Keith Hunter Jesperson is a Canadian-American serial killer from the 1990s. He was a long-haul trucker who picked up women, raped them before savagely murdering them. There are at least eight known victims across the United States. His MO was a hand-drawn smiley face on confession letters he sent to authorities, taunting them. That is how he coined the name “Happy Face Killer.”
The “Happy Face Killer”
Keith Hunter Jesperson was born in Canada on April 6, 1955. He had four siblings and was often abused by his alcoholic father. When he was young, he showed signs consistent with serial killers such as torturing and killing animals. When he was 12 years old, he had issues adjusting to a new school and was bullied often. He became increasingly violent and almost beat one of his bullies to death and attempted to drown another one. He described these incidents as out-of-body experiences like he was watching them as an outsider.
In 1973, Keith Hunter Jesperson miraculously graduated high school and decided to work for his father instead of attending college. When he was 20, he married Rose and together they had three children: Melissa, Carrie, and Jason. Their marriage lasted 15 years before they divorced, finalizing it in 1990. After the divorce, his killing spree began.
His Oldest Daughter
Keith Hunter Jesperson’s oldest child, Melissa Moore, is quite outspoken about her father’s past and how it has affected her. When she found out who he was, it took her a while to come to terms with it. However, when she did, she began advocating and sharing her story. In an interview with BBC News decades after finding out her father was a serial killer, she recalled her childhood. She said her father tortured and killed animals in front of her and her siblings. She claimed to have always known something was wrong with her father, but she did not know the extent of it.
Moore is estranged from her father and has a family and children who will never meet him. In the BBC interview, she reflected on when she let go, “And finally I knew the answer to the question that had been bothering me every time I thought about our last breakfast together in the diner. Would he have killed me if I had told the police about his crimes? Yes, he would. Understanding that allowed me to say goodbye to him.”
The Murders
In January 1990, 23-year-old Taunja Bennett was brutally raped, beaten, and strangled to death. This became the first known victim of Keith Hunter Jesperson. Initially, he was off the hook when a couple was wrongfully convicted of Bennett’s murder. It was not until he confessed in an anonymous writing on the bathroom wall of a Montana bus terminal. He signed it with a smiley face. He felt a thrill of getting away with murder, so he continued. He murdered three women in 1992 and four more between 1993-1995.
Keith Hunter Jesperson was caught when he turned himself in for murdering his then-girlfriend, Julie Ann Winningham who was strangled to death and dumped on the side of the road. Jesperson admitted to killing hundreds but it is only confirmed he murdered at least eight women across California, Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and Florida between 1990-1995. He is currently serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Final Thoughts
Keith Hunter Jesperson was dying to let the public know who he was. Now, he gets to be relevant again with Paramount’s newest mini-series ‘Happy Face.’ The first two episodes were released today, March 19, 2025. Dennis Quaid stars as the serial killer and Annaleigh Ashford as his daughter Melissa. Hopefully, the series portrays him for what he is: a monster.
