AP: 22475b26-aa24-4fa1-bfb7-76d6e56c1bd4
Family members of confessed serial killer Israel Keyes enter a funeral home, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, in Deer Park, Wash. Keyes confessed to killing eight people across the country before he committed suicide recently in a jail cell in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

Family of confessed serial killer Israel Keyes holds funeral in Washington state

December 10, 2012 @ 6:39 am (Updated: 8:30 am - 12/10/12 )

The family of confessed serial killer Israel Keyes held a funeral Sunday remembering him in a small Washington town.

"He is not in a better place. He's in a place of eternal torment," said Jake Gardner, the pastor for Israel Keyes's family, before the funeral in Deer Park, Wash., a town about 15 miles north of Spokane.

The 34-year-old Keyes confessed to killing eight people across the country before he committed suicide recently in a jail cell in Anchorage, Alaska. The FBI and Anchorage police now say they believe he may have had three additional victims. Authorities in Oregon are also investigating whether Keyes also had murder victims there.

Keyes slit his wrist and strangled himself with bedding and was found dead last Sunday. He was facing federal murder charges in the kidnapping and death of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, who was abducted from an Anchorage coffee stand on Feb. 1.

On Sunday, his funeral was attended by his mother, Heidi, and four of his sisters. The family did not make a statement to the press.

Gardner said the family decided to hold the funeral in Deer Park because it was a convenient location in case any of his acquaintances wanted to attend. Keyes grew up in the nearby town of Colville in Stevens County, a remote corner of Washington state.

On Sunday, there was no indication of any other attendees besides family, who mostly live in Texas.

"Israel rejected the gospel and thus the outcome of his life is this tragic story," said Gardner of the Church of Wells in Wells, Texas.

Shortly before his arrest in March, Keyes attended a sister's wedding in Texas, where he ranted in mid-ceremony about how he didn't believe in God, Gardner said.

Gardner said Keyes will be buried later at an undisclosed location in Washington.

Law enforcement officers in Anchorage conducted up to 40 hours of interviews with Keyes after his March arrest in Texas. During that time, Keyes confessed to killing Koenig, Bill and Lorraine Currier in Vermont and five other people, although details about those victims were sparse.

Investigators said Keyes told them he enjoyed killing people and seeing coverage of his crimes in the media.

Keyes told investigators the first violent crime he committed was a sexual assault in Oregon between 1996 and 1998 in which he let the victim go. The FBI is seeking more information on that crime.

Of the five other murders Keyes confessed to, four were in Washington state and one on the East Coast, with the body disposed of in New York. Law enforcement officers are combing through unsolved homicide files trying to learn who Keyes killed, because he provided little information on those cases.

Authorities in the Spokane and Colville areas have said it's unlikely that Keyes was responsible for any of the unsolved homicides on their books.

An Associated Press Report.

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Comments (5)


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  • shark75 wrote...
    As opposed to him marrying his boyfriend Messiah101
    December 10, 2012 10:37 am
    The guy is a serial killer, obviously not a value he learned in his church regardless how screwed up they are...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Lordspeakthroughme wrote...
    A mother's Heart Breaks
    December 10, 2012 12:34 pm
    As I heard of Israel Keyes private funeral service held in Washington, my heart broke for his mother. Thoughts came to my mind and I grabbed pen and paper and thought I would share them with you. It is easy to be angry with what he did, it also is easy to be judgmental and throw stones, but a mother’s grieving heart is suffering I do believe: My heart stopped cold in my chest when I heard my son was responsible for taking the life of another. No! How could this be, my little boy that hugs me, his sweet smile, it’s not possible for him to take another person’s life. He seemed a bit distant lately, I haven’t seen him much at all, oh my heart hurts so badly. I want to just rip it out to stop the pain. Oh how he was so adorable when he was my little baby, taking his first steps. He played so well with his siblings. I loved watching him build with his blocks and drive his little cars through them and around them. I remember as he was a little older, he withdrew from others, but I thought it was just a phase. The hours upon hours that we prayed over him. Now he sits in a jail and I am so confused, what could have I done differently, were there signs I should have seen? Is this partially my fault? Did someone hurt him when he was little and that is why? Whose fault is this? Oh Lord help me, why did he take his life? Why wouldn’t he talk to me? I am his mother- I love him unconditionally- didn’t he know that? What? More deaths? How many people did he kill? Why, what would drive my little baby to become this person? I resort, in my thoughts, to my precious baby boy, the child I would pick up when he fell off his bike, putting a bandage on is knee and rock him to comfort him. I kiss his little forehead- he wraps his sweet little arms around my neck. I remember dreaming of his wife someday and the grandchildren he would someday give me. My hopes and dreams for him have now died, died with him. I mourn the death of my baby boy who died in his heart, years ago. I buried my baby today- my heart is broken and it will never be the same. My heart aches for the families that have lost their loved ones at my sons hands. Oh Dear Lord, comfort them. Oh Lord, comfort me. (those of you that are mothers and fathers, remember the hearts of the mothers and fathers who have lost their babies- even the parents of Israel Keyes)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • shark75 wrote...
    Who knows, Messiah101
    December 10, 2012 1:03 pm
    Maybe he had two dads...that would probably do the trick.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    To become a serial killer isnt hard
    December 10, 2012 6:06 pm
    It's what keeps us from becomming one that escapes people like "messiah101." Were all just one dark lonely place away from becomming the monsters that we fear.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }