An arrest has been made in the case of kidnapped Anchorage barista Samantha Koenig. Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell says two Anchorage detectives traveled to Lufkin, Texas and have taken in a “person of interest” in the case. He is Israel Keyes, a 34-year-old construction contractor.
Shell says she is not able to release details of what led police to Keyes.
Keyes is being held in a federal facility in Beaumont, Texas.
Israel Keyes operated a business in Anchorage called Keyes Construction. Shell says there is still no information as to Koenig’s wherabouts, although police are hopeful she is still alive, because no body has been found. Shell says anyone with information relating to Israel Keyes or who had business dealings with Keyes Construction should contact officials.
Kidnap victim Koenig was abducted on February first from the coffee shack where she was working.
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APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
