Something about the case of Staff Sgt. Keith Keiffer didn’t seem right to the police in Jackson, California.
Keiffer, a security forces airman at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was found in a ditch just off a highway in Pine Grove, California, the afternoon of Jan. 22. He had a head injury, and claimed he could not remember who he was or how he had gotten those injuries, the local Jackson Police Department said in a Facebook post asking for help identifying him. He was taken to a hospital, and identified the next morning as an airman who had previously been assigned to Travis Air Force Base, California.
Later, he told police he had been kidnapped more than 50 miles away in Sacramento, held in a warehouse for several days, and hit on the head with a palm-sized rock multiple times before passing out, Sgt. Jose Arevalos of the Jackson Police Department told Air Force Times.
But Keiffer’s head injuries were minor and superficial, Arevalos said — nothing like being repeatedly struck with a rock by an assailant would cause.
“We knew that it didn’t add up,” Arevalos said. “His injuries were not consistent [with his claims], so we felt he was not being truthful.”
And on Wednesday, Keiffer’s wife Shanika told the CBS station in Sacramento that he admitted he had fabricated the entire story to get out of his active duty service and hit himself on the head with a rock.
“He was reaching out for help, and he didn’t have it,” Shanika told CBS. “That was the only solution he could come up with, by making it seem as if he was attacked.”
Attempts to contact Keiffer and his wife were unsuccessful. CBS reported that Keiffer denied telling his wife he made up the story.
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After the Jackson police became suspicious of Keiffer’s claims, Arevalos said, they still had to reach out to the Sacramento Police Department and turn the case over to them, since the alleged crime supposedly took place in their jurisdiction.
Officer Karl Chan of the Sacramento Police Department said that their detectives spoke to Keiffer and investigated. They soon decided no crime had been committed in the Sacramento area and closed the investigation, Chan said.
Chan said the Sacramento authorities are not charging Keiffer with making a false statement. The department only files those charges as a “last resort,” he said, and does not want to discourage people from reporting crimes to the police.
According to the Air Force Personnel Center, Keiffer is a response force leader assigned to the 791st Missile Security Forces Squadron at Minot, which is part of the 91st Missile Wing. He entered active duty in May 2012.
In a statement provided to Air Force Times, Minot said that Keiffer was on leave when he was found in California.
“Staff Sgt. Keith Keiffer ... is returning to Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, from his leave in California, where he was discovered injured and hospitalized Jan. 22, 2020,” Minot said Thursday. “Team Minot and the United States Air Force take any allegations of misconduct seriously. The incident is under investigation and no more information can be provided at this time.”
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
