Speaker 1: Consider supporting Studio Both And on Patreon. Patrons have access
to ad free and early episodes, bonus content, file access,
event discounts, and more, and all Patreon support goes directly
into our investigations. To support the show, go to Patreon
dot com slash studio both And. This is a studio
Both And Production.
Speaker 2: There's a it's a private residence, but it's near Little Oklahoma,
which I never heard about until this particular time. But
it's an area in Port Angelas, so you can find
it on the map to kind of get an overview
of like, Okay, it's this area. I can't reveal the
address or anything like that, but some of the cold
case detectives were following up on some leads and stuff
and found this particular resident is it was associated with
a friend of Keys, and so interviewing this couple that
owned the residents, they learned that, yeah, he's had his
boat in there and was doing a lot of his
boat work at that time at this particular location, which was.
Speaker 3: New to us.
Speaker 2: We assumed he had hauled the boat all the way
to Nia Bay and was doing a lot of the
work on it there. Lor Angels actually makes a lot
of sense because that's where all the stores are where
he would have, you know, gone to get supplies and
stuff to fix up the boat. So it makes perfect sense.
But again another data point where Okay, here's a location
where you know he was working on his boat and
had access to and so we've been invited to go
out and take a look at the area in the
future and just check it out for whatever may becomes
significant from that. But that was something new that we
learned from this cold case that's been working on this.
Speaker 1: I've never been under any illusion about my relationship with
Hula and the Greater FBI. I'm a tool to them.
He'll tell me just enough to get me working on something,
to connect the dots, do the leg work, find the
right people, incite the right tips and questions. The relationship
only appears symbiotic. So when Halla told me about this
house in Little Oklahoma, I was pretty certain he felt
it was important, but not necessarily the best use of
his limited time. But I'm happy to do the work
if it gets results. I believe the FBI or Haula
at a minimum, wants this case as close to solved
as it can be, and that's something we share. Whatever
solved may mean when it comes to Israel Keys. At
this point, I believe we know who ninety percent of
Keys as knowable victims are. That the evidence and information
we have points to specific people and incidents, and now
our main focus is to fill in the gaps, strengthen
our cases, get as close to confirmed as we can
with what little we have. And this boat house in
Port Angelis felt like a good lead to follow. This
is true crime bullshit. The Serialized Investigation into Israel Keys
Season seven, Episode three. Little Oklahoma Little Oklahoma is a
small and rural area in southeast Port Angelus. It's so rural,
in fact, that it's actually unincorporated Clallam County, not technically
within the city limits, and serviced by Clallam County rather
than the city itself. However, for postal and census reasons,
it's included as part of Port Angelus. Little Oklahoma surrounded
by the Olympic Mountains and their foothills to the west,
south and east to the north as wooded farmland. The
majority of the area roads or dirt roads or old
logging trails. It's within a mile of multiple campgrounds and trailheads,
and when I first Google mapped it, I immediately realized
its significance. It's where Kimberly lived when she and Keyes
started dating in or around late two thousand and four
until she moved to Alaska in two thousand and six.
It's where she was living when Keys got the Bayliner boat.
Staring at the map, I recalled a tip that came
into the FBI from Kim's former landlord on August nineteenth
of twenty thirteen. The tip's summary reads as follows. On
eight nineteen, twenty thirteen, Redacted called the Public Access Line
to report that Israel Keys was a visitor on her
property in Port Angelis, Washington. She reported that on her
property she had a rental home and Israel Keys dated
the girl who lived in that rental house from two
thousand and four to two thousand and six. She said
that Redacted rented the house from two thousand and four
to two thousand and six and Keys visited her several
times a month. She said that there is about a
two acre area behind the rental house that leads to
a creek. She said if the FBI wanted to look
on the property to just please contact her first because
there's a tenant living in the rental house.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 1: The FBI's final pre assessment findings said this, The pollsbo
RA notes the caption matter, but at this time does
not see a need to search this property without other
indications that keys used the property for nefarious purposes.
Speaker 5: He talked once about, ye, some of your friends may
have like unknowingly assisted you in some way. I've never
really understood how to take that comment. If it was,
you know, something like you know, we've seen that you're
not always one hundred percent honest on your time sheet,
and if it was something like your boss knowing you
were playing hooky or something like that, Is there anything
that you can tell us about it?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: There have been? Yeah. I mean, I nobody knows.
Speaker 6: The reasons I would ask people to do things, or
the reasons I would give for why I was doing
them were seldom realistic with what was actually going on.
Speaker 1: For a while, this new information sat on the back burner.
We had done of new leads from the new files
and my interviews with Haula, and we could only focus
on so many things at one time. But in that
time I happened to be on the Olympic Peninsula visiting family,
and so I made a point to drive out to
Little Oklahoma, among other places, not really knowing what I
was looking for or where I was going. We knew
that Kim had lived in the area, just not exactly where,
and we weren't even sure that the boat house was
on the same property that Kim was living in. Little
Oklahoma is rural flat lands. The houses in the area
are mostly on one to five acre plots. There's a
clear neighborhood, but with distance in trees between each house.
There were a lot of yard signs that painted a
fairly clear picture of the vibe there, don't tread on
me private property, shoot first, ask later, and so on.
I saw a few houses with large barns, but no
actual boat houses. It was off the beaten path, but
within a twenty minute drive of many of the places
that come up again and again in our investigation. Lake Crescent,
the Alwa Dam, Carlsborg Road and the Drive Through Coffee Stand,
Dungeness Forks Kitchen, Dick Road, Hurricane Coffee, the Burnt Hill
Shooting Range, and Hurricane Ridge. So I drove around, took
photos and videos, and then headed back for family gatherings.
But several weeks later the entire research team was in
the Berkshires for the summer studio sessions, and we started
looking back into this new information regarding Little Oklahoma. Within
fifteen minutes, we had the exact address, the property's MLS
information and history, Kimberly's address, and the homeowner's phone number.
The property is in a densely wood at the end
of a long driveway far off the street. It backs
up to a creek, and sure enough, there's an old
boat house on it among other outbuildings. And luckily for us,
the current homeowners are the same people who owned the
property back in two thousand and four, Kimberly's landlords and
so I called. Whenever I make these cold calls, I
expect to go straight to voicemail, but the homeowner, who
I'll call Guss for now, answered immediately. I introduced myself. Hi,
I'm an investigative reporter looking into a case and came
across your information in my files. He very riley responded,
and what case could that possibly be? We both laughed.
He confirmed that he and his wife owned and still
owned the property that kim lived on from December two
thousand and four till late two thousand and six, and
he confirmed that the property did in fact have a
boat house on it, one in which Israel Keys used
to work on his boat at some point. He said
that Keys had access to the boat house, but as
best he could tell, did not have a key to
any other buildings on the property, and that he knew
Keys had been on the property during times while Kim
was away working on his boat. He told me that
he and his wife had both met Keys on multiple
occasions and did not like him. His exact words were,
he gave us the creeps and we didn't trust him.
If we knew Keys was going to be on the property,
we would make efforts to be nearby so we could
keep an eye on him. Gus went on to tell
me that he'd called the FBI shortly after Keys was
arrested to tell them about his connection to the property
and give them access to search it, but he never
heard back and still hasn't heard back to this very day.
And then he volunteered something ominous that he believed and
still believes that Keys did something nefarious on his property,
that every time they've done work on the property over
the years, they've lived in absolute terror that they might
find human remains the team, and I knew of at
least two occasions when Keys worked on the boat, once
after he first got it, and a second time when
he had to replace the carpet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't look like anyone's been in there at
all since I.
Speaker 6: I was surprised that how good the pulsary seemed like
it's in pretty good condition.
Speaker 3: Still. Yeah, well it was all brand new. When was it?
Speaker 6: That whole boat was gutted before I rebuilt it?
Speaker 3: So why didn't you?
Speaker 6: So you rebuilt it?
Speaker 7: Like? It doesn't look like a nineteen eighty two boat
to me, That's why I.
Speaker 6: Was, well, yeah, the the interior was trashed and I
got it, so it's all new seats and upholstery and
everything that makes sense.
Speaker 3: And I think I had to replace some glass and
I don't know, just the carpeting and all that stuff.
Speaker 6: I had to replaced the carpeting a couple of times,
at least on the back section.
Speaker 7: Is that the brand new carpeting on the back section
now or is it being something that should be looked at?
Speaker 6: Well, you might find stuff under the carpeting, but okay,
there was new carpet and then I got one on it.
Speaker 3: So got it.
Speaker 1: Okay, But this could mean there were more than two
times that Keys worked on that boat. He mentions working
on the boat after he first bought it, and again
when the motor died in June of two thousand and six.
He also mentions having to replace the carpet a couple
of times before tacitly laughing, And we can't say for
sure that the couple of times he replaced the carpet
are included in the repairs made at purchase and after
the motor died, or in addition to those repairs. We
started reviewing the timeline for occasions when Kimberly was out
of town and Keys was in the area and potentially
using the boat. Times when Keys could have been using
the boat house to make repairs or replace carpet while
kim was gone for several days or more. Times when
Keys could have been killing someone, dismembering a body, storing
a body, prepping a body for burial, and so on.
Speaker 6: And then what about planning like the Washington State when
you had your boat out Do you remember those highly
planned organized Yeah, Washington was a lot easier in a
lot of ways, because once I lived out in Na Bay,
I knew all of Washington pretty well, and except I
was so isolated out there. Once you drive past Port Angelis,
it's like here in in the world anyways. So, m
what's that whole park? There's a hole set mountains right there,
right that temperates THEA Bay from Yeah, the Olympic Well,
there's the Olympic Grange Is.
Speaker 3: There's mountains everywhere in there, but you don't really have
to go over any mountain passes or anything to Seattle,
but right right, no.
Speaker 6: Not to get but there is that a parkman or oh, yeah,
in this area, Yeah, there's Once.
Speaker 3: I had the boat, it was uh.
Speaker 6: By then, I was pretty much coasting on my job,
so I would take off for long weekends, you know,
and I my accountability was.
Speaker 3: Pretty well at that time. I don't think I had mkay.
Speaker 6: I mean, I knew Kimberly, but you know, it wasn't
like it was just me with you any of it.
So it wasn't part of disappear Grifet day, right, And
she was pretty young man, so she most more often
than not she.
Speaker 3: Just stayed in the abbey with babysitters and stuff.
Speaker 1: To refresh your memory. Keyes first checked out the boat
over the weekend of April first, two thousand and five.
Based on the timeline, Keys either left in the early
morning hours of Thursday, March thirty first, or at some
point on April first. Now, according to the FBI interviews
with Keys, Keys took Tammy's son James with him on
this trek from Nia Bay to Moses Lake, where James's father,
Joe lived. Keyes said that while dropping James off, Joe
showed him the boat and talked him into buying it,
but according to Joe, that's not exactly what happened. In
an FBI interview, Joe said that James was living with
him full time in Moses Lake in the spring of
two thousand and five, and that Keys actually picked James
up from Moses Lake and brought him back to Nia
Bay to visit with Tammy, which would mean that Keys
was unaccounted for from either Thursday or Friday through Sunday
of that weekend. This was the same trip that Keyes
told Joe he was visiting family and Hunter's Washington, a
long weekend in eastern Washington. According to Keys, he either
picked up the boat or had it towed to Nia
Bay the following weekend, but according to Joe, Keys picked
up the boat himself from Moses Lake because he had
to return James at the time that he picked up
that boat. So, if we believed Joe over Keys, which
I think we should, good Keys was alone and unaccounted
for in the Moses Lake area on the weekend of
April first and the following weekend April eighth, at which
point he had the boat.
Speaker 5: What was the boat like when you got as far
as what it looks like, you did a lot of
work on it, But what was Was it seaworthy when
you got it?
Speaker 3: It would have floated? Yeah?
Speaker 6: The engine, now, the engine didn't run very well.
Speaker 3: The interior was trashed steering back. I mean it wasn't. No,
it wasn't.
Speaker 6: It had potential, but it wasn't something you would take
out for the afternoon.
Speaker 4: Okay, So how long have you had it before you
ended up getting it seaworthy?
Speaker 8: It didn't take me very long, eh, I don't remember exactly.
And there was it seems like it took me a
while to get the tile or registration or something.
Speaker 3: I don't know. There was some I have's some issue
with that too.
Speaker 5: It's like, yeah, I don't think you registered until six,
and it's in two thousand and five, So okay.
Speaker 3: It seems like I did. Yeah, I took it.
Speaker 6: I'd taken it out a few times before it was registered.
Speaker 1: Keys didn't register the boat until April seventeenth of two
thousand and six, over a year after purchasing it, and
in that time we know he used it at least
five times, including May twenty seventh, two thousand and five,
June fourth of two thousand and five, June seventeenth of
two thousand and five, July thirtieth of two thousand and five,
and August thirteenth of two thousand and five. It's important
to note that, according to everyone interviewed about the boat,
it's made in voyage was on that July thirtieth trip,
which means the previous three boat trips May twenty seventh,
June fourth, and June seventeen were likely unknown to his
friends and family and thus suspicious to us. Following his
registration of the boat, we can confirm that Keyes used
it at least four more times. May twenty third, two
thousand six, May twenty seventh, two thousand six, June seventeen,
two thousand six, and on June twenty fourth, two thousand six,
when the boat's motor died while he was out with friends.
At least two of these dates correspond to times when
Kimberly was out of town. According to the records that
we have, Kim was gone from August fourth through August
twenty second of two thousand five. According to the FBI timeline,
and according to multiple interviews with Keyes as friends, Kim
was out of town on at minimum June twenty third
and twenty fourth of two thousand and When we review
the two time frames where we know Keys worked on
the boat April ninth through May twenty sixth of two
thousand and five, following his purchase of the boat until
its first documented use, and following June twenty fourth of
two thousand and six, when the motor died, we can
see one common time frame. June twenty third and twenty
fourth of two thousand and six, the weekend that Stephen
Michael Mason disappeared while camping at the Dungeness Forks campground.
So let's take one more close look at both Mason's
and Keys's activity that weekend. According to an email sent
from Keys to Kimberley on June twenty second, he drove
to Ridgefield, Oregon, a town that doesn't exist, to pick
up an ATV that no one ever saw. Keys took
a long weekend from work in order to pick up
this mysterious atv. According to multiple friends, Kim was not
around on June twenty third or twenty fourth. We don't
know the full extent of her absence at the time,
just that she wasn't around on those two specific dates.
At around eight a m. On June twenty third, Mike
Mason's friend Jerry reported that he had a few beers
with Mike at the Dungeness Fork's campground. When asked if
he wanted a ride, Mike told him that some guy
was coming to pick him up at around nine a m.
This was the last reported sighting of Mike. Late that
same evening, Keys a scene for the first time all
weekend at a bonfire at his friend's house in Nea Bay,
and according to one friend, I was quiet and distant
that night with a metal rod of some sort, like
a poker but different, might have even been a metal
coat hanger straightened out. He sat there quietly with the
rod in the fire, pulling it out and staring at
the tip red with heat. When we saw that he
took off his shoes and socks and was trying to
brand himself with it, we jumped up to intervene. We
talked him down out of whatever day's state he was in.
The following day, on June twenty fourth, Keys and those
same friends went boating on Lake Ozette. While they were
on the lake, the outboard engine on the boat blew
a rod and they were stranded on the lake. And
according to Keys, he took the boat to a boat
house to work on it the next day and he
never used the boat again.
Speaker 7: I know you when we talked to you about it before.
I wasn't in here, but I think it was Jeff
and Steve that were in here. You mentioned that there
might be where there might be something, some blood or
something like that was left.
Speaker 3: And answer that question, yeah, I know had taken it apart.
Speaker 7: But if you can look at these and if you
can see just maybe looking at him when refresh your
memory about where something might be or you know what
what they should look for.
Speaker 3: You're looking that bad of shape, does it that there's
oh it's gonna be in that in a well?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Where where's where is the top end of the motor
on this side, anywhere on this side. I guess if you.
Speaker 6: Find anything that's gonna be along these trim pieces, like
underneath them or something. Mkay, so as it got it,
you know, I got on the fiberglass. I cleaned it,
but I don't know if I where's the top end
of the moment. I it probably got junk. I remember
I took it apart figure out what was wrong with
the motor. And I think by the time I had
figured out what was wrong or that I decided the
whole motor was gonna be scraps. I think, yeah, I
think I just threw a wheel on the parts they
took off.
Speaker 1: Stephen Michael Mason disappeared while Keys was unaccounted for. Kim
was out of town and a day before the motor
on his boat broke, the same motor that he told
the FBI to check for blood, the motor that blew
a rod the day after Mason went missing, the day
after Keys was seen burning and trying to brand himself
with a metal rod. Mason disappeared while camping at Dungeness
Forks Campground, not far from Burnt Hill, the unofficial shooting
range where Keys was known to shoot his guns. There's
a small creek that spans two miles between Burnt Hill
and Dungeness Forks Campground, Karaco Creek. I now believe with
as much certainty as I can, that Stephen Michael Mason
was abducted and killed by Israel Keys that as remains
were submerged in Lake Ozette. And check out the next
episode of Somewhere in the Pines to see what additional
information Joshua has dug up on Mike Mason's case. Of
all the dates and time frames we've discussed, that June
two thousand and sixth weekend isn't the only one that
stands out to me. There are two others. August thirteenth
of two thousand and five, which we'll save for a
future episode, and April ninth through May twenty sixth of
two thousand and five. That period between Keys buying the
boat and its first documented voyage, Well, we believe, but
don't I know with certainty that the boat changed hands
from Joe to Keys on April ninth. Its bill of
sale is dated April fifteenth, two thousand and five. The
same day name is forty five Missing person Ray Greecard
disappeared from central Pennsylvania. We don't currently believe that Keys
had anything to do with Greecard's disappearance, but we do
believe that Keyes was searching for someone else at that time.
Exactly a week later, Wendy to Hoop disappeared from Eugene, Oregon.
We spent a lot of time looking into Wendy's case
and always considered her a likely potential victim, but when
I met with Agent Haula last year, he said that
it was unlikely that Keyes was involved in Wendy's disappearance.
He and Kimberly were on a romantic weekend in eastern
Washington wine tasting from April twenty second, the day Wendy disappeared,
until April twenty fourth, to several emails they found. He
also noted that Keys made purchases in Port Angelis on
the twenty second, and additional purchases place him in Kingston Outlook,
Zillah and Prosser, Washington on the rest of that weekend.
When he told me all of this, I do what
I usually do when a case is ruled out. I
pull it off my shelves and put it in a
cabinet out of sight. No longer a distraction, but for
some reason it didn't feel right and Tooks agreed, so
we decided to pull the binder out of the cabinet
and put it back on the shelves, because unlikely, after all,
does not mean impossible, especially when it comes to Israel Keys.
As I was researching for this episode, going over dates
that Keys had the boat and Kimberly was gone, I
noticed something something now that seems so obvious. Keyes and
Kimberly didn't leave for that weekend getaway on the twenty second.
They left on the twenty third. There is a Kingston
to Edmunds ferry transaction for eight am on April twenty third,
the route someone would take to travel from the Peninsula
to eastern Washington, and the other transactions Haula mentioned also
indicated that Keyes was still on the peninsula until the
morning of the twenty third. His Kingston transactions, none of
them were on the twenty second. We don't know what
time the Port Angelus transactions occurred on the twenty second,
but what I do know is that Eugene, Oregon is
only a six hour drive from Port Angelus, and Wendy
de who disappeared between seven and seven forty five am,
meaning Keys could have been back in Port Angelus by
one pm, where he'd have eighteen hours to himself before
leaving on a vacation with Kim, as he did with
Samantha Konig. He had also clearly told his employers that
he'd be gone on the twenty second. Keyes and Kim
returned from wine tasting on the night of the twenty fourth,
and several days later, on the twenty eighth, the Hoop's purse,
with her wallet missing, was dropped off at a buy
mart in Eugene by a man who said he found
it while walking his dog. On May second, Wendy's car
was found abandoned along a wooded highway not far from
where her purse was found. It was the first reported
sighting of it. That same evening, for reasons unclear, Keyes
was on a ferry from Edmunds to Kingston. It gets
harder and harder to negotiate Keys's propensity and capability for love.
We hear moments of consideration, shame, pain, and they often
sound and look like love. But then we think of
all the times he used his friends and family to
get away with murder, hiding guns, family vacations, boat trips,
road trips, and so on. We're left wondering what love
could be to someone like Israel Keys. Did he love
his daughter or did he use his daughter? Did he
love Kim or did he use Kim? Is it somewhere
in between or is it both? And we wonder, and
then we have the privilege of moving on to something else,
the privilege of moving back back into our own lives.
How lucky are we?
Speaker 9: I think I know you well at least Dan think.
Do a person strange.
Speaker 3: Sleeping in my bed?
Speaker 10: I know who?
Speaker 1: This episode was written, researched, edited and produced by Me
Your Host Josh Hallmark, with additional research by Jordan Taylor,
Michelle Tooker, and Shane o'blensky. This episode featured sa Ted Halla,
and it was made possible by the following Patreon producers.
Amy Basel, Kendall, c Heather Horton, Wheedon, Sherry d Dale Axton,
Stephanie Taylor, Lydia Rodarte, Quayle, Shelley, Drew Vipond, Amelia Hancock,
Christina Sosn, Nicole and Dennis Henry, Gillian Natalelna Holiday, Tuesday Woodworth,
is Zach Egnatowitz, Warren, Kathleen Studor, An Nattel, Casey Jensen, Richardson,
sc Benjamin Choppafon, To, Nicole Ashfish, Becky C. Pink, Jen
j Corey Deatley, Robin Carol, Lisa, Jordan M, Kate Lusier,
John Comery, Kathy Nation, Carried Jordan T, Bethany Heights, Lauren Fairy,
Emily Payne, Tory Meyer, Sabrina Abbott, Meghan Inman, Meghan Dagell,
Earl Jurr, Ashley Coopen, Brina Smith, Christine Evans, Kristen Hawthorne,
Michael Randall, and Dwayne C. Thank you to True Crime
Bullshit's newest Patreon supporters, Jody S, Bill, Ashley, k CCS,
Alicia j Shan, Angela W Jeff Diana, d Emma M,
Barbara l ambercy Nia, Jennifer Stacy, Stephanie T, and Adrian M.
To support the investigation, go to Patreon dot com, slash
Studio Both and. This episode included music by Radical Face,
Odyssey and Nine Moons with featured music by Hannah Cohen.
Speaker 10: Love me well.
Speaker 9: The least I think you do Sometimes I just can
What's a bond down with you?
Speaker 10: A love.
Speaker 4: That's true MESSI.
Speaker 10: Feel l see.
Speaker 4: The mistake.
Speaker 10: Bad. We rid a long world.
Speaker 4: Well why why don't know.
Speaker 10: They didn't know you?
Speaker 4: So change change the change the change. They didn't know you.
Speaker 7: So much.
Speaker 10: Oh change she.
Speaker 4: Change the change. Exchanged that they didn't know you. So
change to change, change
Speaker 3: To