SURVIVALIST BECOMES A CAUTIONARY TALE

Peter Keller was preparing for the end of the world and had a large gun collection and “often took extra supplies to stockpile at a fort in the woods,” according to his daughter’s boyfriend.

Authorities in Monroe, Washington, believe that on April 22, Keller murdered his 18-year-old daughter and his 41-year-old wife, along with the family’s cat and dog and then set their house on fire.

Initially, Keller was a “person of interest” in the murders; however, he was soon the prime suspect and an arrest warrant for first degree murder was issued.

For whatever reasons, Keller shot his daughter Kaylene and his wife Lynnette in the head with a .22 caliber weapon, then placed a plastic can of gas in a skillet on the stove, turned on a burner and fled.

Last Saturday, SWAT team accompanied by Seattle police officers, located Keller’s “fort,” which was, in fact, an elaborate underground bunker that he had spent eight years secretly constructing in the woods.

“Sheriff’s detectives found clues to the whereabouts of the bunker after processing the crime scene at the house where the women were murdered. Detectives also received tips from citizens who had seen Keller’s truck at the Rattlesnake Ridge Trailhead over the past year,” said Sgt. Cindi West, a King County sheriff’s office spokesperson.

Official documents said that Lynnette Keller’s family “described Peter Keller as reclusive and a man who had a fascination with trains and guns as well as a ‘survivalist mentality’ with distaste for authority.”

After locating Keller’s bunker, the SWAT team blew open the door and entered, finding Keller dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

The Sky Valley Chronicle reported: “Inside the bunker detectives say they found 13 guns and a number of shelves filled with boxes of ammunition as well as a stove, a water jug, sealed plastic containers, PVC pipe, a small trailer, a few cans of gasoline, some buckets and a ventilation system.”

While this is a grim and sad story, as 2012 evolves, I worry that it is simple one of many such stories that will appears in the coming months. The stress of Armageddon/End of Days/Doomsday/the Apocalypse may become so great for some with the “survivalist mentality” that ironically they will snap. Frankly, and I don’t mean to sound callus or crude, if they kill themselves, c'est la vie – that’s life and there are those people who self-select to thin the herd – however, when they kill the innocent on their way out, damn them to hell.