Israel Keyes
US Police have invited the Public to have their Silence of the Lambs interaction as they seek help find the victims of serial Killer Israel Keyes, who has admitted killing three people, but is believed to have murdered at least another eight.
Professor Wilson is one of the world’s leading criminologist and a member of the Sunday World Crime team and he profiles the chilling killer exclusively for readers.
US law enforcement have been driven to desperate measures after a serial killer in custody committed suicide before Police could extract the full details of all his murders.
Thirty five year old Israel Keys killed himself after he murdered at least 11 others in a spree which he only partially admitted to his Anchorage Alaskan cell while facing charges for the murder .
He had only just confessed to being a serial killer, rapist, bank robber, arsonist and child abuser but left out most of the details of his victims and Police have had to now engage the public, to view the interrogation tapes, to try and find clues to his other crimes and victims.
It’s rare for a Police force to invite the public to assist with the investigation into a serial killer and even invite us all to have our ‘Clarice' - ” Silence of the Lambs’ moment but for once, the Public get to be where I have been many times.
People always say to me “what is it like talking to killers and rapists’ and only very rarely is it very revealing. Often they are dull and unco-operatvie and very rarely, do we have a Hanibal Lecter encounter!
Certainly, a serial killer has never said anything remotely as dramatic as the Thomas Harris creation. “A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some Fava beans and a nice Chianti”, Hanibal Lecter told his muse, Clarice in the movie.
Everyone imagines that talking with serial killers after their arrest and imprisonment must help the police in their investigation, and more broadly lead to a greater understanding of the phenomenon of serial murder. New leads will be discovered and the modus operandi (MO) of the killer forensically analysed and assessed.
After all, we’ve all seen the movies when the police officer, or the psychologist, the FBI profiler, or the behaviourist – or whatever else they are now being described as, finally gets to sit opposite the serial killer to discuss what motivated him to kill, and which also helps to bring a dramatic conclusion to the film.
Of course it is nothing like that in reality. And, I have even gone as far as to argue that those serial killers that I have interviewed fall into two distinct groups. The first – the largest group, are silent and uncommunicative.
They refuse point blank to discuss anything at all about their case, to the extent that Harold Shipman once simply turned in an interview to face the wall throughout the time that the police officer spoke to him.
The second and smallest group talk endlessly at you, but not necessarily to any great purpose. They construct what they want to say to better suit their own conception of themselves; sometimes they shape their discussions so as to try to manipulate their court case; or the prison that they are to be located in, or even the cell that they have to occupy.
The key here in all of this is the phrase “talk endlessly at you”. They don’t talk to you, actively engaging in a conversation, but merely use you as a living wall, as Dennis Nilsen did when he discussed his life with me in HMP Whitemoor. Your role is simply to be there.
I thought about all of this when watching the FBI’s recently posted interview with Israel Keyes. He appears to be forthcoming; keen to help move the investigation on; anxious to appear helpful – he peppers his interview the words “honest” and “honestly”, but in reality he says nothing at all.
The two FBI officers in the interview are keen to establish rapport, which is what they have been trained to do and so swear, apologise for leaving him in the room waiting for them to arrive, and make small talk about working out, but Keyes never once loses control of what he says.
The phrase “cat and mouse” hardly does his performance justice and so there are no new pieces of information revealed and the interview is shaped entirely by what Keyes wants to get from that interview.
This is perhaps the most important point – what is it that Keyes actually wants from this interview? Why does he want to sit opposite these two FBI officers?
Keyes will have had a variety of motivations – including what he claims is actually his “real” reason (about another case he says that he wants to talk about), ranging from his desire to show that he is still in control no matter that he has been captured, to a need for attention, both from the interviewers, and more broadly from the media.
He knows that it is likely that this tape will be released to the media. He was also probably simply bored, and having two nice people to patronise and talk at would have given him some variety in an increasingly ordered and dull prison life.
However the last thing on his mind is to actually help the police with their investigation; that’s simply not on his agenda.
The most important exchange in the tape that I viewed was for me his statement that “bottom line is I get to make all the decisions”.
I can think of no better way to understand and explain Keyes and this interview and of course he would go on to commit suicide – the ultimate form of control. So even if Keyes is talkative he still for me fits that group of serial killers who are uncommunicative. Have a look at the tape and become your own crime profiler.
Watch Israel Keyes' interview here