She had changed her story so many times that investigators said they wondered if she was telling the truth. Jesperson married Rose Hucke on August 2, 1975. Various witnesses outside the hotel saw Welzien vomiting in the street. Other students hold photos of Mr. Jesperson's victims. A smiley face was found spray-painted near where Homans body was found. The night of his disappearance, Geib made several calls from his cell phone. . "[Julie] was beautiful inside as well as outside. Investigators believedhe could have walked to the edge of Lake Michigan, a five-minute walk from the hotel, and fallen in. She then reported Hurley missing, and various searches were conducted. Pavlinac and Sosnovske were released from prison in November 1995. 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. Julie Winningham is seen here in this undated photo. 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. "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. She ran to get her mother, and when they returned, the kittens lay on the ground dead. The Smiley Face Killers. The footage captured James entering a dark alley, and that was the last time he was seen alive. Photo: 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. Welzien's friends said he had only three or four drinks, but by the end of the night he seemed very intoxicated. "To come clean get it all over, the record straight. His blood-alcohol concentrationwas only 0.08 percent. 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. Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Birth Year: 1955, Birth date: April 6, 1955, Birth City: British Columbia, Birth Country: Canada. He left bodies in Oregon, California, Florida, Nebraska and Washington while working as a long-haul truck driver. [3], Treated like an outcast and a black sheep by his own family and teased by other children for his large size at a young age, Jesperson was a lonely child who showed a propensity for torturing and killing animals. Jesperson reported that he was raped at age 14. 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. He enjoyed watching animals kill each other as well as the feeling he got from taking their lives. Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as "The Happy Face Killer ," is serving a life sentence in prison today. M. William Phelps penned a memoir about his interactions with Jesperson: Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer (2017). Jesperson has said that he took 166 lives, but only the above eight murders have been attributed to him. Geib's body was found three weeks later in a lake that had previously been searched. He was known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and prosecutors. She threatened to call the police, and he strangled her. went missing after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston,Massachusetts. Jesperson claimed this still-unidentified woman as his fifth victim but told Phelps that he cant recall anything about her. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. However, a part of him wanted to claim credit, so he wrote about murdering Bennett in a bus terminal bathroom. The Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department. 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. Smiley faces again served as his signature, prompting a journalist to dub Jesperson the "Happy Face Killer.". Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! They divorced in 1989. Over the past 20 years, hundreds of college-aged men across the US have died as the result of undetermined or accidental drownings. He would go on to share details of the crime on other restroom walls. That this never happened. She previously claimed to the FBI that he was a wanted bank robber and frequently complained to Sosnovske's probation officer that he was drinking too much. 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. In September 2009, Jesperson was indicted in Riverside County, California, on murder charges; he was extradited in December 2009. According to detectives Anthony Duarte and Kevin Gannon, the Smiley Face Theory came into . Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. Upset that he was not getting any media attention, Jesperson drew a smiley face on a bathroom wall hundreds of miles from the scene of the crime and wrote an anonymous letter confessing to Bennett's murder, providing proof. . 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! According to former detective Kevin Gannon and Dr. Lee Gilbertson, Geib's head and shoulders were sticking out of the water. Jespersons heinous crimes as well as shocking twists in the case including a, couple who took the blame for one of his homicides. That's when they said she implicated herself in the murder, according to Det. [1], At a very early ageas young as fiveJesperson would capture and torture animals. One of them was to a friendwho said she heard Geib say, "I'm in a field" before the call dropped. A Navy veteran, 24-year-old William Hurley went missing after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston,Massachusetts. Judge Paul Lipscomb of the Circuit Court of Oregon agreed to vacate Sosnovske's sentence after ruling his no-contest plea violated his constitutional rights because it had not been voluntary since he was facing the death penalty. He left her remains in Nebraska, though Subrize was likely killed in Wyoming. Skiple was known to family and friends as Patsy, according to the sheriffs department. Pavlinac told investigators during her last recorded statement on Feb. 26, 1990. One of them was to a friend. Jesperson, who was arrested in 1995 on suspicion of killing a woman in Washington state, was dubbed the Happy Face Killer because he drew smiley faces on letters he sent to the media and. "Madonna, that's what she listened to all day," White said. Her sister Michelle White said Bennett was the only one in their family who graduated from high school, someone who read a lot and loved music. [11] Jesperson gives the Jane Doe's name as Claudia. She was a mother and approximately 45 years old at the time she was killed. 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. She told investigators she drove them to a scenic overlook at the Columbia Gorge, where Sosnovske told her to pull over. What doesn't make sense is that many of the 40 cases the investigators have looked into have puzzling evidence. He decided to drag her body underneath his truck to impede identification. Julie Winningham is the last known victim of Keith Hunter Jesperson. He showed signs of psychopathic behavior from an early age which included torturing animals and attacking other children. [He said,] 'No, no. . of Victims 8-185 killed 5 attempted Span of crimes 1995/1966-March 10, 1995 (confirmed) Criminal Charges Victim 7: Angela Subrize, 21. In these supposed "Smiley Face" serial killings, popular, high-achieving, athletic young men (i.e. She was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life in prison with a 10-year minimum served. His last known victim was a woman he dated, which led to his capture and, During his depraved spree, Jesperson taunted authorities with anonymous. "The greatest human tragedy is that Laverne Pavlinac derailed the investigation in 1990, and in four years, Keith Jesperson killed more women," said Jim McIntyre, the Multnomah County, Oregon, prosecutor who handled the cases. "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. That letter-writer turned out to be Keith Hunter Jesperson, who became known for signing the letters with a happy face symbol thus the Happy Face Killer moniker. They met at a truck stop in Corning, California. Jesperson murdered another woman in August 1992 at a Turlock, California truck stop. The renowned crime journalist and author of The Misbegotten Son turns his attention to serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, the "Happy Face Killer" from Oregon who strangled eight women in the 1990s, detailing his evolution from angry child to psychotic murderer. Safety in numbers is the name of the game, before, during and after a night out on the town. Victim 1:Taunja Bennett. She grew up in a small town in Washington state and survived the escalating violence from her home life and. Officials did not implicate the band member in Homan's death. Gannon and Gilbertson also notedthe body appeared to have been staged three sticks were strategically placed around his body, and there were shoe and drag marks in the soil. When she arrived, however, he was nowhere in sight. Retired New York City Police detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte, joined by criminal justice professor Dr. Lee Gilbertson, believe that a group of serial killers have been murdering young men around the country and making their deaths look like accidental drownings. 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. Investigators said there wasno sign of foul play, and his death was ruled an undetermined drowning. 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. Victim 5: California Jane Doe. , 32, was found dead in September 1992. He later claimed his intention was to kill the boy. Soon after his injury was when Keith started to kill. She's told her own daughter the same story, very convincingly.' Many of his victims were sex workers and transients who had no connection to him. Could some of them be connected to a serial killer or group of killers? The smiley face murder theory (also known as the smiley face murders, smiley face killings, and smiley face gang) is a theory advanced by retired New York City detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte, as well as Dr. Lee Gilbertson, a criminal justice professor and gang expert at St. That's whyall ofthis doesn'tmake sense. 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. 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. Pavlinac seemed to know intimate details about the case. , who survived a violent encounter with Jesperson when she was 21. April 19, 2022, 7:31 PM PDT. Hurley walked outside while Mahoney drove to the stadium to pick him up. 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 . His death was ruled an undetermined drowning. As she and Sosnovske started their life sentences, one of the United States' most notorious serial killers continued his murder spree. In both cases, and as per usual . Tommy Booth, 24, disappeared on January 19, 2008 from a bar in Woodlyn, Pennsylvania. Pavlinac soon admitted to making up her entire story, but her claims were ignored. April 19, 2022 / 7:43 AM / CBS San Francisco. The book I: the Creation of a Serial Killer (2002), by Jack Olsen, delved into Jesperson's life. Their work has spawned an Oxygen series, Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice, which aired in January 2019. . FILE - Accused murderer Keith Hunter Jesperson, dubbed the Happy Face Killer, right, listens to his attorney . Meanwhile, the real killer carried out a series of murders over five years. 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. After getting in an argument with Bennett, he strangled her to death with his hands and disposed of her body. He has said he strangled her because she wouldn't let him sleep. He strangled her and left her corpse in Oregon. He would often get into trouble for behaving badly, sometimes violently, and would be severely punished by his father. A smiley face was found spray painted on an underpass near where James body was discovered. He split from his wife in 1990 after 15 years of . Jesperson claims Rose was a sex worker who entered his truck at a truck stop while he slept. I wanted to get those two people out of prison," he said in 1995, referring to Pavlinac and Sosnovske. Jesperson's first known victim was Taunja Bennett on 21 January 1990, near Portland, Oregon, United States. 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. 45 colleged-aged males across a 20-year span. Pentlands body was found in November 1992 after being discarded in Salem, Oregon. Hundreds of college-aged men have died in accidental or undetermined drownings. At school, Jesperson was bigger than his classmates and was taunted with names like "Monster Man" and "Igor." Now 66, Jesperson is serving five non-consecutive life sentences in Oregon's state penitentiary. However, the kicker is that these drownings happening in 11 different states. Most were strangers and some were sex workers. Her body was discovered behind the Blueberry Hill Cafe in Turlock, California. On April 23 in Hamburg and the following weekend in Dusseldorf, the bodies of young men were retrieved from waterways. The Lonely Hearts Killer, was a truly frightening and twisted serial murderer in the late 1950s. Her body disintegrated against the hot asphalt as he drove. Her body was found after his arrest. [32] The series had 12 episodes. , 24, disappeared on January 19, 2008 from a bar in Woodlyn, Pennsylvania. A few days before his arrest, he wrote a letter to his brother in which he confessed to having killed eight people over the course of five years. Some of his victims, as seen in this timeline, have never been identified. "I [had] seen all these tracks and all this and that. Her identity remains unknown. And that's how I remember her," said Melissa Gavin, her longtime friend. At some of the sites where the victims' bodies were found, smiley face graffiti had been left behind. You can find episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from podcast for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. After a series of letters are sent to the press, the killer earned the moniker, the Happy Face Killer. Jesperson signed each letter with a smiley face. He is now 66 years old, according to his prison records. 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. In 1990, Taunja Bennett was found dead near a scenic overlook at the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. 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. 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. Oddly,Geib's head and shoulders were sticking out of the wateras if he had gone for a swim. 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. This finding is inconsistent with the belief that Booth drowned the night he disappeared. Jesperson claims he killed her after she tried to double charge him for sex, according to Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer., Because Jesperson allowed her to use his credit card to make a phone call, he devised a depraved way to conceal her identity. [4] Because of this, Jesperson was a shy child, content to play by himself much of the time. 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. I thought, 'Oh my God, it felt like I put my mother in jail.'". Jesperson was a. Jesperson met her in a bar in January 1995 and agreed to give her a ride before eventually killing her. Jesperson's last victim was the crime that ultimately led to his capture. Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. After moving to Selah, Washington, United States, he had trouble fitting in and making friends because of his large size. Editor Note: This is rerun of 2018 post. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. In the years following, Jesperson said he often thought about what it would be like to do the same to a human. 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. He had been questioned by police a week before, but they had no grounds to arrest him after he refused to talk. [6] Approximately one year later, Jesperson was swimming in a lake when another boy held him underwater until he blacked out. Jesperson resides in the Oregon State Penitentiary, where he spends much of his time making art. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. They were able to identify her as Skiple on April 13. 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. 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. 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 . In April 1990, he sexually assaulted a woman who managed to escape. Today, we're finishing our look at Keith Jesperson, the twisted murderer otherwise known as the Happy Face Killer. In one six-page letter to The Oregonian newspaper, the serial killer revealed . They had three children, two girls and a boy. "I sometimes now wonder, if he was freed now, if he was released, would he kill again? 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. The purse had not been found at the crime scene, and its location was considered information only the killer would know. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. 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. Six days after his disappearance,Hurley's body was foundin the Charles River, close to where he asked Mahoney to pick him up. 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. Some of his victims, as seen in this timeline, have never been identified. "The Smiley Face Killers" movie was . 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. 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 Happy Face Killer's eighth and final victim that would be his downfall. And she [said], 'Well, they told me I had to tell you thisbecauseif I told you then they would believe me,'" Carpenter said. Join Melissa Moore, host of Happy Face Season 1, as she helps Becky unravel the strange tale of her family, searching for answers to decades-old mysteries that remain unanswered in the modern day. Often Keith would dream of becoming an RCMP officer, the power of a position like that appealed to him, but his dream was dashed in 1990 after an injury prevented him from qualifying. 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. [15], Although Jesperson at one point claimed to have had as many as 160 victims,[16] only the eight women killed in Washington, Oregon, California, Florida, Nebraska, and Wyoming have been confirmed. He strapped the woman beneath his big rig,. Punched her, slapped her. [20], On 7 January 1996, more than five years after their conviction, Pavlinac and Sosnovske were released from prison after Jesperson and his attorney offered his confession with convincing evidence of his guilt. Sosnovske pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. She'sgiveher the shirt off her back," McAlpine said. During his depraved spree, Jesperson taunted authorities with anonymous confessions signed with a smiley face. On 30 August 1992, the currently unidentified body of a woman Jesperson had raped and strangled was found near Blythe, California, United States. He was caught after killing his 41-year-old girlfriend, Kellyanne Conway, George Conway To Divorce After Decadeslong Marriage: Report, Reports: 3 children dead, 2 wounded in attack at Texas home, 'Extremely dangerous': Spike in illegal crossings at Canada-Vermont border has feds sounding alarm, School punished teen girl for working out in sports bra in 100-degree Texas heat, ACLU says, Republicans Use Arcane Political Tactic to Thwart Democrats, SoCal in for cool start to weekend, butlight showers make brief return, Ryan Coogler Built A Multi-Million Dollar Empire, But His Brothers Work On Creed III Proves Its A Family Affair, Peoria's year of adversity turns into 4A basketball championship in win over Deer Valley, Monster Jam, Blake Shelton, Orlando City soccer: Orlando preparing for big crowds this weekend. Jesperson worked as a truck driver to support the family. Jesperson's first victim, 23-year-old Taunja Bennett, was killed on January 21, 1990. Jesperson became a suspect after Winningham's was found since he was known to be her boyfriend.
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