Hi, well I am not sure if encountered Isarel Keyes or not. I had saw something mentioned about him a few months ago, but I thought he was from Alaska and all of his murders happened in Alaska. Well last week I saw HLN and I saw his picture I immediately thought that he looked like the man I had a terrifying encounter with in February 2012. I have done a little research and at this point I am still not sure. It all hinges on where he was at on February 19, 2012.
That was the date of my terrifying experience If he was back in Alaska on that date, then it could not be him but if he was still in the LA area, then it could have possibly been him. I had contacted the facebook page "Have you ever met Isarel Keyes" and asked if someone knew and if his hair was long or short on that date. No one ever replied, so I still don't know, but here is my encounter, and even if it wasn't him, I still believe it was either a serial killer or a serial killer in the making.
February 20th, 2012 was President's Day and my 7 year old twins and I went to the beach in Fort Morgan, AL that weekend. I had never been in February before and had never been to the Fort Morgan area. It was very quiet and nice. Most of the people there were elderly. On Friday when we got there it was late so we didn't go to the beach. We stayed in a 1 bedroom condo, and my husband ended up not being able to come with us due to having to get back to work on Monday. So it was a girl trip. My girls love to sand crab hunt and so I promised them we would. Saturday was cool and we played at the beach but that afternoon it started raining and rained all night long. A cold front had moved in so on Sunday the 19th, it was freezing down there. We had went shopping and I had gotten some hooded sweatshirts on sale, so that Sunday night the 19th, we went out to crab hunt.
Well aparantly sand crabs hibernate for the winter. We couldn't find any. In hindsight, I could kick myself. We were the only people on the whole beach. It was so so so dark due to clouds, no stars or moon. When we were walking with the flashlights we saw one person jogging but were almost on top of them before we saw them. I had flashlights and crab nets and that was it. No cell phone or weapon of any kind to protect myself. A lady with 7 year old twin girls, but I wasn't the least bit afraid. Well after we walked the beach for a while, and decided the sand crabs weren't coming out the girls came up with a game, where they would get as close to the water as they could and then run as fast as they could before the waves hit them. This was a fun game that we were playing. Then out of the corner of my eye I could see a man walking toward us. He was dressed in total black but had 2 red stripes on each collar of his jacket. But the rest of him was total black. I am not sure how I even seen him, I guess my guardian angel was helping me greatly that night. Well as I see him walking toward us, I get nervous but he is still a good distance away. So I tell the girls we need to start heading in. We start walking back along the beach to our condo. Well he keeps walking towards us. I am getting the sense we are in trouble. It was so cold no one was out on their balcony and if I screamed no one would hear anything because the wind was so high that night. So as we are about to walk up to our condo which was still a long walk, he got within probably 10 yards from us and stopped and stood perfectly still. That is when I figured out, that he didn't know I saw him. My heart was racing trying to figure out what to do, and my girls had no idea we were in trouble. I bent down and told my girls that I wanted them to run as fast and as crazy as they could to the walking bridge over the sand dunes and don't stop until I get there. So all of the sudden they took off running. They are very fast, as they compete and win races in our area, and the sand was still wet from the rain so they seemed to glide on top of it. I said out loud to this man as I shone my light on him "You will have to kill me first". I think our reaction was not something he expected so he ended up not doing any. He was watching my daughters at the time and never looked at me directly. So I ran behind them, trying to keep myself between him and my girls. I turned around once and he was still there, but when I turned the second time, I couldn't find him anywhere. So I panicked. He probably got out of there as fast as he could but I didn't know where he was, so we all ran on the bridge and as fast as we could inside the building. My girls thought the whole time that we were playing a game. In hindsight, I should have told the people I saw when we got in the building, but I was so stunned and scared, I wanted to get to my room as fast as possible. We had a security guard at the entrance to the condos but I wasn't going outside to tell them. I looked for the number in my room but couldn't find one. It was also important to me to not terrify my girls. I thought about calling 911 but what was I going to report? He actually hadn't done anything illegal and now was gone so they weren't going to find him.
As we got in the building, one of my girls said who was that man that was just standing there staring at us. I told them I didn't know. The next day on the way home, I told them that I thought he was an evil man that was trying to hurt one of us. I don't want to terrify them but I also think it was a teachable moment, and they should know the dangers.
All I could do that night was climb in bed and hold onto my girls for dear life. I knew I was so lucky that I could still hold both of them. I had been sleeping on the roll out bed but that I night I slept in the middle, at least what little sleep I got. At the time, I always thought this predator was after one of my girls, but if it was in fact Isarel Keyes, I could be wrong he could have been after me. The man was tall and slender and had short dark curly hair the best I could tell when I put my light on him. When I was finally able to tell my husband when I got home, I cried and cried and cried. I had felt so stupid for not being more careful about going to the beach in those conditions. I know how lucky I was. I told him also, this guy is a serial killer and it was an opportunity to have a lady and 2 kids on the beach. I don't think he was stalking us but it was just timing that put us in the circumstance. For several months after we got home, I would check the news down there to see if anyone was missing or kidnapped but nothing ever came out, so I wondered if this person just also happened to be down there that weekend too but he wasn't from the area. Mobile which is close also celebrates Mardi Gras and there were many parades earlier that day. So my predator could have been there for the celebration. Like I said, it all hinges on where Isarel Keyes was at that weekend on whether that could possibly be him or not. It was an evil evil man no matter what.