. Convicted murderer Keith Jesperson, right, shown here at a Nov. 2, 1995, court appearance in Portland, Ore., with attorney Thomas Phelan, has recanted all his previous murder admissions. Sometimes they even brag about it. Pavlinac made this false statement because she wanted to escape her abusive relationship with Sosnovske. He would often get into trouble for behaving badly, sometimes violently, and would be severely punished by his father. [10] Jesperson soon realized that this job afforded him the opportunity to kill without being suspected. Jesperson claims that her name was Susanne. Often Keith would dream of becoming an RCMP officer, the power of a position like that appealed to him, but his dream was dashed in 1990 after an injury prevented him from qualifying. Victim 3:Cynthia Lyn Rose, 32, was found dead in September 1992. Laverne Pavlinac is seen here showing investigators where Taunja Bennett's body was found, even though she had nothing to do with the crime. I have been a killer for five years and have killed eight people." Best Known For: Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. Meanwhile, the real killer carried out a series of murders over five years. Jesperson has said that he took 166 lives, but only the above eight murders have been attributed to him. Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. James' body, however, had almost no visible damage, which was highly suspicious because it had traveled through heavily trafficked river. , who survived a violent encounter with Jesperson when she was 21. 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. [32] The series had 12 episodes. Police have not saidif a smiley face was present near the death site. Sosnovske was brought in for questioning and denied any involvement. April 19, 2022, 7:31 PM PDT. Several years later, Hucke began to suspect Jesperson was having affairs when strange women would call. On January 1, 2000, Northern Illinois University junior. Victim 2: California Jane Doe. He introduced himself to Bennett at a bar and invited her to a house he was renting. Some of his victims, as seen in this timeline, have never been identified. Jesperson is currently serving a sentence of life without parole at the Oregon State Penitentiary. On October 8, 2009, Hurley went to the game with two friends. They'd mostly all been college-aged, popular, and athletic. She later rescinded her confession, but in 1991 a jury still found her guilty. The daughter of a man dubbed the "Happy Face Killer" has revealed the suffering she went through after discovering her father, Keith Jesperson, was a serial rapist and murderer who preyed on what he once claimed was as many as 185 people over a five-year span. "Pavlinac has selfishly engaged in an obsessive and persistent obstruction of justice which deflected the investigation at an early stage, causing it to focus on her boyfriend, Sosnovske, while the real killer remained free to kill again and again," Lipscomb wrote in 1995. She was a mother and approximately 45 years old at the time she was killed. After he raped and strangled her, Jesperson dumped her body near the Columbia River Gorge, outside Portland. But Pavlinac claimed she knew where she and Sosnovske had left Bennett's body in the Columbia Gorge outside of town, and took investigators to the exact remote wooded area where Bennett was found. Before he was identified as a serial killer, he anonymously confessed to his crimes in messages that contained smiley faces, leading to his being nicknamed the "Happy Face Killer." The victims were predominately white, male, athletic ("3.5 and above star athletes," according to Gannon), and young from 17 to early 20s. Happy Face stands out because of Moore 's intimate tie to the criminal in question. In 1975, when Jesperson was aged 20, he married Rose Hucke, and the couple had three children: two daughters and one son. The DNA Doe Project identified Skiple's body in partnership with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office after it was found near westbound State Route 152. Brown also believes that the smiley face images found in some of the cases are likely nothing more than coincidences based upon making a guess at where the body entered the water and searching a wide . Rather than fall victim to the trauma surrounding her father's crimes and arrest, she processed the events. The 21-year-old finance student rarely partied since he was dedicated to the university's soccer team, but he decided to have a few drinks for the new year. Skiples remains were found on the side of. Possible Smiley Face killers victim Mason Cox. A smiley face was found spray-painted near where Homans body was found. "The greatest human tragedy is that Laverne Pavlinac derailed the investigation in 1990, and in four years, Keith Jesperson killed more women," said Jim McIntyre, the Multnomah County, Oregon, prosecutor who handled the cases. Melissa Moore's father, known as the Happy Face Killer, murdered eight or more women. While in custody, Jesperson shared details of his eight murders. The body of Julie Winningham, 41, of Camas, Washington, was found alongside a Washington State road in 1995. She threatened to call the police, and he strangled her. He would go on to share details of the crime on other restroom walls. All Rights Reserved. Victim 6: Florida Jane Doe. In November 1992, Jesperson had an encounter with sex worker Laurie Anne Pentland at a truck stop. Her body was discovered behind the Blueberry Hill Cafe in Turlock, California. Her sister Michelle White said Bennett was the only one in their family who graduated from high school, someone who read a lot and loved music. Bennett was found strangled to death near a scenic overlook at the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon, had been . Jesperson was born on April 6, 1955, in British Columbia, Canada. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! After the murder, Jesperson remembered they'd spent days together and he'd let her use a credit card. Her real name remains a mystery. Could some of them be connected to a serial killer or group of killers? The Happy Face Killer's eighth and final victim that would be his downfall. Authorities came to believe they had convicted the wrong people. The oldest child, Melissa, was ten years old. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. Victims of the Smiley Face Killer | Photo Credits: Oxygen The Team of Men that Came Up With the Theory. Pavlinac seemed to know intimate details about the case. Skiple was known to family and friends as Patsy, according to the sheriffs department. But the judge did not overturn Pavlinac's conviction, writing he did not find a constitutional defect with her trial since she had been convicted by a jury of her peers. [7] Jesperson continued to spend time with his children when he was in town. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. . 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. April 19, 2022 / 7:43 AM / CBS San Francisco. This led police agencies in several states to reopen old cases, many of which were found to be possible victims of Jesperson. Skiples remains were found on the side of California State Route 152 in the Gilroy area about 80 miles southeast of San Francisco in June 1993, in an area known as Pacheco Pass. She's told her own daughter the same story, very convincingly.' When that did not create the attention he desired, he wrote letters to media outlets and police departments confessing to his murders, starting with a six-page letter to The Oregonian in which he revealed the details of his killings. Who is the Happy Face Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson? [7] He had watched and laughed as the kittens clawed each other to escape, then he killed them. He is serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. [22] She was also featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show,[23] the Lifetime Movies network series Monster in My Family,[24][25] and a 20/20 special on ABC. According to former detective Kevin Gannon and Dr. Lee Gilbertson, Geib's head and shoulders were sticking out of the water. He decided to drag her body underneath his truck to impede identification. Jesperson was linked to murdering six other women, some of which remain unknown to this day: an unidentified woman who Jesperson said was named "Claudia" in August 1992 near Blythe, California; Cynthia Lynn Rose in September 1992 in Turlock, California; Lori Ann Pentland in November 1992 in Salem, Oregon; an unidentified woman who Jesperson said was named "Carla" in June 1993 in Santa Nella, California; an unidentified woman who Jesperson said was named "Suzanne" in September 1994 in Crestview, Florida; and Angela Subrize in January 1995 in Laramie County, Wyoming. Geib's body was found three weeks later in a lake that had previously been searched. The message was signed with a smiley face. California investigators have identified a victim of the West Coast's notorious "Happy Face Killer" nearly 30 years after her body was discovered near a highway in 1993, officials recently . She had changed her story so many times that investigators said they wondered if she was telling the truth. [21], Following Bennett's murder, as all the attention was going to Pavlinac and Sosnovske, Jesperson wrote a confession on the bathroom wall of a truck stop and signed it with a smiley face. She also examined her father's actions in the podcast Happy Face. jocks) usually after a night of drinking at a bar are kidnapped, tortured, murdered and then their . Soon after his injury was when Keith started to kill. Jespersons fifth victim was known only as Susanne, whom he met in Crestview, Florida. Gannon, Duarte, Donovan and Gilbertson claim an organized group of serial killers would drug unsuspecting victims at a bar or party then abduct, hold and torture the victims before finally killing and dumping the bodies in water. Updated: Mar 3, 2021 (1955-) Who Is Keith Hunter. Jesperson murdered another woman in August 1992 at a Turlock, California truck stop. Jesperson was born on 6 April 1955, to Leslie (Les) and Gladys Jesperson in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada,[1] the middle child with two brothers and two sisters. On October 8, 2009, Hurley went to the game with two friends. The footage captured James entering a dark alley, and that was the last time he was seen alive. She told investigators she had gone to the bar to meet Sosnovke, but Bennett was alive when she picked them up and both got in the car with her. His older daughter has described witnessing acts of animal cruelty that included Jesperson killing kittens.