This article includes discussions of murder, rape, and animal harm.
Paramount+’s true crime dramaHappy Faceheavily fictionalizes the story of the real-life Happy Face Killer and his daughter Melissa Moore, raising many questions about the actual true story. True crime is a plentiful genre that only continues to grow. Paramount+ has added to the collection with the partly true but mostly fiction showHappy Face. Based on the podcastHappy Faceand Melissa Moore’s bookShattered Secrets, theDennis Quaid-led crime series debuted with a high Rotten Tomatoes score, with critics praising its captivating story. This specific praise is interesting, though, becauseHappy Faceis mostly fiction.
The show explores many emotional truths about the impact of trauma, secrets, and the hidden victims of crimes. Keith Hunter Jeperson and Melissa Moore are real people. However,large chunks of the narrative didn’t happen in real life, and some ofHappy Face’s characterarcs have little basis in reality. In preparation for the show’s release, I listened to theHappy Facepodcast and purchased Moore’s book. The true story of Keith Hunter Jesperson’s murders and Melissa Moore’s life with a serial killer dad is just as disturbing and tragic as Paramount+’s show.
Keith Hunter Jesperson Murdered At Least 8 Women In The 1990s
Jesperson Became A Serial Killer While Working As A Long-Haul Trucker
From 1990 to 1995, Keith Hunter Jesperson murdered at least eight women while working as a long-haul truck driver. He primarily targeted sex workers and women traveling from place to place.In order of their murders, his known named victims are as follows:
Between Bennett and Rose, he also murdered an unidentified woman called “Claudia,” who has yet to be identified. However, according toSFGate, investigators made strides earlier this year toward the goal, as they successfully identified her father. However, he had many children with many women, none of whom recognized “Claudia,” so she remains unidentified. Additionally, he attempted to kidnap, rape, and murder a woman named Daun Richert-Slagle after “Claudia,” but she survived. At one point, Jesperson claimed over 160 victims, but no others were confirmed. However, it remains a possibility that other victims just haven’t been identified.
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Keith Hunter Jesperson might have been caught earlier, preventing many deaths, if it weren’t for the false confession of a woman named Laverne Pavlinac. According to theNational Registry of Exonerations, Pavlinac turned in her allegedly abusive boyfriend, John Sosnovske, in hopes that it would end their relationship. In the process of convincing the police of Sosnovske’s guilt, Pavlinac implicated herself as well. The pair’s conviction allowed Jesperson to continue his murders without suspicion.
Keith Hunter Jesperson’s Media Letters & Happy Face Killer Name Origin Explained
Jesperson Signed All His Letters With A Happy Face
On the wall of a Greyhound bus station in Montana, Keith Hunter Jesperson left a taunting message graffitied on the wall shortly after murdering Taunja Bennett. According to theDaily News, it said this:
“I killed Tanya Bennett (sic) July 03, 2025 in Portland, Ore. I beat her to death, raped her, and loved it. Yes, I’m sick but I enjoy myself, too. People took the blame and I’m free.”
He signed his message with a happy face. The confession didn’t immediately gain attention, but it became noteworthy when letters started arriving at newspapers, magazines, and legal institutions sporting similar confessions with the same smiley. Eventually,Keith Hunter Jesperson wrote a six-page letter to The Oregonian, claiming credit for five murders, including Taunja Bennett.
In the letter, Jesperson says he wrote the letter because his conscience got to him after “a man and woman got blamed for it.” However, the way he describes his victims and crimes, he sounds more like a person who’s proud of his actions and bragging. There’s zero remorse in his words. On the first page, he drew a happy face, just like on the Greyhound bus station wall. After this letter, he was given the moniker The Happy Face Killer.
How The Police Finally Caught Keith Hunter Jesperson
Police Started To Suspect Him When He Killed A Romantic Partner
After five years of murders, Keith Hunter Jesperson made a fatal mistake that would result in his imprisonment. All of his seven past victims had no connection to him, but Julie Winningham was romantically linked to Jesperson. Most publications list her as his fiancée, though her son Don Findlay stated on theHappy Facepodcast that Julie was never with Jesperson. Still, because they had some kind of connection, the police began looking at Keith Hunter Jesperson as a person of interest in the murder.
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The police couldn’t arrest him since they didn’t have the evidence. However, the investigation was enough to spook Keith Hunter Jesperson. According to theHappy Facepodcast, he wrote a letter to his ex-wife and to his brother confessing to eight murders. Jesperson then turned himself in to the police, ending his reign of terror.
Melissa Moore Saw Small Signs Of Keith Hunter Jesperson’s Dark Side In Childhood
In Melissa Moore’s bookShattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter, Melissa confirms that her dad never physically punished his wife or children. However, she did see his mask slip many times when it came to animals. While I’ve already issued a trigger warning at the top of this article, I will once again warn readers to proceed with caution. Within the first four chapters, she recounts three different incidents where Keith Hunter Jesperson tortured and murdered kittens. Additionally, Melissa Moore confirms in the book that her father killed their pet dog in an equally violent way.
I won’t go into gratuitous details about these events because they’re really disturbing to read. However, one specific incident involved pouring gasoline on a cat and burning it alive. This is particularly noteworthy becauseboth arson and animal cruelty are considered early indicators that a person could become a serial killerin forensic psychology (viaBowie State University).
These moments horrified Melissa to the point that she tried to push them out of her memory, but they never fully registered in her child brain as warning signs for what he’d go on to do. While many jump to the question of “how could you not know?” when it comes to killers’ families, she cannot be faulted for not predicting what her father was capable of, nor is she responsible for his actions.
Melissa Moore Came Out With Her True Identity In 2008 & Later Met Families Of Her Father’s Victims
Melissa Moore’s Daughter Unknowingly Urged Her To Face Her Hidden Past
After her father’s crimes came out, Melissa Moore spent a long time trying to hide who she was from the world. However, as she recounts in Shattered Silence, everything changed after her daughter Aspen asked who Melissa’s father was. In an act of desperation, she wrote to the Dr. Phil Show, hoping for his help. He soon invited her to join his televised Get Real Retreat, where 14 participants went to the Dr. Phil House hoping to work through their issues and situations. This move thrust Melissa Moore into the public eye, revealing her true identity.
After participating in the retreat, she started doing magazine and newspaper interviews. Then, she started writing her book. Down the line, she met with at least two members of the families of her father’s victims. She and her mother met Michelle White, the sister of Taunja Bennett, on the show Monster in My Family. Later, Melissa sat down with Don Findlay, the son of Julie Winningham, for two episodes of theHappy Facepodcast. Both meetings seemed tense, but neither White nor Findlay blamed Moore for her father’s crimes.
Melissa Moore Wrote 2 Books, Produced 2 Podcasts, And Created A TV Show About Life As A Serial Killer’s Daughter
Melissa Moore Hopes To Expand The Definition Of “Victim” To Include The Perpetrators' Families
After opening up about her identity as Keith Hunter Jesperson’s daughter, Melissa Moore decided to write the bookShattered Silence– a memoir about her life before, during, and after learning about her father’s crimes. She found value in not only healing herself but also connecting with other family members of criminals. She then proceeded to help producean A&E show calledMonster in My Familythat focused on connecting family members of killers with the victims' families with the goal of healing. Melissa and her mother appeared in Monster in My Family season 1, episode 2.
As she continued to heal and grow from the wounds her father caused, she wrote a second book calledWHOLE. This self-help book shares her story and offers different steps toward healing that others with trauma can follow. I’m always cautious when it comes to trauma-related self-help books not written by licensed mental health professionals, but her efforts to help victims of all kinds heal are noble, regardless. Finally, she started her podcasting endeavors.
[Perpetrators' loved ones] face the fallout, pain, and destruction of their family member’s actions, too.
Her first podcast,Happy Face, explores her experiences and those of Keith Hunter Jesperson’s victims’ families. WhileShattered Silenceis emotional, there’s something more intimate about hearing the story from the voices of everyone involved. Her second podcast,Life After Happy Face, centers the voices of victims’ and perpetrators’ families and friends when telling true crime stories.
Moore’s efforts have helped expand the definition of “victim” to include the family of the perpetrator – a sentiment that most of the true crime community has come to accept. These individuals face the fallout, pain, and destruction of their family member’s actions, too. Paramount+’sHappy Faceexplores this idea in much more depth, offering Moore’s heavily fictionalized story as a case study.
Sources:SFGate,National Registry of Exonerations,Daily News,Bowie State University,Shattered Silenceby Melissa Moore, theHappy Facepodcast, and Netflix’sCatching Killers
