B.C.-born killer’s U.S. victim still unidentified
Posted January 10, 2024 12:32 pm.
Last Updated January 10, 2024 12:41 pm.
Police in California are looking to identify a woman slain in the 1990s by a B.C.-born murderer dubbed the “Happy Face Killer.”
The woman, who was killed in the early 1990s, is the last unidentified victim of Keith Jesperson. He was born in Chilliwack before moving to Washington state.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin says Jesperson pleaded guilty to a murder in 2010, and was sentenced to 25 years to life.
“Jesperson is currently service multiple life sentences for having killed eight woman across the country,” Hestrin said.
The unidentified woman was referred to by Jesperson as Claudia, though police in Riverside County say it’s not clear if that was in fact her real name.
She was found dead in Blythe, California in 1992.
Police say the woman is believed to have been hitchhiking to get to the L.A. area and caught a ride with a truck driver the morning before her death. According to investigators, she was heading “from Las Vegas or Barstow region” in California toward the Cajon Pass along the I-15.
The woman was reportedly dropped off by the unknown driver on the way before she walked up to Jesperson to ask for a ride to L.A.
The man is said to have told the woman he was heading to Arizona, but that he could drop her in Cabazon, about 140 kilometres east of L.A.
However, when the two got to Cabazon, police say the woman decided to continue on with Jesperson, with the pair eventually making a stop for lunch at a diner near Indio in the Coachella Valley.
“This would be Claudia’s last meal,” police said in a video released this week.
Investigators say the woman and Jesperson proceeded to have a “heated argument in Jesperson’s truck,” where they claim he killed her. Jesperson later left the woman’s body on the side of a road.
The woman, who was a “frequent hitchhiker” likely from the southern California region, is described as a white woman with a fair complexion. Police say she was between 25 and 35 years old when she died, and was around 5’3″ tall with a medium build.
She had brown or dyed blonde hair, and had a tattoo of two dots on the side of her right thumb.
Police have also released images of the graphic on the shirt the woman was wearing at the time of her death.
According to CNN, Jesperson earned the Happy Face Killer moniker after he sent authorities confession letters signed with smiley faces. The murders spanned across the U.S., including in California, Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Florida.
Anyone who recognizes composite images of the woman or any other information is asked to contact investigators at +1-951-955-5567 or ColdCaseUnit@rivcoda.org.
