Happy Face Serial Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson updates

Happy Face Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson

The man known as the Happy Face serial killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, remains incarcerated in an Oregon prison for the numerous crimes he committed.

The majority of his victims were prostitutes.The Happy Face killer most commonly murdered his victims by strangulation.He enjoyed it and would often toy with his victims. He would strangle his victim until she lost consciousness, then bring her back and repeat the process. Once he had enough he would strangle his victim to death.

Jesperson, now 58 years old was born in 1955 in Canada. He came from a large family of five siblings and was the middle child. The man who would grow up to be the Happy Face killer came from a troubled background with many allegations of abuse by his alcoholic father Les Jesperson. He was allegedly electrically shocked by his father.

Jesperson was teased as he was growing up because of his large size. He would later stop growing at  6-foot-6 and was commonly referred to as “Igor” throughout his childhood.

As is common with other children who eventually kill people, the Happy Face killer started maiming, torturing and killing animals when he was only five years old. He enjoyed it and would later state that it was at this point in time that he thought about killing humans. He also enjoyed setting fires and made pipe bombs. He grew increasingly violent and tried to kill two neighborhood children who he believed has wronged him when he was just 10 years old.

In his mid teens he claimed that he was raped.

His mother Gladys died in 1985 and Jesperson reportedly did not seem to care.

By age 20 he was working as a truck driver and got married to Rose Hucke. The couple had three children. After being married for nearly 15 years, Jesperson filed for divorce.

And that’s when the killings began. His known victims included,

• Taunja Bennett on January 23, 1990 near Portand. She was slightly retarded which sexually excited Jesperson.  In addition to being strangled, she was punched in the head to the point that her face was unrecognizable.
• Unknown victim on August 30, 1992 near Blythe, Calif. She was raped and strangled to death.
• Cynthia Lyn Rose in Sept. 1992 in Turlock, Calif. Jesperson claims that she came into his truck after he told her he did not want to have sex with her. He wrote a letter to the media about the murder and signed it with a happy face.
• Laurie Ann Pentland in Nov. 1992 of Salem, Ore. She wanted to charge him double the price that they initially agreed upon to have sex.
• Unknown Jane Doe victim on July 1993 in Santa Nella, Calif.
• Unknown Jane Doe Victim on Sept 1994 Crestview, Fla. Jesperson claimed her first name was Susanne.
• Angela Surbrize in Jan. 1995 near Spokane.  Surbrize was supposed to get a ride from Jesperson to Indiana. Because she nagged him he raped and choked her to death. After she was dead he tied her body face-down under the truck and drug the body to “grind off her face and prints
• Julie Ann Winningham in March 1995 in Washougal, Wash. Jerperson supposedly really liked Winningham, his girlfriend at the time of her death, but believed she was only after his money.

After his first victim was murdered Laverne Pavlinac came forward and blamed the murder on her boyfriend John Sosnovske and said that he forced her to help him rape and murder Bennett. She saw this as a way out of an abusive relationship. Pavlinac had read enough about  the murder to provide convincing details to authorities. She and Sosnovske were convicted of the crime. Later after Jesperson was in custody and confessed to Bennett’s murder the pair was released.

Jesperson received his Happy Face killer moniker when he tried to draw attention to himself using happy faces.  He wrote a confession on a bathroom stall with a happy face and later wrote to the media signing his letters with a happy face.

The Happy Face killer was caught after murdering Winningham who was his girlfriend at the time.

Although he had questioned by the police Jesperson had not been arrested, but he felt it was only a matter of time. After two unsuccessful suicide attempts, he turned himself in believing that he would be treated with leniency for helping the police solve the murders. At one point he claimed that he murdered up to 160 women although police have not been able to verify those claims.

Happy Face Serial Killer Keith Hunter Jesperson remains incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary. He will die in prison since his earliest release date for his crimes is March 1, 2063.

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