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Subscribe to RSSVideo recorded by survivalist Peter Keller reveals his mindset before he killed his wife and daughter then committed suicide. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
BURIEN, Wash. -- Before he killed his wife and teen daughter and retreated to a remote bunker in Washington's Cascade Mountains, Peter Keller recorded a chilling video explaining his mindset: He was bored.
"It's getting to the point where just trying to live and pay bills and live as a civilian and go to work, that just freaks me out," the 41-year-old survivalist said in a video clip released Thursday by the King County Sheriff's Office. "It's actually more comfortable for me to think about living out here, robbing banks and pharmacies, just taking what I want for as long as I can. At least it'll be exciting."
Keller shot his wife, Lynnettee, and his 18-year-old daughter, Kaylene, at their home in North Bend, east of Seattle, in April. He set canisters of gasoline on the kitchen stove, turned it on, and headed to a fortified, camouflaged bunker he had spent the past eight years building into the steep, thickly forested slope of Rattlesnake Ridge. King County sheriff's detectives spent days trying to figure out where he was.
They narrowed down his hiding spot with tips from the public, who had seen Keller's red pickup at the Rattlesnake Ridge trailhead; a photo taken from the bunker that showed outlet stores in the distance; and the work of trackers who saw his boot-prints in the muddy ground. Keller killed himself as dozens of SWAT officers moved in — an outcome he predicted in his video.
Keller, who believed the end of the world was near, had dubbed his bunker "Camp Keller," according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
PhotoBlog: Images show heavily fortified bunker of Wash. murder suspect
Sheriff Steve Strachan said Keller shot himself on the bunker's top floor before falling to the lower level, the Seattle Times reported. Officers found a radio beneath Keller's body, suggesting that he had been monitoring news reports, the Times quoted Strachan as saying.
The King County (Wash.) Sheriff's Office released this nearly 10-minute video made by survivalist Peter Keller, who authorities say killed his wife and daughter before committing suicide as SWAT units moved in April, on Thursday.
'At least it'll be exciting'
Looking down into a handheld camera, with his head wreathed by evergreen trees and the blue sky, Keller stated flatly in the video: "If I get caught, I'm just going to shoot myself. I could be dead in two weeks or three weeks, I don't know. It's all up to chance at this point."
He added: "I do have my escape and it's death. Shoot myself. I'm OK with that. ... It won't be boring and I won't have to worry about Lynnettee or Kaylene. Everything'll be taken care of. It'll just be me."
The Post-Intelligencer cited investigation documents that showed Keller was controlling with money, which led his disabled wife to borrow cash from family members.
Lynnettee, who often stayed home and was a scrapbooker who posted scrapbooking videos on the web, had previously told relatives that her husband had established "fairly sizable" savings, the Post-Intelligencer said. She thought they were going to be millionaires when he retired, the newspaper reported, citing investigation documents.
The sheriff's office said it was releasing the video now because recent forensic tests recently proved that one of Keller's guns was used in the murders. There were no other suspects.
In a news conference, Strachan called the video "breathtaking in its evil." It suggested that Keller had planned for weeks, months and maybe even years, to kill his wife and daughter, the Seattle Times reported.
Body found in bunker believed to be that of Peter Keller
Strachan also announced that tens of thousands of dollars was found bundled in the bunker, though he declined to specify how much. Lynnettee's family announced that they would use the money to establish a scholarship fund in Kaylene's memory (www.kaylenesfund.com ) for women who attend DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, where Kaylene had hoped to study video game design.
A tense standoff in Washington state ends after a man who was a suspect in the deaths of his wife and daughter is found dead in a bunker he had designed for the 'end of the world.' NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
"The family didn't really find there was a problem with Peter," said Lynnettee's twin brother, Gene Rocha. He described Keller's relationship with his daughter as loving.
"We'd go there for holidays and it was like every father-and-daughter relationship," he said. "She'd look at her father and say, 'Daddy, can I have this?' And he'd say, 'Sure.'"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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He figured he would rob banks and pharmacies and whined about life just being about paying bills and working...
This is typical OWS mindset. His rant doesn't sound much different than the OWS scumbags who frequently post on newsvine.
I was walking in the grocery store (about two weeks ago) behind a young man wearing camo pants and a t-shirt...on the back of the shirt it stated "YOU HAVE IT...WE WANT IT...WE TAKE IT". This new normal economy is reinforcing this particular survival ideology. It would absolutely "suck" to be a young person today. Limited opportunities even WITH an education AND a ramped up sense of entitlement coupled with a ramped up sense of life in general as portrayed by the media and video games...sensational news reporting...which I'm sure this man allowed himself to be sucked into...willingly. There are going to be exponentially growing masses of these folks as time goes on. I think it's the growing sense of absolute hopelessness of many people who are realizing why even bother to live...why even try anymore. The social fabric/agreement/contract with others has been voided because the "rules" don't work anymore. We've evolved from valueing character to valueing personality...and it makes us all less "human" Google Lockean vs Hobbesian philosophy and you get a great revelation of what we are all about...something our founders all knew and recognized as they "designed" our freedoms in relation to each other. Arther Schoppenhaur is another great writer to ponder...it's all about self defense ha ha ha...and we ARE truly each others "boogeymen" for sure...
@yakman48
Wow! The quote from your post is profound. As I was reading the article, I reflected on the man earlier this week who killed his three daughters. I was beginning to feel that things are reaching a point where people are not really safe at home. Imagine that!
If what you've predicted comes to pass, or is in the making, people need to be warned so they can prepare - the same as people are warned when there's a serial killer or serial rapist in a certain area. Perhaps, there should be public service announcements:
Seriously - something needs to be done to warn family members especially if family homicides/suicides "catch on" as our economic conditions worsen.
Statistically, there have been isolated family suicide/homicides in the past few years. They're not garnering that much attention, just brief stories here and there but they've been fairly consistent.
So, perhaps the authorities in society who are responsible for teaching, training, and warning should take some steps to help family members help themselves if family homicides/suicides are indeed on the increase. When the tide begins to rise on these sort of events, sooner or later there's a flood.
"Survivalist" - in this case - a gross misnomer.
Why did he have to kill his wife and daughter, though? If he was bored being alive and wanted to escape to his little bunker so that he could creep out, rob banks and pharmacies, so be it. Yet, why decide for himself that his wife and daughter should no longer live? What a narcissistic bloat! He was his #1 focus to the bitter end. I suppose he killed his wife and daughter out of boredom as well.
Can anyone imagine what it was like for his wife and daughter to live with this narcissistic slob from day to day? A normal conversation was probably so out of the question. He strikes me as the type who would explode over silly stuff - never mind explaining because no explanation would ever be good enough for him - people have to walk on egg shells - never really know what's going to set him off but once he's set off - on and popping.
I guess the best news of all is that he eventually took his own life - too bad that wasn't his very first step.
There's no point in trying to figure this nutcase out. I'm just sorry his family didn't see it coming.
Who is "we"? On 2 separate occasions in his video, he refers to more than one person. The first time is at 39 seconds and the second time is at 3:59. Someone else involved?
Another psychotic white man who goes over the edge and promised he's not going to take it anymore !!! They've proven to be the most dangerous people on earth, usually committing crimes which far exceed the bounds of human behavior and which history is rampant with this anomaly. They can be anywhere in the world, it doesn't matter... beware of the guy next door !!!!
What kind of person was Peter Keller - really? He had tens of thousands of dollars stashed away in his bunker. His wife said he was saving/investing money to a degree that she thought they'd be millionaires by the time he retired; yet, he said just trying to live, work and pay bills "freaks just me out."
In other words, the mere idea was overwhelming to him. Still, he kills everybody and leaves tens of thousands of dollars where anyone who finds it can lift it. He really was mentally unbalanced.
To listen to him, one would think he wasn't even breaking even each month. Yet, apparently, he had more than plenty. Again, I'm sorry no one in that family saw this coming. And, I'll say again, there should be warning systems in place for the general populace.
People need to know when they're sharing a dwelling with the enemy. There must be some indication which people shouldn't ignore. No one goes crazy like this over night. The article even said there's evidence that Keller had been planning to kill his wife and daughter for years, perhaps.
There should have been something - something - in his behavior that said: "One of these days - one of these days soon - both of you - to the moon..."
Justwonderin and Sanescience you all brought to the forum some very insightful points as well as most commenters on this topic. You know so many people are afraid to discuss mental and emotional issues as though we are living back in the 18th century. When you try to bring to light this subject people actually get angry with others as though they created this situation. If so many could be helped long before it turns to tragedy it would be a much happier world in which to live. When people witness something out of the norm with family members and friends, speak up you might be saving some lives out there. Don't worry about them being mad with you or that you're rocking the boat. I'd rather rock that boat then for the boat to tip over later and lose some lives.
@Jessica-1170252
Jessica, hate to burst your naive bubble....Countries ( not just America) have been killing each other for so called freedom and rights to land, and mostly over religion for centuries now I.E. spanish inquisition, etc. You sound bitter and ignorant when you over generalize about one particular country and it really has nothing to do with America...I myself am and always have been American and I myself don't slaughter anyone for freedom.
The point is..this man was not well in the head..end of story, don't get it twisted.
For a "survivalist" to commit suicide, I'd say, by definition, he wasn't very good at it. A more noble act would have been to hand the money over to his family, THEN end his life. What he did was just psychopathic. There are too many of these stories about the loss of The American Dream that result in the end of the American family. This guy is the villain in this tragedy; not the victim. My thoughts & prayers go out to the rest of his family that now have to pick up the pieces; the last act of a desperate man.
PLEASE TAKE DOWN THAT VIDEO NOW. "People" like this killer want publicity for their acts. Do not give it to them. All you do when you cater to them and give them the notice they so craved is give the next potential killer more incentive: if the last one got publicity, maybe they will, too, if they do something horrible like this.
Talk about the victims. Talk about prevention. Please, however, give the ...thing...that murdered his own family nothing but the complete and utter anonymity he so richly deserves.
Ban gasoline and video cameras. That will fix this mess.
Who cares. The guy is dead and gone. Thanks goodness the goodly liberal media saw fit to drag this out so extended family and friends could have this horrific moment re-visited. I'm sure it brings "closure" and "warms the heart" hearing a recording wherein a husband/father can coldy describe his plan to kill his wife and child.
I know right these people are sick. The Media has to expose this family bringing them guilt and embarresment.
All be it a tragity inocent people died. Lets look at a much bigger issue here. First , the man was not a survivalist. He knew he was gonna die! That dosent sound like surviving to me. The left media wants all to believe that if ur a survivalist then ur nuts. Two, with every incident of like this and more recently the Colorado movie theatre shooting spree, there will be a call for gun control. Our govt will be all too willing to oblige. That because our govt has been systematically trying to strip the citizens of this country of a means of defending itself. That is the bigger tragity here. I bet if everyone in that theatre in Colorado had a gun. This madman wouldnt have even thought about doing what he did. And if he did he wouldnt have made it pass the first row.
Don't get me wrong this guy was a nut. But what it sound like to me is that he was sick of the societal norms. Not that he couldn't get by in his everyday life, but he was sick of feeling like a cow in a herd being pushed always in one direction. Because that's what we're all doing... If you think about it what type of options do you have starting out in life we all do the same things, follow the same path. We start with school, then nomatter what happens with that you're expected to get some job, have a family or not (that's the only optional part), then die. It sounds like this man did all this... and well. But the type of guy this was it wasn't going to last... I believe he was narcissistic and he believed the world would soon end (like many in 2012). So if you add all this up... A narcissist who believed his life was never his own with no hope for the future....Peter Keller.
I don't think his wife and daughter are in a better place. They'd be in a better place if they were sitting on the couch, watching TV.