"Interrogating Me": Israel Keyes and the Texas Ranger, March 13, 2012

Name: "Interrogating Me": Israel Keyes and the Texas Ranger, March 13, 2012
Uploaded: 2025-05-14
Duration: 22 min 2 s
Description: Hours after his arrest in Lufkin, Texas, Israel Keyes made small talk with a Texas Ranger about the military and his family, then declined to talk about why he was in custody.

Hours after his arrest in Lufkin, Texas, Israel Keyes made small talk with a Texas Ranger about the military and his family, then declined to talk about why he was in custody.

Subject: Israel Keyes
Recorded: March 13, 2012
Runtime: 22:02

Content warning: Concerns the abduction of an 18-year-old woman who was later found murdered.

The Interview

On the morning of March 13, 2012, Israel Keyes was stopped in the parking lot of a restaurant in Lufkin, Texas. In his car were the debit card and phone of Samantha Koenig, an 18-year-old barista who had been abducted from a coffee stand in Anchorage, Alaska, six weeks earlier. That afternoon, in an interview room at the Lufkin Police Department, Texas Ranger Steve Rayburn and FBI Special Agent Deb Gannaway sat down with him. The recording begins with the Ranger's spoken introduction: the date, the time (3:27 p.m.) and the missing woman's name.

Historical Context

Keyes, a 34-year-old building contractor from Anchorage, abducted Samantha Koenig on February 1, 2012, killed her, and used her debit card to withdraw money across several states. The cash withdrawals led investigators to him. After he was returned to Alaska he confessed to her murder and to the June 2011 murders of Bill and Lorraine Currier in Essex, Vermont, and described other killings. The FBI believes he killed at least 11 people. He was found dead in his cell at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on December 2, 2012, before he could be tried.

Circumstances of the Interview

The interview was recorded on the day of his arrest, before the long interviews with the FBI and Anchorage police in which he confessed. At the time he had been arrested on a federal access device fraud charge. Before the interview the Ranger offers him lunch and makes conversation; he then reads Keyes his rights from a printed warning ("I got Spanish and English") and asks whether he will waive them.

What the Interview Covers

Keyes answers a few questions about himself in a few words. He says he served "everywhere" in the military and left because he "had a kid on the way", that he was homeschooled and raised "mostly" in Washington, that he has nine brothers and sisters and a ten-year-old daughter, and that he "almost got married a few times". Asked what the Rangers and the FBI do, he says: "Interrogating me." When the Ranger asks him to waive his rights and talk about why he is in custody, he declines. The Ranger tells him a warrant is being sworn out to charge him with kidnapping, that the young woman is still missing, and that he can ask for the Ranger at the county jail if he changes his mind.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The recording shows Keyes before he chose to cooperate: composed and guarded, giving nothing away about Samantha Koenig. It also documents the approach the investigators took on the first day, an offer of food and a patient appeal to "seek the truth".

Archival Importance

Keyes died without trial, so his recorded interviews are the main record of his own account. Several later FBI interviews were released by the FBI and are published here as text pages. This Texas interview was first made public in 2025.

Important Caveats

Keyes says almost nothing of substance here; most of the words are the Ranger's. Some of his short answers are quiet and are marked uncertain in the transcript, and one passage near the end is redacted. The interview audio is played over room video that, the presenter says, does not line up with it. The video's introduction and closing are the presenter's own commentary, including her opinions about Keyes's personal life; they are not part of the law-enforcement record. The presenter calls this "the first interview that law enforcement has ever done with Keyes", but on the tape the Ranger refers to an earlier conversation with him that day.

Viktoria Evans: Hey guys! Like with past interviews that I've posted, I'm going to do a quick introduction and then I'll play the audio for you in full, totally uninterrupted. And real quick, I just want to let you know that our three-part series, "Israel Keyes: Life in Full Detail," is now available exclusively on Crime Culture Media at crimecult.com. This is a six-hour, in-depth docuseries on the life, crimes, and victims of serial killer Israel Keyes. Part of the evidence that we obtained for that is some of the audio that I'm going to be sharing with you today. This has never been released to the public. This is the first interview that law enforcement has ever done with Keyes.

Viktoria Evans: This conversation is a little bit short, and it runs only about 17 minutes. It's conducted by Texas Ranger Steven Rayburn along with FBI agent Deb Gannaway. What's interesting about the Texas evidence is that there's like three hours of footage of Keyes sitting in a room while he's waiting to be interviewed. And there are a few moments where he interacts with people, like you can see Steve Rayburn in the footage here going to talk to him, and he's asking him like, "Hey, we're getting some food. Do you want a sandwich?"

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Hey, we ain't eating lunch, so we're fixing to go get some food.

Israel Keyes: Yeah, I heard.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Did you tell her what you wanted?

Israel Keyes: No, I'm fine.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: No, we're going to get you something to eat now, 'cause we ain't going to sit here and eat in front of you. How about a Subway sandwich?

Israel Keyes: Yeah, whatever.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Ham and cheese?

Israel Keyes: Yeah.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Mustard, mayonnaise? What do you want?

Israel Keyes: That's fine, whatever. I'm not really that hungry, so.

Viktoria Evans: And then you see Deb Gannaway come and talk to him, and people are like in and out of the room.

Fbi Agent Deb Gannaway: Hey, Mr. Keyes, you doing okay? Stupid question, huh? Um, I know you probably haven't eaten in the last few hours. Can we get you a Subway sandwich or anything while you're waiting? Okay, we won't be too much longer, and we'll be in here with you, okay? Got plenty to drink?

Israel Keyes: Yes.

Fbi Agent Deb Gannaway: Okay. All right.

Viktoria Evans: But when it comes to the actual interviews, it's only audio. So for the purpose of releasing this as video format, I'm going to be playing that for you while the audio goes on. So it's not going to line up, but I thought it would be more interesting than like a still image. I got to say, aside from the arrest footage, this is like my real introduction to the Texas Rangers. Like, I've never listened to an interrogation by a Texas Ranger. And the other one that they do with him a couple days later is much longer, and it's much more apparent, uh, how they operate, but they're freaking awesome. All of this like made me a fan of the Texas Rangers. I love them. I think they're badass. They do a great job and they're very good at what they do.

Viktoria Evans: So, a couple notes about his conversation. So he tells them, essentially, at the end of the 17 minutes, that he doesn't want to talk, and then a few days later ends up talking to them. But he's asked why he got out of the military, and he says that it's because he had a kid on the way. And I thought that was so weird, because as a military brat, I come from a big military family. Having kids is a good reason to stay in the military because of the stability that it offers you, with like base housing allowance for you and your dependents, and health insurance that's like there for your family. So I thought it was an interesting choice that he got out, or that that's the reason he's saying that he got out.

Viktoria Evans: And if there's any military people listening to this, I would love your advice on why you think that that was the reason, and if a lot of people feel that way, because to me, like in my mind, it almost seems like a better choice to stay in. And I also, I understand that like it does take you away from your family, and it also, it's, uh, involves a lot of traveling every few years, like moving and stuff, and also potentially deployments.

Viktoria Evans: But, but yeah, he's also asked if he's ever been married, and he says that he almost marries Kimberly. Like, he doesn't say her name, but he's talking about her. They were like, "She broke up with you," and he like says no, and he says that they're kind of still together. And this is hilarious to me, because in the Kimberly interviews, within like the first few minutes, she's asked about her boyfriend, Israel Keyes, and she's like, "He's not my boyfriend," like immediately. So it like kills me that I think, uh, he is like embarrassed that he got dumped. Be prepared for one moment where there's like a redacted section. That little, it is painful. So just, you know, I'm warning you. And without further ado, here's the first interview with Keyes by the Texas Rangers.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: This is Steve Rayburn with Texas Rangers Company A, Lufkin. It's 3-13-2012 at 3:27 p.m. I'm about to go into an interview room at Lufkin PD. I have Agent [unclear: "Jan" / "Deb"] Gannaway with me. We're going to interview a suspect, uh, in there concerning the, uh, missing person Samantha Tessla Koenig.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: We've already talked before, you know, I'm Steve Rayburn with the Texas Rangers, with the state police here in Texas. Special Agent Gannaway with the FBI. She's assigned to Lufkin as well. Uh, I'm going to eat. Do you care if I eat? You know you're under arrest. You know you're not free to leave. You know what you're under arrest for. Okay. Listen. We're not going to violate your rights here, okay? Uh, no one's going to make you do anything you don't want to do. I'm going to eat lunch. Agent Gannaway is going to eat lunch. We got lunch for you. You can eat it or you cannot eat it. It's up to you. Hope you like ham and cheese. If you change your mind, if you want to eat lunch, it's here.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Did you say you was in the military?

Israel Keyes: [unclear: "What a brain" / "What am I eating? Honey"].

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Where did you serve?

Israel Keyes: Oh, everywhere.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Did you like the military or not?

Israel Keyes: Yeah.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: What'd you like about it?

Israel Keyes: Oh, something I wanted to do.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Why'd you leave?

Israel Keyes: [unclear: "Kid"].

Ranger Steve Rayburn: You what now?

Israel Keyes: I had a kid on the way.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Oh, did you? That's your little girl? She with your brother right now? Well, I think there's people out with your brother and that end of the family right now, talking to them, and I got word back that your kid's fine. How are you holding up? Are you okay, considering the circumstances?

[exchange Partly Inaudible; Speakers Uncertain]: [unclear: "Curtis Central" / "Is"]. No. Do you go by Israel?

Israel Keyes: Yes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: You'll be okay if I take [unclear: "you" / "them"] off, won't you?

Israel Keyes: Yeah. [unclear: word masked in the captions] [inaudible].

Ranger Steve Rayburn: You ever been in trouble with the police before, other than the shoplifting you told me about earlier?

Israel Keyes: Nope.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Wearing cuffs ain't something that you deal with regularly, right? You know what they call them in Texas, don't you? [unclear: "From" / "In"] Dallas, Cowboy Super Bowl, Super Bowl rings. [unclear: "Chips at least"].

Israel Keyes: No, I'm, no, really.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: I mean, we just ate breakfast right before. [unclear: "I'll get you" / "might get you"], if you want to spit that snuff out, I'll get you a garbage can, you can eat.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: How old were you when you joined the military?

Israel Keyes: [unclear: "19, 20" / no answer in Whisper].

Ranger Steve Rayburn: What'd you do between, you graduated? No, you didn't. Never went to school? Were you homeschooled, or?

Israel Keyes: Yeah.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: You raised up where?

Israel Keyes: Mostly Washington.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Washington State?

Israel Keyes: [inaudible]

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Did you wish you went to regular school?

Israel Keyes: No, not really.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: How many brothers and sisters you got?

Israel Keyes: Nine.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Nine. And now you got one daughter?

Israel Keyes: Yep.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: How old is she?

Israel Keyes: Ten.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Do you raise her?

Israel Keyes: Yep.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Where's her mom?

Israel Keyes: Her mom? [unclear: "Washington" / inaudible].

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Is there a big custody issue with that, or is it just kind of agreed upon? You know how those things go sometimes.

Israel Keyes: Yeah, it's complicated.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Tell me about your daughter.

Israel Keyes: [unclear: "Good kid. She's great" / "She's great. I'm great, she's here"].

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Yeah. What grade is she in?

Israel Keyes: [unclear: "Fourth" / "40"].

Ranger Steve Rayburn: I asked you earlier about marriage. You said you almost got married once. Was that to the little girl's mama? Was that somebody else?

Israel Keyes: I almost got married a few times.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: A few times?

Israel Keyes: Never worked out.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Israel Keyes: At least twice it was a good thing.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: One of them would have worked out, you think?

Israel Keyes: Yeah. Well, for me.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: For you. She didn't think so? She dumped you?

Israel Keyes: No, we're still together, kind of.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: [unclear] Not anything long-term there.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Well, listen. We, uh, there's a lot of information in that old head of yours that I'd like to know. I told you I ain't going to make you do nothing. There's a lot of information that, through the course of an ongoing investigation, that we have. And what our job is, you know, you have any idea what the Texas Rangers and the FBI do, really do?

Israel Keyes: Of course.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: What, you tell me what you think we do.

Israel Keyes: I, I watch enough TV.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Now you tell me what you think we do. What is the perception of what we do? What you think being a cop in the Rangers or the FBI is all about?

Israel Keyes: You do what you're doing right now.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Which is what?

Israel Keyes: Interrogating me.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: No. Interviewing [unclear: "me" / "you"].

Israel Keyes: Whatever you want to call it.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: You can call it interview. You know what I call it? Seeking the truth. I don't have a time machine. We can't go back and change things and make them something that they weren't, but we seek the truth. I'm a fact-finder. That's all I am. Okay? And in a minute, you can choose to help us seek the truth. You can choose not to, but that's all we're after, is the truth. We don't want to make anything look worse than what it is, look different than what it is. We want to get it right. We want to get it exactly right.

Israel Keyes: And you usually do, eventually.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Well, you're, you know what? You're right. And the biggest factor on that is how much time we devote and effort we devote into seeking the truth. Most crimes can be solved if we devote enough time and effort to solve them.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: But here's the deal. I'm dying to talk to you about why you're in custody right now. I really, really want to talk to you, because there's some things that I just can't answer, okay, in my truth-seeking. And you're going to be the best source of that information. And you've got to decide whether you're going to help me seek the truth or whether I'm going to be on my own. And that's going to be left up to you. But before I can talk to you, and you've watched enough TV to know, you got to waive your rights for us to be able to talk about this, okay? I know you've heard it on TV a thousand times, but I got to read it to you again. And if you decide you want to be a part of the solution and not continue to be a part of the problem, you can do that. I hope that you're going to be after the same thing we're after. And I hope that you're going to want us to get this accurate, and you're going to want us to get it right.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Now listen to me while I read this. I got Spanish and English. I hope you want it in English, because I can't read Spanish. "Before you're asked any questions, it's my duty to advise you of your rights and to warn you of the consequences of waiving these rights. You have the right to remain silent, not to make any statement at all. Any statement you make may be used against you at your trial." You understand that?

Israel Keyes: Yes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: "Any oral or written statement you make may be used as evidence against you in court." You understand that?

Israel Keyes: Yes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: "You have the right to have a lawyer present to advise you before and during any questioning by peace officers or attorneys representing the state." You understand that?

Israel Keyes: Yes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: "If you're too poor to hire a lawyer, you have the right to have a lawyer appointed by the court to advise you before and during any questioning." Do you understand that?

Israel Keyes: Yes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: "And you have the right to terminate an interview at any time." You understand that?

Israel Keyes: Yes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Okay. Can we talk about why you're in custody? Are you willing to waive your rights so we can talk about why you're in custody? You can withdraw that at any time and tell me that "I'm done," okay? And I'll respect that. I've respected you from the time I met you today, and I'm going to keep respecting you. I'm not going to be mean to you. But are you willing to waive the rights long enough for us to talk about why you're in custody?

Ranger Steve Rayburn: And let me tell you, regardless of what you decide, when you leave here, I've got to take you down to the county jail and book in, okay? And I think there's a whole lot at stake here for a whole lot of people, including yourself, maybe mostly yourself. And I can tell you that you got one Texas Ranger sitting here. There ain't been 149 in the whole world. I'm a very busy person. Right now, you got an opportunity to tell me about your problems, and I know you have some, and I have a little idea how you can deal with problems. But first, we have to define what the problem is. Can we visit a little while about this?

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Okay. Well, I'm going to respect that. If you don't want to, that's fine. But listen, look at me. If you change your mind, whether it's today or tomorrow or next week, if you change your mind, all you got to do is ask for the Ranger, okay? All right. I'll come to the county jail and we can talk. Okay. All right.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: 3:41 p.m., 3-13-2012. How do you pronounce your full name?

Israel Keyes: Israel Keyes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: What's your middle name?

Israel Keyes: Don't have one. Just Israel Keyes.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: What's your date of birth?

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Israel, right now there is a, uh, I'm not questioning you or anything. I'm not violating your rights here. I'm just kind of giving you a heads-up what's going on right now. They're swearing out an arrest warrant for you, uh, to formally charge you, uh, with, uh, kidnapping of this girl right here. And she's still missing, okay? So my job ain't over. We got to find her. That's what's going on with that.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: [unclear: "Told you"] [inaudible] to do anything to make our job easier in finding this young lady, be sure and tell them you want to talk to the Ranger, okay? It'll go a long way in helping you down the road, too. And that would go a long way in helping the girl's family, even if she ain't alive.

Ranger Steve Rayburn: Here's a go. Stand up for me. We'll get you down there to the county jail. Uh, we're not going to release your name, okay? All right. Uh, because the investigation is ongoing, and I don't think releasing your name to the media would be a positive thing.

Israel Keyes: I know. That's okay.

[fragments; Speakers Uncertain]: [unclear: "Don't believe I don't want them. I'm good" / "I don't want to stay away"]. [unclear: "Stay right"]. Hello, let me turn off my [recording ends].

Viktoria Evans: Thank you guys so much for watching. If you want to support me, make sure you subscribe to Crime Culture Media at crimecult.com. My name is Viktoria Evans. Be safe out there.