Israel Keyes's Last Writings Released by the FBI: WPTZ NewsChannel 5 Report, February 2013

Name: Israel Keyes's Last Writings Released by the FBI: WPTZ NewsChannel 5 Report, February 2013
Uploaded: 2013-02-07T00:00:00Z
Duration: 2 min 13 s
Description: A WPTZ NewsChannel 5 report from February 6, 2013, the day the FBI released the four pages Israel Keyes wrote before his suicide, with lines read on air and comment from an FBI official. Keyes is not heard.

A WPTZ NewsChannel 5 report from February 6, 2013, the day the FBI released the four pages Israel Keyes wrote before his suicide, with lines read on air and comment from an FBI official. Keyes is not heard.

Subject: Israel Keyes
Recorded: February 6, 2013
Runtime: 2:13

Content warning: Concerns a killer's suicide and his writings on death and violence; no graphic detail of the murders is spoken.

The Report

This is a 2-minute-13-second news report by WPTZ NewsChannel 5, the NBC station serving Burlington, Vermont, posted on the station's own channel on February 7, 2013. It was broadcast on the evening of February 6, 2013, the day the FBI released the writings found beneath Israel Keyes's body in his Anchorage jail cell. An anchor introduces the story; a WPTZ reporter describes the four pages, reads two passages from them on air, and closes live from the newsroom. An FBI official, a man not named in the audio or on screen, comments three times. Keyes himself is not heard.

Historical Context

Israel Keyes was arrested in Lufkin, Texas, on March 13, 2012, for the abduction and murder of Samantha Koenig, 18, in Anchorage. In custody he confessed to the murders of Bill and Lorraine Currier, who disappeared from their home in Essex, Vermont, in June 2011, and spoke to investigators of other killings across the country. He died by suicide in the Anchorage Correctional Complex on December 2, 2012, before trial. The Currier case made the story a Vermont one, which is why WPTZ covered the release.

Circumstances

On February 6, 2013, the FBI in Anchorage, through Special Agent in Charge Mary Rook, released the writings found beneath Keyes's body. Written in pencil and ink on a yellow legal pad, they had been illegible and covered in blood, and the FBI Laboratory in Virginia restored them. The FBI said they contained no hidden code or message and gave no leads to other victims.

What the Report Covers

The reporter says the four pages "focus on death and what Keyes perceives as the downfall of American culture," and reads two passages aloud, one beginning "You may have been free" and one beginning "Okay, talk is over." The FBI official says the bureau's cryptanalysis and questioned documents units reviewed the pages for hidden codes or messages, and that "we'll let people draw their own conclusions" because "there's nothing else to follow up." The report notes that the FBI was still receiving tips about other unsolved cases and that the documents could be read on the station's website.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The report records the FBI's own framing of the writings on the day of their release, in the Vermont market where the Curriers were killed: the bureau's view that the pages were "just last words," with no clues to other victims. Six months later the FBI released Keyes's interview recordings and put his total at 11 victims.

Archival Importance

A short local report, mainly narration.

Important Caveats

Keyes does not speak in this video; the lines from his writings are read by the reporter. The FBI official is not named in the audio or on screen and should not be identified on the page; he is a man, so he is not Special Agent in Charge Mary Rook, who announced the release. The reporter is named on screen as David Charns ("Nightcast", "Newsroom"). No captions exist, so the transcript rests on a single machine source; the reporter's reading of the second passage matches the on-screen graphic ("Okay, talk is over, words are flacid [sic] and weak. Back it with your action or it all comes off cheap.") but differs slightly from the text as printed by CNN (see the transcript's variant readings). "Alaskan prison cell" in the anchor's introduction and the YouTube description is loose: Keyes died in a cell at the Anchorage Correctional Complex, a jail where he was held before trial. The report's "at least eight" reflects February 2013 reporting; the FBI later linked 11 killings to him. His writings are not evidence of any particular crime.

Anchor: Well, we're getting a closer look at what confessed serial killer Israel Keyes was thinking before he took his own life in an Alaskan prison cell. The FBI today released a few rambling pages of notes scribbled by Keyes before the end. NewsChannel 5's David Charns has been looking through that document and has reaction from the FBI. David.

David Charns: Well, the four-page note by the confessed serial killer of Bill and Lorraine Currier was found under Keyes's body, unable to be read and covered in blood. The FBI says after processing the note, there's no new information that can help them solve other Keyes-related cases. But they do give us a glimpse of the man's final words.

Fbi Official: This is a man who decided to end his life and took the time to write some things down.

David Charns: [unclear: "There" / "These"], the final writings of confessed serial killer Israel Keyes, who before his suicide last December confessed to killing Essex couple Bill and Lorraine Currier. Keyes was jailed in Anchorage, Alaska, for the murder of a teenager there. The four pages of scribbled cursive released Wednesday by the FBI focus on death and what Keyes perceives as the downfall of American culture. A part reads: "You may have been free. You loved living your lie. Fate had its own scheme. Crushed like a bug, you still die." Who Keyes is talking about, or what he meant, taken with him to the grave.

Fbi Official: We had our cryptanalysis unit and our questioned documents unit review them to see if there were any kind of hidden codes or messages in the writings.

David Charns: There aren't, the FBI believes. Just last words.

Fbi Official: We'll let people draw their own conclusions as to the meanings of his writings. But at this point, we're releasing them. There's nothing else to follow up.

David Charns: Yet the pages provide a last glimpse into the mind of a serial killer. Keyes writes: "Okay, talk is over. Words are flaccid and weak. Back it with your action or it all comes off cheap." The FBI continues to get tips regarding other unsolved cases involving Israel Keyes, at least eight of them. You could read these documents on our website at wptz.com. Live in the newsroom tonight, I'm David Charns, NewsChannel 5 Nightcast. [Clip ends at 02:13.] ---