Keith Hunter Jesperson
Keith Hunter Jesperson (born April 6, 1955) 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.
Keith Hunter Jesperson | |
|---|---|
Mug shot of Jesperson in December 2009 | |
| Born | 6 April 1955 Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada |
| Height | 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) |
| Spouse |
Rose Hucke
(m. 1975; div. 1990) |
| Children | 3 |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment (without parole) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 8 confirmed (confessed to as many as 185) |
Span of crimes | 21 January 1990 – 16 March 1995 |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| State(s) | California, Florida, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming |
Date apprehended | 30 March 1995 |
| Imprisoned at | Oregon State Penitentiary |
After the body of his first victim, Taunja Bennett, was found, media attention surrounded Laverne Pavlinac, a woman who falsely confessed to having killed Bennett with the help of her abusive boyfriend, John Sosnovske. Upset that he was not getting any media attention, Jesperson drew a smiley face on a bathroom wall hundreds of miles from the scene of the crime and wrote an anonymous letter confessing to Bennett's murder, providing proof. When that did not elicit a response, he began writing letters to the media and authorities.
Jesperson's last victim was the crime that ultimately led to his capture. While he has claimed to have killed as many as 160 people, only eight murders have been confirmed. Jesperson is currently serving a sentence of life without parole at the Oregon State Penitentiary.