Canadian-American serial killer, Happy Face Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson murdered at least eight women in the United States during the early 1990s. His bio explored.
The Happy Face Killer terrorized women in the 90s, killing them and then dumping their bodies in ditches or on the side of the road.
The infamous serial killer’s case has been featured and studied in an array of programs — here’s everything to know about him.
Who is the Happy Face Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson?
Keith Hunter Jesperson is a notorious serial killer from the 90s who was born in 1955 in British Columbia, Canada.
He stands at a height of 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) and weighs around 255 pounds (11 kg).
By profession, he worked as an interstate truck driver.
Previously, he had wanted to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), but an injury suffered while training ended this endeavor.
The murderer was known as the Happy Face Killer because he drew smiley faces in his many letters to the media and authorities.
His last victim was the crime that ultimately led to his capture.
After realizing he was about to be arrested, Jesperson turned himself in hoping it would result in leniency during his sentencing.
Who are Keith Hunter Jesperson’s parents?
Jesperson was born on 6 April 1955, in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. His parents are Leslie (Les) and Gladys Jesperson.
Jesperson’s father was a domineering alcoholic; 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.
Does have any siblings?
Hunter Jesperson is not an only child to his mother and father. He has four other siblings.
He is the middle child with two brothers and two sisters.
How was Keith Hunter Jesperson’s childhood like?
While young, Keith Hunter Jesperson had a poor upbringing which played a major part in him being a serial killer. He considered an outcast and a black sheep by his own family.
Other children in his locality also frequently teased him for his large size at a young age. Even his own brothers who were supposed to help him ended up being the worse as they instead nicknamed him “Igor” or “Ig”, a name that stuck throughout his school years
As a shy kid, he always isolated himself and was 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, sometimes with a belt in front of others, and in one case he received an electric shock.
He showed signs of psychopathic behavior from an early age which included torturing animals and attacking other children.
At age 5 through to he was a bit older, he watched animals kill each other as well as the feeling he got from taking their lives. He started his killing experiment on people’s dogs, cats, birds which he would capture around the trailer park where he lived with his family. He 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.
Who is Keith Hunter Jesperson’s wife?
Keith Hunter Jesperson has been married once in his entire life. At the age of 20, he settled down with his wife, Rose Hucke. The couple lived in Selah, Washington.
Keith and Rose tied the knot in 1975. Details about their marriage is not documented yet.
At the time, Jesperson worked as a truck driver to support the family.
After over a decade of marriage, Jesperson and Hucke separated. Before their divorce in 1990, they were parents.
Their split comes as a result of infidelity on his side. His wife suspected he was having extramarital affairs with when strange women would call.
How many children does Keith Hunter Jesperson have?
Through out fourteen and close to fifteen years of marriage, serial killer and his ex-wife Rose Hucke had three children: two daughters and one son.
Following Hucke and Jesperson’s split, she moved out of their house to live with her parents in Spokane, Washington. He left with her and her kids’s belongings and drove 200 miles away. The oldest child, Melissa, was ten years old.
Their oldest child, a daughter named Melissa G. Moore was ten years old when they separated.
Melissan More has been made headlines after her dad’s arrest. She appeared on Dr. Phil to talk about her father in November 2008. 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. She was a correspondent for Crime Watch Daily.
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. In November 2014, she wrote an article about her father for the BBC.
In March 2018, she was featured in an episode, titled “Put on a Happy Face”, of the Investigation Discovery true crime series Evil Lives Here. In September 2018, podcast network HowStuffWorks began releasing a show called Happy Face featuring interviews with Melissa about her childhood and her father. The series had 12 episodes.
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 Laura Pettler. The episode was released on July 9, 2021.
Who were his victims?
Jesperson killed eight women between 1990 and 1995.
While he has claimed to have killed as many as 185 people, only eight murders have been confirmed.
Here is everything to know about each victim – although some are still unidentified to this day:
Taunja Bennett
Jesperson’s first victim was Taunja Bennett.
He met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon.
On January 21, 1990, after taking her to his rental place, plans to have sex went awry and he “beat her senseless,” he told author M. William Phelps – who wrote Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.
After he raped and strangled her, Jesperson dumped her body near the Columbia River Gorge, outside Portland.
California Jane Doe
Jesperson’s second victim, known only as Claudia, was found murdered on August 30, 1992, in Blythe, California.
Jesperson told Phelps they met at a truck stop and that after he agreed to give her a ride he felt like she was trying to “play” him. That triggered him.
He duct-taped her mouth and hands before raping and strangling her.
Cynthia Lyn Rose
Cynthia Lyn Rose, 32, was found dead in September 1992.
Her body was discovered behind the Blueberry Hill Cafe in Turlock, California.
Jesperson claims she was a sex worker who climbed into his truck, even though he told her he wasn’t interested in her services.
Laurie Ann Pentland
Laurie Ann Pentland, 26. Pentland’s body was found in November 1992 after being discarded in Salem, Oregon.
Jesperson claims he killed her after she tried to double-charge him for sex.
Another California Jane Doe
Jesperson claimed this still-unidentified woman as his fifth victim but told Phelps that he couldn’t recall anything about her.
Her body was found on a roadside rock pile in Santa Nella, California.
Florida Jane Doe
Jesperson’s fifth victim was known only as Susanne, whom he met in Crestview, Florida.
Jesperson described murdering her, like other women he killed, as “putting her out of her misery.”
Angela Subrize
Jesperson met Angela Subrize, 21 in a bar in January 1995 and agreed to give her a ride before eventually killing her.
Because Jesperson allowed her to use his credit card to make a phone call, he devised a depraved way to conceal her identity.
“He strapped the woman beneath his big rig,” the New York Post reported. “Her body disintegrated against the hot asphalt as he drove.” Her body was found after his arrest.
Julia Ann Winningham
Jesperson had dated Julia Ann Winningham, 41, before killing her on March 3, 1995, because he believed she was after his money.
Because of their relationship, authorities connected her death to him.
“When contacted by sheriff’s detectives, he said he had gagged her with duct tape, raped her in the sleeping cab of his rig, and strangled her,” reported the Spokesman-Review.
Where is the Happy Face Killer now?
Jesperson is serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem.
In September 2009, Jesperson was indicted 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.
In November 2021, Netflix featured the Happy Face Killer in their original series Catching Killers. The Happy Face KIller’s story features in two parts in episodes 3 and 4.
Additionally, ABC’s 20/20 will re-air their episode on Jeperson’s case called Sincerely, the Happy Face Killer, on Friday, August 25, 2023.