Riverside County, California – In the early 1990s, long-haul trucker Keith Hunter Jesperson killed at least eight women in his travels across the United States. Jesperson sent anonymous confession letters to journalists and investigators in an attempt to gain notoriety. Since his arrest in 1995, investigators in at least six states have been working to unravel the identities of his victims. On Monday, authorities in Riverside County, California, revealed a sketch of the final unidentified victim of Jesperson’s killing spree. The spree spanned several states including Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and Florida.
Jesperson, now 68, confessed to killing the women and is serving four life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Some of his victims were drifters or sex workers who were not in regular contact with their families, making it difficult for investigators to identify them. The identity of the California woman, referred to by Jesperson as Claudia, remains unknown.
The goal is to identify her and provide closure to her family. According to Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, the hope is to give this victim back her identity, and possibly reunite her with her family. Jesperson, dubbed the “Happy Face Killer” by an Oregon journalist, provided details of the attacks in his letters. Advances in forensic genetic genealogy have helped identify some of his victims, including Patricia Skiple and Suzanne Kjellenberg.
In a renewed effort to find out Claudia’s identity, investigators interviewed Jesperson at the penitentiary. He described meeting the woman in August 1992 after she approached him for a ride at a brake-check area in Victorville, California. After a meal stop in Indio, the pair argued about money, which led to Jesperson’s decision to kill her. Jesperson described the victim as 20 to 30 years old with blonde hair, a tattoo of two small dots on her right thumb, and ties to Las Vegas and southern Nevada. He provided a detailed description of her appearance and clothing when her body was found.
Thanks to advances in DNA technology and the killer’s description, investigators were able to draft a sketch of the woman. Jesperson pleaded guilty to the Riverside County murder in 2010. Authorities are urging anyone who may recognize her to contact their Cold Case Hotline at (951) 955-5567 or email them at coldcaseunit@rivcoda.org.