taxpayers' money. That's just not how things work.
PP is right! we should not
PP is right! we should not advocate for justice in this matter! Keyes is just misunderstood! He doesn't deserve to be punished! We should all gather and pray for his rehabilitation, sing Kumbyah and hold hands! All he needs is some rehab and when he's done with that, he should be let free into society again as a human being because all humans should be free!
What PP does not understand is that people like Keyes, Bundy and sociopaths of the like have no regard for other humans. They will kill another with no thought or regard for consequences or feelings. They prey on others to satisfy their own sick needs. They are monsters who can not be rehabed or changed! They will continue to prey on the week, even in prison. A sociopath has no morals or conscious that prevent them from hurting or hunting the week!
What you should do PP, is take a deep breath... and say Baaa Baaa because you are a sheep who will not understand that there are wolves in society who deserve nothing more than to be locked up or put down!
By the way, Bundy killed and
By the way, Bundy killed and had relations with his victim's bodies. Dahmer ate his victims. Gacy had a tase for young boys. Danny Rollins posed their bodies for shock value for who ever found them. Keyes took Koenig and killed her soley for money!
These people are not human beings, they are animals! They don't deserve to be treated any better than an animal who has attacked and bitten others.
"Really", let's not lump these lowlife sociopaths
with animals. Animals are nothing like these sick twisted wastes of human flesh. They don't have that sick mentality like humans do. I agree with a previous poster who suggested using scum like them in our testing labs and set free the animals they now use. We abuse and test animals for most products to see how they will effect humans, why not use these incarcerated sociopaths instead of innocent animals? At least have them contribute something helpful to the society they have harmed. STOP all animal testing, use death row inmates instead.
Rehabs merits?
I said before that it was personal in the past, because Bundy was my cousin's best friend in hi-school and I met and talked with him a quite a few times when young. At the same time when 2 little girls disappeared that lived on his paper route. Detective Reichert during an interview with Bundy was told many things he vowed never to divulge, due to the grief of the families. He slipped once and told of the day when 2 girls vanished from a local beach on the same day. The 1st girl he knocked unconcious and tied to a tree, while he went for the other. He waited until the 1st came to and made her watch what he would do to her. The details are so inhumane I wrench still. Then I see some idiot preaching rehab and treatment and telling me that I'm the sick one. What frackin rehab are you talkin about? These people are a stage 3 cancer like I have and there's no fixin that. Get a life!
I'm with most of you
Let's just wait until a guilty verdict is issued before we start the science experiments.
Fume, its only more expensive
Fume, its only more expensive if you allow 37 appeals, 68 mental health visits, house and feed them for the 58 yrs it will take to get through all that, then put them on a table with $1.8 million worth of medical equipment monitoring their every muscle twitch, and pump $5k worth of drugs into them. A bullet is much cheaper. Just sayin...