Serial Killer Found Dead: Israel Keyes Murdered at Least 8, Samantha Koenig Kidnapper Found Dead in Alaska Jail of Apparent Suicide

Confessed serial killer Israel Keyes - who was awaiting trial for the kidnapping and death of 18-year-old Anchorage teenager Samantha Koenig - was found dead in his Alaskan jail cell on Sunday (Dec. 2) of an apparent suicide. During several antagonizing hours interviewing Keyes after his arrest for Koenig's death, the 34-year-old admitted to being involved in the killings of at least seven other innocent people, probably more. While the details involving Keyes' death were not released, a spokeswoman for the Alaska State Troopers claims he was alone in his cell at the time and that foul play was not suspected.

Sunday's press and news conference in Alaska was the first time any details surround Keyes involvement with Koenig's abduction had been released to the anxious and awaiting public. Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew announced that Keyes (who had not known Koenig) admitted to kidnapping her from her workplace last winter. This confession led to a slew of other admittances about unsolved murders and killings throughout a number of states.

Koenig was taken from a Common Grounds Espresso stand at gunpoint in Anchorage on February 1, 2012. During his morbid confession in late March, Keyes said he took her to her truck, took her ATM card, and murdered her that night. He used a chainsaw to cut a hole in the ice at the Matanuska Lake where he disposed of her body (which was later discovered by police in early April). Keyes had been pulled over and arrested in Lufkin, Texas on March 13 after using Koenig's personal ATM card. Police were then able to track his location, and upon inspection found pieces of Koenig's cellphone dispersed in his vehicle.

Out of respect for the Koenig family, Mew would not say how Koenig died or if she was sexually assaulted by Keyes.

Along with his confession of the kidnapping/murder of young Samantha Koenig, Keyes shockingly admitted to the murdering of a Vermont couple (Bill and Lorraine Currier) in June 2011. Keyes also insisted he killed at least five other unnamed people in other states - "He did tell us that he had killed other people and that there were bodies of up to four other people in Washington state, as well as a body disposed of in New York state," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Feldis said after Sunday's press conference. These murders may have taken place over a span of 14 years.

While there may have been even more innocent murder victims besides Koenig and the seven other confessed individuals, Koenig's lifeless body is the only one which has yet to be discovered. Keyes did tell investigators that he disposed of the Curriers' bodies in an abandoned Vermont house, but the house was eventually demolished and searchers were unable to find any of the victims' remains. (Keyes also admitted to two bank robberies, one committed in Texas, following Koenig's murder).

Keyes was an Army veteran who had been stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington state and moved to Anchorage in 2007 to become a self-employed carpenter. He also owned property in Constable, New York. Law enforcement officials described Keyes as a methodical and frequent traveler who was able to conceal his deadly actions and dispose of his victims' bodies without easy discovery. Before his untimely suicide, Keyes was scheduled for trial in March, 2013 on federal charges - he faced a possible death penalty. "Mr. Keyes never showed no remorse for his actions," Feldis admits.

While all of Keyes murders may take years to uncover, police insist an investigation will continue until full justice is served.