Investigators believedhe could have walked to the edge of Lake Michigan, a five-minute walk from the hotel, and fallen in. What Is the Smiley Face Killers Theory? Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Jesperson claims that her name was Susanne. I wanted to get those two people out of prison," he said in 1995, referring to Pavlinac and Sosnovske. M. William Phelps penned a memoir about his interactions with Jesperson: Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer (2017). You could tell where people had been in and out, the vehicles and everything else, limbs broke. He was found guilty of killing Bennett, Pentland, and Winningham and was sentenced to six consecutive and concurrent sentences. Safety in numbers is the name of the game, before, during and after a night out on the town. Her body was discovered behind the Blueberry Hill Cafe in Turlock, California. . jocks) usually after a night of drinking at a bar are kidnapped, tortured, murdered and then their . Police have not saidif a smiley face was present near the death site. Welzien's friends said he had only three or four drinks, but by the end of the night he seemed very intoxicated. Jesperson was a. He was known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and authorities. 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. Laverne Pavlinac, right, touches the tear-stained face of her grandaughter, Nicole Sullivan, after being released from prison in Salem, Ore., Nov. 27, 1995. [00:02:14] More than 25 years have passed since the ordeal, and in that time, both Sosnovske and Pavlinac have died. Criminal profiler Pat Brown calls the serial killer theory "ludicrous", arguing that the evidence does not fit what is known about serial killers. Skiple was known to family and friends as Patsy, according to the sheriffs department. "I don't think she was in love with him. He left her remains in Nebraska, though Subrize was likely killed in Wyoming. 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 . Jesperson got away easily so long as he was killing women he did not know, but his impulsivity got the best of him, and eventually, he murdered someone he did knowhis own girlfriend. "Madonna, that's what she listened to all day," White said. He slapped her. Murderous Keith Hunter Jesperson became known as the Happy Face Killer for his boasting letters to police, signed with a smiley face. The last known sighting of the Duquesne University graduate student was caught on asurveillance camera in the downtown area. [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. "The Smiley Face Killers" movie was . The first victim was found in 1997. [27] In November 2014, she wrote an article about her father for the BBC.[28]. 'Happy Face Killer' Bay Area murder victim finally identified Andrew Chamings , SFGATE April 18, 2022 Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon, was 45 at the time of her death in 1993. 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. However, a part of him wanted to claim credit, so he wrote about murdering Bennett in a bus terminal bathroom. 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. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. 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." A victim of the Happy Face Killer has been identified nearly 30 years after her body was left near a California highway, authorities said Monday. Jesperson reported that he was raped at age 14. Some say the Smiley Face Killer has taken 40 victims over two decades. The body of a woman found near Gilroy, California was this week identified as Patricia Skiple, a victim of the Happy Face Killer. "[Julie] was beautiful inside as well as outside. Melissa Moore's father, known as the Happy Face Killer, murdered eight or more women. For now it remains only a theory that has yet to be proved. As she and Sosnovske started their life sentences, one of the United States' most notorious serial killers continued his murder spree. "I don't remember going to no gorge, dumping no body for God's sake. [26], In 2008, Moore published a book titled Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter. She also said she was able to point to the location of Bennett's body based on where the brush had been cleared away. His brother gave this letter to law enforcement. After a night of barhopping, Homan headed home at around 10 p.m. with a friend. , "I'm in a field" before the call dropped. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. April 18, 2022, at 9:19 p.m. California 'Happy Face Killer' Victim ID'd After 29 Years. All calls are toll-free and confidential. His friends went up to their room and never saw Welzien again. And just like his British counterpart, the police denied . I'll go to death row.'". The man said "99 Nashua Street, and Hurley said his cell phone battery was going dead. When she arrived, however, he was nowhere in sight. Jesperson was born on April 6, 1955, in British Columbia, Canada. On April 23 in Hamburg and the following weekend in Dusseldorf, the bodies of young men were retrieved from waterways. In 1990, shortly after his marriage ended, Keith Jesperson, a long-haul trucker from Selah, Washington, began killing women. serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, with whom they corresponded during the fall semester. 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. The day of his disappearance, Homan had been celebrating Oktoberfest with his friends. His father often punished Jesperson by hitting him with a leather belt. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! About two weeks after he went missing,Booth's body was foundfacedown in a creek behind the bar. 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. Their house bordered an apple orchard, and Jesperson killed stray cats and gophers that wandered nearby. "Then it becameserious,a seriousargument. [8], In November 2008, Jesperson's daughter, Melissa G. Moore, appeared on Dr. Phil to talk about her father. Because of their relationship, authorities connected her death to him. That triggered him. Jesperson claims he killed her after she tried to double charge him for sex, according to Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer.. [7] He had watched and laughed as the kittens clawed each other to escape, then he killed them. By Tim Stelloh. Officials did not implicate the band member in Homan's death. He strapped the woman beneath his big rig,. Many of his victims were sex workers and transients who had no connection to him. 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. Pavlinac remarried, but her second husband died a few years later. Pavlinac had made the whole thing up. was 23 years old when he went missing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He would go on to share details of the crime on other restroom walls. Soon after Angela Subrize ran into Jesperson at a bar in Spokane, Washington in January 1995, she traveled east with him in his truck. Due to the unknown identity of the female adult, Cold Case Detectives later referred to Jane Doe as Blue Pacheco.. 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.? Jespersons second victim, known only as Claudia, was found murdered on August 30, 1992 in Blythe, California. Pavlinac had been with Sosnovske, a farmhand 18 years her junior, for a decade when the Bennett case caught her attention in 1990. Over the past 20 years, hundreds of college-aged men across the US have died as the result of undetermined or accidental drownings. 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 has said that he took 166 lives, but only the above eight murders have been attributed to him. Victim 6: Florida Jane Doe. I knew it had to be around there someplace. He had been questioned by police a week before, but they had no grounds to arrest him after he refused to talk. In one six-page letter to The Oregonian newspaper, the serial killer revealed . 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. She would pop in and pop out, and over the years, She was that type of person.". In April 1990, he sexually assaulted a woman who managed to escape. Authorities came to believe they had convicted the wrong people. Laverne Pavlinac convinced investigators she and John Sosnovske had killed Taunja Bennett, when they hadn't. I think that she was at a bad place in her life," said her daughter Darlene Carpenter. He confessed to killing her and subsequently admitted to seven other murders. After he strangled them, he dumped the dead bodies on the side of the road. 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. She was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison with a 10-year minimum served. A "witchy" smiley face left at a murder site of the supposed "Smiley Face Serial Killer" seems to represent Charlie Manson. Pavlinac's daughters said their mother "was never the same" after she divorced their father after discovering he left her for another woman. What doesn't make sense is that many of the 40 cases the investigators have looked into have puzzling evidence. A smiley face was found spray painted on an underpass near where James body was discovered. A victim of the "Happy Face Killer" has been identified nearly 30 years after her body was left near a California highway, authorities said Monday. On October 8, 2009, Hurley went to the game with two friends. According to Gannon and Gilbertson, Homan had various injuries on his head, hands and arms, and they theorized that a mark on his forehead may have been a footprint that was the result of Homan being held down. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? [4] Because of this, Jesperson was a shy child, content to play by himself much of the time. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Largely considered an urban legend, the Smiley Face Killer, like the Manchester Pusher, murdered his victims by drowning. 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. 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. Victim 2: California Jane Doe. 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. Courtesy of Kathy 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. 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. Jesperson claimed this still-unidentified woman as his fifth victim but told Phelps that he cant recall anything about her. Jesperson signed each letter with a smiley face. "Just so many bad things that happened in her life that I think, I don't know, it caused her to kinda snap or something," McAlpine said. Pieces of his artwork have been seen on "murderabilia" sites. Hurley walked outside while Mahoney drove to the stadium to pick him up. The footage captured James entering a dark alley, and that was the last time he was seen alive. That night, he had been celebrating a friend's 21st birthday with a group of friends. One day, she watched, horrified, as he hung stray kittens from the family's clothesline. 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". After getting in an argument with Bennett, he strangled her to death with his hands and disposed of her body. In the majority of the cases, the victims were successful students and athletes who disappeared after a night out drinking with friends, and they were ultimately found dead in a body of water. 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. His older daughter has described witnessing acts of animal cruelty that included Jesperson killing kittens. Buddy up at all times. Halfway through the game, Hurley called hisfiance, ClaireMahoney, pictured above, and said he wanted to leave. Victim 8: Julia Ann Winningham, 41. Between 1990 and 1995, eight women died at the hands of Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the Happy Face Killer. 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. Sosnovske would later plead no contest to the murder charge. Taunja Bennett was the first to die. 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. Because Jesperson allowed her to use his credit card to make a phone call, he devised a depraved way to conceal her identity. But when investigators were unable to match the purse and denim piece to Bennett, they confronted Pavlinac about fabricating evidence. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. But to Melissa Moore, he was more than just a serial killer . 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. Jesperson is currently serving a sentence of life without parole at the Oregon State Penitentiary. [17] He was convicted of another murder and received a fourth life sentence in January 2010. "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. Jesperson claims Rose was a sex worker who entered his truck at a truck stop while he slept. The term "Smiley Face Killers" come from the graffiti smiley faces supposedly found at the crime scenes. Could some of them be connected to a serial killer or group of killers? , 32, was found dead in September 1992. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. He told investigatorshe could not remember anythingthat happened that night. James' body, however, had almost no visible damage, which was highly suspicious because it had traveled through heavily trafficked river. 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. Investigators said there wasno sign of foul play, and his death was ruled an undetermined drowning. His death was ruled an undetermined drowning. He received multiple life sentences for several of these crimes but was spared the death penalty. 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. Today's episode is part 1 of our coverage of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson. The production features interviews betweenJesperson and M. William Phelps, author Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.Italso features an interview with Daun Slagel, who survived a violent encounter with Jesperson when she was 21. After a series of letters are sent to the press, the killer earned the moniker, the Happy Face Killer. Pavlinac's son also died shortly after due to medical reasons. The following morning, James did not show up for work. Several years later, Hucke began to suspect Jesperson was having affairs when strange women would call. On October 8, 2009, Hurley went to the game with two friends. She also examined her father's actions in the podcast Happy Face. GHB was also found in his system along with alcohol. [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. Her body disintegrated against the hot asphalt as he drove. Her body was found after his arrest. She found out that her son had reportedly suffered blunt force trauma to the head, his eye socket and behind his left leg. 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. His boss informed his family, who filed a missing persons report 72 hours later. The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department announced. Others say there is no killer. Welzien's friends said he had only three or four drinks, but by the end of the night he seemed very intoxicated. [10] Jesperson soon realized that this job afforded him the opportunity to kill without being suspected. And that's how I remember her," said Melissa Gavin, her longtime friend. Jesperson had dated before her before killing her on March 3, 1995 because he believed she was after his money. When she arrived, however, he was nowhere in sight. The Insane Details of the Smiley Face Killers Theory; The Most Recent Alleged Smiley Face Killers' Victims Highlight How Long This Theory Has . Victims of the Smiley Face Killer | Photo Credits: Oxygen The Team of Men that Came Up With the Theory. Mahoney drove to the address, but Hurley was not there. Search dogs scoured the downtown area where Homan was last seen alive. Updated: Mar 3, 2021 (1955-) Who Is Keith Hunter. He is now 66 years old, according to his prison records. [He said,] 'No, no. Jesperson grew up in Chilliwack, Canada before moving to Selah, Washington with his family when he was 12. In 2019, investigators began utilizing genetic genealogy in an attempt to identify Blue Pacheco, partnering with the nonprofit DNA Doe Project. His friend told him to get out of the car while he parked. Strangulation was Jesperson's preferred method of murdering, the same method he often used to kill animals as a child. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 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. The Smiley Face Killer. At age 35, Keith was 6'7.5" tall and weighed 240lbs. She told investigators she drove them to a scenic overlook at the Columbia Gorge, where Sosnovske told her to pull over. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Director Carl Hindmarch Stars Doug Bates Janine Brugnone Beghtol Rick Buckner See production, box office & company info Add to Watchlist 1 User review That night, he had been celebrating a friend's 21st birthday with a group of friends. are covered in bracing detail in the Oxygen special Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer, now streaming. In November 1992, Jesperson had an encounter with sex worker Laurie Anne Pentland at a truck stop. His brothers did not help him, instead they nicknamed him "Igor" or "Ig", a name that stuck throughout his school years. Her body disintegrated against the hot asphalt as he drove. Her body was found after his arrest. 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 apprehended before he kills again. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. 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. Jesperson's first victim, 23-year-old Taunja Bennett, was killed on January 21, 1990. 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. Jespersons fifth victim was known only as Susanne, whom he met in Crestview, Florida. Jesperson is serving four life sentences without possibility of parole in Oregon. He decided to drag her body underneath his truck to impede identification. The Happy Face Killer Raven Gender Male Birth Date April 6, 1955 (age 67) Place of Birth Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada Occupation Truck driver Pathology Serial Killer Serial Rapist Modus Operandi Strangulation Type Disorganized No. 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. 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The area had been searched repeatedly in the weeks before his body was discovered, but no one had seen Booth. , 24, disappeared on January 19, 2008 from a bar in Woodlyn, Pennsylvania. They had three children, two girls and a boy. First, she told investigators that she knew Sosnovske did it because she saw Bennett's body, said Ingram. Moore recounts living with Jesperson until her parents' 1990 divorce, and noticing how her father was different when she was in elementary school. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! In the days following, Jesperson decided that he was certainly going to be arrested, and after two suicide attempts turned himself in hoping it would result in leniency during his sentencing. ET on ABC. This finding is inconsistent with the belief that Booth drowned the night he disappeared. Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. While police didn't get any hard evidence, the recordings demonstrate how Pavlinac attempted to convince her boyfriend he played a role in Bennett's death. 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 called him a second time, but his cell phone seemed to be out of battery. The body of Julie Winningham, 41, of Camas, Washington, was found alongside a Washington State road in 1995. Pavlinac soon admitted to making up her entire story, but her claims were ignored. 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, reported the Spokesman-Review. The couple divorced in 1990.[8]. of Victims 8-185 killed 5 attempted Span of crimes 1995/1966-March 10, 1995 (confirmed) Criminal Charges Jesperson was a middle child, with an older sister and brother and a younger sister and brother. She's told her own daughter the same story, very convincingly.' After Pavlinac confessed to investigators, her daughter said she got a call from the detectives asking her to come to her mother's house right away. This led police agencies in several states to reopen old cases, many of which were found to be possible victims of Jesperson. Her daughters are still trying to understand why their mother did what she did, and why she didn't see another way to end the relationship. This included beatings, sometimes with a belt in front of others, and in one case he received an electric shock. On January 1, 2000, Northern Illinois University junior Brian Welzien went missing from Chicago, Illinois, after a night of celebrating Y2K with his friends. "He says, 'Because I choked her' I said, 'I think weneed to take her to a hospital. Laverne Pavlinac, who, along with John Sosnovske, was convicted for the killing of Taunja Bennett, waits at the Oregon Women's Correctional Center in Salem, Ore., Oct. 27, 1995, for word on her release. She changed her story again, this time to say she too was involved in Bennett's death. 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 . "I [had] seen all these tracks and all this and that. Jesperson, also called the "Happy Face Killer", who is serving two life sentences in Oregon in connection with guilty pleas to two murders. A journalist noticed the symbol and came up with the Happy Face Killer nickname. Victim 1: Taunja Bennett. But a few days later, they got another call from Pavlinac. [7] She was a correspondent for Crime Watch Daily. Or 'I will cause trouble for your family. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Notorious serial killer Keith Jesperson, better known by the "Happy Face Killer" nickname he was given in the '90s, has spent decades behind bars but his daughter believes he would kill again if released from prison today. According to detectives Anthony Duarte and Kevin Gannon, the Smiley Face Theory came into . She later rescinded her confession, but in 1991 a jury still found her guilty. Oddly,Geib's head and shoulders were sticking out of the wateras if he had gone for a swim. After moving to Selah, Washington, United States, he had trouble fitting in and making friends because of his large size. NR Jul 18th, 2021 Documentary. At some of the sites where the victims' bodies were found, smiley face graffiti had been left behind. The night of his disappearance, Geib made several calls from his cell phone. Today, we're finishing our look at Keith Jesperson, the twisted murderer otherwise known as the Happy Face Killer. [8][16] This led Phil Stanford, the journalist working the story for The Oregonian, to dub Jesperson "The Happy Face Killer". Melissa G. Moore, Jesperson's older daughter, wrote Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killers Daughter (2009).