Jeffrey Bell
Appearances
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
My name is Jeffrey Bell. I came up here in 1984. I worked in Prudhoe Bay in the oil fields as a operator in a refinery up there. And then I applied to be an Anchorage police officer. I worked for the Anchorage Police Department, but I was also sworn as a U.S. Marshal slash FBI investigator.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
Once we found that somebody returned to the coffee shop and took her cell phone, obviously we became very concerned that something bad had happened to her.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
For 48 hours or so in any case is important to try to develop as many leads as you can. Because James Koenig and Wayne didn't report her missing the night before, we were already way behind the power curve in Samantha's Friends and family describe Samantha as someone who makes you feel like a best friend.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
The response from the public was overwhelmingly supportive of the Koenig family in trying to do anything that they could to help.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
A few minutes after it was taken from the truck, the debit card was used to check the balance. The account was accessed, but no money was taken.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
The person was in a mask, had a big puffy jacket on, so you really couldn't tell how big that person was.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
As a matter of routine, we would want to investigate James Koenig's home, where Samantha lived, to look for any information on her computers or tablets, which is pretty standard in a missing persons case, especially with younger kids. And he refused to let the police department do the initial search.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
Ultimately, investigators got a search warrant to search Mr. Koenig's house. At the time, we thought maybe he was hiding a marijuana grow or something. But that turned out to be nothing.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
We ultimately recovered video from the Home Depot store, which is across the street from where the kiosk was.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
James Koenig established a reward fund. There was a lot of people that knew the Koenigs, and so a lot of money started rolling into Mr. Koenig's account.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
Nobody knew what that meant. We believed that it was, in fact, from the person who had taken Samantha, or at least had her phone at this point.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
In the note, he is telling us that once he collects $30,000 in six months to a year, then he will give information potentially where Samantha's at. Along with the ransom note, there was a photo, potentially a proof of life photo.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
And within six hours, just before midnight, the debit card is used. He withdrew $500.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
There was a silver Nissan Xterra SUV. We believe the person that used the car had gotten out of that vehicle, walked over to the ATM, and then came back and got in that vehicle and left the area.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
For the next several days, we're constantly doing surveillance on the ATM machines in hopes that we can be present for the next withdrawal.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
The more time that went by, the more concerned everybody was for Samantha Koenig.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
So in coordination with the Texas Rangers and the FBI in Texas, we put out a bolo and be on the lookout for the information that we had recovered from each ATM that he had used along the way.
20/20
Wild Crime: Ain't She Purty? | S4 Ep. 1
There was talk about whether it was really an abduction or was it a boyfriend or was it somebody that she knew and they were just stealing the money to go away somewhere.