the happy face killer victims

Investigators said there wasno sign of foul play, and his death was ruled an undetermined drowning. Happy Face Presents: Two Face iHeart True Crime True Crime 4.3 8.5K Ratings; What would you do if you learned you were adopted, your biological . A television movie, Happy Face Killer, starring David Arquette as Jesperson, aired in 2014. His death was ruled an accidental drowning, andthe autopsy report noted"acute alcohol intoxication was a major contributing factor.". The Lonely Hearts Killer, was a truly frightening and twisted serial murderer in the late 1950s. Pavlinac had made the whole thing up. 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. [7] He had watched and laughed as the kittens clawed each other to escape, then he killed them. Kreuger, Peggy; Kendra Justice & Amy Hunt (March 2006). The term "smiley face" became connected to their theory when the team . Jesperson murdered another woman in August 1992 at a Turlock, California truck stop. Criminal profiler Pat Brown calls the serial killer theory "ludicrous", arguing that the evidence does not fit what is known about serial killers. According to former detective Kevin Gannon and Dr. Lee Gilbertson, Geib's head and shoulders were sticking out of the water. 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. According to Jesperson, Pentland attempted to double the fee she charged for the sex he had been engaged in with her. [19] To avoid the possibility of facing the death penalty, Sosnovske pleaded no contest. "I [had] seen all these tracks and all this and that. Many of his victims were sex workers and transients who had no connection to him. Sosnovske pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. What doesn't make sense is that many of the 40 cases the investigators have looked into have puzzling evidence. When she arrived, however, he was nowhere in sight. I have been a killer for five years and have killed eight people." James' body, however, had almost no visible damage, which was highly suspicious because it had traveled through heavily trafficked river. The Santa Clara County Sheriffs Department. I thought, 'Oh my God, it felt like I put my mother in jail.'". His death was ruled an undetermined drowning. PHOTO: Justice for Mason/Facebook. Pavlinac and Sosnovske were released from prison in November 1995. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Sosnovske was brought in for questioning and denied any involvement. After the murder, Jesperson remembered they'd spent days together and he'd let her use a credit card. For the 2014 film about Jesperson, see, List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)", "Serial killer receives fourth life sentence", "Dr. Phil Returns to The Oprah Show: My Father Is a Serial Killer", "ABC '20/20': Melissa Moore, Daughter Of Serial Killer, Opens Up Tonight About Life With 'Happy Face Killer' Keith Jesperson", "Meet Crime Watch Daily Correspondent Melissa Moore | Truecrimedaily.com", "My evil dad: Life as a serial killer's daughter", "Happy Face Presents: Two Face on Apple Podcasts", "Life After Happy Face on Apple Podcasts", Daughter of the 'Happy Face Killer' Talks About Growing Up With a Serial Killer Dad, Keith Hunter Jesperson: Happy Face Killer, Daughter of serial killer confronts her past, Radio Interview with Melissa Moore (daughter), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keith_Hunter_Jesperson&oldid=1142498372, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Crimes against sex workers in the United States, People extradited within the United States, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Oregon, Violence against women in the United States, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2010, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 8 confirmed (confessed to as many as 185). After he strangled them, he dumped the dead bodies on the side of the road. Before his arrest, he also wrote a letter to his brother that admitted, "I am sorry that I turned out this way. After a night of barhopping, Homan headed home at around 10 p.m. with a friend. Today's episode is part 1 of our coverage of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson. 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. 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. Jesperson became a suspect after Winningham's was found since he was known to be her boyfriend. Jesperson claims he killed her after she tried to double charge him for sex, according to Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer.. The footage captured James entering a dark alley, and that was the last time he was seen alive. She called him a second time, but his cell phone seemed to be out of battery. All drowned after getting intoxicated. Her body disintegrated against the hot asphalt as he drove. Her body was found after his arrest. The day of his disappearance, Homan had been celebrating Oktoberfest with his friends. She then described how she watched Sosnovske have sex with Bennett while he directed her to hold a rope around her neck, and that she believed she pulled the rope too tight, killing Bennett. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. 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. Jesperson grew up in Chilliwack, Canada before moving to Selah, Washington with his family when he was 12. He had given police officers the location of the victim's purse. Jesperson attempted suicide but ended up confessing to Winningham's murder. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Authorities came to believe they had convicted the wrong people. "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. Over the past 20 years, hundreds of college-aged men across the US have died as the result of undetermined or accidental drownings. That night, he had been celebrating a friend's 21st birthday with a group of friends. In 2019, investigators began utilizing genetic genealogy in an attempt to identify Blue Pacheco, partnering with the nonprofit DNA Doe Project. On September 29, 2006, 21-year-old Lucas Homan vanished from La Crosse, Wisconsin. Convicted murderer Keith Jesperson, right, shown here at a Nov. 2, 1995, court appearance in Portland, Ore., with attorney Thomas Phelan, has recanted all his previous murder admissions. , who became known for signing the letters with a happy face symbol thus the Happy Face Killer moniker. According to police reports, one dog later hit on an an SUV owned by a local band member, who had played a show at the bar the night of Homan's disappearance, but the K9 alert was inconclusive. Jesperson met 21-year-old Bennett in a bar in Portland, Oregon. "She was that kind of woman. The production features interviews between, Dangerous Ground: My Friendship with a Serial Killer.. Jesperson, who was born in British Columbia in 1955 and moved to the US when he was 12, kept on killing until he was caught in 1995. 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. However, the kicker is that these drownings happening in 11 different states. Jespersons heinous crimes as well as shocking twists in the case including a, couple who took the blame for one of his homicides. Jesperson sent the photo to the Duquesne University students. The Smiley Face Killers. Jesperson, who was born in British Columbia in 1955 and moved to the US when he was 12, kept on killing until he was caught in 1995. I will be writing about that more in the future so stay tuned. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Their work has spawned an Oxygen series, Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice, which aired in January 2019. Now 66, Jesperson is serving five non-consecutive life sentences in Oregon's state penitentiary. He was sentenced to life in prison while Pavlinac was sentenced to no less than ten years, much more than she had anticipated. 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. One day, she watched, horrified, as he hung stray kittens from the family's clothesline. His boss informed his family, who filed a missing persons report 72 hours later. ". 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 . was 23 years old when he went missing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In November 1995, a judge released Pavlinac and Sosnovske from prison. 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. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. "I sometimes now wonder, if he was freed now, if he was released, would he kill again? Homan was the eighth accidental drowning case in La Crosse over a nine-year period. The book I: the Creation of a Serial Killer (2002), by Jack Olsen, delved into Jesperson's life. Canadian-American serial killer (born 1955), "Happy Face Killer" redirects here. He strapped the woman beneath his big rig,. Because Jesperson allowed her to use his credit card to make a phone call, he devised a depraved way to conceal her identity. Jesperson's first known victim was Taunja Bennett on 21 January 1990, near Portland, Oregon, United States. Watch the full story on "20/20" THIS FRIDAY at 9 p.m. "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. 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. "Theyhave her tell me the story and I looked at her again, and I said, 'Mom, are you sure?' 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. Victim 8: Julia Ann Winningham, 41. In the years following, Jesperson said he often thought about what it would be like to do the same to a human. The morning of October 2, Homan's body was found not far from the shore of the Mississippi River. [5] This continued as he got older. In September 2009, Jesperson was indicted in Riverside County, California, on murder charges; he was extradited in December 2009. 2. Best Known For: Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. 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.? Other students hold photos of Mr. Jesperson's victims. This victim has been identified as Cynthia Lynn (Rose) Wilcox. They divorced in 1989. 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. 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 1, 2000, Northern Illinois University junior Brian Welzien went missing from Chicago, Illinois, after a night of celebrating Y2K with his friends. Laverne Pavlinac, right, touches the tear-stained face of her grandaughter, Nicole Sullivan, after being released from prison in Salem, Ore., Nov. 27, 1995. "Madonna, that's what she listened to all day," White said. He confessed to killing her and subsequently admitted to seven other murders. Could some of them be connected to a serial killer or group of killers? Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. And they were laughing," Pavlinac told investigators. "The Smiley Face Killers" movie was . Jesperson had dated before her before killing her on March 3, 1995 because he believed she was after his money. And just like his British counterpart, the police denied . serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, with whom they corresponded during the fall semester. Buddy up at all times. We need to report this, John.' 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. Officials did not implicate the band member in Homan's death. He met the developmentally disabled Bennett while out drinking and convinced her to go to his house. Jesperson resides in the Oregon State Penitentiary, where he spends much of his time making art. Homan did not arrive for a golf outing the next day. [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. The only difference was that the American version, operating in the Midwest throughout the 1990s, spray painted a smiley face on his victims. While in custody, Jesperson began revealing details of his killings and making claims of many others, most of which he later recanted. [27] In November 2014, she wrote an article about her father for the BBC.[28]. They had three children, two girls and a boy. One of Welzien's friends, Nick Young, stayed behind. The purse had not been found at the crime scene, and its location was considered information only the killer would know. Some of his victims, as seen in this timeline, have never been identified. Investigators believedhe could have walked to the edge of Lake Michigan, a five-minute walk from the hotel, and fallen in. 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. Victim 2: California Jane Doe. He then sought work again as an interstate truck driver after relocating to Cheney, Washington. She'sgiveher the shirt off her back," McAlpine said. 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. A Canadian-born long-haul truck driver and divorced father of three, Jesperson carried out his killings over the course of five years until he turned himself in to authorities in 1995. An Oregon mother was identified Tuesday as a victim of "the Happy Face Killer" nearly four decades after her body was found on the side of a . Jespersons fifth victim was known only as Susanne, whom he met in Crestview, Florida. According to detectives Anthony Duarte and Kevin Gannon, the Smiley Face Theory came into . 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. Jesperson married Rose Hucke on August 2, 1975. Surveillance footage captured Booth entering the bar where the celebration took place, but there is no video evidence of him leaving. In later years, Jesperson also sent anonymous letters to The Oregonian newspaper about what had become his multiple murders. The body of Julie Winningham, 41, of Camas, Washington, was found alongside a Washington State road in 1995. April 19, 2022 / 7:43 AM / CBS San Francisco. On April 23 in Hamburg and the following weekend in Dusseldorf, the bodies of young men were retrieved from waterways. She told investigators she drove them to a scenic overlook at the Columbia Gorge, where Sosnovske told her to pull over. Jesperson eventually settled in Selah, Washington with his wife and three children. Jesperson has said that he took 166 lives, but only the above eight murders have been attributed to him. He was known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and authorities. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. Keith Hunter Jesperson was born in 1955 in British Columbia, Canada and is a serial killer. He would go on to share details of the crime on other restroom walls. Pentlands body was found in November 1992 after being discarded in Salem, Oregon. 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. Strangulation was Jesperson's preferred method of murdering, the same method he often used to kill animals as a child. Watch Happy Face Killer on Lifetime Movie Club. Smiley faces again served as his signature, prompting a journalist to dub Jesperson the "Happy Face Killer.". She found out that her son had reportedly suffered blunt force trauma to the head, his eye socket and behind his left leg. She was a mother and approximately 45 years old at the time she was killed. 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. He was found guilty of killing Bennett, Pentland, and Winningham and was sentenced to six consecutive and concurrent sentences. 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. went missing after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston,Massachusetts. Welzien's friends said he had only three or four drinks, but by the end of the night he seemed very intoxicated. The last known sighting of the Duquesne University graduate student was caught on asurveillance camera in the downtown area. Investigators have revealed the name of a heretofore unidentified victim of the "Happy Face Killer," nearly 30 years after her murder. A Navy veteran, 24-year-old William Hurley went missing after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston,Massachusetts. 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. On January 25, 2017 around 11:30 p.m., James was walking back to his apartment after a night out drinking with friends and co-workers. "He went off into the woods with her," Pavlinac told investigators. 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. During his depraved spree, Jesperson taunted authorities with anonymous confessions signed with a smiley face. [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. When investigators asked him why he decided to come forward, Jesperson listed two reasons. On October 8, 2009, Hurley went to the game with two friends. The victims were predominately white, male, athletic ("3.5 and above star athletes," according to Gannon), and young from 17 to early 20s. I wanted to get those two people out of prison," he said in 1995, referring to Pavlinac and Sosnovske. [29][30] In September 2018, podcast network HowStuffWorks began releasing a show called Happy Face[31] featuring interviews with Melissa about her childhood and her father. [1], At a very early ageas young as fiveJesperson would capture and torture animals. that, using genetic genealogy, they were able to identify a body found in 1993 as Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon. At some of the sites where the victims' bodies were found, smiley face graffiti had been left behind. Pavlinac set up a meeting with investigators and gave a false confession, using the details she had read in the newspaper to give a detailed story of how Sosnovske forced her to help him rape, murder, and dispose of Bennett's body. Search dogs scoured the downtown area where Homan was last seen alive. [4] Because of this, Jesperson was a shy child, content to play by himself much of the time. They believed his body traveled for almost 10 miles and even went through a dam before its discovery. His friends went up to their room and never saw Welzien again. Director Rick Bota Writer Richard Christian Matheson Stars David Arquette Gloria Reuben Daryl Shuttleworth See production, box office & company info Her body, which had been strangled and tied up with duct tape, was found on August 30, 1992. "[He said] I better not open my mouth. His fourth victim was another sex worker, Laurie Ann Pentland of Salem, Oregon, whose body was found in November 1992. [2] Jesperson's father was a domineering alcoholic; according to Jesperson, his paternal grandfather was prone to violence. 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. "Her persistence in this manipulation resulted in her own conviction.". While in custody, Jesperson shared details of his eight murders. In April 1990, he sexually assaulted a woman who managed to escape. Pavlinac soon admitted to making up her entire story, but her claims were ignored. Surveillance footage captured Booth entering the bar where the celebration took place, but there is no video evidence of him leaving. Between 1997 and 2008, authorities pulled the dead bodies of more than 40 young white men out of rivers and lakes in more than 25 cities across 11 states. That this never happened. After he raped and strangled her, Jesperson dumped her body near the Columbia River Gorge, outside Portland. 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. Detectives first became aware of Pavlinac when she anonymously called them to report that she overheard Sosnovske at a bar bragging about killing Bennett. are covered in bracing detail in the Oxygen special Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer, now streaming. jocks) usually after a night of drinking at a bar are kidnapped, tortured, murdered and then their . Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Victim 1:Taunja Bennett. 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. Jesperson killed his next victim in June 1993 in Santa Nella, California. This led police agencies in several states to reopen old cases, many of which were found to be possible victims of Jesperson. Local police theorized the men simply got too drunk, fell into the water and drowned, but Gannon, Donovan, Duarte and Gilbertson investigated their deaths as the work of an organized group of serial killers dubbed "The Smiley Face Killers." Victim 5: California Jane Doe. The following morning, James did not show up for work. [26], In 2008, Moore published a book titled Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter. While he has claimed to have killed as many as 160 people, only eight murders have been confirmed. , 24, disappeared on January 19, 2008 from a bar in Woodlyn, Pennsylvania. 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. Soon after Angela Subrize ran into Jesperson at a bar in Spokane, Washington in January 1995, she traveled east with him in his truck. "I consider this the most dangerous domestic terrorist group in the United States today," said Gannon. Victim 1: Taunja Bennett. [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. And she [said], 'Well, they told me I had to tell you thisbecauseif I told you then they would believe me,'" Carpenter said. In one six-page letter to The Oregonian newspaper, the serial killer revealed . That's when they said she implicated herself in the murder, according to Det. But a few days later, they got another call from Pavlinac. . Pavlinac told investigators during her last recorded statement on Feb. 26, 1990. Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, also known as the "Happy Face Killer," brutally murdered eight women between 1990 and 1995. Potential "Smiley Face Killers" victim Todd Geib. Six days after his disappearance,Hurley's body was foundin the Charles River, close to where he asked Mahoney to pick him up. 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. NR Jul 18th, 2021 Documentary. 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. But it was all a lie. Keith Hunter Jesperson committed his first murder in 1990. During the drive, Welzien started throwing up. I just said it, this is close enough," she said. [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. He introduced himself to Bennett at a bar and invited her to a house he was renting. Investigators installed a hidden recording device in their home hoping to catch Sosnovske making incriminating statements. Largely considered an urban legend, the Smiley Face Killer, like the Manchester Pusher, murdered his victims by drowning. "I think what happened to mother was she was in an abusive relationship, and she was desperate, and desperate people do desperate things, not to say that it was right, but that's what I think happened," said Pavlinac's daughter Bonne McAlpine.

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