AK - Samantha Koenig, 18, Anchorage, 1 Feb 2012 - #4

[Deleted member 718]

The complaint was issued in AK for access device fraud in "AK and elsewhere" between Feb 28 and Mar 13. (See post 178.)

Do we know if the coffee stand accepted debit/credit cards? If someone was caught using one of those skimmer devices to capture the card numbers, what would the charges be?

ETA: found my answer. There's a Visa Mastercard sign on the side of the building. http://commongroundsespresso.com/About_Us.html

I bet that's how they tracked Keyes to Texas.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/

 

[joslmaman]

I don't understand. Why?

I guess I should include WA too. I don't know why, but the fact that this creep who seems to have no major record trail (that we're aware of yet) has all these ties all over the country. All being boarder states, with heavy drug traffic. It doesn't seem likely he would have Sam outside of AK, but I would still hope they will search all of his known properties as a precaution. If he's done this once, maybe he's done it before..

I also have been curious if there's a chance this guy is related by way of the drug traffic in anchorage..considering his business didn't seem to be booming, he lived in a nice area and could afford to update the house and the fact that I've never known a contractor who wasn't a weed smoker.. Just rambles of my own opinions..

 

[joslmaman]

http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/[/QUOTE]

Oh man. I've been under a rock. I had no idea about these things! Good grief!

Can you explain what you mean by you think that's how they traced him to TX?

 

[Fishermom]

So here is what I am aiming at:

I believe that there is a reason why Samantha was chosen to be taken. Whether it be someone that she was involved with or a family memeber was or her boyfriend was. I can't stress enough that I don't think who ever is being taught a lesson (if that is the case) did not believe this would happen initially. I would say now they do.
So IK is involved, we know he is involved with the abduction. I still don't think he was actually the one that took Sam from the hut.
So someone was paid (maybe by IK on behalf of someone else) to abduct Samantha. Hiding in Alaska can't be hard. When I was in Anchorage during a winter no one saw my face the entire time I was outside because I was dressing to resemble a bank robber so my nose wouldn't fall off my face.
Samantha was taken to a place in Alaska to be hidden, thinking this would all be cleared up pretty quickly. She could be moved around to several locations without ever being seen.
Police may have gotten word that IK was involved and started watching him, eventually following him to Texas in hope it may lead to more information.
Police have always said, until recently, that they believed Samantha was alive.

The incentive for these people to keep going was always the ever-growing reward.

An Example: One person is owed money for drugs by someone that knows Samantha and cares about her.
He makes a deal with IK to get Samantha and keep her until he is repaid. IK takes the deal thinking it will be a short time and he can go anywhere and say he is fixing up a house (after all he will be returning with money to cover that). IK then organizes for someone to grab her so his hands stay clean at a crime scene. Samantha is then delivered to IK who heads to a more remote place in Alaska.
Reward starts growing. Person owed money originally sees that the father will give everything as a form of reward and believes him. Greed sets in and he can now see the original 10000 he is owed can be over 40, 000 (and growing).
Whoever owed the money originally can't go to the police and say anything because then they are directly linked to drugs and ensured a nice jail sentence if found out.
The police are not involving Sam's loved ones in the investigation because indirectly they are the cause for her disappearance and police want to make sure that they are not directly involved.
IK has enough of the baby sitting of samantha, tells the people he has had enough and she can be found in a certain house then leaves OR they don't pay IK, he is tired of waiting and heads to the border. (The Alcan is so long and so white .... )

... I gotta run for a bit :maddening:

:moo: and all that
That puts Samantha in someone elses hands in an unknown location

I like this- not just because it make some sense of a lot of loose ends, but it seems to me that ANY possible premise that has him doing something other than acting alone is one that increases the odds of her still possibly being alive.

I also like this because I don't want thinkers on this site to get "lazy" and just assume this guy did this- (including myself!) which thankfully does not seem to be the case, thus far...but I have certainly seen this happening elsewhere. I think the info we have leaves this up in the air. He was involved on some level. What I have seen elsewhere paints a mixed picture of this guy. He may have been the sole person involved, but I don't think we know this. Why not continue to think outside the box...I am all for this, as I think that if he was acting alone, we are just waiting for a body location and being as I am a hopeful person, I choose not to accept that just yet...

 

[Deleted member 718]

http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/

Oh man. I've been under a rock. I had no idea about these things! Good grief!

Can you explain what you mean by you think that's how they traced him to TX?[/QUOTE]

If several people saw strange transactions on their statements and they all had the coffee shop in common, LE would know the source of the skimming. Then LE tracks the use of the cards further and it leads them to the perp. Here's an article about how it can happen.

http://www.adn.com/2009/12/29/1073062/source-of-stolen-credit-information.html#storylink=misearch

 

[joslmaman]

http://www.ktva.com/home/outbound-x...rested-for-Access-Device-Fraud-143020575.html

check out the article updates and the comments

 

[LisaCougar]

http://www.ktva.com/home/outbound-x...rested-for-Access-Device-Fraud-143020575.html

check out the article updates and the comments

That's very interesting. The comments by the neighbor says he (they) left town for two weeks beginning on Feb 2, one day after Samantha disappeared.

 

[ConnectedSuitor]

So the access device charge only applies if the person takes more than $1,000. It seems very unlikely to me that SK had that amount of money in her account.

I think it's also interesting that this guy ran a marathon in 2006. I don't know why......it just seems so odd that he is this guy with no criminal background (I don't think a DUI in your early 20's really counts), who runs marathons suddenly goes off the rails. I don't know, this whole thing is so hinky!

 

[Cazzie]

That article comment also could explain the pink backpack that was confiscated in TX (which posters had already speculated upon).

Is there a possibility that the "evidence of suspected kidnapping" could be about the girl that lived with him in AK (speculated to be his daughter), and not about Sam? A custody issue or violation (like not getting permission to take her away that far)? Maybe he was trying to deliver her to his family (if it's true that he has family in TX) for some reason. Just wondering.

I hope that Sam is found soon, and safe.

 

[ak907]

So the access device charge only applies if the person takes more than $1,000. It seems very unlikely to me that SK had that amount of money in her account.

Access device fraud is a charge.. The 1000 or more is the class so that's a felony
if it is 500 or below would a misdemeanor.. same charge different class

 

[ConnectedSuitor]

Access device fraud is a charge.. The 1000 or more is the class so that's a felony
if it is 500 or below would a misdemeanor.. same charge different class

Yes, I was just speculating that since he is charged with taking $1,000 or more, that perhaps it wasn't from Samantha's card.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

Here's a thought. Might LE or her Father have put some $$ in Sam's bank account so someone might be enticed into using her card?

 

[Deleted member 718]

Yes, I was just speculating that since he is charged with taking $1,000 or more, that perhaps it wasn't from Samantha's card.

IMO it's more than using Samantha's card.

 

[southern_comfort]

Here's a thought. Might LE or her Father have put some $$ in Sam's bank account so someone might be enticed into using her card?

Hmm... Maybe the $3000 rumor was planted for that reason.

 

[GutFeeling!]

That article comment also could explain the pink backpack that was confiscated in TX (which posters had already speculated upon).

Is there a possibility that the "evidence of suspected kidnapping" could be about the girl that lived with him in AK (speculated to be his daughter), and not about Sam? A custody issue or violation (like not getting permission to take her away that far)? Maybe he was trying to deliver her to his family (if it's true that he has family in TX) for some reason. Just wondering.

I hope that Sam is found soon, and safe.

I highly doubt it. The detectives in Texas from Anchorage were working on Samantha's abduction. Plus the FBI and Texas Rangers were onto it. When the Rangers get called in you are talking serious stuff most of the time. Other times it is to oversee an investigation being down by police to make sure they have everything done correctly and all available resources available.

I can not find him listed as an inmate. I did find a IK that was released in 2001 from a federal prison though.

 

[ConnectedSuitor]

Here's a thought. Might LE or her Father have put some $$ in Sam's bank account so someone might be enticed into using her card?

He would have to be so dumb to do that! but I know criminals do dumb stuff all the time

 

[ak907]

Yes, I was just speculating that since he is charged with taking $1,000 or more, that perhaps it wasn't from Samantha's card.

I think it would be real dumb for him to use a card from SK that every one is searching for but at the same time if he did,

For myself as a dad I would make sure that account had money in it as a hope that all she was is a run away.. They came out and said they have reason to believe that shes alive maybe they seen the account being used I would think like I said before if she had a Alaska issued card and you used it across the lower 48 your charges would be in Alaska not every station or store on the way.. No one Has answered me on that tho,,

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

IMO it's more than using Samantha's card.

Of course it is, but wouldn't that be the best way to find a trail to her? Through use of her card? I believe I read the card (whomever it belonged to) was used more than once by IK. To use a stolen card is just plain stupid to begin with, so obviously you're not dealing with someone too intelligent or with morals.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

And my guess is that is exactly why they thought she was still alive! (the use of the card)

 

[GutFeeling!]

Just rereading an article and these 2 statements STILL stick out to me:

We are not going to release details of what led us to him and other details at this time. It’s a sensitive investigation, we still don’t know where she is (and) we don’t want to do anything that would put this investigation in jeopardy,” he (Markiewicz) said.

I did the bolding cause I am clever like that. That isn't the first time I have heard him say this is a sensitive case. That has to mean something indirectly. Sensitive to whom?

..... and then:

Markiewicz said that there was "no information or evidence" that Koenig and Keyes knew each other "before."

Which is probably why I am thinking there are more involved. IK may have been hired and things went down hill from there.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/texas-arrest-made-missing-anchorage-barista-case