May 16, 2024 • 34 mins
Something found in Keyes's house and some odd information online take the team down two shocking investigative paths that converge in the most frustrating and strangest way. And the scope of what is possible with Keyes becomes dauntingly vaster.
Take the travel survey
Join the YouTube After Show Thursday at 9pm Eastern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M2X2d7FVXw
This episode was written, researched, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark.
With additional research by: Kim K, and Jordan Taylor
This is a Studio BOTH/AND production:
www.truecrimebullshit.com / bothand.fyi
For an ad-free experience: www.patreon.com/studiobothand
Music by: William Hellfire, John Gegelman, Yotam Agam, and Radical Face.
Featured music by: Tori Amos
Sponsored by:
• BetterHelp / www.betterhelp.com/TCB for 10% off your first month.
• Green Chef / www.greenchef.com/truecrimebs50 with promo code "TrueCrimeBS50" for 50% off, plus 20% off your next two months.
Patreon producers: Amelia Hancock, Amy Basil, Annemarie Cash, Annette L, Asch Fish, Benjamin Cioppa-Fong, Casey Jensen-Richardson, Drew Vipond, Hallie Reed, Heather Horton-Whedon, Jillian Natale, Jordan Goodnight, Kathleen Studer, Kendall C, Kharisma Rodriguez, Kimberly K, Lana, Lauren F, Lindsay Kurtis, Lindsey Loucifer, Lynnlie Tuschoff, Manolis Boukolus, Nicole and Dennis Henry, Sarah King, SC, Shelly Brewer, Sherri D, Tuesdi Woodworth, Vicki Russell, Zack Ignatowicz Warren, Beth McNally, John Comrie, Jordan Taylor, Sara Cee, Shawna Hardin, and Lydia Fiedler.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-bullsh--3588169/support.
Take the travel survey
Join the YouTube After Show Thursday at 9pm Eastern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M2X2d7FVXw
This episode was written, researched, edited, and produced by Josh Hallmark.
With additional research by: Kim K, and Jordan Taylor
This is a Studio BOTH/AND production:
www.truecrimebullshit.com / bothand.fyi
For an ad-free experience: www.patreon.com/studiobothand
Music by: William Hellfire, John Gegelman, Yotam Agam, and Radical Face.
Featured music by: Tori Amos
Sponsored by:
• BetterHelp / www.betterhelp.com/TCB for 10% off your first month.
• Green Chef / www.greenchef.com/truecrimebs50 with promo code "TrueCrimeBS50" for 50% off, plus 20% off your next two months.
Patreon producers: Amelia Hancock, Amy Basil, Annemarie Cash, Annette L, Asch Fish, Benjamin Cioppa-Fong, Casey Jensen-Richardson, Drew Vipond, Hallie Reed, Heather Horton-Whedon, Jillian Natale, Jordan Goodnight, Kathleen Studer, Kendall C, Kharisma Rodriguez, Kimberly K, Lana, Lauren F, Lindsay Kurtis, Lindsey Loucifer, Lynnlie Tuschoff, Manolis Boukolus, Nicole and Dennis Henry, Sarah King, SC, Shelly Brewer, Sherri D, Tuesdi Woodworth, Vicki Russell, Zack Ignatowicz Warren, Beth McNally, John Comrie, Jordan Taylor, Sara Cee, Shawna Hardin, and Lydia Fiedler.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-bullsh--3588169/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey, everyone, So what ifwe all got together and talked to Israel
Keys while I don't know, winetasting in Argentina or luxuriating in my favorite
place, Bali, or eating ourway across Keys destinations like Mexico or Belize.
Maybe we'll even talk Bravo. Butrest assured, we'll relax, vacation
(00:25):
and work on crowd solving the Keyscase in person somewhere incredible. If that
sounds like fun to you, letme know by filling out the very non
committal survey linked in the show notes. Because this is actually happening and I
want your input and to see youthere wherever there ends up being. So
(00:45):
check out the show notes, fillout the survey, and let vacation somewhere
fantastic together. One last thing beforewe start the show tonight Thursday at nine
pm Eastern on YouTube, join mefor a live stream discussion about the episode.
The link to the live stream isin the show notes. All right,
now to the show. This isa studio both and production. There's
(01:26):
an old Chinese parable that can looselybe translated to ride a cow while finding
a horse. It's a phrase Ithink about a lot. Use what you
have to get what you need,make the most of your limited resources.
Sometimes the most obvious tool or pathis also the most easiest to overlooked.
(01:49):
You have more than you know.You just need to look closer and think
outside the box. This is truecrime bullshit. I'm your host, Josh
Hallmark, and this is a serializedstory of Israel Keys. I was recently
(02:19):
going back through the search and seizurefiles and the photos we obtained of the
Constable House, and something seemingly innocuousstood out to me. A pile of
newspapers in the Constable kitchen, yellowedwith time, but otherwise in pretty good
condition, was a local newspaper,the Malone Telegraph. Malone is the town
(02:42):
directly south of Constable. What stoodout to me was the date on the
paper, because it was a newspaperfrom more than two decades ago, and
it would seem to indicate that Keyswas likely at the Constable House when this
paper was published, which could bequite impactful. However, there are a
(03:08):
few hiccups in that presumption, thefirst of which are Kisas statements regarding hunters
and campers being on the Constable property. Have there been other people staying there
that you know, is that whatall this stuff is from. This is
a close up of that we wasthat how it was when there last time
(03:31):
I was there, looked like therehad been hundreds of the campers hanging out
there because there was there was amattress. I'm wanted these forced too.
It's not all of these pictures.It might be just stopped as a side
here there's a mattress in the kitchenarea. What this statement means, with
(03:57):
or without Kisa's intention, is thatanything found on that property could feasibly be
connected to these trespassing hunters and campersand not necessarily connected to keys. It's
plausible deniability. But the thing is, his story about hunters and campers trespassing
on the property never really made alot of sense to me, for one.
(04:23):
As far as I can tell,the items they're discussing in that particular
conversation are a mattress on the floornear the kitchen and likely, according to
the search and seizure documentation, astained comforter and a bottle of draino,
which were found in the same areaas the mattress. Now, I don't
(04:44):
know many hunters and am not anavid camper, but I don't know any
hunters nor campers who travel with mattressesor draino. Second to that, I
can't imagine campers or hunters squatting insomeone's cabin going to move an existing mattress
into the most visible room in thecabin to sleep. Second, there's no
(05:08):
real reason for hunters or campers tosquat at Keysa's cabin because the Trout River
State Forest is a quarter mile away, and they permit hunting in designated and
marked areas in that state forest.With ample signage and a parking lot,
there would be no need for peopleto park in front of someone's house and
(05:32):
then use their land to hunt,particularly when you consider Poplar Street is hardly
an inviting neighborhood. I will,however, hold space for the idea or
possibility that hunters or campers could havewandered from the state forest onto Keys's property,
(05:53):
but there were and remain many notrespassing signs along the property line,
which is adjacent to a small loggingfacility. You couldn't realistically accidentally end up
on Keysa's land from the state forest. And Third, as we discussed earlier
this season, it's clear that peoplehave been on the property since Keys's arrest.
(06:16):
As I mentioned, it looks asthough people have left items there,
whether by mistake or to make themlook suspicious or like evidence. But all
that said, leaving this specific newspaperwould require a significant level of foresight and
effort. Someone would have needed tobuy that newspaper at publication before anyone knew
(06:42):
Keys existed, hang on to itfor at least one decade, and then
plant it inside a previously unknown serialkiller's property. So unless time travel is
real, I'm not buying it.And at first, those seemed like the
only even slightly plausible non Keys explanationsfor how that newspaper got and stayed inside
(07:08):
Keyes's house. But while we werelooking deeper into the Constable property, we
found something else, a lie byomission that could be impactful to both the
search of the property and the newspapersfound on it. Earlier this year,
Kim Kay and Jordan found evidence thatcould indicate Israel Keys with stealing people's identities.
(07:32):
They were pulling records on the Constablehouse and came across something odd.
A man by the name of Davidkept coming up as a resident of five
eleven Poplar Street. Constable New York, specifically during the year two thousand three,
years after Keys was given the propertyby his parents. After digging into
(07:54):
David, we found a fairly robustresidential history for him for every year of
his adult life, including two thousandand three, we could place him living
somewhere else. In fact, thatone blip was the only time Constable ever
came up in his records. Andat this point we already had some compelling
(08:16):
evidence that Keys was likely stealing people'sidentities and very likely using fake IDs.
So it seemed clear that David wasa victim of identity theft by Israel Keys,
and so I decided to give Davida call and find out more about
(08:37):
when and how his identity was stolen. Welcome to another session of Green Chef
Recipe Minute. Last night, mypartner and I made chicken with lemon basil
piastu. I'm probably pronouncing that wrong, pistau pistu. Let's just say French
(08:58):
pesto with cauliflower rice with charred anddates. And it was a date to
remember. Sorry about that. Ittook about thirty minutes from opening the recipe
bag to putting the first delicious biteinto my mouth and the entire meal was
under seven hundred calories. Green Chefis the number one meal kit for clean
eating, and they deliver pre portionedand prepped quality whole foods with limited processed
(09:22):
ingredients straight to your door for afun, easy and healthy meal and again
you don't have to leave the house. Green Chef offers recipes that fit every
lifestyle like calorie smart and gut health, protein packed, gluten free, keto,
plant based, and more. Andevery Green Chef customer gets a free
session with a Green Chef registered dietitian, someone who can help you make choices
(09:43):
that are right for you and yourfamily. Go to green chef dot com
slash true CRIMEBS fifty and use codetrue crime BS fifty to get fifty percent
off plus twenty percent off your nexttwo months. That's greenchef dot com slash
true crime BS fifty, code truecrime BS fifty to get fifty percent off
(10:05):
and then twenty percent off your nexttwo months. And then he got a
third building. Did you guys haveanimals are at one point, not like
dogs and cats, but like animalsin one of these pars, that's what
they said, like an or strawand stuff. Still getting a hold of
(10:37):
David wasn't particularly easy, even afterKim k was able to track down a
phone number that belonged to a businessthat might have been run by David or
someone in his family. I calledmultiple times with no answer and only an
outgoing message from a woman who didn'tshare David's first or lass name. So
(11:01):
I left a message and waited.About eight hours later, so I was
getting ready to leave for an outof country trip, the phone rang and
on the other end or sheep.I could only hear what sounded like two
dozen sheep bleeding into the phone.Hello. Finally a voice came through from
(11:28):
the other side. Is this JoshYes? Is this David? Yes?
This is David. When I leftmy initial voice message for David, I
said that I was an investigative reporterlooking into some unsolved murders and that David's
(11:50):
name had come up in my researchthat I hoped I could ask him some
questions. And when I finally gotpast the sheep to David, he wasn't
surprised by this at all. Itold David that his name came up in
association with an address in a towncalled Constable, New York, and asked
(12:13):
if he knew anything about Constable.He told me quite casually that he and
his wife had lived in Constable forone month back in two thousand and three.
He went on to say that heheard from a friend that many years
back, the police were trying toget hold of him to ask him some
questions. Now, this is whereit's important to tell you that David and
(12:37):
his wife are amish, that theyonly recently got a phone so they could
help sustain their business during the pandemic. So David only knew about the police
looking for him because his friend mailedhim a letter along with some newspaper clippings
about Keys's arrest some years later.Yeah, I heard that guy killed some
(12:58):
people. I asked David if hecould identify the house he lived in for
that month in two thousand three.He couldn't recall the address, but described
the house from memory. Two storieson quite a bit of land, reddish
brownish wood, sighting shake sighting,a mud room in the front of the
(13:18):
house, an old swing set onthe property right by the Canadian border on
a dirt or gravel road. Itwas an accurate, albeit incomplete description of
Keyes's cabin. I asked if therewas any way he could remember or find
the address, and he abruptly putme on hold. I sat there for
(13:41):
at least three minutes listening to thesheep. David returned with his wife,
who he told me had been choppingwood out back. He put me on
speaker phone and asked her if shecould remember the address Poplar Street. She
(14:03):
said that the house was on PoplarStreet, across the street from their friend
Will, the friend who sent themthe letter in newspaper clippings. I asked
if they recalled there being any outbuildingson the property, and they said that
there were three, all to thewest of the house, a woodshed,
a small barn, and a smallgarage. David said that the shed was
(14:28):
full of old blacksmithing tools, butthe other buildings were empty when they moved
in, because that's where they eventuallystored their buggy and their horse and cow.
And then he got a third building. Did you guys have animals there
at one point? Not like dogsand cats, but like animals and one
(14:50):
of these straw and stuff. SoI was completely confident at this point that
the house they lived in was keys. They had accurately described it, mentioned
(15:11):
the street by name, and couldbe linked to it in several background searches.
So I finally just asked, wasit five eleven Poplar. David's wife
immediately confirmed that was it five elevenPoplar, and so instead of discussing how
and when David's identity was stolen,we began discussing how and when David and
(15:37):
his wife ended up living in aserial killer's cabin. David went on to
tell me that they rented the housefor just the month of October in two
thousand and three. They found outabout it from their Amish friend, the
(15:58):
one who lived across the street,who told them that the owner was looking
to rent the property or possibly evensell it, and that they initially looked
into buying it but never got aclear answer from the owner, so they
moved in on or round October first. He said, they never dealt directly
(16:18):
with Israel or any one really.Most of the logistics and specifics surrounding their
stay and move in were handled bytheir friend across the street. David could
only remember that they sent their rentcheck to a woman who lived somewhere in
New England, either Maine or Connecticut. His wife thought they moved out at
the end of October, after Davidcouldn't find any local work, and that's
(16:42):
when David's wife chimed in. Itwas a very uneasy time, and then
they began to recount some of theunsettling experiences they had while living in the
house on Poplar Street. David's wifetold me that she hated living in that
(17:04):
house. That in the month thatthey were there, there were multiple occasions
where their belongings would go missing,nothing big or valuable, small things like
an egg beater or a rolling pin, an apron, a pair of slippers.
There were also several occasions where itwas clear that some one had used
(17:25):
a key to enter the house whilethey were away. They'd come back to
find empty beer bottles in the kitchen, but no sign of a break in.
Worst though, were the knights.Sometimes in the middle of the night,
they'd hear some one enter through thefront door with a key and slowly
(17:45):
walk around the down stairs of thehouse, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for
much longer, before eventully leaving andlocking the door behind them. I asked
if they ever saw or confronted theperson, and David said they were too
(18:07):
afraid. They just laid in theirupstairs bed silent, listening to someone meander
about the house waiting for them toleap was part of the burglary, similar
to similar but different to what youtalked about with the wood where you're sitting
there and you can watch people andthey don't know you're watching them. Is
(18:30):
it similar in the burglar becase whenyou're in somebody's house you're going through their
stuff. Yeah, that same kind. So would it be would you would
you try to do it to wherethey would didn't even know what happened,
or make sure they knew it happened, like I mean breaking windows and breaking
doors to go in or get insomehow. And no, it depends.
(18:52):
It would depends on the situation.I guess more often than not there was
usually a lot of destruction, butsometimes I wouldn't. Sometimes it would just
right, you know. Sometimes Iwouldn't take anything at all necessarily cause maybe
(19:14):
a few little things. So destructionlike damage rather than destruction like looking for
cause a lot of burglars. Yougo into, all the drawers are open,
all those clothes are on the ground, everything's been destroyed, looking cause
I never did that, so destroyto destroy, Yeah, you'd like to
(19:38):
watch people did you ever wait ina house and watch people, or wait
and watch people come back to seewhat the reaction would be. I would
wait in the woods sometimes. Ithat was years and years ago, though,
not wait in the house to watchfor him to come back. No,
(20:02):
not burglaries, that's getting onto othercrimes. I'm guessing my that reaction.
That's Yeah Studio both and is sponsoredby Betterhelp. If you're like me,
sometimes it feels easier to just smooshall your feelings into some box somewhere
(20:22):
to deal with maybe never. Butthose feelings don't just go away. Unfortunately,
we all carry around different stressors,big and small, and when we
keep them bottled up, they canstart to affect us negatively. Therapy is
a safe space to get these thingsoff your chest and to figure out how
to work through whatever is weighing youdown. I've been working with my Better
Help therapist Jane on exactly this.Little things that bothered me, that felt
(20:47):
too small to deal with or confront, that have become huge parts of how
I deal with certain conflicts in mylife. Now. They've just been festering
for years, we're now unpacking themand working through their negative impacts. If
you're thinking of starting therapy, Ihighly recommend Better Help. It's entirely online,
super convenient, and its suited toyour schedule. It makes dealing with
the tough stuff so much easier.And as I've learned, you can't just
(21:11):
shove all that tough stuff into abox somewhere. Get it off your chest
with Better Help. Visit betterhelp dotcom slash tcb today to get ten percent
off your first month. That's BetterHelp h e lp dot com slash tcb.
(21:37):
David's departure from the house was complicated, and it complicates things for us
because while he and his wife movedout at the end of October, they
didn't immediately take their belongings. Theywaited until they found a more permanent residence
before returning to the house and collectingall their stuff, and the couple could
(22:02):
not agree on when exactly that was. David was certain that they returned in
December of two thousand three, buthis wife was sure it was the following
spring. She was pretty sure itwas March. They bickered back and forth
about this for a while while thesheep continued bleating in the background, but
(22:26):
they did finally find one thing thatthey could agree on that might help.
When they returned to collect their stuff, there had been significant snowfall and the
driveway wasn't accessible. They had tohire someone to come plow that driveway so
they could pull in to load upall their stuff. And while all this
(22:48):
may seem relatively unimportant or pedantic,it's one of the most frustrating uncertainties so
far in my investigation. But moreon that. David said that they took
all their belongings with them when theyleft, and that they left the house
clean and as they'd found it.His wife chimed in to tell me that
(23:11):
again more of their belongings had disappearedwhile they were away, and that again
someone had clearly spent some time insidethe house. There were more beer bottles,
food wrappers, and other random paraphernalia, and this piqued my interest.
(23:32):
I asked if there were any newspapersthere. Neither of them could recall,
but then David said that if therewere, they likely would not have come
from them. He only remembered usingthe paper to look for work, and
that he was using the local Amishpapers, and so I asked if he
ever used the local paper, theMalone Telegraph, and he again said he
(23:56):
pretty much only used the Amish papers. Then asked if there was any way
they would have stopped at a localnewspaper stand to pick up newspapers to wrap
and pack items from their house fortheir move, and they both seemed genuinely
perplexed by this question, and that'swhen I finally relented. The reason I
(24:19):
ask, and this could be incrediblyimportant, is that there were some newspapers
found in that house, an editionof the Malone Telegraph from early two thousand
and four that could place Israel Keysin New York State when the FBI timeline
has him somewhere else entirely. Andin our research into Keys, we're quickly
(24:41):
learning that he would travel somewhere andthen immediately travel significant distances, sometimes with
little to no detection whatsoever from thatfirst destination. So while it seems unlikely,
it's becoming more and more possible thatKeys could have been in New York
when the FBI thought he was newthe West Coast. They were both silent
(25:03):
for what seemed like forever, andfinally David just repeated, I don't think
I would have picked up any newspaperwhile we were out there, moving and
if I did, it would havebeen the Amish paper. David told me
to reach out any time I needed, and that they'd see if they could
(25:26):
find any more information about their timein Constable. I said I'd likely be
in touch in the next few weeks. I got together with the team and
compiled a list of follow up questions, and then I took a moment away
from the newspaper mystery to consider someother new mysteries. Was it Heidi who
(25:47):
was collecting rent on the house?Had the house been rented out since or
before? And why would Keyes lieabout having these tenants? Are people staying
there that you know? Is thatwhat all this stuff is from? This?
Is it close up with that?But was that how it was when
you were Last time I was there, it looked like there had been hundreds
(26:14):
or campers hanging out there, causethere was there was a man person wanted
the sports too. It's not allof these pictures. It might be just
spot visit side here. There wasa mattress in the kitchen area. You
know, while we were in themidst of our initial research into David,
(26:37):
we were simultaneously looking into this newspapersituation, which at the time, we
had no clue the two would,ever let alone so quickly converge. And
in that research I was making othercalls, very different calls, very challenging
(26:57):
calls, calls about ethics and thelines that can often get blurry within the
close knit true crime community. Andafter talking with a few close friends,
including Haley Gray, who I considerone of the best resources in true crime
ethics, I knew what I hadto do. I knew that I had
(27:19):
to make one more phone call becausethe date on those newspapers that aligned with
a missing person's case, and itimpacted someone I know and care about.
(27:45):
Hi, Julie, Hey, Josh, Hey, how are you? I'm
good? Can you hear me?Okay, yeah, I can hear you?
Great? God mees do write toRideom. The savor odemons can't Gothy,
(28:11):
So got me some Moses to ridleto Radom. As long as you
own me, Keith's pufect pleased to. This episode was written, researched,
(28:45):
edited, and produced by me JoshHallmark, with additional research by Kim Kay
and Jordan Taylor in consultation with HaileyGray, Lady Hobbes, and Charlie Warrel.
It features Julie Murray. This episodewas made possible by the following Patreon
producers Amelia Hancock, Amy basel An, Marie Cash, Annette el Ash Fish,
Benjamin choppafonk, Casey Jensen, Richardson, Drew Vipond, Hallie Reed,
(29:08):
Heather Horton, Whedon, Gillian Natale, Jordan good Night, Kathleen Studter,
Kendall, C Chrisma Rodriguez, Kimberly, Klna, Lauren F Lindsay Curtis,
Lindsay Lucifer, Linley, Tuscoff,men OLiS, Bulacus, Nicole and Dennis
Henry, Sarah King, s C. Shelley Brewer, Sherry d Tuesday Woodworth,
Vicky Russell, zach Ignatowick, Swarren, Beth McNally, John Comrie,
(29:29):
Jordan Taylor, Sarah C, SHAWNA. Harden, and Lydia Fiedler. Thank
you to Studio both Anne's newest Patreonsupporters Kimberly R Cassie M, Dan d
Daniel v M, Mattie v HSam, Luke, M, Michelle s
kt A, Kate M Jesseme,j Emilia C, Cassandra K, Stephanie
s Nicky, Kristen, s Eva, Scott, B Hillary j and Brianna.
(29:49):
To support the investigation, go toPatreon dot com, slash Studio both
And. This episode included music byTristan Barton, John Gegelman, Tom mcgombe,
William Hellfire, and Radical Face,with featured music by Tori Amos.
Yesmoses to ride on, to rideon, the savor eodemons can gothy.
(30:19):
So got me Somemoses to ridle,to ridle, as long as you're on
me, and kids perfect please too, mm hmmm mm hmm. And maybe
(31:12):
you'll find me a sailor a deilerand maybe two gather we'll make mother world.
So I got me some horses toride on, to ride on as
(31:36):
long as you're on me. Keepspu perfect closed down, And you showed
me the meadow and milkwood and silkwod, and you would if I would bod
(31:57):
you boo sua chased down your poses, your pansis and my OSes. Then
open my hands and the undyven ofa superflies snuffing a shuppen honey it be,
(32:30):
and then of a superfly tuning youbees o honey like one two three.
The camera rack is ramming. It'seasy like one two three. And
(32:52):
if the res away to find you. I will you, but will you
find me? Nail makes me treaen fruit a far. I can't go,
(33:15):
you said so, But friends thelittle golden don't bry keys me.
So I got me some horses toritle do ride you demons, I can't
(33:37):
go the so I got me somemosses to ride on, to ride on
as long as as your on me. Kids, puerfectly still a kid's Puffickly
(34:00):
is steel case, but off theglea
Hey, everyone, So what ifwe all got together and talked to Israel
Keys while I don't know, winetasting in Argentina or luxuriating in my favorite
place, Bali, or eating ourway across Keys destinations like Mexico or Belize.
Maybe we'll even talk Bravo. Butrest assured, we'll relax, vacation
(00:25):
and work on crowd solving the Keyscase in person somewhere incredible. If that
sounds like fun to you, letme know by filling out the very non
committal survey linked in the show notes. Because this is actually happening and I
want your input and to see youthere wherever there ends up being. So
(00:45):
check out the show notes, fillout the survey, and let vacation somewhere
fantastic together. One last thing beforewe start the show tonight Thursday at nine
pm Eastern on YouTube, join mefor a live stream discussion about the episode.
The link to the live stream isin the show notes. All right,
now to the show. This isa studio both and production. There's
(01:26):
an old Chinese parable that can looselybe translated to ride a cow while finding
a horse. It's a phrase Ithink about a lot. Use what you
have to get what you need,make the most of your limited resources.
Sometimes the most obvious tool or pathis also the most easiest to overlooked.
(01:49):
You have more than you know.You just need to look closer and think
outside the box. This is truecrime bullshit. I'm your host, Josh
Hallmark, and this is a serializedstory of Israel Keys. I was recently
(02:19):
going back through the search and seizurefiles and the photos we obtained of the
Constable House, and something seemingly innocuousstood out to me. A pile of
newspapers in the Constable kitchen, yellowedwith time, but otherwise in pretty good
condition, was a local newspaper,the Malone Telegraph. Malone is the town
(02:42):
directly south of Constable. What stoodout to me was the date on the
paper, because it was a newspaperfrom more than two decades ago, and
it would seem to indicate that Keyswas likely at the Constable House when this
paper was published, which could bequite impactful. However, there are a
(03:08):
few hiccups in that presumption, thefirst of which are Kisas statements regarding hunters
and campers being on the Constable property. Have there been other people staying there
that you know, is that whatall this stuff is from. This is
a close up of that we wasthat how it was when there last time
(03:31):
I was there, looked like therehad been hundreds of the campers hanging out
there because there was there was amattress. I'm wanted these forced too.
It's not all of these pictures.It might be just stopped as a side
here there's a mattress in the kitchenarea. What this statement means, with
(03:57):
or without Kisa's intention, is thatanything found on that property could feasibly be
connected to these trespassing hunters and campersand not necessarily connected to keys. It's
plausible deniability. But the thing is, his story about hunters and campers trespassing
on the property never really made alot of sense to me, for one.
(04:23):
As far as I can tell,the items they're discussing in that particular
conversation are a mattress on the floornear the kitchen and likely, according to
the search and seizure documentation, astained comforter and a bottle of draino,
which were found in the same areaas the mattress. Now, I don't
(04:44):
know many hunters and am not anavid camper, but I don't know any
hunters nor campers who travel with mattressesor draino. Second to that, I
can't imagine campers or hunters squatting insomeone's cabin going to move an existing mattress
into the most visible room in thecabin to sleep. Second, there's no
(05:08):
real reason for hunters or campers tosquat at Keysa's cabin because the Trout River
State Forest is a quarter mile away, and they permit hunting in designated and
marked areas in that state forest.With ample signage and a parking lot,
there would be no need for peopleto park in front of someone's house and
(05:32):
then use their land to hunt,particularly when you consider Poplar Street is hardly
an inviting neighborhood. I will,however, hold space for the idea or
possibility that hunters or campers could havewandered from the state forest onto Keys's property,
(05:53):
but there were and remain many notrespassing signs along the property line,
which is adjacent to a small loggingfacility. You couldn't realistically accidentally end up
on Keysa's land from the state forest. And Third, as we discussed earlier
this season, it's clear that peoplehave been on the property since Keys's arrest.
(06:16):
As I mentioned, it looks asthough people have left items there,
whether by mistake or to make themlook suspicious or like evidence. But all
that said, leaving this specific newspaperwould require a significant level of foresight and
effort. Someone would have needed tobuy that newspaper at publication before anyone knew
(06:42):
Keys existed, hang on to itfor at least one decade, and then
plant it inside a previously unknown serialkiller's property. So unless time travel is
real, I'm not buying it.And at first, those seemed like the
only even slightly plausible non Keys explanationsfor how that newspaper got and stayed inside
(07:08):
Keyes's house. But while we werelooking deeper into the Constable property, we
found something else, a lie byomission that could be impactful to both the
search of the property and the newspapersfound on it. Earlier this year,
Kim Kay and Jordan found evidence thatcould indicate Israel Keys with stealing people's identities.
(07:32):
They were pulling records on the Constablehouse and came across something odd.
A man by the name of Davidkept coming up as a resident of five
eleven Poplar Street. Constable New York, specifically during the year two thousand three,
years after Keys was given the propertyby his parents. After digging into
(07:54):
David, we found a fairly robustresidential history for him for every year of
his adult life, including two thousandand three, we could place him living
somewhere else. In fact, thatone blip was the only time Constable ever
came up in his records. Andat this point we already had some compelling
(08:16):
evidence that Keys was likely stealing people'sidentities and very likely using fake IDs.
So it seemed clear that David wasa victim of identity theft by Israel Keys,
and so I decided to give Davida call and find out more about
(08:37):
when and how his identity was stolen. Welcome to another session of Green Chef
Recipe Minute. Last night, mypartner and I made chicken with lemon basil
piastu. I'm probably pronouncing that wrong, pistau pistu. Let's just say French
(08:58):
pesto with cauliflower rice with charred anddates. And it was a date to
remember. Sorry about that. Ittook about thirty minutes from opening the recipe
bag to putting the first delicious biteinto my mouth and the entire meal was
under seven hundred calories. Green Chefis the number one meal kit for clean
eating, and they deliver pre portionedand prepped quality whole foods with limited processed
(09:22):
ingredients straight to your door for afun, easy and healthy meal and again
you don't have to leave the house. Green Chef offers recipes that fit every
lifestyle like calorie smart and gut health, protein packed, gluten free, keto,
plant based, and more. Andevery Green Chef customer gets a free
session with a Green Chef registered dietitian, someone who can help you make choices
(09:43):
that are right for you and yourfamily. Go to green chef dot com
slash true CRIMEBS fifty and use codetrue crime BS fifty to get fifty percent
off plus twenty percent off your nexttwo months. That's greenchef dot com slash
true crime BS fifty, code truecrime BS fifty to get fifty percent off
(10:05):
and then twenty percent off your nexttwo months. And then he got a
third building. Did you guys haveanimals are at one point, not like
dogs and cats, but like animalsin one of these pars, that's what
they said, like an or strawand stuff. Still getting a hold of
(10:37):
David wasn't particularly easy, even afterKim k was able to track down a
phone number that belonged to a businessthat might have been run by David or
someone in his family. I calledmultiple times with no answer and only an
outgoing message from a woman who didn'tshare David's first or lass name. So
(11:01):
I left a message and waited.About eight hours later, so I was
getting ready to leave for an outof country trip, the phone rang and
on the other end or sheep.I could only hear what sounded like two
dozen sheep bleeding into the phone.Hello. Finally a voice came through from
(11:28):
the other side. Is this JoshYes? Is this David? Yes?
This is David. When I leftmy initial voice message for David, I
said that I was an investigative reporterlooking into some unsolved murders and that David's
(11:50):
name had come up in my researchthat I hoped I could ask him some
questions. And when I finally gotpast the sheep to David, he wasn't
surprised by this at all. Itold David that his name came up in
association with an address in a towncalled Constable, New York, and asked
(12:13):
if he knew anything about Constable.He told me quite casually that he and
his wife had lived in Constable forone month back in two thousand and three.
He went on to say that heheard from a friend that many years
back, the police were trying toget hold of him to ask him some
questions. Now, this is whereit's important to tell you that David and
(12:37):
his wife are amish, that theyonly recently got a phone so they could
help sustain their business during the pandemic. So David only knew about the police
looking for him because his friend mailedhim a letter along with some newspaper clippings
about Keys's arrest some years later.Yeah, I heard that guy killed some
(12:58):
people. I asked David if hecould identify the house he lived in for
that month in two thousand three.He couldn't recall the address, but described
the house from memory. Two storieson quite a bit of land, reddish
brownish wood, sighting shake sighting,a mud room in the front of the
(13:18):
house, an old swing set onthe property right by the Canadian border on
a dirt or gravel road. Itwas an accurate, albeit incomplete description of
Keyes's cabin. I asked if therewas any way he could remember or find
the address, and he abruptly putme on hold. I sat there for
(13:41):
at least three minutes listening to thesheep. David returned with his wife,
who he told me had been choppingwood out back. He put me on
speaker phone and asked her if shecould remember the address Poplar Street. She
(14:03):
said that the house was on PoplarStreet, across the street from their friend
Will, the friend who sent themthe letter in newspaper clippings. I asked
if they recalled there being any outbuildingson the property, and they said that
there were three, all to thewest of the house, a woodshed,
a small barn, and a smallgarage. David said that the shed was
(14:28):
full of old blacksmithing tools, butthe other buildings were empty when they moved
in, because that's where they eventuallystored their buggy and their horse and cow.
And then he got a third building. Did you guys have animals there
at one point? Not like dogsand cats, but like animals and one
(14:50):
of these straw and stuff. SoI was completely confident at this point that
the house they lived in was keys. They had accurately described it, mentioned
(15:11):
the street by name, and couldbe linked to it in several background searches.
So I finally just asked, wasit five eleven Poplar. David's wife
immediately confirmed that was it five elevenPoplar, and so instead of discussing how
and when David's identity was stolen,we began discussing how and when David and
(15:37):
his wife ended up living in aserial killer's cabin. David went on to
tell me that they rented the housefor just the month of October in two
thousand and three. They found outabout it from their Amish friend, the
(15:58):
one who lived across the street,who told them that the owner was looking
to rent the property or possibly evensell it, and that they initially looked
into buying it but never got aclear answer from the owner, so they
moved in on or round October first. He said, they never dealt directly
(16:18):
with Israel or any one really.Most of the logistics and specifics surrounding their
stay and move in were handled bytheir friend across the street. David could
only remember that they sent their rentcheck to a woman who lived somewhere in
New England, either Maine or Connecticut. His wife thought they moved out at
the end of October, after Davidcouldn't find any local work, and that's
(16:42):
when David's wife chimed in. Itwas a very uneasy time, and then
they began to recount some of theunsettling experiences they had while living in the
house on Poplar Street. David's wifetold me that she hated living in that
(17:04):
house. That in the month thatthey were there, there were multiple occasions
where their belongings would go missing,nothing big or valuable, small things like
an egg beater or a rolling pin, an apron, a pair of slippers.
There were also several occasions where itwas clear that some one had used
(17:25):
a key to enter the house whilethey were away. They'd come back to
find empty beer bottles in the kitchen, but no sign of a break in.
Worst though, were the knights.Sometimes in the middle of the night,
they'd hear some one enter through thefront door with a key and slowly
(17:45):
walk around the down stairs of thehouse, sometimes for minutes, sometimes for
much longer, before eventully leaving andlocking the door behind them. I asked
if they ever saw or confronted theperson, and David said they were too
(18:07):
afraid. They just laid in theirupstairs bed silent, listening to someone meander
about the house waiting for them toleap was part of the burglary, similar
to similar but different to what youtalked about with the wood where you're sitting
there and you can watch people andthey don't know you're watching them. Is
(18:30):
it similar in the burglar becase whenyou're in somebody's house you're going through their
stuff. Yeah, that same kind. So would it be would you would
you try to do it to wherethey would didn't even know what happened,
or make sure they knew it happened, like I mean breaking windows and breaking
doors to go in or get insomehow. And no, it depends.
(18:52):
It would depends on the situation.I guess more often than not there was
usually a lot of destruction, butsometimes I wouldn't. Sometimes it would just
right, you know. Sometimes Iwouldn't take anything at all necessarily cause maybe
(19:14):
a few little things. So destructionlike damage rather than destruction like looking for
cause a lot of burglars. Yougo into, all the drawers are open,
all those clothes are on the ground, everything's been destroyed, looking cause
I never did that, so destroyto destroy, Yeah, you'd like to
(19:38):
watch people did you ever wait ina house and watch people, or wait
and watch people come back to seewhat the reaction would be. I would
wait in the woods sometimes. Ithat was years and years ago, though,
not wait in the house to watchfor him to come back. No,
(20:02):
not burglaries, that's getting onto othercrimes. I'm guessing my that reaction.
That's Yeah Studio both and is sponsoredby Betterhelp. If you're like me,
sometimes it feels easier to just smooshall your feelings into some box somewhere
(20:22):
to deal with maybe never. Butthose feelings don't just go away. Unfortunately,
we all carry around different stressors,big and small, and when we
keep them bottled up, they canstart to affect us negatively. Therapy is
a safe space to get these thingsoff your chest and to figure out how
to work through whatever is weighing youdown. I've been working with my Better
Help therapist Jane on exactly this.Little things that bothered me, that felt
(20:47):
too small to deal with or confront, that have become huge parts of how
I deal with certain conflicts in mylife. Now. They've just been festering
for years, we're now unpacking themand working through their negative impacts. If
you're thinking of starting therapy, Ihighly recommend Better Help. It's entirely online,
super convenient, and its suited toyour schedule. It makes dealing with
the tough stuff so much easier.And as I've learned, you can't just
(21:11):
shove all that tough stuff into abox somewhere. Get it off your chest
with Better Help. Visit betterhelp dotcom slash tcb today to get ten percent
off your first month. That's BetterHelp h e lp dot com slash tcb.
(21:37):
David's departure from the house was complicated, and it complicates things for us
because while he and his wife movedout at the end of October, they
didn't immediately take their belongings. Theywaited until they found a more permanent residence
before returning to the house and collectingall their stuff, and the couple could
(22:02):
not agree on when exactly that was. David was certain that they returned in
December of two thousand three, buthis wife was sure it was the following
spring. She was pretty sure itwas March. They bickered back and forth
about this for a while while thesheep continued bleating in the background, but
(22:26):
they did finally find one thing thatthey could agree on that might help.
When they returned to collect their stuff, there had been significant snowfall and the
driveway wasn't accessible. They had tohire someone to come plow that driveway so
they could pull in to load upall their stuff. And while all this
(22:48):
may seem relatively unimportant or pedantic,it's one of the most frustrating uncertainties so
far in my investigation. But moreon that. David said that they took
all their belongings with them when theyleft, and that they left the house
clean and as they'd found it.His wife chimed in to tell me that
(23:11):
again more of their belongings had disappearedwhile they were away, and that again
someone had clearly spent some time insidethe house. There were more beer bottles,
food wrappers, and other random paraphernalia, and this piqued my interest.
(23:32):
I asked if there were any newspapersthere. Neither of them could recall,
but then David said that if therewere, they likely would not have come
from them. He only remembered usingthe paper to look for work, and
that he was using the local Amishpapers, and so I asked if he
ever used the local paper, theMalone Telegraph, and he again said he
(23:56):
pretty much only used the Amish papers. Then asked if there was any way
they would have stopped at a localnewspaper stand to pick up newspapers to wrap
and pack items from their house fortheir move, and they both seemed genuinely
perplexed by this question, and that'swhen I finally relented. The reason I
(24:19):
ask, and this could be incrediblyimportant, is that there were some newspapers
found in that house, an editionof the Malone Telegraph from early two thousand
and four that could place Israel Keysin New York State when the FBI timeline
has him somewhere else entirely. Andin our research into Keys, we're quickly
(24:41):
learning that he would travel somewhere andthen immediately travel significant distances, sometimes with
little to no detection whatsoever from thatfirst destination. So while it seems unlikely,
it's becoming more and more possible thatKeys could have been in New York
when the FBI thought he was newthe West Coast. They were both silent
(25:03):
for what seemed like forever, andfinally David just repeated, I don't think
I would have picked up any newspaperwhile we were out there, moving and
if I did, it would havebeen the Amish paper. David told me
to reach out any time I needed, and that they'd see if they could
(25:26):
find any more information about their timein Constable. I said I'd likely be
in touch in the next few weeks. I got together with the team and
compiled a list of follow up questions, and then I took a moment away
from the newspaper mystery to consider someother new mysteries. Was it Heidi who
(25:47):
was collecting rent on the house?Had the house been rented out since or
before? And why would Keyes lieabout having these tenants? Are people staying
there that you know? Is thatwhat all this stuff is from? This?
Is it close up with that?But was that how it was when
you were Last time I was there, it looked like there had been hundreds
(26:14):
or campers hanging out there, causethere was there was a man person wanted
the sports too. It's not allof these pictures. It might be just
spot visit side here. There wasa mattress in the kitchen area. You
know, while we were in themidst of our initial research into David,
(26:37):
we were simultaneously looking into this newspapersituation, which at the time, we
had no clue the two would,ever let alone so quickly converge. And
in that research I was making othercalls, very different calls, very challenging
(26:57):
calls, calls about ethics and thelines that can often get blurry within the
close knit true crime community. Andafter talking with a few close friends,
including Haley Gray, who I considerone of the best resources in true crime
ethics, I knew what I hadto do. I knew that I had
(27:19):
to make one more phone call becausethe date on those newspapers that aligned with
a missing person's case, and itimpacted someone I know and care about.
(27:45):
Hi, Julie, Hey, Josh, Hey, how are you? I'm
good? Can you hear me?Okay, yeah, I can hear you?
Great? God mees do write toRideom. The savor odemons can't Gothy,
(28:11):
So got me some Moses to ridleto Radom. As long as you
own me, Keith's pufect pleased to. This episode was written, researched,
(28:45):
edited, and produced by me JoshHallmark, with additional research by Kim Kay
and Jordan Taylor in consultation with HaileyGray, Lady Hobbes, and Charlie Warrel.
It features Julie Murray. This episodewas made possible by the following Patreon
producers Amelia Hancock, Amy basel An, Marie Cash, Annette el Ash Fish,
Benjamin choppafonk, Casey Jensen, Richardson, Drew Vipond, Hallie Reed,
(29:08):
Heather Horton, Whedon, Gillian Natale, Jordan good Night, Kathleen Studter,
Kendall, C Chrisma Rodriguez, Kimberly, Klna, Lauren F Lindsay Curtis,
Lindsay Lucifer, Linley, Tuscoff,men OLiS, Bulacus, Nicole and Dennis
Henry, Sarah King, s C. Shelley Brewer, Sherry d Tuesday Woodworth,
Vicky Russell, zach Ignatowick, Swarren, Beth McNally, John Comrie,
(29:29):
Jordan Taylor, Sarah C, SHAWNA. Harden, and Lydia Fiedler. Thank
you to Studio both Anne's newest Patreonsupporters Kimberly R Cassie M, Dan d
Daniel v M, Mattie v HSam, Luke, M, Michelle s
kt A, Kate M Jesseme,j Emilia C, Cassandra K, Stephanie
s Nicky, Kristen, s Eva, Scott, B Hillary j and Brianna.
(29:49):
To support the investigation, go toPatreon dot com, slash Studio both
And. This episode included music byTristan Barton, John Gegelman, Tom mcgombe,
William Hellfire, and Radical Face,with featured music by Tori Amos.
Yesmoses to ride on, to rideon, the savor eodemons can gothy.
(30:19):
So got me Somemoses to ridle,to ridle, as long as you're on
me, and kids perfect please too, mm hmmm mm hmm. And maybe
(31:12):
you'll find me a sailor a deilerand maybe two gather we'll make mother world.
So I got me some horses toride on, to ride on as
(31:36):
long as you're on me. Keepspu perfect closed down, And you showed
me the meadow and milkwood and silkwod, and you would if I would bod
(31:57):
you boo sua chased down your poses, your pansis and my OSes. Then
open my hands and the undyven ofa superflies snuffing a shuppen honey it be,
(32:30):
and then of a superfly tuning youbees o honey like one two three.
The camera rack is ramming. It'seasy like one two three. And
(32:52):
if the res away to find you. I will you, but will you
find me? Nail makes me treaen fruit a far. I can't go,
(33:15):
you said so, But friends thelittle golden don't bry keys me.
So I got me some horses toritle do ride you demons, I can't
(33:37):
go the so I got me somemosses to ride on, to ride on
as long as as your on me. Kids, puerfectly still a kid's Puffickly
(34:00):
is steel case, but off theglea
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!