Israel Keyes & the Orange Jacket
The reality of being a researcher
Firstly, I want to thank researcher & author
for helping me work though investigating the story you’re about to read.Deep-dive research is tedious and detail oriented by nature, especially when researching crimes. The research process becomes 10x more work when the information you are looking for involves a potential unidentified victim, and sometimes you’ll go down a rabbit hole only to realize it leads nowhere!
If you know anything about me, you know I am obsessed with Israel Keyes, his crimes, and finding the many unidentified victims left in his wake.
In late 2022-early 2023, I stumbled across a video from the time that he was in Anchorage, Alaska of a women wearing the exact same orange Port Authority jacket, brown beanie, and black gloves…
This disturbed me immensely. I thought that I found a video of a possible Keyes victim. Israel Keyes was known for wearing the clothing of victims and for changing his appearance following the commission of a variety of crimes including kidnapping, rape, murder, arson, and pulling bank heists (sometimes wearing a disguise using victims’ items).
I wondered if maybe Keyes and the woman simply bought the same jacket. Though I find it super unlikely that a 32 year old man and a woman who looks to be in her 50s would have not only the same jacket but the same beanie and gloves.
As it turns out, this woman is not a victim of Keyes, but the rabbit hole of a story really illustrates what researching is like. Here it goes…
Again, my theory did not pay off, and this woman is not a victim of Keyes, but here is some more insight into my research process:
When and Where?
The video the woman appears in is from the 2010 Fur Rondezvous in Anchorage. Based on the schedule, the Outhouse Races took place on Saturday, February 27th, 2010.
Was he in town at the same time? Based on the Keyes travel log released by the FBI, Israel flew from Orlando, Florida to Anchorage, Alaska on December 29, 2009. The next entry is dated July 7, 2010 when Israel took an Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to Seattle. So, yes! Both he and his then-girlfriend Kimberly Anderson were in town during the Fur Rondy.
I will say, seven months seems like a long time for him to go without traveling somewhere. Regardless, that’s what’s listed.
The Running of the Reindeer took place the following day. Here is a post I discovered with Israel Keyes & Kimberly running! Kimberly is an NP, which explains the scrubs! Israel likely dressed up with her for fun. In other videos and photos there are tons of nurses wearing their scrubs, so it appears to be a community thing.
*I did look for the 2010 schedule on the Internet Archives, but of course it was a broken link.
Why the Fur Rondy?
Israel Keyes had a pattern of taking victims during big events. Like that music festival during Sam's abduction and murder. The Fur Rondy is huge! The event and the Outhouse Races felt very “Keyes-coded” to me.
How does Alaska handle DL renewals?
The State of Alaska required that its residents update their photo every year, but their actual license does not expire for five years.
The jacket he was wearing in his most recent DL photo, which would have been taken in January of 2012, presumably on his birthday, January 7th, though Israel was almost a week late renewing it. His life was falling apart at the time, so this is not surprising.
When I received the audio files from the Anchorage Police Department, my entire theory became completely irrelevant.
The files were some of the interviews that APD conducted with Kimberly. In her interview dated March 13th 2012, she told investigators that she won an orange jacket "years ago" at the Iditarod but that it was too big for her so she gave it to Israel. There is no mention of the beanie or the gloves.
After months of digging, it appears Israel did not take the orange port authority jacket off of a victim. It was simply given to him by his girlfriend.
I am glad the woman I saw in the video is not a victim of Israel Keyes. This was 100% worth looking into and I regret nothing. That’s just how it goes sometimes!
Appreciate your deep-dive research and hearing about how you approach researching topics. Very informative & love your perseverance even when the rabbit trail ends in a cul-de-sac and you need to make a u-turn. We get to accompany you on an interesting journey. Great job!
This is what happens when someone unfamiliar with the locale tries to guess. A woman of 50, tends to have a thick body and to find a warm winter jacket for Alaska, options usually are relegated to large men’s jackets. Our clothing options in Alaska are few and we often end up wearing more similar clothing than people Outside.
The similar hat is likely just a choice that was offered near the jacket for sale.
Try to research with local people before posting these wild trips down rabbit holes.