Detectives first became aware of Pavlinac when she anonymously called them to report that she overheard Sosnovske at a bar bragging about killing Bennett. [32] The series had 12 episodes. A jury had convicted a Portland woman named Laverne Pavlinac based on her detailed confession to police that she helped her boyfriend John Sosnovske rape and kill the 23-year-old. Pavlinac remarried, but her second husband died a few years later. He strapped the woman beneath his big rig,. On January 1, 2000, Northern Illinois University junior. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. She also said she was able to point to the location of Bennett's body based on where the brush had been cleared away. "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. They met at a truck stop in Corning, California. She's told her own daughter the same story, very convincingly.' The following morning, James did not show up for work. Jesperson described murdering her, like other women he killed, as putting her out of her misery.. More than a dozen of these cases have been outlined in Gannon and Gilbertson's book "Case Studies in Drowning Forensics," but there are six deaths in particular that stand out as potential Smiley Face murders: Dakota James was 23 years old when he went missing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. According to police reports, one dog later hit on an an SUV owned by a local band member, who had played a show at the bar the night of Homan's disappearance, but the K9 alert was inconclusive. whos serving multiple concurrent sentences in Oregon State Penitentiary. Mahoney said she drove around for an hour before returning home, thinking Hurley got another ride, and that when she got back, Hurley was still gone. "I said 'Why is she dead?'" Sometime around 1957, Glatman posted Lonely Hearts adverts in newspapers to lure his victims in addition to prowling modeling agencies in Los Angeles, eventually posing as a photographer himself. "She slapped him. James' parents later hired a private investigator who organized a massive citywide search, which led tothe discovery of James' bodyin the Ohio River on March 6, 2017, 40 days after he had disappeared. . Detective Rick Buckner has to prove Keith Jesperson is the serial killer known as Happy Face Killer, guilty of murdering a woman in 1995, and has to make sure he is . "[He said] I better not open my mouth. went missing from Chicago, Illinois, after a night of celebrating Y2K with his friends. [7] He had watched and laughed as the kittens clawed each other to escape, then he killed them. The first happened when Jesperson was around age 10, when he was friends with a boy named Martin. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. 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. He could not find Welzien and reported him missing around 1 p.m. After extensive searches, Welzien's body was found 77 days later on March 17. At age 35, Keith was 6'7.5" tall and weighed 240lbs. The oldest child, Melissa, was ten years old. After a series of letters are sent to the press, the killer earned the moniker, the Happy Face Killer. What Is the Smiley Face Killers Theory? Jesperson's first victim, 23-year-old Taunja Bennett, was killed on January 21, 1990. Tommy Booth, 24, disappeared on January 19, 2008 from a bar in Woodlyn, Pennsylvania. Keith Hunter Jesperson was born in 1955 in British Columbia, Canada and is a serial killer. She threatened to call the police, and he strangled her. Police have not saidif a smiley face was present near the death site. 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. His father often punished Jesperson by hitting him with a leather belt. When the body of Taunja Bennett was found along the side of an Oregon highway in 1990, investigators never imagined that it would lead to the capture of a vicious serial killer. [19] To avoid the possibility of facing the death penalty, Sosnovske pleaded no contest. I'm thinking, 'My God, she is actually involved in this,'" Ingram said. They'd mostly all been college-aged, popular, and athletic. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! 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. Various witnesses outside the hotel saw Welzien vomiting in the street. A stealth serial killer who wants to trick everyone against him will change-up his playbook with small tweaks to put a wrench in the profiler's and forensic scientist's game. If you need help or need help supporting someone else, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. B. M. William Phelps penned a memoir about his interactions with Jesperson: Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer (2017). Largely considered an urban legend, the Smiley Face Killer, like the Manchester Pusher, murdered his victims by drowning. An Oregon mother was identified Tuesday as a victim of "the Happy Face Killer" nearly four decades after her body was found on the side of a . This led police agencies in several states to reopen old cases, many of which were found to be possible victims of Jesperson. He was a 21-year-old student at Fordham University, and his body was found in. That letter-writer turned out to be. 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. About two weeks after he went missing,Booth's body was foundfacedown in a creek behind the bar. , 24, disappeared on January 19, 2008 from a bar in Woodlyn, Pennsylvania. During his depraved spree, Jesperson taunted authorities with anonymous confessions signed with a smiley face. However, Jesperson.css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;} later said he actually killed another woman and did not recognize Wilcox's photo. Investigators installed a hidden recording device in their home hoping to catch Sosnovske making incriminating statements. She had changed her story so many times that investigators said they wondered if she was telling the truth. At school, Jesperson was bigger than his classmates and was taunted with names like "Monster Man" and "Igor." He had been questioned by police a week before, but they had no grounds to arrest him after he refused to talk. Jesperson is serving four life sentences without possibility of parole in Oregon. She told investigators she drove them to a scenic overlook at the Columbia Gorge, where Sosnovske told her to pull over. [10] Jesperson soon realized that this job afforded him the opportunity to kill without being suspected. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. However, the kicker is that these drownings happening in 11 different states. Who is the Happy Face Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson? She ran to get her mother, and when they returned, the kittens lay on the ground dead. Jesperson's last victim was Julie Winningham, who'd been his girlfriend. He was known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and authorities. 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. 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. Kreuger, Peggy; Kendra Justice & Amy Hunt (March 2006). One of them was to a friendwho said she heard Geib say, "I'm in a field" before the call dropped. 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 . Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Criminal profiler Pat Brown calls the serial killer theory "ludicrous", arguing that the evidence does not fit what is known about serial killers. Despite the distance between them, some detectives think that drownings are actually the work of a serial killer or group of serial killers. Jesperson became a suspect after Winningham's was found since he was known to be her boyfriend. [17] He was convicted of another murder and received a fourth life sentence in January 2010. She was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison with a 10-year minimum served. A Navy veteran, 24-year-old William Hurley went missing after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston,Massachusetts. "She was a free spirit, and she would go here, there, and she would go to work at a place, and wouldn't work for very long because she would always go out on the road. He never made it home. Jespersons second victim, known only as Claudia, was found murdered on August 30, 1992 in Blythe, California. After moving to Selah, Washington, United States, he had trouble fitting in and making friends because of his large size. One day, she watched, horrified, as he hung stray kittens from the family's clothesline. Soon after Angela Subrize ran into Jesperson at a bar in Spokane, Washington in January 1995, she traveled east with him in his truck. In September 1994, another Jane Doe was found in Crestview, Florida. Photo: Between 1990 and 1995, eight women died at the hands of Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the Happy Face Killer. Jesperson signed each letter with a smiley face. In 1990, Taunja Bennett was found dead near a scenic overlook at the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. [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. Jesperson killed his next victim in June 1993 in Santa Nella, California. Some of his victims, as seen in this timeline, have never been identified. Jesperson would capture birds and stray cats and dogs around the trailer park where he lived with his family, severely beating the animals and then strangling them to death, something for which he claims his father was proud of him. Published: Apr. He split from his wife in 1990 after 15 years of . In addition to murder, Jesperson's criminal history included animal cruelty, arson and sexual assault. [5], That desire manifested in two attempted murders. A smiley face was found spray painted on an underpass near where James body was discovered. [2] Jesperson's father was a domineering alcoholic; according to Jesperson, his paternal grandfather was prone to violence. His boss informed his family, who filed a missing persons report 72 hours later. In November 1995, a judge released Pavlinac and Sosnovske from prison. Others say there is no killer. He had given police officers the location of the victim's purse. Homan did not arrive for a golf outing the next day. Victim 8: Julia Ann Winningham, 41. Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. She later rescinded her confession, but in 1991 a jury still found her guilty. Jesperson claims that her name was Susanne. "He says, 'Because I choked her' I said, 'I think weneed to take her to a hospital. He strapped the woman beneath his big rig, the New York Post reported. After he raped and strangled her, Jesperson dumped her body near the Columbia River Gorge, outside Portland. "She was very giving. On April 23 in Hamburg and the following weekend in Dusseldorf, the bodies of young men were retrieved from waterways. Pavlinac's daughters said their mother "was never the same" after she divorced their father after discovering he left her for another woman. Police interview tapes obtained by "20/20" show the lengths Pavlinac went to convince investigators she and Sosnovske were the killers responsible when they weren't. At age 35, standing 6feet 7inches (2.01m) and weighing approximately 255 pounds (116kg),[9] Jesperson began working toward the goal of joining the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), but an injury suffered while training ended this endeavor. Her body was found on a roadside rock pile in Santa Nella, California. "He went off into the woods with her," Pavlinac told investigators. He tries to paint the victim as someone who needed to be killed, Phelps, whose nearly decade-long relationship with the killer gives him insight into Jespersons mind, told producers. [6] Although Jesperson was not successful with girls in high school, having never even attended a school dance or his prom, he did enter into a relationship after high school. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. Hurley walked outside while Mahoney drove to the stadium to pick him up. Victim 6: Florida Jane Doe. Meanwhile, the real killer carried out a series of murders over five years. For the 2014 film about Jesperson, see, List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)", "Serial killer receives fourth life sentence", "Dr. Phil Returns to The Oprah Show: My Father Is a Serial Killer", "ABC '20/20': Melissa Moore, Daughter Of Serial Killer, Opens Up Tonight About Life With 'Happy Face Killer' Keith Jesperson", "Meet Crime Watch Daily Correspondent Melissa Moore | Truecrimedaily.com", "My evil dad: Life as a serial killer's daughter", "Happy Face Presents: Two Face on Apple Podcasts", "Life After Happy Face on Apple Podcasts", Daughter of the 'Happy Face Killer' Talks About Growing Up With a Serial Killer Dad, Keith Hunter Jesperson: Happy Face Killer, Daughter of serial killer confronts her past, Radio Interview with Melissa Moore (daughter), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keith_Hunter_Jesperson&oldid=1142498372, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Crimes against sex workers in the United States, People extradited within the United States, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Oregon, Violence against women in the United States, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2010, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 8 confirmed (confessed to as many as 185). [27] In November 2014, she wrote an article about her father for the BBC.[28]. 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. When that did not elicit a response, he began writing letters to the media and authorities. April 18, 2022, at 9:19 p.m. California 'Happy Face Killer' Victim ID'd After 29 Years. Welzien told his friends he wanted to call it a night and go back to the hotel where they were staying. The killers always leave a signature smiley face near the location of the body. 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. [6] Approximately one year later, Jesperson was swimming in a lake when another boy held him underwater until he blacked out. Smiley faces again served as his signature, prompting a journalist to dub Jesperson the "Happy Face Killer.". Pavlinac's son also died shortly after due to medical reasons. The term "Smiley Face Killers" come from the graffiti smiley faces supposedly found at the crime scenes. According to Jesperson, Pentland attempted to double the fee she charged for the sex he had been engaged in with her. The footage captured James entering a dark alley, and that was the last time he was seen alive. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Victim 2: California Jane Doe. By Tim Stelloh. That this never happened. Questions Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice Hopes to Answer, A First Look at the Murder of Susan Berman. Melissa Moore's father, known as the Happy Face Killer, murdered eight or more women. A television movie, Happy Face Killer, starring David Arquette as Jesperson, aired in 2014. The last known sighting of the Duquesne University graduate student was caught on asurveillance camera in the downtown area. Welzien's friends said he had only three or four drinks, but by the end of the night he seemed very intoxicated. Surveillance footage captured Booth entering the bar where the celebration took place, but there is no video evidence of him leaving. [33] The episode was released on July 9, 2021. The term "smiley face" became connected to their theory when the team . 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. After Jesperson came forward in March 1995, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges for Bennett and Winningham of Camas, Washington, his last known victim. All drowned after getting intoxicated. I'll hurt your family.'". Todd Geib was 22 years old when he went missing during the early hours of June 12, 2005, at a bonfire party in an orchard close to his home in Casnovia, Michigan. "I'm told to place her into a holding cell I say, 'OK, Laverne, now you need to go into that room right there,' She turned around and she looked at me and she gave me a hug. Jespersons heinous crimes as well as shocking twists in the case including a, couple who took the blame for one of his homicides.

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