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Keith Jesperson

Also known as: Keith Hunter Jesperson, The Happy Face Killer

Active

1990–1995

Region

Pacific Northwest, California, Wyoming, Nebraska and Florida, USA

States

CA, FL, NE, OR, WA, WY

Kind

Serial

Status

Pleaded guilty

Victims

8

Keith Hunter Jesperson, a long-haul truck driver, killed eight women in six states between 1990 and 1995. After two other people were wrongly convicted of his first murder, of Taunja Bennett near Portland, he wrote anonymous confessions signed with smiley faces to newspapers and police, earning the name "Happy Face Killer". He was arrested in March 1995 after the killing of his girlfriend, Julie Winningham, in Washington. He pleaded guilty or was convicted in Washington and Oregon in 1995, and later pleaded guilty in Wyoming and California; he is serving multiple life sentences in Oregon. Three of his victims were identified only decades later through genetic genealogy.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Taunja Bennett, 23 · January 21, 1990
• Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter · August 1992

  A woman from Texas, known for 34 years only as "Claudia"; identified through DNA in August 2026.

• Cynthia Lyn Rose · September 1992

  Also reported as Cynthia Lynn Wilcox.

• Laurie Ann Pentland · November 1992
• Patricia "Patsy" Skiple, 45 · June 1993

  A mother of two from Colton, Oregon; known for 29 years as "Blue Pacheco" until identified in 2022.

• Suzanne Kjellenberg, 34 · August 1994

  Her family lives in Wisconsin. She was identified through genetic genealogy in 2023.

• Angela Subrize, 21 · January 1995

  Was trying to get from Spokane to see her father in Colorado.

• Julie Ann Winningham, 41 · March 10, 1995

  Of Camas, Washington; Jesperson's girlfriend.

Timeline of locations

1. January 1990
   Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Jesperson met Taunja Bennett at a bar near Portland and killed her at a house he was renting. Her body was found near the Columbia River Gorge later that month. He later led investigators to her purse.

2. August 30, 1992
   Highway 95 north of Blythe, California (Recovery site, approximate area)

   The body of a woman Jesperson had picked up in the Cajon Pass was found along Highway 95, about seven miles north of Blythe. Known only as "Claudia", she was identified in 2026 as Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter.

3. September 1992
   Turlock, California (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Cynthia Rose was killed after meeting Jesperson at a truck stop in Turlock; her body was found there.

4. November 1992
   Salem, Oregon (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Laurie Ann Pentland was strangled after meeting Jesperson at a truck stop; her body was found in Salem.

5. June 1993
   Highway 152, Pacheco Pass, east of Gilroy (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Patricia Skiple's body was found beside Highway 152 on Pacheco Pass in Santa Clara County in 1993. Jesperson pleaded guilty in 2007 to killing her while she was still unidentified; DNA identified her in 2022.

6. September 14, 1994
   Interstate 10 near Holt, Okaloosa County, Florida (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Jesperson met Suzanne Kjellenberg at a rest area in the Florida Panhandle in 1994. A prison work crew found her body on September 14, 1994; he had told an Okaloosa County investigator in 1996 that he left a woman's body near the Holt exit. She was identified in 2023.

7. 1995
   Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem (Prison)

   Jesperson is serving multiple consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary.

8. January 1995
   Wyoming (near Cheyenne) (Crime scene, approximate area)

   Jesperson met Angela Subrize at a bar in Spokane and offered her a ride. He killed her in Wyoming and left her remains in Nebraska.

9. March 10, 1995
   Roadside near Washougal, Washington (Recovery site, approximate area)

   Julie Winningham was killed on March 10, 1995, and her body was left along a road near Washougal. Jesperson was arrested for her murder on March 30, 1995.

10. October 18, 1995
    Clark County Superior Court, Vancouver, Washington (Court / trial, approximate area)

    Jesperson pleaded guilty to murdering Julie Winningham on October 18, 1995, in exchange for dropped rape and kidnapping counts and no death penalty, and was sentenced that December.

11. November 2, 1995
    Multnomah County Circuit Court, Portland (Court / trial, approximate area)

    Jesperson was convicted of Taunja Bennett's murder on November 2, 1995. Three weeks later the court freed Laverne Pavlinac and John Sosnovske, who had served four years for the crime.

12. January 8, 2010
    Riverside County Superior Court, Riverside (Court / trial, approximate area)

    Extradited from Oregon in December 2009, Jesperson pleaded guilty on January 8, 2010, to murdering the woman found near Blythe and received another life term.

Watch, listen, read

Active at the same time, nearby

• Ted Kaczynski · both active in 1993, 133 km apart · map both

A coincidence of time and place, not a connection. All overlaps

Sources

• Keith Hunter Jesperson (Wikipedia)
• Happy Face Killer (Biography.com)
• Ex-trucker pleads guilty to strangling (Seattle Times, 1995)
• Innocent couple released (Spokesman-Review, 1995)
• California authorities identify final unknown victim of Happy Face Killer after 34 years (Fox News, 2026)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.