American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century

A serial killer is someone who commits multiple murders over an extended period, typically with psychological gratification as a motive. In American Predator, Keyes fits and expands this traditional definition, highlighting Callahan’s thematic interest in The Psychological Profile of a Serial Killer. He embodies the sexually sadistic serial killer archetype while simultaneously challenging conventional patterns through his randomness, mobility, and lack of a specific victim type. Keyes’s behavior forces investigators to confront the terrifying reality of a killer who operated undetected for years, blending seamlessly into ordinary life.

Satanism refers to religious or symbolic practices that venerate Satan or explore anti-Christian values, though its interpretations vary widely and practitioners are often more interested in making a political statement and broadening the definition of religious freedom than in communing with evil. References to Satanism appear in Keyes’s self-identification with dark, anti-religious symbols, including his pentagram tattoo and self-inflicted upside-down cross branding. These symbols reflect Keyes’s personal rebellion against his rigid, fundamentalist upbringing and his embrace of violence, nihilism, and the rejection of authority, even though these values are not reflected in Satanism as a broader religious movement.

The Ark refers to the militia-based, white supremacist, anti-Semitic church that Keyes’s family attended during his childhood in Colville, Washington. The Ark shaped Keyes’s early worldview, exposing him to extremist ideologies, racial hatred, and apocalyptic thinking. Although Keyes later rejected his parents’ religious beliefs, Callahan suggests that the violent, isolated environment of The Ark contributed to his emotional detachment, early cruelty, and distrust of societal norms and government authority.