William Keck

True Crime All The Time

The episode details the horrific 2008 attack in Las Vegas by William John Keck against his estranged wife Ainjil Chipp and her partner Jonat

Key takeaways

• William Keck used a chainsaw to breach an apartment door before firing 21 rounds from an AK-47.
• Keck had previously faked mental illness, claiming to see spiders, to secure a discharge from the Navy.

Main topics

• William Keck attack
• Las Vegas crime

Notable quotes

The loss lives in you like a scream. You can't scream all the time.

Conclusion

A harrowing look at how manipulation and extreme violence can shatter

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:35) and welcomed episode 536 of the true crime all the time podcast i'm mike ferguson with me as always is my partner in crime mike gibson gibby how are you i'm doing all right man and you i'm doing great yeah Speaker 4 (0:47) you Speaker 3 (0:47) showed up uh in a parka today i Speaker 4 (0:51) you know sometimes you got to do things like you were dressed Speaker 3 (0:53) for the weather it has chilled dramatically yeah Speaker 4 (0:56) um since Speaker 3 (0:57) summer officially ended did you see that i've Speaker 4 (1:00) seen that just past Speaker 3 (1:01) that well Speaker 4 (1:02) but technically It's just a parka. There's nothing underneath the parka. Speaker 3 (1:06) Yeah. Speaker 4 (1:06) You know. It's Speaker 3 (1:07) like assless chaps kind of. Speaker 4 (1:10) Yeah. Speaker 3 (1:11) Yeah. Speaker 4 (1:11) You just, Speaker 3 (1:12) nothing under the parka. My wife was not amused at all when you showed up. Speaker 4 (1:16) No, she's like, you think you're actually going to sit in one of my chairs like that? And I'm like, well. Speaker 3 (1:22) Not to mention the fact that it's not a long parka, which kind of gave it away right from the beginning. Yeah. All right, let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had Morgan McGuire jump out at our highest level. Speaker 4 (1:35) Look at that, double M. Nicole Williamson. Hey, Nicole. Speaker 3 (1:38) Paula Speaker 4 (1:39) Stevens. Speaker 3 (1:39) What's going on, Paula? Karen Cruz. Cruz. Raymond McDumpy. McDumpy. Yeah. Is that probably Speaker 4 (1:47) Irish? Speaker 3 (1:48) Well, usually when you have an MC in front of it, I would say you're in the right ballpark. Speaker 4 (1:53) What if you're working at a club and you're an MC at the club? Like, that's MC Mike on the... On the turntable. Probably not Irish. And last Speaker 3 (2:05) but not least, Tammy Olson. Hey, Tammy. And then if we go back into the vault. Speaker 3 (2:11) This week, we selected Jody. Hey, thanks, Jody. So we appreciate the new support, the continued support on Patreon. It's amazing. Love Speaker 4 (2:18) it. Speaker 3 (2:19) We also had a great PayPal donation from Anna Mayan. Speaker 4 (2:22) Look at Anna. Speaker 3 (2:23) So thanks to everyone. Thank you. So we have a new episode out on True Crime All the Time Unsolved where we're talking about Terry Fettner. He was stabbed to death in his Greenville, South Carolina apartment during the weekend of Thanksgiving 2000. Dale was recently divorced and had moved into this apartment after his home was damaged by a suspicious fire. So there's a lot to get into. Make sure you check that out. And we dropped a new Patreon episode Saturday night. And it's on John Hillrich, a successful advertising executive, father of two. He was leaving work when he was gunned down in the parking lot structure outside his office. Investigators. quickly zeroed in on their suspects who had connections to his wife. Speaker 4 (3:12) Yeah. Always have those connections. Speaker 3 (3:15) There's connections to be made. And then on Thursday's TCAT, we're talking about Michelle Kinney. She was a kind woman who was known to take people in who were down on their luck. When concerned neighbors found her stabbed to death inside her apartment, investigators utilized city traffic camera footage in the area to identify the suspect. Speaker 4 (3:38) Think he could ever be one of those people to take in. A stranger. I Speaker 3 (3:42) think you know the answer to that. I don't even know why you're asking the question. I would love to be, you know, one of those people, but my security concerns prevent me from doing so. Speaker 4 (3:55) Yeah, yeah. You'd be doing pat-downs every time someone came through the door. Exactly. I don't even know what other searches you would be doing. Yeah, Speaker 3 (4:03) you know. They would involve latex gloves. That's for sure. Speaker 4 (4:07) It'd be nice if you use latex on me, by the way. All Speaker 3 (4:10) right, buddy. You ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I'm Speaker 4 (4:14) ready. Speaker 3 (4:14) We're talking about William John Keck. After finding out his estranged wife, Angel, was pregnant with her fiance's baby, William Keck plotted revenge. He was armed with a chainsaw and an assault rifle, and he opened fire into the couple's. I Speaker 4 (4:34) mean, you say chainsaw, I'm thinking this is like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Well, that Speaker 3 (4:38) seems like a very strange arsenal to have with you, right? An assault rifle, an AR, people have those. A lot of people own those. But to have one of those and then a chainsaw, Speaker 2 (4:54) okay. Speaker 3 (4:55) In 2003, Angel Chip was in her early 20s living in Las Vegas. She was pursuing a career as a tattoo artist. In her interview for the show Evil Lives Here, she recalled that things were going well for her at this time. And I would think that would be a great place to be a tattoo artist. I would think so too. Maybe Speaker 4 (5:19) a little competitive, but. Speaker 3 (5:21) Yeah, probably. Speaker 4 (5:22) If you're a good artist and you make a name for yourself, I think you would do extremely well. Well, Speaker 3 (5:27) first of all, there's a ton of foot traffic. right in Vegas. And I would think Vegas might be a place that people go, you know, I don't want to say once in a lifetime trip, but on a, you know, nice trip and they might want to splurge on something like a tattoo. Speaker 4 (5:42) Yeah. And if you're out with your buddies or your girlfriends, you know, on the strip, maybe you had a few drinks, you're like, let's all get a tattoo. Oh, Speaker 3 (5:49) I think that's a good point too. You know, there is quite a bit of alcohol consumed. And Speaker 4 (5:54) that's how you got your first one. Speaker 3 (5:57) Angel's roommate met a young man named William John Keck at a party and invited him back to their apartment. Angel's first impression was that William was good looking. What spurred her interest was the fact that they had a lot in common and he was artistically talented. She learned William was in the Navy and was on leave and visiting family in Vegas. They talked about his application to join the Navy. William said, That in the section where he was asked why he wanted to join the Navy, he wrote, because I want to kill people. Now, he played it off like this was a joke. And Angel laughed it off, despite the fact that she was uncomfortable. Speaker 4 (6:40) That would make a lot of people a little uneasy. Speaker 3 (6:43) Yeah, because I don't believe that that's what the armed forces want you to say. You might believe it. I don't think they want you to put it down. Speaker 4 (6:53) Yeah. Speaker 3 (6:53) that the reason you're joining is because you want to kill people. Angel and William had a whirlwind romance before he reported back to his naval base in Florida. She visited him several months later and he surprised her with a proposal. And she said, yes, she was excited. She would be able to see William more often and grow their relationship. If Speaker 4 (7:17) you had to do a whirlwind romance today for your wife. What would that whirlwind romance look like? Different than back in the day, I'm sure. Speaker 3 (7:27) You mean after 30 years of marriage or we've just met? Speaker 4 (7:31) No, after 30. In our early 20s. After 30 years of marriage. Speaker 3 (7:34) Oh, I don't know, but I feel like the whirlwind part is maybe a little past us. We still have the romance there, but. Speaker 4 (7:46) Well, yeah, you sweep the floors every now and then and it really gets her hot. Yeah. Speaker 3 (7:51) It really does, to be honest with you. That's how old we are. Yeah, I don't know. You know, a trip somewhere, something unexpected probably would be the extent of it. Speaker 4 (8:03) Yeah. But Speaker 3 (8:04) this is really a whirlwind romance. I mean, they meet, you know, he's proposing in fairly short order. Pretty quick. According to Angel, William seemed like he had plans in life and things he wanted to achieve. However, he was good at showing you what you wanted to see. And not necessarily who he really was. And Gibbs, I really think there are a lot of people out there like this. Yeah, I agree with you. And I don't think everybody's a con person. I don't think everybody's a killer. I just think a lot of people, you know, they want you to see what they want you to see. Speaker 4 (8:48) Yeah. Or they want to show you what they. want to show you i Speaker 3 (8:54) was like how is that different than what i just said but i do i do think right a lot of people you know are like that it's not all for nefarious means not can be oh for sure right when you're talking about a ted bundy or somebody like that A few weeks after the proposal, William called Angel and told her he had been discharged and was on his way back to Vegas. She asked what happened, and he said he told officials he was hallucinating and had spiders crawling on his arms. He cut his arms with a razor blade so officials would think he was crazy. Speaker 4 (9:36) Well, that's one way to get them to think you might be unstable is to. Slice your arms because you think there's imaginary spiders on it. Speaker 3 (9:45) Yeah. I mean, they're going to have to do something, right? That's a extreme. If you think back to like the TV show mash, right? Clinger was always trying to get out of the army, but he wasn't doing anything like this. No. Angel said that looking back on the extremes he went to, to get out of the military, it is now a huge warning sign for her. She told producers for Evil Lives Here, he lied as easily as he told the truth, which made him very believable. Speaker 4 (10:19) That's really scary. And there's people that can do that, right? Yeah. There's people that can look you in the eye and tell you a made-up story without missing a beat. Speaker 3 (10:30) But, you know, this thought that, okay, the warning signs were there. But people didn't realize it at the time. Now, looking back, obviously, it's easy to see. I think that happens quite a bit for people. You get swept up in a relationship. How often do people maybe overlook some things that they're later going to say, yeah, that should have jumped out at me more. That should have been a red flag. But everybody knows what it's like when you have this new relationship. Speaker 3 (11:05) Yeah. Speaker 4 (11:06) It'd be like meeting somebody and then telling you that how smart they are. They're immense. And they got this and that. Yeah. They're Speaker 3 (11:12) just, they're just totally swept off their feet or their BS meter shoots into red and a layer. I got to get the heck out of this speed dating thing. I don't even know why I chose to do this. As soon as William got back to Vegas, Angel said they were thrown into chaos with his behavior. He was arrested for a DUI and needed Angel's help getting out of jail. The show didn't provide dates for the DUI charge, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that William was arrested in late 2007 for driving under the influence. That was later reduced to two counts of reckless driving and one count of bribing a police officer. Speaker 4 (11:58) Well, he'll bribing the officer. Yeah. It normally doesn't work out. Speaker 3 (12:02) I don't think it does nowadays, right? Maybe if you were in the 20s or 30s, maybe. Now, it's not confirmed if these charges were related to or separate from the incident that Angel was referring to in her interview. She said she knew the DUI would make it difficult for William to travel and find work, but she convinced herself that they could still make things work. But as months passed, William spiraled out of control. One evening, Angel came home from work and learned that William broke into an apartment at their complex. He obtained and used a chainsaw in the break-in. He was charged with malicious destruction of property. Speaker 4 (12:47) Such a strange thing to do, right? I mean, you're going to, hey, babe. Speaker 4 (12:54) I've been arrested. I took someone's chainsaw and I used it to break into one of the apartments here. Speaker 3 (13:03) Well, you know, breaking and entering is usually thought of as this kind of sneaky, quiet endeavor. It's a little tough to be sneaky and quiet when you're using a damn chainsaw. Speaker 4 (13:18) It takes you five pulls to get it started. You know, if that happens, have it. That didn't wake everybody up. Now the cutting into whatever you're cutting into. Speaker 3 (13:27) It's all going to be loud. Yeah. When William was able to talk to Angel about what happened, he made the excuse that he was drunk and high and couldn't really remember what happened. He made her feel as if she needed to be more understanding and empathetic towards him. I don't think so. No, I don't think so either. But again, you know. When people are very manipulative and they're good at doing it, can they make their partner feel as though, even though they're the ones that are doing all the wrong things, it's somehow their partner's fault. Yeah. And I think a lot of people do that. And I think that's what William was doing here. Another disturbing incident occurred around the time Angel and William were moving. Angel and her sister went to pick up her cat during their final trip. to the old apartment, they were concerned when the cat didn't come out to greet them. They couldn't find her in the apartment, and all of the cat's things, such as her bowls, litter box, and toys,