New clues in alleged 'Smiley Face Killer' murders - FOX 32 Chicago 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. 'Happy Face Killer' case tapes reveal the lengths woman went to frame The morning of October 2, Homan's body was found not far from the shore of the Mississippi River. "Theyhave her tell me the story and I looked at her again, and I said, 'Mom, are you sure?' The footage captured James entering a dark alley, and that was the last time he was seen alive. Many of his victims were sex workers and transients who had no connection to him. She claimed to have found a strange purse in the trunk of her car with a piece of denim from a pair of jeans inside -- When Bennett was found, her purse was gone and her jeans were missing the fly. A television movie, Happy Face Killer, starring David Arquette as Jesperson, aired in 2014. These convictions meant Jesperson was unlikely to ever face charges for his crime. Keith Hunter Jesperson (born 6 April 1955) is a Canadian-American serial killer who murdered at least eight women in the United States during the early 1990s. Sosnovske was brought in for questioning and denied any involvement. Article Title: Keith Hunter Jesperson Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/keith-hunter-jesperson, Publisher: A&E Television Networks, Last Updated: March 3, 2021, Original Published Date: February 2, 2021. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 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. [7] He had watched and laughed as the kittens clawed each other to escape, then he killed them. The Happy Face Killer | Medium "Now, I'm thinking, 'She's confessed she's pointed out the dump site, she's confessed to us on tape. Pavlinac told investigators during her last recorded statement on Feb. 26, 1990. California 'Happy Face Killer' victim identified after 29 years By Associated Press 8:06am Apr 20, 2022 A victim of the Happy Face Killer has been identified nearly 30 years after her body was left near a California highway, authorities said this week. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. 18, 2022, 3:19 p.m. Patricia Skiple, who lived in Colton, Oregon, has been identified as a victim of Keith Jesperson, the "Happy Face Killer," almost 30 years after Skiple's body . Revealed as the Happy Face Killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson confessed to killing eight women in Florida, California, Oregon, Wyoming, and Washington. Victim 8: Julia Ann Winningham, 41. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! In September 1994, the body of a woman was found in Florida. I thought, 'Oh my God, it felt like I put my mother in jail.'". Jesperson reported that he was raped at age 14. Smiley Face Killer Theory: The Evidence For And Against Jesperson claims he killed her after she tried to double charge him for sex, according to Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer., Because Jesperson allowed her to use his credit card to make a phone call, he devised a depraved way to conceal her identity. 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. As a child, he was cruel to animals he killed cats and snakes and, under the guise of hunting, inflicted pain on creatures like deer, rabbits, and coyotes. Her body, which had been strangled and tied up with duct tape, was found on August 30, 1992. The Happy Face Killer Pt. 1-Creepy Cascadia After a night of barhopping, Homan headed home at around 10 p.m. with a friend. GILROY (CBS SF/AP) A victim of the Happy Face Killer has been identified nearly 30 years after her body was left near a rural Gilroy highway . Daughter of the infamous 'Happy Face' serial killer, Melissa Moore, and leading female Forensic Criminologist, Dr. Laura Pettler, unearth chilling details from homicide case files in this weekly true-crime series which tells the actual stories of people who shared their lives with a killer or their victims. At school, Jesperson was bigger than his classmates and was taunted with names like "Monster Man" and "Igor." Jesperson became a suspect after Winningham's was found since he was known to be her boyfriend. They'd mostly all been college-aged, popular, and athletic. Strangulation was Jesperson's preferred method of murdering, the same method he often used to kill animals as a child. 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. [29][30] In September 2018, podcast network HowStuffWorks began releasing a show called Happy Face[31] featuring interviews with Melissa about her childhood and her father. At age 35, Keith was 6'7.5" tall and weighed 240lbs. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. "He went off into the woods with her," Pavlinac told investigators. whos serving multiple concurrent sentences in Oregon State Penitentiary. [5], That desire manifested in two attempted murders. One day, she watched, horrified, as he hung stray kittens from the family's clothesline. Police saidthere were no signs of foul play, and his death was ruled an undetermined drowning. She found out that her son had reportedly suffered blunt force trauma to the head, his eye socket and behind his left leg. Tension in the marriage increased, and after fourteen years, while Jesperson was on the road, Hucke packed up her and her children's belongings and drove 200 miles away to live with her parents in Spokane, Washington. He was sentenced to life in prison while Pavlinac was sentenced to no less than ten years, much more than she had anticipated. Happy Face Presents: Two Face iHeart True Crime True Crime 4.3 8.5K Ratings; What would you do if you learned you were adopted, your biological . T he Smiley Face death toll continues to climb, this time in Germany. They had three children, two girls and a boy. I don't," Sosnovke is heard saying on the tape. The Happy Face Killer: Mind of a Monster - IMDb was 23 years old when he went missing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Other students hold photos of Mr. Jesperson's victims. The Smiley Face Killer - Serialkillercalendar.com Gannon and Gilbertson also notedthe body appeared to have been staged three sticks were strategically placed around his body, and there were shoe and drag marks in the soil. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Jesperson, also called the "Happy Face Killer", who is serving two life sentences in Oregon in connection with guilty pleas to two murders. THE HAPPY FACE K!LLER - KEITH HUNTER JESPERSON #storytelling Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. [8], In November 2008, Jesperson's daughter, Melissa G. Moore, appeared on Dr. Phil to talk about her father. On January 21, 1990, after taking her to his rental place, plans to have sex went awry and he "beat her senseless," he told Phelps. Victim 1:Taunja Bennett. She then described how she watched Sosnovske have sex with Bennett while he directed her to hold a rope around her neck, and that she believed she pulled the rope too tight, killing Bennett. Her identity remains unknown. A journalist noticed the symbol and came up with the Happy Face Killer nickname. Most were strangers and some were sex workers. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. When investigators asked him why he decided to come forward, Jesperson listed two reasons. A smiley face had been spray-painted on a tree near where Geib's body was found, and a smiley face sticker was later placed on his gravesite. 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. However, the kicker is that these drownings happening in 11 different states. Killing Killers: 10 tips for eluding the Smiley Face killers His victims, who were often raped and strangled, included short-term acquaintances, sex workers and a girlfriend. Homan and his friend somehow got separated during their walk home, and his friend ended up at the ER detox with a head injury after being picked up by police. At the time, Pavlinac said she was able to dupe authorities because she had learned details of the crime from newspaper articles and from reading the search warrant without police noticing. She had changed her story so many times that investigators said they wondered if she was telling the truth. While he has claimed to have killed many more people, officials can only confirm that Jesperson killed eight women between 1990 and 1995 in California, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Nebraska and Wyoming. When Young came back to the hotel around 4 a.m. and realized Welzien was not in their room, he searched the area outside the hotel. He left bodies in Oregon, California, Florida, Nebraska and Washington while working as a long-haul truck driver. Happy Face stands out because of Moore 's intimate tie to the criminal in question. the happy face killer Full Book - bookforread.com Keith Hunter Jesperson - Wikipedia Before serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, known by his nickname "Happy Face Killer," turned himself in, authorities believed they had solved the murder of his first victim Taunja Bennett. 'Happy Face Killer's' daughter believes he would kill again if released When she recanted, Pavlinac said she falsely confessed because she was stuck in a volatile relationship with Sosnovske, desperately seeking a way out and wanting him in prison. M. William Phelps penned a memoir about his interactions with Jesperson: Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer (2017). This finding is inconsistent with the belief that Booth drowned the night he disappeared. , "I'm in a field" before the call dropped. During his depraved spree, Jesperson taunted authorities with anonymous confessions signed with a smiley face. While many believe their deaths are just that accidental former NYPD detectives Kevin Gannon, Michael Donovan, Anthony Duarte and professor of criminal justice Dr. Lee Gilbertson are convinced that most of these drownings are homicides. Authorities came to believe they had convicted the wrong people. The body of Julie Winningham, 41, of Camas, Washington, was found alongside a Washington State road in 1995. "I think what happened to mother was she was in an abusive relationship, and she was desperate, and desperate people do desperate things, not to say that it was right, but that's what I think happened," said Pavlinac's daughter Bonne McAlpine. In 2006, the serial killer submitted a letter to the Santa Clara County District Attorneys Office admitting to sexually assaulting and killing an unknown female subject along a dirt turnout on Highway 152, the department wrote in its release, and a year later he pled guilty to killing her. He told investigatorshe could not remember anythingthat happened that night. Melissa G. Moore, Jesperson's older daughter, wrote Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killers Daughter (2009). On Monday, the Santa Clara County Sheriff . In September 1994, another Jane Doe was found in Crestview, Florida. In the summer of 1992, Jesperson met "Claudia" at a truck checkpoint in California. Eight murders were eventually linked to Jesperson. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. By Joseph Diaz, Scott Engel, Emily Wynn, Jenner Smith, and Lauren Effron November 4, 2021, 3:32 AM 1:24 Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske are seen here in this 1985 family photo. All calls are toll-free and confidential. Jesperson claims Rose was a sex worker who entered his truck at a truck stop while he slept. Jespersons second victim, known only as Claudia, was found murdered on August 30, 1992 in Blythe, California. In these supposed "Smiley Face" serial killings, popular, high-achieving, athletic young men (i.e. This victim has been identified as Cynthia Lynn (Rose) Wilcox. The Smiley Face Killers | Dancing with Nazis Oddly,Geib's head and shoulders were sticking out of the wateras if he had gone for a swim. 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. I'll hurt your family.'". It had been washed ashore on a beach in Gary, Indiana, 30 miles south of Chicago. Based on Pavlinac's statements, and that Sosnovke failed a polygraph test, authorities arrested Sosnovke on murder charges. Per Courthouse News Service, Slagle is a registered nurse and grandmother residing in Chico, Calif. 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. "Madonna, that's what she listened to all day," White said. He is serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. The Pittsburgh police theorized James fell into the river while crossing a bridge near the city center and drowned.