AK - Samantha Koenig, 18, Anchorage, 01 Feb 2012 - #7

[sherbetjello]

Prayers for her father.

I can't even imagine.

 

[SmoothOperator]

I'm so very heartbroken at what this monster chose 2months and 1day ago would be the tragic end to this story.. I'm so very heartbroken for James KOENIG who has dealt with truly heaping loads of chit on him and his young daughter ON TOP OF HAVING TO DEAL WITH HIS LITTLE GIRL BEING ABDUCTED AND HIS DESPERATELY WANTING AND NEEDING TO MOVE HEAVEN AND EARTH TO FIND HER AND BRING HER HOME.. I am so sorry that he was kicked when he was down ..I am thankful that despite all of the nonsense he was dealt that he does seem to have a strong and committed support system that has stood by him through it all. . IMO James Koenig is the very average human being..by no means perfect. .and is upfront with that fact. .no matter what lifestyle he has lived he was Samantha Tessla Koenig's DADDY! and I haven't a ssingle doubt that James adored and loved Samantha with every ounce of his being. . God please grant this man the solace of being able to Bring Sam home and lay her to rest as he so sees fitting.. allow him to have a peace within his soulin knowing his baby girl will never hurt, cry, or have to feel pain again... She is gone but she will never ever be forgotten her spirit will live on and justice will be served on the monster who took her away from the so very many people who love her..

As for Israel. . There is so much that's to be learned.. and while I will not place blame on KA I certainly do NOT believe for a single millesecond that this occurred(and moo but Sam is NOT the first) ..I'm sorry those things just don't happen TOTALLY UNBEKNOWNST TO THE PERSON THEY RESIDE WITH! ..and again thats moo! Moo! Moo!

 

[cluciano63]

I don't know...I don't think guy is a serial...he does not seem "smart" enough to have been able to get away with other crimes...he made it very easy for LE to catch him. I am not sure if his intent was to take and kill Samantha at first, or he if decided to improvise on the spot...hopefully, he will say. Also, it is very possible his live-in did not know...even BTK's wife had no clue that her husband was killing for years...and Bikepath Rapist's wife, etc...

 

[akmom02]

Can someone local clarify while lake this is? I know they renamed that group of lakes with like Finger lake etc. as the Matanuska lakes and in those there is one called Matanuska lake. But someone I know said they refer to another one as Matanuska lake. If it is indeed the one up by Willow that would not be easy access in the winter, especially in that snow storm that night! In fact I don't even think the state park gate to those is open in the winter??? Even if the gate is open, which I don't think it is, the road down there would be a long hard haul after all our snow and on that night especially. Certainly not somewhere you would see someone go and think "huh...ice fishing" when its night, there are no homes down there, and its dumping snow??? Have they said if they believe she has already passed before entering the lake? Almost makes me wonder if they hiked in past the state park gate. Or has he been linked to the state parks at all as a campground host or anything?? Some position that would allow him to have the gate key to access this in the winter?

Matanuska Lake is down the Glenn almost to the Parks Hwy. Near Matsu hospital. The gates are locked at a certain time each night (11pm? maybe, much like the parks in Anchorage) and reopen at 7 am. Parks & Rec keep the trails and parks pretty clear regardless of the weather. It's really not far from the gate to the actual lake and whose to say the gate actually gets locked each night-

It sickens me that to get Sam there from CGs, he had to drive within a block of my house. It's just one of those things that has gotten stuck in my mind and I can't shake loose. It's not that I could have done anything, but something about that kind of evil, that close to my family makes me nauseous.

 

[503mpco]

akmom02 is it that lake on the left headed to the fairgrounds. Like the very first lake on the left where you go down the steep hill and across that little bridge? Or is it the next one on the left where you have to walk down the dock. I'm thinking the first. I'm just trying to get my bearings because we have snow machined in that general area around that time. I can't seem to find any good photos that show me which lake we are talking about.

 

[akmom02]

akmom02 is it that lake on the left headed to the fairgrounds. Like the very first lake on the left where you go down the steep hill and across that little bridge? Or is it the next one on the left where you have to walk down the dock. I'm thinking the first. I'm just trying to get my bearings because we have snow machined in that general area around that time. I can't seem to find any good photos that show me which lake we are talking about.

The one on the left as you go to Palmer---http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=matanuska+lake+alaska&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=511&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=A4N6T9_PN8LjiALb_Ihb&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=3&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg

That's the google map of the lake

There's also two entrances to the lake, from the pics shown of the scene today, the tent was set up just past the trees on the lake, so not very far in.

 

[taagean]

I wonder if he used that sheds an ice shack...?? Pulled it out onto the lake to icefish?? And obviously to rid her body in semi-privacy??

You may have a point there, that could very well be what he used it for.

 

[bessie]

Matanuska Lake is down the Glenn almost to the Parks Hwy. Near Matsu hospital. The gates are locked at a certain time each night (11pm? maybe, much like the parks in Anchorage) and reopen at 7 am. Parks & Rec keep the trails and parks pretty clear regardless of the weather. It's really not far from the gate to the actual lake and whose to say the gate actually gets locked each night-

It sickens me that to get Sam there from CGs, he had to drive within a block of my house. It's just one of those things that has gotten stuck in my mind and I can't shake loose. It's not that I could have done anything, but something about that kind of evil, that close to my family makes me nauseous.

I know this has been a nightmare for the local residents. :grouphug:

 

[503mpco]

Thanks akmom02. I found it online and did the street view. I know exactly which lake that is. So is the other way in down the road behind the hospital like on the way to the university. The one part I've camped in is the access on the way to Palmer and that way you could not easily access the lake. And man that night was nasty. I live in Eagle River and the Glenn was all backed up like crazy even until like 8:30 when we drove home. Roads were pretty bad so he must have known his way there pretty well. Who goes out in a snow storm, to a little not often accessed lake, in the pitch black, etc. Says to me he fishes there or did a job nearby or something. Heck you can't even tell where some lakes begin and end in the middle of winter. Let alone in a snow storm in the dark?? Tells me he knew that lake pretty well to know where bank ended and lake began.

 

[bessie]

He might not have gone there that same night, though.

 

[503mpco]

Not that this is any real comfort but that is a beautiful little lake. For those following that aren't locals that lake has an amazing view and this one crooked fab tree that sits on one part of the lake that you can swing off of a rope swing and into the water. Sunsets there are amazing gorgeous. So as far as final resting points go its a gorgeous little place.

 

[503mpco]

He might not have gone there that same night, though.

Oh ick, true, i didn't think of that. I just assumed when they said she had died a few hours from the kidnapping that that was the deal. But you are right.

So i'm going to have to look around on some aerial views but where they have the crime scene truck parked in the photos from today, now that i know exactly which lake we are talking about, there is not easy access to the lake itself at all. There must be another entrance around back because where they are all set up you have to go down a little wooded trail. No backing your truck up and certainly no bringing the shed out there! Im terrible with distance but I'd say its like at least 150ft down the little path to reach the lake. And its a narrow walking path, maybe wide enough for a snow mobile in the winter but certainly not a shed and no truck access unless it has changed since last summer. I camped there last summer and my kids and I watched the midnight sunset from the little dock.

 

[Kimster]

How heartbreaking! :tears:

Prayers going up for her family and friends. raying:

 

[503mpco]

Actually from this shot here http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/04/02/2092707/police-fbi-plan-koenig-news-conference.html it looks like they are almost center in the lake. The lake is kind of a kidney shape and isn't terribly wide. My guess would be they are just shy of center.

Talked to a friend of mine and he said they have tried to get shots of the northern lights over the mountains there in the winter and the gate promptly are locked at 10pm. He said they are actually often not even unlocked except for one weekends. So seems like unless there was a fluke and it was left open, which is certainly possible, or he had a key, which is also possible since that campground does indeed have a summer host, he probably did not go there that night?

This has been very hard on the local community. Things like this are very very rare up here.

 

[bessie]

Actually from this shot here http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/04/02/2092707/police-fbi-plan-koenig-news-conference.html it looks like they are almost center in the lake. The lake is kind of a kidney shape and isn't terribly wide. My guess would be they are just shy of center.

Talked to a friend of mine and he said they have tried to get shots of the northern lights over the mountains there in the winter and the gate promptly are locked at 10pm. He said they are actually often not even unlocked except for one weekends. So seems like unless there was a fluke and it was left open, which is certainly possible, or he had a key, which is also possible since that campground does indeed have a summer host, he probably did not go there that night?

This has been very hard on the local community. Things like this are very very rare up here.

So could he have gone out onto the lake with the shed during the day when the park was open?

ETA: It sounds like the lake has been busy lately, so I guess that kind of answers my question about IK going out there with the shed during the day. Doesn't seem like it wouldn't have been a problem.

Kevin Sturgeon, 27, said he'd been living in the lower unit of a house that overlooks the lake for about a month and a half. From the house, located at Fox Run Campground, Sturgeon said he was used to hearing the sounds of ice-fishing and other lake activity on the lake but was startled Sunday night when he saw "three backhoe-type trucks" pushing snow around nearby on park land.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/04/02/2092707/police-fbi-plan-koenig-news-conference.html

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/04/02/2092707/police-fbi-plan-koenig-news-conference.html

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/...lan-koenig-news-conference.html#storylink=cpy​

 

[503mpco]

So could he have gone out onto the lake with the shed during the day when the park was open?

Not that I know of, unless there is a totally different way into the lake than I know. Is there a way to show photos on here? I'm actually a local photographer and i have shots of that lake from summer so you can tell how wide the lake is, etc. Don't know if that would be considered helpful or not. I also have a shot of the lake access path.....and my mother's butt which I would most certainly have to photoshop out but I just found them to look again. Unless there is another way in that I'm unaware of no way could that shed have gone down onto that lake.

You can access it on the other side, opposite of where the police accessed it today, but you have to walk quite a ways across a field to get to lake side. You may be able to drive your car over the field in the winter but I highly doubt anyone takes time to plow a path and we have had way too much snow to do that through open snow. Even in a 4 wheel drive truck. Unless its smashed down by snow machiners, which it doesn't look like in that photo really, I don't think there is any easy wide access point he could have brought the shed down to lakefront.

 

[503mpco]

Here is a shot online that gives distance perspective. So this would have been taken from the bank behind the police as they are seen in that news shot on the ice. That's standing on one side by the rope swing I mentioned looking back over to the side the police accessed the lake from today.

 

[akmom02]

So could he have gone out onto the lake with the shed during the day when the park was open?

I would think the other scenario already mentioned here is much more plausible, where he used the shed as a temporary holding place until he could find a better place for her. --ugh, I don't even like to type that.

The local news just said "One of the most perplexing aspects of this case is that no matter how hard they try, they cannot find any connection between Sam & IK"

 

[503mpco]

I know a lot of people following this case are not from alaska and have no point of reference so I thought I'd share. I certainly don't want to add stress to the case though so if you think showing the crime scene in an unrelated context is bad please moderators delete!

As I said I am a local photographer and I have visited this lake on many occasions for photo shoots. I have a few shots that give perspective on distances and the path, etc. I'm still perplexed at how he could have gotten her down there either in the dark snowy night or during daytime hours when someone could have seen him. This is not a pull up, open the back of your truck, unload anything, go type situation. Again there could be another way into the lake that I don't know about but I've been there many times and these are the only ways down to the lake that I know of. You can also see it isn't a wide huge lake so how it wasn't frozen solid is also still a mystery to me. At best there must have been at least a foot of ice even if it didn't freeze solid. We aren't talking about a huge lake and we had record low temps in December, Jan and Feb. In December I think we had like 20 days in sub zero temps so I'm still trying to wrap my head around how much ice you would have to go through to access the lake. I don't know if people regularly ice fish out there and could have established holes they maintain over the winter but it doesn't appear there are trails and holes from the aerial images I'm seeing of the police scene.

Anyway hopefully its ok to share but this is the lake in the summer. I'm standing on the bank the police accessed from the parking lot and I'm taking a shot straight across the lake. The shot of the people walking down the path is actually just a snapshot of my kids, thus why I blacked them out, but you can see this is not a short distance down to the lake. We are already about 1/4 down it at the point where I'm taking my photo and at the bottom you still have to turn a little corner and then you are on the little dock. So I think even in the best of conditions, short of another access point that I'm unaware of, it would be very difficult to get any vehicle, trailer, shed down the trail to the lake.

 

[GutFeeling!]

My hats off to APD. I think they have done a phenomenal job on this case.

You have got to be joking - they said they believed she was alive for 7 weeks? She died within hours like I assumed, Tell me where great policing came in there? With all due respect. There had better be an inquiry into this.