1 00:00:04,679 --> 00:00:08,080 Speaker 1: In March nineteen ninety five, the body of forty one 2 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:11,880 year old Julie Winningham was found just off Highway fourteen 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,359 in Washington in the USA Spacific Northwest. 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:17,359 Speaker 2: She'd been strangled to death. 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 3: He's a monster, six plus feet, two hundred and eighty pounds. 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,519 My mom was five pounds one hundred pounds soaken wet. 7 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:26,320 Speaker 4: So it was like a toothpick. 8 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:26,839 Speaker 5: You know. 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 4: He's a big man. 10 00:00:28,679 --> 00:00:31,879 Speaker 1: Julie had become the eighth victim of an active serial 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,719 killer named Keith Jesperson. The thirty nine year old truck 12 00:00:35,799 --> 00:00:39,640 driver had been murdering innocent women across America for the 13 00:00:39,719 --> 00:00:41,039 previous five years. 14 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:44,880 Speaker 6: In a sense, they were falling into the hands of 15 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:49,359 a wolf. Their hens in the hen coop, and Jesperson 16 00:00:49,399 --> 00:00:50,320 is the wolf at the door. 17 00:00:51,759 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: Jesperson captured the intrigue of the nation when he confessed 18 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,920 to five murders in an anonymous letter he sent to 19 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,280 a newspaper, which he signed with a smile. 20 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,799 Speaker 7: Ash brawler, that I killed Tanya Bennett in January nineteen ninety. 21 00:01:06,719 --> 00:01:09,239 Speaker 4: And put down a. 22 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 7: Circle with two eyes and a happy face. 23 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 1: Keith Jefperson, labeled a happy face killer, had made his 24 00:01:16,159 --> 00:01:39,799 mark as one of the world's most evil killers. When 25 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,959 thirty nine year old trucker Keith Jefperson confessed all to 26 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:48,400 detectives in March nineteen ninety five, the media finally got 27 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:51,640 a chance to put a name to the notorious Happy 28 00:01:51,719 --> 00:01:52,480 Face Killer. 29 00:01:53,239 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 2: Over a five year period. 30 00:01:55,079 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: Jefperson squeezed the life out of at least eight women 31 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,680 across five states. Detective Monte Bututne was part of the 32 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,560 investigative team that finally brought an end to the Happy 33 00:02:06,599 --> 00:02:08,560 Face Killer's reign of terror. 34 00:02:09,479 --> 00:02:15,599 Speaker 8: Jefferson targeted typically prostitutes, homeless women, women that he felt 35 00:02:15,599 --> 00:02:18,800 that would not have anybody that would report them missing 36 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:21,199 anytime soon, to give him a chance to escape. 37 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 4: To get out of the area. 38 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: Driving his truck six foot seven inch, Jefperson, a divorced 39 00:02:27,159 --> 00:02:30,919 father of three, towered over his diminutive victims. 40 00:02:31,759 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 8: For Keith Jefferson, his big thing was control. He wanted 41 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:38,280 to control women. He wanted to abuse them in the 42 00:02:38,319 --> 00:02:41,280 way that he was aroused by, so he focused on 43 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,240 finding victims that he thought would meet that need for him. 44 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:50,120 Speaker 1: Despite his size and destructive power, Jefferson was mild mannered 45 00:02:50,159 --> 00:02:53,039 and softly spoken during his confessions. 46 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 2: To detectives he. 47 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:58,159 Speaker 5: Purposes of voice certification. Would you please state your full. 48 00:02:58,039 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 7: Amplas mynors Keith Hunter, just person, and. 49 00:03:02,479 --> 00:03:04,479 Speaker 9: You understand this conversation is being recorded. 50 00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 3: Yes, I your permission, Yes it is. 51 00:03:09,039 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 5: Every time I talked to him, he was my best friend, 52 00:03:11,719 --> 00:03:14,479 and when you looked at him, the last thing you 53 00:03:14,479 --> 00:03:17,599 would ever suspected this guy was a serial killer. I mean, 54 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,039 he didn't hang around with bad people. I never heard 55 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,120 him swear wall if you met Jasperson, the last thing 56 00:03:24,159 --> 00:03:27,120 you would suspect that he was a criminal. He doesn't 57 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,159 come across as a criminal. At one point he said 58 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,400 to me, you know, you and I could go on 59 00:03:32,479 --> 00:03:35,120 a tour teaching people how not to get murdered. And 60 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,000 that was kind of the mindset of this particular guy 61 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,120 that he really enjoyed people looking at him and saying, 62 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,960 oh my god, this is our serial killer and he 63 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,319 must be really an important and powerful person to be 64 00:03:47,479 --> 00:03:50,199 involved in that sort of a lifestyle. So I don't 65 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,240 think there was ever any remorse. It was it was 66 00:03:52,319 --> 00:03:54,400 all about I want people to look at me. 67 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: This killer's story begins just outside of Vancouver, Canada. Keith 68 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:06,680 Hunter Jesperson was born in Chilliwack, British Columbia, on the 69 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,080 sixth of April nineteen fifty five. He grew up in 70 00:04:10,159 --> 00:04:12,400 a large family in a rural home. 71 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,639 Speaker 6: Jefperson had two brothers and two sisters. He was the 72 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:20,439 so called runt I think of the litter. The boy 73 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,279 I think sought to get his father's attention from quite 74 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:26,040 an early age. 75 00:04:26,879 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 10: His father was incredibly domineering. His father really looked down 76 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:34,759 on women. So from a very early age he develops 77 00:04:34,879 --> 00:04:38,199 this view that a misogynistic view of women, a view 78 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,720 of women that is quite demeaning, is one that's normal. 79 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:47,360 Speaker 1: Jefferson's assertive father appeared to bring out a violent side 80 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:48,439 in the young men. 81 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 10: One of Jesperson's earliest memories is apparently of throwing a 82 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,040 rock down a slide as a children's playground that hit 83 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,720 his brother in the head. And I think what he 84 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,199 was trying to do here was essentially get his father's attention. 85 00:05:03,759 --> 00:05:08,120 His father was somebody who valued aggression, who valued this 86 00:05:08,399 --> 00:05:11,079 kind of behavior, and I think this really was a 87 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:13,759 cry for that kind of validation from him. 88 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:20,279 Speaker 6: The ugly truths must be that he had no normality 89 00:05:21,079 --> 00:05:24,600 in his life. There was no convention in that family life, 90 00:05:24,639 --> 00:05:28,759 from that upbringing, which meant that in a sense, there 91 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,680 was no moral compass, there was no right and wrong. 92 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: Before he'd even turn seven, Jefperson displayed traits that had 93 00:05:37,319 --> 00:05:39,759 become synonymous with serial killers. 94 00:05:40,639 --> 00:05:44,959 Speaker 10: Jefferson liked to kill and torture animals, so he harmed 95 00:05:45,079 --> 00:05:49,480 cats and dogs and gophers and crows. That gave him 96 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,920 a sense of power, a sense of control that he 97 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,360 couldn't get in any other way. But he's also realizing 98 00:05:56,439 --> 00:06:01,079 that he quite enjoys having control over an living creature, 99 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:03,319 of holding its life in your hands. 100 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: The family moves south across the border into the US, 101 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:11,800 and Jefferson would eventually find work in a job that 102 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:14,319 would assist him in his murderous career. 103 00:06:14,959 --> 00:06:18,399 Speaker 6: He's become a truck driver for company in Washington State, 104 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,959 which gives him access to freedom, drive around, can sleep 105 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,680 in the cab, he can pull up whatever truck stop 106 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,279 he fancies, where that almost always a collection of young women, 107 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:37,160 knowing that drivers want company. It's the perfect fit for 108 00:06:37,319 --> 00:06:38,680 Jesperson's character. 109 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:41,879 Speaker 10: So he's got a lot of time on his hands 110 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:46,879 to ruminate, to fantasize, to start to plan things. So 111 00:06:47,399 --> 00:06:51,199 this is quite a dangerous situation to be in because 112 00:06:51,399 --> 00:06:53,879 nobody's there to put the brakes on his behavior. 113 00:06:55,439 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: By early nineteen ninety, Keith Jefferson was separated from his 114 00:07:00,079 --> 00:07:03,439 life and spending much of his time driving his truck 115 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:08,439 up and down the seemingly endless highways of America. On 116 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,839 the twenty second of January nineteen ninety, in Portland, Oregon, 117 00:07:13,199 --> 00:07:15,879 a twenty three year old woman was found dead. 118 00:07:16,639 --> 00:07:20,399 Speaker 5: Kanye Bennett was reported missing by her mother, and some 119 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,360 young man stopped along that highway one day then discovered 120 00:07:25,399 --> 00:07:28,439 her body, which had been drug off the road down 121 00:07:28,519 --> 00:07:31,399 into a little bit of a rouffine off of the 122 00:07:31,519 --> 00:07:33,839 scenic Highway out in the Columbia Gorge. 123 00:07:35,199 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: Detectives presumed they'd solve the case quickly when a local woman, 124 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,240 Laverne pavilion Neck, told the police that her boyfriend was 125 00:07:43,319 --> 00:07:45,800 responsible for the death of Tanya Bennett. 126 00:07:46,319 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 5: Well, Laverne was several years older than John Sisnovsky, and 127 00:07:53,319 --> 00:07:57,480 John was an alcoholic, and I think John was probably 128 00:07:58,399 --> 00:08:03,079 a very abusive to Laverne, and I think she was 129 00:08:03,199 --> 00:08:05,839 just trying to get John Sosnowski out of her life 130 00:08:06,399 --> 00:08:09,199 and decided she would frame him for murder as a 131 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:11,360 way to get John out of her life. 132 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 10: In the beginning, she just tries to pin it completely 133 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,920 on him, but then she kind of inserts herself into 134 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,720 this narrative, and I think there's almost a sense in 135 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,240 which she's enjoying the drama of the story and she 136 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:25,879 wants to play a larger part in it. 137 00:08:27,439 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: LaVerne's story was alive. The police didn't know it yet, 138 00:08:31,519 --> 00:08:34,480 but Tanya had in fact been killed by a thirty 139 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,279 four year old trucker named Keith Jefferson. 140 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 5: He had met Tanya playing pool out to be an 141 00:08:41,039 --> 00:08:44,879 i tavern, which was an Esmolam canyon. They had decided 142 00:08:44,919 --> 00:08:47,559 we'll get something to eat at a nearby restaurant, and 143 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:54,080 when they left the tavern, he realized he didn't have 144 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,679 enough money with him to buy dinner, so he said, 145 00:08:58,759 --> 00:09:02,399 let's go to my house. I'll get some money. He 146 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,960 gets involved in a sexual act with Tanya, and at 147 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,320 that point Tanya said something that offended him and he 148 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:14,399 murdered her. He choked her with his fist, and he 149 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:16,960 was a big man, Tanya was a little woman, and 150 00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:19,440 so that wasn't a big challenge to kill Tanya. 151 00:09:21,399 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 6: And I don't think he cared very much. I mean 152 00:09:25,279 --> 00:09:27,480 he left her in the house and to cover his tracks, 153 00:09:27,519 --> 00:09:30,080 went back to the bar and had another series of 154 00:09:30,159 --> 00:09:31,919 drinks and then went back to the house and decided 155 00:09:31,919 --> 00:09:34,200 he's going to dump the body. What he's got plenty 156 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,480 of opportunities to dump the body. All he needs to 157 00:09:36,519 --> 00:09:38,000 do is to load her into the truck and he 158 00:09:38,039 --> 00:09:39,320 can drop her where he wants. 159 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: Chanya Bennett had become Jefferson's first victim, and despite the 160 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:48,279 fact that two other people were in court charge with 161 00:09:48,399 --> 00:09:51,960 the twenty three year old's murder, Jefferson had an urge 162 00:09:52,039 --> 00:09:54,639 to tell the world that he was her killer. 163 00:09:55,679 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 6: While the trial's taking place, he stops off and I 164 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:04,720 rest room and writes a message on the wall which 165 00:10:04,799 --> 00:10:07,559 is ibter I raped her, I Kilda. I liked it. 166 00:10:08,519 --> 00:10:11,200 You may think I'm sick, but I enjoyed it. And 167 00:10:11,759 --> 00:10:15,000 two other people are taking the form and he signs 168 00:10:15,039 --> 00:10:16,159 it with a smiley face. 169 00:10:18,519 --> 00:10:21,639 Speaker 10: And at first this would appear to be quite compelling, 170 00:10:21,879 --> 00:10:25,360 but it wasn't new information. It was information that anybody 171 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,840 could have heard and just repeated onto the wall. So 172 00:10:29,399 --> 00:10:33,320 I think this was a desire for recognition on Jafferson's part. 173 00:10:33,399 --> 00:10:36,279 It was a desire to be noticed and to actually 174 00:10:36,399 --> 00:10:38,320 take the credit for these murders. 175 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,039 Speaker 1: As news of the truck stop confession reached Laverne Pavilink 176 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:47,919 and John Sarsnowsky's lawyers, they were intrigued, but the jury 177 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,279 would never get to hear about the revelations. Signed with 178 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:52,399 a smiley face. 179 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:58,840 Speaker 6: The defense of Laverne and John try to get these 180 00:10:59,039 --> 00:11:04,799 confessions brought in as evidence in the trial, but the 181 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:10,879 judge forbids it's hearsay. It could be anybody. It's not convincing, 182 00:11:11,799 --> 00:11:15,720 there's no forensic proof. Sorry, we're not allowing it into evidence. 183 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:23,399 And both are duly convicted of the murder. And Keith 184 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:27,240 Jefferson is free to kill again. After all, he's already 185 00:11:27,279 --> 00:11:31,080 boasted it he can, so why shouldn't he. 186 00:11:32,639 --> 00:11:36,279 Speaker 1: As two innocent people were sentenced to life in prison 187 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,559 for the murder of Tylia Bennett, Keith Jefferson remained free. 188 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,519 In nineteen ninety two, two years after killing for the 189 00:11:45,639 --> 00:11:50,480 first time, Jefferson struck again, this time in California. 190 00:11:51,039 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 10: Jefferson's second victim, Claudia, was a woman who he kept 191 00:11:55,639 --> 00:12:00,000 alive in his truck for four days. He quite enjoyed 192 00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:03,159 void torturing her. He quite enjoyed the fact that she 193 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,879 would have been fearful for her life and probably pleading 194 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,080 for her life. So this really highlights that it's the 195 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,759 process that Jessperson enjoys. It's that feeling of power, that 196 00:12:14,879 --> 00:12:18,000 feeling of complete control and domination he gets when he 197 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:21,159 has got somebody who's completely subservient to him. 198 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 6: He eventually, after a few days, gets bored, kills her 199 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,440 by punishing her literally to death, and then chucks her 200 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:32,799 out of the truck. Now, how do you identify the 201 00:12:32,879 --> 00:12:35,559 body of a young woman found miles away from where 202 00:12:35,639 --> 00:12:39,440 she may have been last seen. We remember we're in 203 00:12:39,519 --> 00:12:42,440 the early nineties here, we don't have the kind of 204 00:12:42,519 --> 00:12:47,120 elaborate databases that the police authorities have. Now is simply 205 00:12:47,159 --> 00:12:56,039 a body, and again that confirms to Jesperson his ability 206 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,320 to get away with it, his ability to do what 207 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:05,240 he wants. It's a very powerful, addictive substance for a 208 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:09,440 man who's already got a warped mind and has no 209 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:12,320 moral compass. This is powerful medicine. 210 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: Indeed, by April nineteen ninety four, Jefferson had killed another 211 00:13:17,879 --> 00:13:21,360 three women, taking his crusome tally to five. 212 00:13:22,039 --> 00:13:23,519 Speaker 2: But the thirty nine year old. 213 00:13:23,519 --> 00:13:26,759 Speaker 1: Was growing frustrated with the lack of credit he felt 214 00:13:26,799 --> 00:13:30,639 he deserved for his ongoing killing spree. He began to 215 00:13:30,759 --> 00:13:34,519 write that wrong by sending letters to an Oregon courthouse 216 00:13:34,799 --> 00:13:39,240 and a local newspaper reiterating his claims that he was 217 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:43,080 the person responsible for the death of Tania Bennett back 218 00:13:43,159 --> 00:13:44,919 in January nineteen ninety. 219 00:13:45,879 --> 00:13:47,559 Speaker 4: Keith loves the media attention. 220 00:13:47,799 --> 00:13:50,919 Speaker 8: He was doing anything he could to obtain that attention, 221 00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:54,240 and when somebody else was getting it, Keith wasn't comfortable 222 00:13:54,279 --> 00:13:57,159 with that. So when that occurred was the first time 223 00:13:57,279 --> 00:14:02,159 Keith came out of hiding speak contacted. The newspaper took 224 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:05,600 credit for the homicide of Tiny Bennett, but would not 225 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,600 devult who he was. With all of the letters, he 226 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:10,799 signed them with a happy face at the bottom, and 227 00:14:10,879 --> 00:14:13,240 the Oregonian newspaper deemed him the happy Facekiller. 228 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,840 Speaker 10: At this point, he's really really frustrated. He's written on 229 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,799 the walls, truck stops, he's written to the county court, 230 00:14:21,919 --> 00:14:24,720 and yet still he's not getting the recognition that he 231 00:14:24,799 --> 00:14:29,200 feels he deserves, especially around that smiley face monika that 232 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:30,159 he's crafted. 233 00:14:30,559 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 6: He probably thought that. 234 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 10: Was a brilliant kind of brand identity, and nobody's picking 235 00:14:35,399 --> 00:14:38,200 it up. So at this point he's really really angry. 236 00:14:38,559 --> 00:14:42,120 He's screaming out, now I've done this. I'm proud of this. 237 00:14:42,399 --> 00:14:44,000 I deserve recognition for it. 238 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:49,519 Speaker 1: The letters detailed all five of the murders that Jessperson 239 00:14:49,559 --> 00:14:54,039 had committed, allowing authorities to link these separate cases together. 240 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:58,159 But the truck you continued on regardless. He killed a 241 00:14:58,279 --> 00:15:03,240 six victim known only as Suzanne, in September nineteen ninety four, 242 00:15:03,919 --> 00:15:07,639 and in January nineteen ninety five, he claimed a seventh 243 00:15:08,039 --> 00:15:10,039 is most inhumane so far. 244 00:15:11,759 --> 00:15:17,639 Speaker 6: Angela's sabrese is one that always sticks in my mind 245 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,000 because it doesn't start out at a truck stop in 246 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,960 the same way as the many of the other killings have. 247 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:31,000 This time, he offers Angela a lift. She's twenty one. 248 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,759 She wants to lift to see her father. In the end, 249 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:36,919 she phones her father and her father says, oh, don't 250 00:15:36,919 --> 00:15:39,200 come now, so she decides to go and see her 251 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:40,320 boyfriend in Indiana. 252 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,279 Speaker 10: According to Jasperson, he got irritated with her because she 253 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,120 was telling him to hurry up. He says how much 254 00:15:48,159 --> 00:15:50,039 she was nagging at him and how much she was 255 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,840 bitching at him, And what he's doing. 256 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,559 Speaker 6: Here is victim blaming. 257 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:59,279 Speaker 10: He's drawing on these stereotypical notions of women as annoying 258 00:15:59,399 --> 00:16:02,279 as nagging, because that has often been used in. 259 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 6: The past to justify murders. 260 00:16:04,399 --> 00:16:07,639 Speaker 10: It's this kind of crime of passion type of argument, 261 00:16:08,159 --> 00:16:10,480 and he really is quite in tune with that. 262 00:16:11,799 --> 00:16:16,000 Speaker 1: After spending a week together on the road, Jesperson strangled 263 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,600 Angela to death, but he was far from finished with her. 264 00:16:20,639 --> 00:16:23,639 Speaker 6: You have a man who is now quite literally out 265 00:16:23,679 --> 00:16:31,240 of control. But what makes Angela's killing so horrible is 266 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:36,440 that he decides to cover his tracks, and he ties 267 00:16:38,159 --> 00:16:43,960 the poor dead young woman's body under his truck and 268 00:16:44,159 --> 00:16:47,559 toes it, and the objective is to obliterate her face 269 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:52,799 and her fingerprints. He's sufficiently aware that he knows that 270 00:16:54,639 --> 00:16:56,720 this one could be traced. After all, one or two 271 00:16:56,759 --> 00:16:58,919 people may well have known that he had offered her 272 00:16:58,919 --> 00:17:06,200 a lift. Wants to make sure that she's unidentifiable. This 273 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,200 is a killing of the supreme wickedness. I mean, one 274 00:17:09,279 --> 00:17:16,839 feels desperately that she couldn't possibly have deserved that horrific fate, 275 00:17:17,519 --> 00:17:23,559 and yet Jefferson meted it out to her without a 276 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:25,279 twinge of conscience. 277 00:17:25,319 --> 00:17:28,880 Speaker 1: As far as we can see, the pace of Jefferson's 278 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,720 killing spree was accelerating, and just two months after the 279 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:37,240 murder of Angela's surprise, in March nineteen ninety five, a 280 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:41,359 body was discovered in Washington, just off Highway fourteen. 281 00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,079 Speaker 11: I'm at the washing Over Police Department and I need 282 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,599 to see an officer. How I think I've found a 283 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:48,799 body longside thrown? 284 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:50,839 Speaker 9: So why didn't think it's the body? 285 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,599 Speaker 11: Well, because I was decided the row and I was furinating, 286 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:56,799 and I thought down on the hillside looked like a female. 287 00:17:56,839 --> 00:17:58,559 I could see a hand and singer of Polish. 288 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:02,599 Speaker 8: I was actually on days off and it was I 289 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,480 believe March eleventh, nineteen ninety five, when I received a 290 00:18:06,559 --> 00:18:09,720 call at home stating that they had received a report 291 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,079 of a body that was found near the county line 292 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:15,400 just into Scamania County. The patrol officers were responding at 293 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:17,240 that time, and they asked that I respond as well. 294 00:18:18,279 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 11: I went off the bushes there and I looked down 295 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:21,000 the hill and it looked like I thought it was 296 00:18:21,039 --> 00:18:23,519 a manneku At a first night, I saw the puno pause. 297 00:18:23,599 --> 00:18:25,000 I went down and got kind of close to then 298 00:18:25,039 --> 00:18:26,359 I got kind of sick. 299 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:29,880 Speaker 8: The only thing really in that area between the highway 300 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,240 and the river is a set of railroad tracks. It 301 00:18:32,279 --> 00:18:33,599 was all the way at the lower edge of that, 302 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,759 but just over the bank, probably twenty feet down over 303 00:18:37,839 --> 00:18:40,519 the edge from the highway, is where the body was located. 304 00:18:41,240 --> 00:18:45,440 Speaker 1: This latest case bared all the hallmarks of the notorious 305 00:18:45,759 --> 00:18:46,920 happy Face killer. 306 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,960 Speaker 10: When we look at the locations in which Jefperson dumped 307 00:18:50,039 --> 00:18:52,759 the bodies and you look at the other types of 308 00:18:52,839 --> 00:18:56,400 item that you find in that location, it's trash, it's rubbish, 309 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,400 it's discarded things that people no longer won. And that 310 00:18:59,759 --> 00:19:02,960 is exactly how jesperson sees his victims. He's had his 311 00:19:03,079 --> 00:19:05,839 fun with them, they've served the purpose, and now he's 312 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:07,079 just going to dispose of them. 313 00:19:09,039 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 8: It appeared to me that she had not been there 314 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:15,240 very long, between possibly twenty four and thirty six hours. 315 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,319 She was laying on her right side and her face 316 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,400 was facing the ground. I could see evidence it's either 317 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:28,599 consistent with strangulation or lividity, because she was basically inverted. 318 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:30,559 Speaker 4: Her head was lower than the rest of her body. 319 00:19:31,279 --> 00:19:32,000 Once the heart. 320 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:35,119 Speaker 8: Stops, blood woll Pool at its lowest point, and in 321 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,039 this case it would have been her upper torso, neck 322 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:38,519 and face. 323 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:44,279 Speaker 6: One of the things that became a hallmark of Jesperson's 324 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,759 killing was the punched his victims repeatedly in the neck 325 00:19:49,839 --> 00:19:53,319 and face and in the throat, thereby eventually killing them. 326 00:19:54,079 --> 00:19:57,359 He was a puncher, beat them literally to death. 327 00:19:59,319 --> 00:20:04,079 Speaker 1: The first ask for the investigating team was identifying the body. 328 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:08,440 Speaker 8: We had no clothing, we had no personal wallet, no 329 00:20:08,559 --> 00:20:10,839 way to identify her. So one of the things that 330 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:15,119 we do at the Medical Examiner's offices we take fingerprints. 331 00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 4: From the victim. 332 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,039 Speaker 8: We then run those through the automated fingerprint identification system 333 00:20:19,319 --> 00:20:22,559 known as ape's and in this case the victim, Julie Winningham, 334 00:20:22,799 --> 00:20:24,720 her fingerprints were in ape's system. 335 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:29,119 Speaker 1: Forty one year old Julie Winningham had become the latest 336 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,880 woman to be killed at the hands of the Happy 337 00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:32,759 Face killer. 338 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 10: Jefferson is a man who feels completely entitled to treat 339 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:40,319 women in this way. He picks up women in his truck. 340 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:42,519 He thinks, I have a right to do with these 341 00:20:42,599 --> 00:20:44,160 women whatever I want. 342 00:20:44,559 --> 00:20:44,680 Speaker 11: Now. 343 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,400 Speaker 10: He knows that what he's doing is wrong, but that 344 00:20:47,519 --> 00:20:50,359 that doesn't stop it because he feels that he has 345 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:51,720 some God given right. 346 00:20:51,799 --> 00:20:52,240 Speaker 11: To do this. 347 00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:56,440 Speaker 6: In a sense, they were falling into the hands of 348 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:01,359 a wolf. Their hens in the hen coop, and Jefferson 349 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:02,359 is the wolf of the door. 350 00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,799 Speaker 1: But Jefferson's world was about to come crashing down around him. 351 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,319 The thirty nine year old serial killer had made a 352 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,640 mistake that would lead the police to his door. Julie 353 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,799 Winningham had become Keith Jefferson's eighth victim, but she would 354 00:21:19,839 --> 00:21:24,839 also be his last. Julie's son, Don Finley, was twenty 355 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:25,880 four at the time. 356 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 3: My mom she was a cheerful, free spirit, caring and loving. 357 00:21:36,519 --> 00:21:39,920 She was just a traveler and an adventurer, and was 358 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:44,319 a free soul. And didn't understand that when I was young, 359 00:21:44,599 --> 00:21:48,839 but as I grew up, I grasped what it was 360 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,480 all and why she chose her life the way she did. 361 00:21:52,319 --> 00:21:56,799 Speaker 1: Julie and Don did not have a traditional mother son relationship. 362 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,160 Don was working in California while Julie moved between the 363 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:02,519 Pacific Northwest. 364 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,559 Speaker 3: There was a time when I came up here in 365 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,440 ninety one, the last time I physically saw my mom. 366 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,640 We drove around, we talked, we got caught up and 367 00:22:15,759 --> 00:22:19,319 in ninety five. My mom had called me February twelfth, 368 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,039 which was her birthday, and my birthday was February twentieth. 369 00:22:24,519 --> 00:22:27,640 She told me she was up in Idaho with a 370 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,960 friend and planning on coming down to Washington. 371 00:22:33,279 --> 00:22:37,039 Speaker 1: By March nineteen ninety five, Julie was spending a lot 372 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,359 of time with some friends in the Portland area, just 373 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,079 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. 374 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 4: She started hanging out at some of the truck stops. 375 00:22:47,559 --> 00:22:51,559 Speaker 8: Burns Brothers over in Troutdale had a dance floor and 376 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:52,640 quite the nightlife. 377 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:53,759 Speaker 4: A lot of people would go over. 378 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 8: There, whether they drove trucks or not, and I believe 379 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,279 it was a country in western bar and they would 380 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:00,920 just hang out and have with friends over there. 381 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 4: So she got into that circle over there as well. 382 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: After Julie's body was found just across the river in Washington, 383 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,000 her son Don was given the devastating news. 384 00:23:13,039 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 3: I was at work and I received a phone call 385 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:20,119 from my aunt telling me that they had found my 386 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:27,039 mom dead on the side of Highway fourteen, murdered and raided. 387 00:23:29,279 --> 00:23:29,839 Speaker 6: I lost it. 388 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 3: I punched fences, I pulled off paper towells, walked down 389 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:44,839 the street and just collapsed in the middle of the street. 390 00:23:45,039 --> 00:23:45,759 Speaker 5: No one around. 391 00:23:46,799 --> 00:23:49,279 Speaker 3: Friends, the people I knew as friends didn't know what 392 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:49,759 to think. 393 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 1: Detectives interviewed Julie's friends and they immediately had a lead. 394 00:23:57,079 --> 00:23:59,440 She had a boyfriend who was a truck driver. 395 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:04,279 Speaker 8: Speaking with Julie's friends, we were very interested in who 396 00:24:04,319 --> 00:24:07,079 this truck driver was that she was with. Unfortunately, her 397 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,279 friends really didn't pay much attention to him. They noticed 398 00:24:10,279 --> 00:24:12,559 that he drove a big blue truck, a semi truck 399 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,519 with a sleeper cab, but they weren't sure of his name. 400 00:24:15,799 --> 00:24:18,319 Some of them said his name maybe was Keith, some 401 00:24:18,519 --> 00:24:20,599 of them said his name was Chris. 402 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:22,440 Speaker 4: They were just unsure. 403 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:27,279 Speaker 1: Just as it seemed the trail was going cold, investigators 404 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:29,000 got their biggest break yet. 405 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,319 Speaker 8: Fortunately, one of Julie's friends had just bought a car 406 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,519 from Julie, and out of that transaction of buying the car, 407 00:24:37,319 --> 00:24:38,960 Keith was there and I was asked to sign the 408 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,039 bill of sale as a witness. So the friend gave 409 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,920 us the bill of sale and on his witness it 410 00:24:45,039 --> 00:24:48,400 said Keith Hunter Jefferson. So that was our first indication 411 00:24:48,519 --> 00:24:49,440 of who we were looking for. 412 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,079 Speaker 1: For the first time since his killing spree began. The 413 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:58,559 name Keith Jesperson was with the detectives. The thirty nine 414 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,599 year old had made an characteristic error. 415 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:07,799 Speaker 6: There's all sorts of footprints that have been left in 416 00:25:07,839 --> 00:25:12,079 the sand that lead you directly back to Keith Jesperson. 417 00:25:12,799 --> 00:25:14,920 He makes a mistake of killing someone who has got 418 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,079 a past, would have a future, and has got a 419 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,720 whole network of friends to prove it. It's a gigantic miscalculation. 420 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,039 But the reason he miscalculates is why now he is 421 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,720 simply addicted to killing. He oversteps the mark. He goes 422 00:25:28,839 --> 00:25:31,440 too far because he can't stop himself, and. 423 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,519 Speaker 10: I think that's testament to his arrogance at this point 424 00:25:34,839 --> 00:25:39,079 in his serial murders. He really does think he's untouchable, 425 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:40,319 that he's not going to get cool. 426 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:45,759 Speaker 1: Detectives traced Jefferson via his employers to a job over 427 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,240 one thousand miles away from Washington. 428 00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,319 Speaker 8: Keith Jefferson was told that when he dropped off his 429 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,720 load in Hurley, that he was to travel to the 430 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:59,279 Las Crucis, New Mexico Fairgrounds County Fairgrounds to pick. 431 00:25:59,200 --> 00:25:59,920 Speaker 4: Up a lot of steeler. 432 00:26:00,079 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 8: That point that was fabricated to the point to where 433 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,079 we could basically bring Keith Jesperson to us and him 434 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,720 thinking that it was another pickup point, it was actually 435 00:26:08,839 --> 00:26:09,880 us waiting for his arrival. 436 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:15,279 Speaker 1: Monsie remembers his first encounter with the imposing killer. 437 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,039 Speaker 8: Keith Jesperson is a very big man. However, he is 438 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:23,880 somewhat soft spoken, so it's almost like he's he's using 439 00:26:24,319 --> 00:26:27,960 that to make people feel comfortable around him. And my 440 00:26:28,079 --> 00:26:33,079 first impression was using the way he was speaking to 441 00:26:33,279 --> 00:26:35,839 us and the soft tones, even though he was a 442 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,880 very big man, I could see where he could pick 443 00:26:39,559 --> 00:26:42,799 a victim up and they would feel somewhat safe being 444 00:26:42,839 --> 00:26:46,799 with him until he changed unexpectedly. So that was my 445 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:50,920 first impression that this man could easily victimize some women. 446 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,599 Speaker 1: Jesperson claimed that Julie was still alive when he last 447 00:26:55,680 --> 00:27:00,640 saw her. Without any physical or forensic evidence, actives wore 448 00:27:00,759 --> 00:27:04,640 powerless to arrest him. They flew back to Washington to 449 00:27:04,799 --> 00:27:08,640 continue their investigation into the death of Julie Winningham. 450 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:14,519 Speaker 3: I saw my mom for the very last time in 451 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,200 a white room on a silver slab with a white 452 00:27:19,279 --> 00:27:24,519 sheet up to her neck, with a black and blue 453 00:27:24,599 --> 00:27:28,440 mark across her hall face, shrug marks on her cheeks, 454 00:27:29,079 --> 00:27:30,480 and that was. 455 00:27:30,519 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 2: The last time I. 456 00:27:33,759 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 4: Physically Simon. 457 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:42,680 Speaker 1: No sooner had the detectives touched down in Washington, Jefferson 458 00:27:42,799 --> 00:27:44,839 had a sudden change of heart. 459 00:27:45,799 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 6: Maybe at this point, jesperson realizes that really the game 460 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:53,640 is up and there's nothing he can do, so he 461 00:27:53,759 --> 00:27:58,440 confesses to his employer, the truck company, that he's going 462 00:27:58,519 --> 00:28:04,640 to confess to the police, and he himself leaves a 463 00:28:04,759 --> 00:28:07,920 voicemail for one of the detectives who's come to interview him. 464 00:28:09,599 --> 00:28:10,759 Speaker 9: This is Keith j just forer. 465 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:13,160 Speaker 11: Some like to talk to you. 466 00:28:14,559 --> 00:28:18,079 Speaker 9: I'll be in Phoenix in the morning, and You're. 467 00:28:18,039 --> 00:28:19,599 Speaker 6: Right I have. 468 00:28:20,759 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 9: I've been a fight with myself for the last two days. 469 00:28:24,079 --> 00:28:25,720 Tried to kill myself a couple of times and it 470 00:28:25,799 --> 00:28:29,079 hasn't worked. It's not a tamn killed in this damn country. 471 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,000 I'll talk to you in the morning. 472 00:28:33,079 --> 00:28:33,359 Speaker 11: Bye. 473 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:39,720 Speaker 12: March twenty three, ten thirty eight pm. 474 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,319 Speaker 11: To save this message, Press. 475 00:28:42,119 --> 00:28:49,559 Speaker 12: One, Yes, Keith, I am in Arizona. I'll call you 476 00:28:49,599 --> 00:28:52,640 when you're there. I guess I want to turn myself in, 477 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,119 so I'll talk to you later. 478 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:55,920 Speaker 2: Bye. 479 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: Detective Rick Buckner spoke to Esterson on the phone when 480 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:06,400 the killer reached a truck stop in Arizona. Okay, Keith 481 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:06,799 to me. 482 00:29:06,799 --> 00:29:20,519 Speaker 11: What happened right now? And Keith still what happened? 483 00:29:35,799 --> 00:29:36,079 Speaker 4: Stream? 484 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:37,519 Speaker 11: I am? 485 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 8: Julie then was angry because of the car that she 486 00:29:45,359 --> 00:29:48,640 recently sold to the friend because Keith Jefferson signed it 487 00:29:48,759 --> 00:29:50,680 as a witness. 488 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,279 Speaker 4: She wanted the car back, and she blamed Keith. 489 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:56,279 Speaker 8: Because she couldn't get the car back because of the 490 00:29:56,319 --> 00:29:58,720 bill sale that he had witnessed. Keith said that they 491 00:29:58,759 --> 00:30:02,480 got into an argument about that, what'd. 492 00:30:02,319 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 11: You do it that way? 493 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 7: What do you do? 494 00:30:04,279 --> 00:30:07,559 Speaker 12: Then grabbed your throat and he pushed her down and 495 00:30:07,599 --> 00:30:14,240 the bike parts click? 496 00:30:16,759 --> 00:30:17,559 Speaker 11: Okay, and. 497 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:24,160 Speaker 9: You still bringing when I uh, I'm mars sure. 498 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,599 Speaker 8: He held his hands around her neck or his fist 499 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,960 on her throat and held her down. At that interview. 500 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,599 On the phone interview, he said as long as five minutes. 501 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,839 In later interviews he thought it was as long as 502 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,400 ten minutes that he held his fist or hand over 503 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:47,119 her neck, strangling her until she stopped moving, drove up. 504 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:49,079 Speaker 12: Why was worked up to. 505 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 9: Know what way to do? 506 00:30:53,799 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 12: Here? I had you read of the marsh parked her 507 00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,480 white apart and took her over to ride. 508 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 8: So at our request Cochise County Sheriff's Office sent deputies out, 509 00:31:05,359 --> 00:31:07,279 and they arrested him at the truck stop where he 510 00:31:07,599 --> 00:31:09,839 had made the call to call Detective Buckner. 511 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,599 Speaker 1: Keith Jesperson was finally in custody, but the police were 512 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,680 only just beginning to realize they'd captured the notorious happy 513 00:31:18,799 --> 00:31:22,119 Phase killer. In a letter to his brother sent just 514 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,759 before his arrest, Jesperson had outlined his crimes, writing, I 515 00:31:26,839 --> 00:31:29,799 am sorry that I turned out this way. I've been 516 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:34,160 killing for five years and have killed eight people, assaulted more. 517 00:31:34,559 --> 00:31:36,400 I guess I haven't learned anything. 518 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 8: By the time that we had knowledge of those letters, 519 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,359 the investigation at Julie Wenningham was in his final stages, 520 00:31:44,079 --> 00:31:47,000 and so at that point in time, the letters to 521 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:50,000 his brother that was reviewed, the letters to The Oregonian 522 00:31:50,039 --> 00:31:52,680 that were reviewed, it was it was believed at that 523 00:31:52,799 --> 00:31:56,680 time that yes, we indeed possibly had multiple victims in 524 00:31:56,759 --> 00:31:58,920 this case of Keith Jesterson. 525 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:03,079 Speaker 1: Was trying to sit down with Keith Jefferson and find 526 00:32:03,119 --> 00:32:06,359 out exactly what the happy Faced Killer had to say 527 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:07,079 for himself. 528 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,039 Speaker 7: I didn't feel like I had control of what I 529 00:32:13,119 --> 00:32:16,680 was doing. I felt like I was sitting back watching 530 00:32:16,759 --> 00:32:18,119 I just couldn't believe I did it. 531 00:32:22,359 --> 00:32:26,359 Speaker 1: From the letters and interviews with Jefferson, detectives learned that 532 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,960 he'd killed eight women across the USA, from the very 533 00:32:30,079 --> 00:32:33,799 northwest in Washington all the way down to the southeast 534 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:38,279 in Florida. Investigators were determined to put names and faces 535 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:42,119 to some of the unknown women that Jefferson had claimed 536 00:32:42,359 --> 00:32:43,119 to have murdered. 537 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:48,839 Speaker 6: Gradually, the police put together a picture of the victims 538 00:32:49,119 --> 00:32:51,200 and where they are. They begin to find or at 539 00:32:51,279 --> 00:32:54,000 least identify some of the bodies, which are in five states, 540 00:32:54,079 --> 00:32:55,400 so it's not an easy chance. 541 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 1: In a letter he sent to the orig newspaper a 542 00:33:01,359 --> 00:33:04,759 year before his arrest, Jesperson had claimed to have killed 543 00:33:04,759 --> 00:33:08,440 a woman before dumping her body in Salem, Oregon. 544 00:33:09,039 --> 00:33:11,039 Speaker 2: This alerted Marion County. 545 00:33:10,839 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: DA Mark Mackler when he heard that the happy Faced 546 00:33:14,279 --> 00:33:15,960 killer had been apprehended. 547 00:33:17,359 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 5: His hands were very large. 548 00:33:19,359 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 13: When I met him and interviewed him and Simon for 549 00:33:22,559 --> 00:33:26,119 the first time in the Clark County Jail in Vancouver, Washington, 550 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,519 he had a duck when he walked through doors because 551 00:33:29,519 --> 00:33:31,200 he had that kind of size. I mean, he was 552 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:35,240 a big guy, and he didn't present himself with that 553 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,680 size as a monster. 554 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 6: So much as. 555 00:33:40,359 --> 00:33:45,440 Speaker 13: Somebody who probably looked like a big, giant, friendly guy 556 00:33:46,279 --> 00:33:48,079 until enraged. 557 00:33:48,119 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 5: I suppose Mark was. 558 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:54,079 Speaker 1: Able to get a blood sample from Jesperson which revealed 559 00:33:54,119 --> 00:33:57,480 a DNA match to semen found on the body of 560 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,759 Lorie Pentland, who'd been the killer's fourth victim. 561 00:34:01,039 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 2: In November nineteen ninety two. 562 00:34:03,599 --> 00:34:06,839 Speaker 13: Lory Pentlin was choked to death, and what we understood 563 00:34:07,559 --> 00:34:12,159 was whether he intended to kill her or not, whether 564 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:14,519 he intended that she was the next victim or not. 565 00:34:14,599 --> 00:34:17,119 What we understood was that she was engaged in a 566 00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:19,519 sex act with him, and oral sex acts with him. 567 00:34:20,079 --> 00:34:22,559 I think it probably got violent with him a little 568 00:34:22,599 --> 00:34:25,519 bit and she bit him and he killed her. 569 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:28,239 Speaker 5: That's what we understood. 570 00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: Jesperson had employed his usual emo of squeezing the life 571 00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:35,079 out of Lolly Pentland's body. 572 00:34:35,519 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 10: Jefferson killed Laurie by a process of stop start strangulation. 573 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,440 So he would throttle her until she almost went unconscious, 574 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,119 and then he would kind of back off and she 575 00:34:47,159 --> 00:34:49,639 would come round again, and then he would start. 576 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,079 Speaker 2: That process over again. 577 00:34:51,599 --> 00:34:53,639 Speaker 10: So I think this is part of the murder that 578 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:58,280 Jesperson really enjoys. This holding somebody else's life in his hands. 579 00:34:58,599 --> 00:35:01,239 It's something that he wants to prolong, it's something that 580 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,360 he wants to amplify. So this must have been incredibly 581 00:35:04,519 --> 00:35:05,920 terrifying for his victim. 582 00:35:07,199 --> 00:35:09,840 Speaker 13: When a victim has choked, typically bones and the neck 583 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,880 are broken. Remember I told you had massive hands, so 584 00:35:13,119 --> 00:35:18,199 he crushed her neck. I mean, that's effectively what happened. 585 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:23,679 Speaker 1: Jefferson was charged with the murder of Lolly Pentland, and 586 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,480 after telling detectives where they would find her mutilated body, 587 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,599 the forty year old was charged with a third murder, 588 00:35:31,039 --> 00:35:34,599 that of Angela's Surprise, the woman he dragged under his 589 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:40,400 truck in January nineteen ninety five. As his confessions continued, 590 00:35:40,719 --> 00:35:44,079 he once again claimed to be responsible for killing Tania 591 00:35:44,119 --> 00:35:48,159 Bennett in January nineteen ninety a crime for which two 592 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,400 people had already been convicted. 593 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:55,280 Speaker 5: Okay, at some point, did you mean a female that 594 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:56,159 you were killed? 595 00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:57,559 Speaker 4: Yes, I did. 596 00:35:59,039 --> 00:36:04,239 Speaker 7: I met a a gal that's I can't remember exactly. 597 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:06,199 It's the twentieth to the twenty first of the month. 598 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,239 It's been such a long time ago of what month 599 00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:12,880 of January nineteen ninety I mean, you know what her 600 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:16,400 name was. I found out it was Tanya and Bennett. 601 00:36:18,159 --> 00:36:21,639 Speaker 1: Jesperson told detectives that Tanya had come back to his 602 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,599 home after the pair had met in a bar and 603 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:28,280 been for a meal. They soon began having sex on 604 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,119 a mattress on the floor. 605 00:36:30,679 --> 00:36:34,519 Speaker 7: And she made a comment to when I was over 606 00:36:34,599 --> 00:36:37,719 the top for her, something like, well, I'm not getting 607 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:38,039 there once. 608 00:36:38,039 --> 00:36:39,840 Speaker 4: She just hurried to get it over with, kind of like. 609 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:41,760 Speaker 11: I pissed. 610 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:42,800 Speaker 7: Like I pissed me off. 611 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 11: I tagged her with my right arm. 612 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,559 Speaker 5: Let me, why you tagger her with your right arm? 613 00:36:48,599 --> 00:36:49,079 What does that mean? 614 00:36:50,599 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 7: I just lost my cool and I had struck her 615 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,840 in the side of the face, and I never stopped, 616 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:57,239 I can hear until she was. 617 00:36:59,079 --> 00:36:59,559 Speaker 11: Laying there. 618 00:37:00,199 --> 00:37:02,119 Speaker 7: I took my right fist and put it into her 619 00:37:02,159 --> 00:37:04,800 ABMs up and shoved down until she was dead. 620 00:37:06,079 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 5: Or I felt she was dead. 621 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 7: I just heard gurgling noises and that she probably died 622 00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:13,159 at the time I put my fist. 623 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:13,480 Speaker 4: In her throat. 624 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:20,280 Speaker 1: Jesperson described the brutal murder, the first one he committed 625 00:37:20,679 --> 00:37:25,800 in a calm manner. The Washington detectives contacted their colleagues 626 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,920 across the Oregon state border. 627 00:37:29,239 --> 00:37:32,639 Speaker 5: One day, I got a call from Rick Buckner, who 628 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,079 was a Clark County detective. And Rick said, we've got 629 00:37:36,119 --> 00:37:41,320 an inmate in custody in Clark County for killing his girlfriend. 630 00:37:42,599 --> 00:37:47,039 And he is telling us, and he's telling his fellow 631 00:37:47,159 --> 00:37:50,119 inmates that he murdered a woman named Tanya Bennett. 632 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,039 Speaker 8: Of course, detectives didn't believe him because we have two 633 00:37:53,079 --> 00:37:56,239 people in prison already, one of which confessed to it. However, 634 00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:00,639 heth Jesperson asked if we located Tanya Bennett's perse and 635 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:05,159 identification card, which wasn't located at the location where her 636 00:38:05,159 --> 00:38:08,079 body was. He indicated that he dumped that at a 637 00:38:08,119 --> 00:38:10,440 different location and he was willing to show us where 638 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:10,800 that was. 639 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:16,039 Speaker 1: Jesperson described throwing the evidence into a BlackBerry field the 640 00:38:16,199 --> 00:38:18,360 morning after he'd murdered Tanya. 641 00:38:19,639 --> 00:38:24,559 Speaker 7: I looked down off the side and nobody's around. I 642 00:38:24,679 --> 00:38:27,320 take the person's contents and throw it down off over 643 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:27,719 the bank. 644 00:38:28,519 --> 00:38:31,519 Speaker 5: I figure I threw the purse probably forty feet. 645 00:38:32,199 --> 00:38:33,880 Speaker 4: If I could get you out of. 646 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,719 Speaker 5: Jail and taking show me where you adopted, yes, I were. 647 00:38:38,159 --> 00:38:40,519 We took him to the crime scene or the dump 648 00:38:40,639 --> 00:38:44,920 site on the Columbia Gorge, and he said that he 649 00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:48,320 left her body, but took the purse with him. He said, 650 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:53,280 I threw the contents of her purse in this area. Well, 651 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,280 it was a big area and it was the blackberries 652 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:56,199 were ten feet high. 653 00:38:57,199 --> 00:39:00,679 Speaker 1: After a thorough search of the vast area by police 654 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,280 and the local scouts, they failed to find any evidence, 655 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,679 but the detectives refused to give up the ghost. 656 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,159 Speaker 5: My partner Jim McNally said, maybe we ought to do 657 00:39:11,199 --> 00:39:14,320 it one more time. So the next Saturday we sent 658 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:18,119 the explorer scouts out again with the police supervisor and 659 00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:22,559 they found Tanya's ID card, Oregon issued ID card, and 660 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:24,880 it was as good a condition as it was the 661 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:29,880 day I was thrown there. Well, only a person who 662 00:39:30,039 --> 00:39:34,519 threw it there could have pinpointed that precise location within 663 00:39:35,599 --> 00:39:38,079 within I guess one hundred yards of where we founded. 664 00:39:38,199 --> 00:39:41,639 But so that was the turning point, and that was 665 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,719 the point where I felt we could charge jessperson with 666 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,840 a crime because we had enough evidence to implicate him 667 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,360 in the crime, and we wanted more than his confession, 668 00:39:51,480 --> 00:39:54,159 and the ID card turned out to be that one 669 00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:57,679 piece that we needed. I think I just want to 670 00:39:57,679 --> 00:39:59,800 tell us we didn't ask, so we should ask. 671 00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:04,840 Speaker 7: I'm sorry, that's what I've been long time. 672 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:10,800 Speaker 1: Just three weeks after the ID card was uncovered, on 673 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:15,199 the second of November nineteen ninety five, Keith Jesperson entered 674 00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:18,400 a no contest plea for the murder of Tanya Bennett. 675 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:20,679 Speaker 2: He was given a life sentence. 676 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:26,280 Speaker 1: Less than a month later, Laverne Pavlink and John Sovlovsky 677 00:40:26,639 --> 00:40:27,760 were freed from prison. 678 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,079 Speaker 5: Jefperson, had he not wanted to talk about it, probably 679 00:40:32,159 --> 00:40:35,960 never would have been convicted. There was virtually no forensic 680 00:40:36,039 --> 00:40:40,280 evidence left at the crime scene, so had Jesperson not 681 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:44,559 come forward, there's a good chance that the two people 682 00:40:44,559 --> 00:40:46,360 who went to prison would still be in prison. 683 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:51,639 Speaker 1: On the fifteenth of November nineteen ninety five, Jefferson was 684 00:40:51,679 --> 00:40:55,320 given another life sentence for the murder of Lorie Pentland, 685 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:59,000 and in December, Jefferson was back in court for a 686 00:40:59,119 --> 00:41:03,159 third time, this time charged with the murder of Julie Winningham, 687 00:41:03,559 --> 00:41:06,159 the girl whose death had led to the downfall of 688 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:07,480 the Happy Face Killer. 689 00:41:08,199 --> 00:41:09,760 Speaker 5: I attended every day front row. 690 00:41:10,559 --> 00:41:16,039 Speaker 4: What he said in court was he had raped my mother. 691 00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:21,519 Speaker 3: He had duct taped my mother, stuck his fist down 692 00:41:21,599 --> 00:41:26,519 her throat to make sure she was dead. He kept 693 00:41:26,599 --> 00:41:28,519 her in the cab of his truck for twelve to 694 00:41:28,599 --> 00:41:32,239 twenty four hours and drove her up and threw her 695 00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:36,559 off the side of the gorge like a piece of garbage. 696 00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:42,000 Speaker 5: And I had to hear this man say that in court. 697 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:44,119 Speaker 4: This monster's telling me what he did. 698 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:50,400 Speaker 1: Once again, Jesperson was found guilty his third life sentence. 699 00:41:51,679 --> 00:41:56,119 Speaker 13: He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in Oregon 700 00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:59,800 and a consecutive life term in Washington, effectively three lives 701 00:42:00,519 --> 00:42:03,920 back to back to back. So he's going to die 702 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:04,480 in prison. 703 00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:15,159 Speaker 3: He took a kind, caring, loving, free spirited mother, aunt, sister, daughter, 704 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:23,119 sul from this planet for his enjoyment, and the impact 705 00:42:23,199 --> 00:42:25,960 it's left is. 706 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:28,800 Speaker 4: Almost unreal. 707 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:34,039 Speaker 3: But I had to face it because it was my mom, 708 00:42:34,519 --> 00:42:35,960 not nobody else's mom. 709 00:42:38,079 --> 00:42:42,079 Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety eight, Jesperson was found guilty once more 710 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,199 for the murder of Angela's Surprise, and in two thousand 711 00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:49,480 and seven and two thousand and ten, he was convicted 712 00:42:49,559 --> 00:42:53,760 of two murders in California between nineteen ninety two and 713 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:55,039 nineteen ninety three. 714 00:42:55,679 --> 00:42:56,639 Speaker 2: In total, the. 715 00:42:56,719 --> 00:43:01,320 Speaker 1: Outspoken killer has been convicted six times. He remains in 716 00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:02,840 prison in Oregon. 717 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:05,000 Speaker 5: I've arrested a lot of people for a lot of 718 00:43:05,039 --> 00:43:08,960 crimes and a fair number of murders, and this is 719 00:43:09,039 --> 00:43:10,800 the only one that I ever arrested. It seem to 720 00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:12,960 be awful pleased with his accomplishments. 721 00:43:14,039 --> 00:43:17,280 Speaker 4: Keith Jesperson is a very evil person. He looks for 722 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:18,199 people's weaknesses. 723 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,159 Speaker 8: He looks for women's weaknesses, and then exploits those to 724 00:43:21,199 --> 00:43:24,480 get everything he can possibly get from them, and then 725 00:43:25,119 --> 00:43:27,000 he kills them and discards them when he's done. 726 00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:28,840 Speaker 4: He is the epitome of evil. 727 00:43:31,079 --> 00:43:35,519 Speaker 1: Jefferson was an imposing figure who used his huge fists 728 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:39,159 to either beat his victims to death or strangle the 729 00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:42,480 life out of them. For five years, he managed to 730 00:43:42,559 --> 00:43:46,480 evade justice until the same hands he used to kill 731 00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:50,000 signed a document that led detectives. 732 00:43:49,519 --> 00:43:52,800 Speaker 2: Right to his door, wiping the smile off the happy 733 00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:57,440 Speaker 1: Face of Keith Jesperson, one of the world's most evil killers.