Final unidentified victim of ‘Happy Face Killer’ may have ties to Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The only remaining unidentified victim of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the “Happy Face Killer,” may have ties to Las Vegas. Now, investigators are the closest they’ve ever been to identifying her.
On Aug. 30, 1992, a woman’s body was found along U.S. 95, approximately seven miles north of the city of Blythe, California. After police arrested Jesperson, 67, in another case, he confessed to a reporter in Portland, Oregon, that he picked her up as she was heading out of potentially Las Vegas, a news release said Monday.
Investigators said Jesperson referred to the woman as “Claudia.” He later told Riverside County Sheriff’s Office deputies that he killed her and seven other women.
Fourteen years ago, on Jan. 8, 2010, Jesperson pleaded guilty to the murder of “Claudia” and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. He is serving multiple life sentences for the murders, according to Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin.
But “Claudia” has never been positively identified. In fact, “Claudia” may not even be her real name, investigators said.
On the anniversary of Jesperson’s conviction, the Riverside County Regional Cold Case
Homicide Team was asking for help to identify her.
“Our goal is to identify this victim and provide closure to her family, wherever they may be,”
Hestrin said. “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 described “Claudia” as a woman with “shaggy, wild” blonde hair, and tight clothing. At the time of her death, she was 20 to 30 years old, around 5 foot 6 inches to 5 foot 7 inches tall and 140 to 150 pounds. Investigators said she was found wearing a T-shirt with a motorcycle printed on it and had a tattoo of two small dots on the left side of her right thumb.
According to the release, police believe “Claudia” was living, or at least familiar with, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside County areas and had ties to Las Vegas and southern Nevada. They said she may have been a cigarette smoker and a frequent hitchhiker.
Jesperson told police he met “Claudia” at a brake check area on Interstate 15 south of the Victorville area in August 1992 while he was working as a long-haul truck driver, the release said. He told police she asked to be taken to Los Angeles, but he told her he would take her to Cabazon, California, instead, because of his planned truck route to Arizona.
After stopping in Cabazon, “Claudia” decided to keep traveling with Jesperson, the release stated. When they arrived at the Indio/Coachella Burns Brothers rest stop, the two argued about money, and Jesperson claimed he killed her in his truck, before driving to Blyther, where he dumped her body.
Cold case investigators said recent advances in DNA technology and forensic science helped them get closer than ever to identifying “Claudia,” a release stated.
According to the release, investigators and genealogists were able to locate some relatives, including her biological father, who is now deceased. Several half-siblings were identified, but because they were not matches to her mother, they could not help with her identification.
Now, the Riverside County DA’s Office asks that anyone with any additional information that could help identify her contact investigators. They believe someone may recognize her from Las Vegas.
Any leads, no matter how insignificant they may seem, can be reported to the Cold Case Hotline at 951-955-5567 or by emailing coldcaseunit@rivcoda.org. If you believe you could be a relative to “Claudia,” investigators urge you to contact GedMatch for a DNA comparison.
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