Investigators hopeful DNA technology will help them identify lone remaining unidentified victim of "Happy Face Killer"

Investigators are hopeful that recent advances in DNA technology could help them identify the lone remaining unidentified victim of Keith Jesperson, known infamously as the "Happy Face Killer" who believed to have killed at least eight people in the early 1990s. 

The announcement comes on the anniversary of  his conviction for the murder back in 2010. The unidentified victim's body, that of a woman, was found on Aug. 30 1992 seven miles north of Blythe along Highway 95, prosecutors say. 

The investigators, with the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, say that the advances in technology have them the "closest they've ever been" to successfully identifying the woman and are hopeful that they can soon put a name to her face. 

Jesperson was initially arrested for a separate case, according to a statement from the DA's office, at which point he confessed to a new reporter in Portland, Oregon, and later to Riverside County Sheriff's Office deputies, that he killed her and seven other women. 

On Jan. 8, 2010, he pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. 

Since then, investigators have still been unable to identify the woman, whom he referred to as "Claudia."

"Our goal is to identify this victim and provide closure to to her family, wherever they may be," said Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin. "We are hopeful someone hearing any of these details may remember anything that could help us reunite this woman with the family who may have been looking for her for over three decades."

Jesperson, who was known as the "Happy Face Killer" because of the many letters he sent to both law enforcement and the media that had drawings of smiley faces on them, was interviewed by investigators at the Oregon State Penitentiary in 2023, the statement said. He allegedly told them that he met "Claudia" at a brake check area near southbound I-15 in the Victorville area in Aug. 1992, when he worked as a long-haul truck driver. 

She allegedly asked him to be taken to the Los Angeles area, which he says he refused due to his planned route to Arizona. Instead, he took her to Cabazon, where the two briefly stopped. He says that she decided to continue traveling with him until they reached the Indio/Coachella Burns Brothers rest stop, where they argued about money. 

Jesperson said that he killed her inside of his truck and then drove from Coachella to Blythe, where he dumped her body. 

He described her as a woman between 20 and 30 years old of medium build with "shaggy, wild blonde hair, and tight clothing," and says that Claudia might not have been her real name. He says she was about 5-feet, 6-inches tall and weighed around 150 pounds. 

Investigators say that the woman was found wearing a t-shirt with a motorcycle print on it and that she had a small tattoo of two small dots on the left side of her right thumb. 

Over the years prosecutors have had several sketches of what the woman may have looked like prior to her death through the use of forensic approximations, combined with DNA technology, her remains and Jesperson's description. 

Based on conversations that investigators had with Jesperson, the victim is believed to have been familiar with much of Southern California, including the LA, San Bernardino and Riverside County areas, as well as having some ties to southern Nevada and Las Vegas. 

They believe that she was a frequent hitchhiker and cigarette smoker. 

Investigators, teamed with genealogists, have been able to determine some familial relatives of the woman using forensic science, including her biological father, who has since died. He is believed to have been from Cameron County, Texas, but traveled through many parts of the United States including Santa Barbara County, Washington state and Oregon. 

They also identified several half-siblings, but none of them were biological matches with the victim's mother, so they were unaware of "Claudia's" existence and unable to help with identification. However, investigators have reason to believe that the woman's maternal side of the family has ties to Louisiana and/or the southeast Texas area. 

With so little information on her identity, the DA's Offices is hopeful that community members are able to contact them with any leads that may lead to the long-sought after answers as to the woman's true identity. 

Anyone with a lead, "no matter how insignificant they may seem," is asked to contact the cold case hotline at (951) 955-5567, or by emailing coldcaseunit@rivcoda.org. 

Though convicted of eight murders, Jesperson has offered confessions for 185 different killings over the years. He remains imprisoned at the Oregon State Penitentiary on a lifetime sentence.