Happy Face Killer ( Keith Hunter Jesperson ) is a Canadian-American serial killer know all about him in this article as like her Family, Parents, Wife, Daughter, Crime and Investigation
| Bio | |
| Name | Keith Hunter Jesperson |
| Birthdate ( Age) | 6 April 1955 |
| Place of Birth | Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality | American-Canadian |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Spouse/Partner | Rose Hucke (m. 1975–1990) |
| Children | Melissa G. Moore ( Daughter ) |
| Parents | Father – Leslie Jesperson
Mother – Gladys Jesperson |
| Education | Graduated from High School |
| Profession | American-Canadian serial killer |
| Net Worth | Not Known |
| Last Update | Nonember 2021 |
Keith Hunter Jesperson is a Canadian-American serial killer who murdered at least eight women in the United States during the early 1990s.
He was known as the “Happy Face Killer” because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and authorities. Many of his victims were sex workers and transients who had no connection to him. Strangulation was Jesperson’s preferred method of murdering, the same method he often used to kill animals as a child.
Early Life and Family
Keith Hunter Jesperson was born on 6 April 1955, to Leslie (Les) and Gladys Jesperson in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada,the middle child with two brothers and two sisters.Jesperson’s father was a domineering alcoholic, and, according to Jesperson, his paternal grandfather was prone to violence. Jesperson’s father denied being an abusive parent; however, while investigating for his book on the killer, author Jack Olsen was able to confirm much of the claimed abuse with other family members.
Treated like an outcast by his own family and teased by other children for his large size at a young age, Jesperson was a lonely child who showed a propensity for torturing and killing animals. After moving to Selah, Washington, United States, he had trouble fitting in and making friends because of his large size. His brothers did not help him, instead they nicknamed him “Igor” or “Ig”, a name that stuck throughout his school years.Because of this, Jesperson was a shy child, content to play by himself much of the time. He would often get into trouble for behaving badly, sometimes violently, and would be severely punished by his father. This included beatings and, in one case, he received an electric shock.
At a very early age—as young as five—Jesperson would capture and torture animals. He enjoyed watching animals kill each other as well as the feeling he got from taking their lives.This continued as he got older. Jesperson would capture birds and stray cats and dogs around the trailer park where he lived with his family, severely beating the animals and then strangling them to death, something for which he claims his father was proud of him. In the years following, Jesperson said he often thought about what it would be like to do the same to a human.
Jesperson reported that he was raped at age 14.He graduated from high school in 1973, but did not attend college because his father did not believe he could do it.Although Jesperson was not successful with girls in high school, having never even attended a school dance or his prom, he did enter into a relationship after high school. In 1975, when Jesperson was aged 20, he married Rose Hucke, and the couple had three children—two daughters and one son. Jesperson worked as a truck driver to support the family.
Happy Face Killer Wife and Daughter Melissa G. Moore
In November 2008, Jesperson’s daughter, Melissa G. Moore, appeared on Dr. Phil to talk about her father.She was also featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the Lifetime Movies network series Monster in My Family,and a 20/20 special on ABC.In 2008, Moore published a book titled, Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter. Moore recounts living with Jesperson until her parents’ 1990 divorce, and noticing how her father was different when she was in elementary school.
Their house bordered an apple orchard, and Jesperson killed stray cats and gophers that wandered nearby. One day, she watched, horrified, as he hung stray kittens from the family’s clothesline. She ran to get her mother, and when they returned, the kittens lay on the ground dead.He had watched and laughed as the kittens clawed each other to escape, then he killed them.
She wrote an article about her father for the BBC in November 2014.In March 2018, she was featured in an episode, titled “Put on a Happy Face”, of the true crime series, Evil Lives Here.She was also a correspondent for CrimeWatchDaily.
In September 2018, podcast network HowStuffWorks began releasing a show called Happy Face featuring interviews with Melissa about her childhood and her father.In June, 2021, a trailer appeared on iTunes for a new true crime podcast called Life After Happy Face, to be hosted by Melissa Moore and Forensic Criminologist Dr. Laura Pettler.
Crime and Investigation
Jesperson’s first known victim was Taunja Bennett on 23 January 1990, near Portland, Oregon, United States. He introduced himself to Bennett at a bar and invited her to a house he was renting. After getting in an argument with Bennett he strangled her to death with a rope and disposed of her body.Two and a half years later, on 30 August 1992, the currently unidentified body of a woman Jesperson had raped and strangled was found near Blythe, California, United States.Jesperson gives the Jane Doe’s name as Claudia. A month later, in Turlock, California, the body of Cynthia Lyn Rose was discovered.
Jesperson claims Rose was a sex worker who entered his truck at a truck stop while he slept. His fourth victim was another sex worker, Laurie Ann Pentland of Salem, Oregon, whose body was found in November 1992. According to Jesperson, Pentland attempted to double the fee she charged for the sex he had been engaged in with her. She threatened to call the police, and he strangled her.
It was more than six months before Jesperson claimed his next victim, in June 1993, when he murdered another unidentified woman who, he claimed, was named “Carla” or “Cindy”, in Santa Nella, California.Police originally considered her death a drug overdose. More than one year later, in September 1994, another Jane Doe was found in Crestview, Florida. Jesperson claims that her name was Susanne.
Jesperson was arrested on 30 March 1995, for the murder of Julie Winningham. He had been questioned by police a week before, but they had no grounds to arrest him after he refused to talk. In the days following, Jesperson decided that he was certainly going to be arrested, and after two suicide attempts turned himself in hoping it would result in leniency during his sentencing.
While in custody, Jesperson began revealing details of his killings and making claims of many others, most of which he later recanted. A few days before his arrest, he wrote a letter to his brother in which he confessed to having killed eight people over the course of five years. This led police agencies in several states to reopen old cases, many of which were found to be possible victims of Jesperson.
Although Jesperson at one point claimed to have had as many as 185 victims,only the eight women killed in Washington, Oregon, California, Florida, Nebraska and Wyoming have been confirmed. He is serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. In September 2009, Jesperson was indicted in and extradited to Riverside County, California, on murder charges in December 2009.He was convicted of another murder and received a fourth life sentence in January 2010.
Is Happy Face Killer still alive
While he has claimed to have killed as many as 185 people, only eight murders have been confirmed. Jesperson is currently serving a sentence of life without parole at the Oregon State Penitentiary.
