Keith Hunter Jesperson

Keith Hunter Jesperson (born April 6, 1955, Chilliwack, British Columbia) is a Canadian born American serial killer known as the "Happy Face Killer" for the smiley face he drew on his many letters to the media. Keith Hunter Jesperson was first arrested in 1995 for the murder of his girlfriend, Julie Ann Winningham, 41, of Camas.

In addition to his conviction for Winningham's murder, Jesperson has been convicted of murdering four women in Oregon, California, and Wyoming. While Jesperson sat in the Clark County Jail for the murder of Julie Winningham, he began talking to his attorney, Thomas Phelan, about other crimes that he had committed starting with Taunja Bennett. By the age of 35, he was a tall hulking man who stood at 6'6" and weighed 240 pounds. He had dreams of working for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. During his training as a policeman he sustained a fall during a training exercise and was permanently dismissed.

He later sought work as an interstate truck driver in Cheney, Washington. During the homicide investigation of Winningham, witnesses who gave their information to the police described Jesperson as having a "Baby Huey" appearance.

His first known victim was Taunja Bennett on January 23, 1990, near Portland, Oregon. Overall, Jesperson murdered 8 people in Nebraska, California, Florida, Washington, Oregon, and Wyoming as he was a truck driver at the time he committed these murders. He is serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. In prison he took up painting as a hobby and sells his artwork over the internet.

Laverne Pavlinac read the news reports surrounding Taunja Bennett's death and gave a false confession to police. Pavlinac and live-in boyfriend John Sosnovske were convicted of the murder of Jesperson's first victim in February 1991. On November 27, 1995, after serving more than four years in prison for a crime they didn't commit, Pavlinac and Sosnovske were released from prison after Jesperson and his attorney offered his confession with convincing evidence of his guilt. He had given police officers the location of the victim's purse, which was a detail not released to the press.

As a child, Jesperson was the middle child with two brothers, Bruce and Brad, and two sisters, Sharon and Jill. Keith was segregated and treated differently by the rest of his family. His father, Leslie (Les) Jesperson, charged Keith room and board, 30 dollars a week, while his brothers and sisters paid nothing. Keith tortured animals and set fire to houses and wooded areas. The Jespersons moved from British Columbia to the United States. In Selah, Washington, Jesperson had trouble fitting in and making friends. His brothers didn't help him, instead they nicknamed him "Igor" or "Ig" and the name stuck throughout high school.

In November 2008, Jesperson's daughter, Melissa G. Moore, (who has written a book about her life growing up with a serial killer) appeared on the Dr. Phil Show to talk about her father. Her book, Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter was also featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show September 17, 2009. Moore lived with her father until the divorce in 1990 between Keith Jesperson and her mother Rose. Melissa noticed her dad was different when she was in elementary school. Their house bordered an apple orchard, and her dad killed stray cats and gophers that wandered nearby. But one day she watched, horrified, as he hanged her pet kittens from the family's clothes line and beat them. He also watched and laughed as the kittens clawed each other to escape. Melissa Moore is the eldest of three children born to Jesperson. She now resides in Spokane, Washington, with her husband and two young children.

Translation

The phrase "Keith Hunter Jesperson" occurs as such in the following languages: English, Dutch.