Catfish John Keenan Arrested, Another Rape Victim Comes Forward
Be Scofield is the author of the new book Hunting Lucifer: One Reporter's Search for Cults and Demons. Her reporting is mentioned in the NYtimes, Rolling Stone, People and more.
-> Read our 5-part Kristal Reisinger investigation
UPDATE 9/23/2022: Catfish John Keenan was found dead in Raleigh, NC.
March 30th 2022
John Keenan aka Catfish was arrested yesterday on March 29th, 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina. The charges listed are as follows: Possession of a stolen motor vehicle, felony possession schedule II substance, and possession of a controlled substance with the intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a schedule IV substance. It’s unclear what drugs Keenan was arrested for but schedule II drugs include cocaine, meth and fentanyl while schedule IV drugs include things like xanax, ambien and valium.
In 2019 Catfish John Keenan was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and possession of meth in Raleigh.
Up & Vanished podcast host Payne Lindsay confronted Catfish at a bar in Raleigh in 2020 during the Oxygen special about Kristal Reisinger. Catfish threatened him and tried to attack him as Payne drove off.
Kristal Reisinger was pushed off the balcony at Catfish’s home in July, 2016 by Dready Brian Otten and broke her neck according to inside sources interviewed in my Kristal Reisinger series Part I. The group then allegedly disposed of her body.
Another Rape Victim Comes Forward
After the publication of my series on Kristal Reisinger and Catfish John Keenan’s involvement in her disappearance another woman has come forward alleging he drugged and raped her. This adds to the other new disturbing allegations reported in Part II of the series which include drugging, holding women captive, physically assault and possibly rape. I interviewed the latest victim about what happened.
On October 9th, 2013 a woman named “Tiffany” (alias name) filed a police report with the Raleigh police department alleging she had been raped. A copy of the police report states “rape by force” as the classification of the crime. At the time of filing she didn’t know her alleged rapists name.
Three days prior to filing the report Tiffany was at a bar with friends when Catfish John Keenan started playing cornhole with her group. None of them knew Catfish but were friendly and welcomed him in. Tiffany thought it was odd that she saw Catfish at all three bars she had been at that night.”He followed me,” she said reflecting in hindsight. Despite her bar hopping that night Tiffany wasn’t drinking. She was “stone cold sober,” she told me during an interview.
The group of friends decided to go back to Tiffany’s house to continue the party and Catfish tagged along. He hopped in her car, which made her uncomfortable since no one knew him but figured since it was all guy friends returning to her place she was ok. And the friend group was ok with him tagging alone.
After hanging out with her neighbor and Catfish for a bit Catfish offered to make Tiffany a drink. She was indifferent but allowed him to. She told him there was some vodka in the freezer.
Some of the group didn’t end up returning to Tiffany’s and when the party wasn’t happening the neighbor friend there left.
The next thing Tiffany remembers is waking up in her bed with Catfish John Keenan, naked, on top of her raping her. “I lost my shit and forced him off of me,” she told me during an interview. Keenan wouldn’t leave, however, and after 15 minutes of screaming at him on the balcony she threatened him. “I threatened to pull a gun,” she said. She told him, “If you don’t leave I will get my gun and shoot you,” which finally convinced him to go. “I slept through the entirety of the next day,” she told me. The drink Catfish made for her was the only alcoholic drink she had all night. She hadn’t taken any other drugs either.
Tiffany immediately called her therapist and told her what happened. Tiffany then went to the police and filed a report. A few investigators collected her clothes but told her they couldn’t do anything with them. And because Tiffany had showered they couldn’t do a rape kit. She also messaged the bar owners. One night she saw Catfish at the bar and called the police saying her assaulter was there and she wouldn’t leave until they came and questioned him. They showed up and spoke with him but wouldn’t divulge what he said.
Like so many other rape cases, Tiffany said the police were not interested in pursuing charges. Despite her many pleas nothing was done.
Once word got out that she went to the police she was villanized by people at the bar for stirring up trouble. But two other women came forward with stories of abuse by Catfish, not rape, but some type of mistreatment. After these women saw what happened to Tiffany being demonized they refused to go to the police or public.
This is the third public allegation of Catfish drugging and possibly raping a woman. Kristal Reisinger told people she had been drugged and raped at Catfish’s house in Crestone and a woman named “Kelly” (alias) described to me how Catfish drugged her and held her captive for three days. She thinks she may have been raped as Catfish bragged to her boyfriend they had been sexual, despite her never knowingly engaging in sex with him. Two other women allege Catfish held them captive; one was his housecleaner who he held up with an AR-15 and the other a neighbor who he allegedly drugged and physically attacked.
If anyone has information relevant to Kristal’s disappearance or a story about Catfish John Keenan please contact me at bescofieldreporter @ gmail.com
READ MORE: The Kristal Reisinger series
