Several years later, Hucke began to suspect Jesperson was having affairs when strange women would call. Victim 8: Julia Ann Winningham, 41. I knew it had to be around there someplace. 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. 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. Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon, had been known only as "Blue Pacheco" for the color of her clothing until genetic genealogy was used to identify her last week, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said. 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. No serial killer loose in Boston, police say, as another man vanishes; Here Are 6 Of The Alleged Victims Of The 'Smiley Face Killings' Is a Serial-Killer Gang Murdering Young Men Across the U.S.? The killers always leave a signature smiley face near the location of the body. 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. 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 then sought work again as an interstate truck driver after relocating to Cheney, Washington. Pavlinac had been with Sosnovske, a farmhand 18 years her junior, for a decade when the Bennett case caught her attention in 1990. Victims of the Smiley Face Killer | Photo Credits: Oxygen The Team of Men that Came Up With the Theory. The Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department announced on Tuesday that, using genetic genealogy, they were able to identify a body found in 1993 as Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon. [13] Police originally considered her death a drug overdose. 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 investigators asked him why he decided to come forward, Jesperson listed two reasons. Jesperson grew up in Chilliwack, Canada before moving to Selah, Washington with his family when he was 12. The Smiley Face Killers. , who survived a violent encounter with Jesperson when she was 21. I'llgo to the pen. Victim 6: Florida Jane Doe. Jesperson claims he killed her after she tried to double charge him for sex, according to Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer.. April 19, 2022 / 7:43 AM / CBS San Francisco. 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. [4] Because of this, Jesperson was a shy child, content to play by himself much of the time. are covered in bracing detail in the Oxygen special Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer, now streaming. "I don't remember going to no gorge, dumping no body for God's sake. In September 1994, another Jane Doe was found in Crestview, Florida. Remains found in Merced County, California on June 3, 1993, belonged to a Jesperson victim he has said was called "Cindy." The only difference was that the American version, operating in the Midwest throughout the 1990s, spray painted a smiley face on his victims. She had changed her story so many times that investigators said they wondered if she was telling the truth. After Jesperson was in custody, he provided the location of Bennett's purse, which only the killer would know. When contacted by sheriffs detectives, he said he had gagged her with duct tape, raped her in the sleeping cab of his rig and strangled her,, To learn more about this case, watch Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer, streaming now on. 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 . [8][16] This led Phil Stanford, the journalist working the story for The Oregonian, to dub Jesperson "The Happy Face Killer". All Rights Reserved. In 1990, shortly after his marriage ended, Keith Jesperson, a long-haul trucker from Selah, Washington, began killing women. While in custody, Jesperson began revealing details of his killings and making claims of many others, most of which he later recanted. Pavlinac and Sosnovske were both arrested on 5 March 1990 and both were convicted of the murder on 8 February 1991. Safety in numbers is the name of the game, before, during and after a night out on the town. He received multiple life sentences for several of these crimes but was spared the death penalty. His death was ruled an accidental drowning, andthe autopsy report noted"acute alcohol intoxication was a major contributing factor.". The Happy Face Killer's eighth and final victim that would be his downfall. Julie Winningham is seen here in this undated photo. More than 25 years have passed since the ordeal, and in that time, both Sosnovske and Pavlinac have died. She told investigators she drove them to a scenic overlook at the Columbia Gorge, where Sosnovske told her to pull over. 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. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. He was reported missing later that day by his mother, and a massive manhunt ensued. A month later, in Turlock, California, the body of Cynthia Lyn Rose was discovered. That's when they said she implicated herself in the murder, according to Det. Police have not saidif a smiley face was present near the death site. Kreuger, Peggy; Kendra Justice & Amy Hunt (March 2006). Jesperson was dubbed the "Happy Face Killer" for the smiley face drawings he included on a letter he sent to a Portland, Oregon newspaper, in which he bragged about killing women in a spree that began in 1990. . Officials did not implicate the band member in Homan's death. 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. 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. He was caught after killing his 41-year-old girlfriend, Julie Ann Winningham, in 1995. Her body disintegrated against the hot asphalt as he drove. Her body was found after his arrest. 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. "Now, I'm thinking, 'She's confessed she's pointed out the dump site, she's confessed to us on tape. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. His brothers did not help him, instead they nicknamed him "Igor" or "Ig", a name that stuck throughout his school years. 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. On January 1, 2000, Northern Illinois University junior Brian Welzien went missing from Chicago, Illinois, after a night of celebrating Y2K with his friends. Jesperson claims she was a sex worker who climbed into his truck, even though he told her he wasnt interested in her services, according to the two-hour, , 26. Cloud State University. A smiley face was paintedon a wall of the bar under a deck. I don't," Sosnovke is heard saying on the tape. Jesperson married Rose Hucke on August 2, 1975. 'Happy Face Killer' case tapes reveal the lengths woman went to frame boyfriend Meanwhile, the real killer carried out a series of murders over five years. She was killed in Washington state on March 10, 1995, and her body was discovered the next day. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. That letter-writer turned out to be. She then reported Hurley missing, and various searches were conducted. "Madonna, that's what she listened to all day," White said. Jesperson claims that her name was Susanne. Jesperson claims she was a sex worker who climbed into his truck, even though he told her he wasnt interested in her services, according to the two-hour Oxygen special. They believed his body traveled for almost 10 miles and even went through a dam before its discovery. Here's what the evidence says. Melissa G. Moore, Jesperson's older daughter, wrote Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killers Daughter (2009). The Pittsburgh police theorized James fell into the river while crossing a bridge near the city center and drowned. [19] To avoid the possibility of facing the death penalty, Sosnovske pleaded no contest. 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. One of Welzien's friends, Nick Young, stayed behind. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The "Smiley Face Killer" may or may not be a killer or group of killers who've murdered at least three dozen drunken white college-aged males, dumped their bodies in waterways, and taunted police by drawing a smiley face near the crime scene. Jesperson sent the photo to the Duquesne University students. 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. She was a previously-unidentified woman named Patricia Skiple,[12] who, he claimed, was named "Carla" or "Cindy". The two would often get into trouble together, and Jesperson claimed he was often punished many times for things Martin had done and shifted the blame. Best Known For: Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. He has said he strangled her because she wouldn't let him sleep. The body of Julie Winningham, 41, of Camas, Washington, was found alongside a Washington State road in 1995. ABC News/YouTube By Jean Mendoza / June 8, 2021 9:24 am EST Keith Hunter Jesperson is a serial killer who claimed the lives of eight women between 1990 and 1995. "John That's the worst thing you've ever gotten yourself into," she told him. Jesperson signed each letter with a smiley face. According to Jesperson, Pentland attempted to double the fee she charged for the sex he had been engaged in with her. I will be writing about that more in the future so stay tuned. went missing from Chicago, Illinois, after a night of celebrating Y2K with his friends. Ciao ragazzi, oggi vi raccontiamo la storia di un assassino seriale che ha ucciso almeno 8 vittime in cinque anni e soprannominato "The Happy Face Killer". The Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department. In both cases, and as per usual . Jespersons heinous crimes as well as shocking twists in the case including a couple who took the blame for one of his homicides are covered in bracing detail in the Oxygen special Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer, now streaming. John Ingram, who worked on the case. Victim 4:Laurie Ann Pentland, 26. Her body was discovered behind the Blueberry Hill Cafe in Turlock, California. Soon after his injury was when Keith started to kill. Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as "The Happy Face Killer ," is serving a life sentence in prison today. According to Jesperson, after he killed his fifth victim in 1993 he managed to stave off murderous urges for more than a year by committing arson while on the road as a trucker. 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. She also said she was able to point to the location of Bennett's body based on where the brush had been cleared away. We need to report this, John.' Some of his victims, as seen in this timeline, have never been identified. The team believes the serial killers are highly sophisticated and communicate with each other on the dark web. At school, Jesperson was bigger than his classmates and was taunted with names like "Monster Man" and "Igor." 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. He would go on to share details of the crime on other restroom walls. Jesperson became a suspect after Winningham's was found since he was known to be her boyfriend. Laverne Pavlinac is seen here showing investigators where Taunja Bennett's body was found, even though she had nothing to do with the crime. 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. After getting in an argument with Bennett, he strangled her to death with his hands and disposed of her body. He decided to drag her body underneath his truck to impede identification. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. Homan was the eighth accidental drowning case in La Crosse over a nine-year period. His boss informed his family, who filed a missing persons report 72 hours later. [32] The series had 12 episodes. Jespersons second victim, known only as Claudia, was found murdered on August 30, 1992 in Blythe, California. He showed signs of psychopathic behavior from an. . [18], Early in the investigation of Bennett's murder, Laverne Pavlinac read the news reports surrounding Bennett's death and saw it as an opportunity to force an end to the long-term abusive relationship she had been in with her live-in boyfriend, John Sosnovske. went missing after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston,Massachusetts. 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. And that's how I remember her," said Melissa Gavin, her longtime friend. Many of his victims were sex workers and transients who had no connection to him. She would pop in and pop out, and over the years, She was that type of person.". 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. 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. Her actual identity is unknown, but "Susanna" which Jesperson has stated may have been her name was confirmed to be one of his victims because he knew about the tie wraps found around her throat. Because of their relationship, authorities connected her death to him. 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. Per Courthouse News Service, Slagle is a registered nurse and grandmother residing in Chico, Calif. 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 . Various witnesses outside the hotel saw Welzien vomiting in the street. Her body, which had been strangled and tied up with duct tape, was found on August 30, 1992. Halfway through the game, Hurley called hisfiance, ClaireMahoney, pictured above, and said he wanted to leave. Laverne Pavlinac convinced investigators she and John Sosnovske had killed Taunja Bennett, when they hadn't. 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. Hundreds of college-aged men have died in accidental or undetermined drownings. Moore recounts living with Jesperson until her parents' 1990 divorce, and noticing how her father was different when she was in elementary school. Pavlinac and Sosnovske were released from prison in November 1995. B. On 30 August 1992, the currently unidentified body of a woman Jesperson had raped and strangled was found near Blythe, California, United States. Surveillance footage captured Booth entering the bar where the celebration took place, but there is no video evidence of him leaving. 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. Jesperson killed his next victim in June 1993 in Santa Nella, California. In September 1994, the body of a woman was found in Florida. On October 8, 2009, Hurley went to the game with two friends. The Smiley Face Killers. 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. [10] Jesperson soon realized that this job afforded him the opportunity to kill without being suspected. The term "smiley face" became connected to their theory when the team . About two weeks after he went missing,Booth's body was foundfacedown in a creek behind the bar. I have been a killer for five years and have killed eight people." We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. "[He said] I better not open my mouth. In 1990, Taunja Bennett was found dead near a scenic overlook at the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. One of the things about my dad - which made me very uncomfortable as a young woman - was that he was very explicit about his sexual relationships. For now it remains only a theory that has yet to be proved. Watch the full story on "20/20" THIS FRIDAY at 9 p.m. Who is the Happy Face Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson? Based on Pavlinac's statements, and that Sosnovke failed a polygraph test, authorities arrested Sosnovke on murder charges. She found out that her son had reportedly suffered blunt force trauma to the head, his eye socket and behind his left leg. He was reported missing later that day by his mother, and a massive manhunt ensued. Victim 5: California Jane Doe. Investigators had been trying to nail down a suspect for weeks when Pavlinac brought Sosnovske to their attention. Now 66, Jesperson is serving five non-consecutive life sentences in Oregon's state penitentiary. Jesperson attempted suicide but ended up confessing to Winningham's murder. She maintains a very private lifestyle, so not much is known about her. After a night of barhopping, Homan headed home at around 10 p.m. with a friend. Dr. Laura Pettler, along with her partner in crime-fighting, Melissa Moore, are taking a deep dive into murder cases in the upcoming podcast, "Life After Happy Face." "Life After Happy Face" is a follow-up to Moore's "The Happy Face Killer" podcast, which followed the case of Keith Jesperson, a serial killer who wreaked havoc in the Pacific Northwest during the 1990s. 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." While he has claimed to have killed as many as 160 people, only eight murders have been confirmed. Detectives first became aware of Pavlinac when she anonymously called them to report that she overheard Sosnovske at a bar bragging about killing Bennett. 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. 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. [26], In 2008, Moore published a book titled Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter. They met at a truck stop in Corning, California. 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. Keith Hunter Jesperson committed his first murder in 1990. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. [7] Jesperson continued to spend time with his children when he was in town. , 24, disappeared on January 19, 2008 from a bar in Woodlyn, Pennsylvania.
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