Man charged in Barista death linked to 7 killings

Israel Keyes was found dead in his jail cell yesterday morning. US Attorney Karen Loeffler said at a news conference that Keyes killed himself.

Keyes was facing a March trial in federal court for the murder of 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, who was abducted from an Anchorage coffee kiosk last February. He was later arrested in Texas after using the victim's debit card.

Authorities said Keyes confessed to killing Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex, Vermont. The couple was reported missing in June 2011.

Keyes also indicated he killed four others in Washington state and one person in New York state, but did not give the victims' names, authorities said.

The FBI contends Keyes killed Koenig less than a day after she was kidnapped. Her body was recovered April 2 from an ice-covered lake north of Anchorage.

Koenig's disappearance had gripped the city for weeks. A surveillance camera showed an apparently armed man in a hooded sweat shirt leading Koenig away from the coffee stand.

Koenig's friends and relatives established a reward fund and plastered the city with flyers with her photo in hopes of finding the young woman alive.

Prosecutors said Keyes stole the debit card from a vehicle she shared that was parked near her home, obtained the personal identification number and scratched the number into the card.

After killing Koenig, Keyes used her phone to send

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