Israel Keyes and Edmund Kemper

Israel Keyes was an infamous American serial killer and bank robber whose criminal activities spanned the entire United States. Despite his extensive criminal history, relatively little is known about his personal life or motives. In 2018, Keyes tragically took his own life in his Anchorage, Alaska, jail cell, abruptly ending an FBI investigation into at least 11 murders of people across the country.

Keyes was born in 1978 in the northwestern region of New York and experienced a tumultuous childhood. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington State, where he honed his expertise in explosives. After his military service, Keyes relocated to Utah and began to commit burglaries and other petty crimes such as gas drive-offs. In February of 2001, Keyes committed his first known bank robbery in Everett, Washington. Weeks later, he struck again in Sacramento, California, firing a round from a .45-caliber gun that he had kept from his time in the military.

Eventually, Keyes was apprehended and sentenced to 14 years in a Utah prison, though he was released early due to good behavior. Upon his release in 2007, Keyes moved back to Washington State, where he resumed committing burglaries and other small-time crimes. Over the next couple of years, Keyes travelled around the country, committing burglaries, robberies and other criminal activities, as well as engaging in a pattern of sadistic activity he called “joyriding”— kidnapping and murdering people across the U.S.

In addition to his multiple criminal activities, Keyes had a consistent plan of laying low between multiple heists and killings. He buried caches of weapons and money around the country and even abroad in an effort to stay ahead of the law. After his last known bank robbery in December 2013, authorities noticed an unprecedented pattern among Keyes’ activities – he intently studied his victims in order to develop an intricate murder plot. One of his methods included selecting pre-purchased burial sites that he visited after killing his victims.

Victims of Keyes included special-needs teenager Samantha Koenig, whose kidnapping and murder was detailed and broadcast across the country. Ultimately, Keyes was tracked down and arrested in March 2012 for the murder, although more cases have yet to be linked to him. Without ever speaking to law enforcement about motive, Keyes committed suicide in his Anchorage, Alaska, jail cell in 2018.

Although never fully understood in life, the legacy of Israel Keyes has left behind a haunting tales of criminal intent and a series of sadistic killings that may never be solved. His heinous, premeditated criminal activities span several U.S. states, while his consistent pattern of sadistic behavior has left a lasting, mysterious mark on the criminal history of the country.

Edmund Kemper is among the most notorious and well-known serial killers of all time. He is an American criminal who is best known for his fatal crimes against young women. In the 1970s, he killed 10 victims in total and committed necrophilia with several of them. His chilling and callous acts of violence sent shockwaves through the American public.

Edmund Kemper was born on December 18, 1948, in Burbank, California. His father, Edmund Emil Kemper, Sr., was an abusive, alcoholic World War II veteran who treated his wife and children badly, eventually leading to his mother leaving him. Edmund Kemper was an intelligent and fairly successful student, with an IQ of 145 due to an obsessive interest in science. However, despite this he was a loner, with few friends.

Kemper started his criminal career at the age of 15, when he killed his grandparents in their home in North Fork, California. Both his grandfather and grandmother had been extremely unkind to young Edmund, and he was charged as a juvenile delinquent. In a controversial move he was only sentenced to five years in Atascadero State Hospital, despite being found legally sane. After his release in 1969, Kemper moved to Santa Cruz and got a job with the California Highway Department in 1971.

Between May of 1972 and April of 1973, Kemper killed six female hitchhikers in the Santa Cruz area, as well as the home of his mother and her best friend. After each murder he engaged in various acts of mutilation and necrophilia with the remains of each victim. He was eventually captured after engaging in a dramatic car chase with the police and was charged with eight counts of first degree murder.

During his trial, Kemper was found to be legally sane and was sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences in a California prison. Since then he has become something of a celebrity in criminal circles due to his highly detailed confessions and lack of remorse for his actions. He has also went on to become a favorite case study among psychological professionals, who believe that he is an example of the extreme levels of psychopathy, causing his uncharacteristic violence.

In conclusion, Edmund Kemper is one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. His chilling acts of violence and lack of remorse have earned him a distorted fame in criminal circles. In spite of his intelligence and other non-criminal achievements, Kemper will remain a name synonymous with homicide and horror for years to come.