They Found a Polaroid. It Changed Everything. (Israel Keyes & Samantha Koenig)

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Samantha Koenig was just 18 years old when serial killer Israel Keyes kidnapped and murdered her in Anchorage, Alaska — before sewing her eyelids open for a chilling “proof of life” photo. In addition, he took a Polaroid of her holding a recent newspaper as proof of life. According to Alaska Public Radio, Keyes took the photo, typed a $30,000 ransom on the back, and placed it at a local park. He then used Koenig’s phone to text her boyfriend to provide instructions on what to do next. On April 2, 2012 , her remains were discovered at Matanuska Lake, off the Glenn Highway near Wasilla, Alaska. The autopsy revealed that she had been strangled and sexually assaulted. Her body had also been dismembered before being discarded through a hole cut into the frozen lake by the perpetrator. Once home from his trip, Keyes posed Koenig ’s body to make it appear she was still alive and took a Polaroid photo of her tied up, along with a newspaper dated Feb. 13 — 12 days after the. Keyes had never met or seen Samantha Koenig before. He approached the coffee stand just prior to closing time, wearing a ski mask and ordered a coffee. Samantha made the coffee and handed it to. Keyes took the frozen body out of his shed, applied makeup and sewed its eyes open with a fishing line to make it look like she was still alive. He held a four-day-old local newspaper next to her face, took a grainy Polaroid and sent it to her loved ones. The image is uncanny. They then searched his car and found several strange items: masks, rolled-up wads of cash, and a woman’s credit card and phone. Once the police confirmed that the phone and credit card belonged to Samantha Koenig , Israel’s fate was sealed. There was also a fuzzy Polaroid picture of Samantha , bound, next to a four-day-old issue of the Anchorage Daily News. Samantha ’s father didn’t have that kind of money, but was able to secure. However, before he could be tried, Israel Keyes was found dead in his Anchorage jail cell by the authorities on December 2, 2012.