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World's Most Evil Killers S05E04 Keith Jesperson
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00:00In March 1995, the body of 41-year-old Julie Winningham
00:05was found just off Highway 14 in Washington
00:08in the USA's Pacific Northwest.
00:11She'd been strangled to death.
00:13He's a monster, 6-plus feet, 280 pounds.
00:17My mom was 5 pounds, 100 pounds soaking wet.
00:20So it was like a toothpick, you know, he was a big man.
00:24Julie had become the eighth victim
00:26of an active serial killer named Keith Jesperson.
00:29The 39-year-old truck driver
00:31had been murdering innocent women across America
00:34for the previous five years.
00:37In a sense, they were falling into the hands of a wolf.
00:41Their hens in the hen coop,
00:43and Jesperson is the wolf at the door.
00:47Jesperson captured the intrigue of the nation
00:50when he confessed to five murders
00:52in an anonymous letter he sent to a newspaper,
00:55which he signed with a smile.
00:57I sprawled up that I killed Tonya Bennett in January 1990
01:01and put down a circle with two eyes and a happy face.
01:06Keith Jesperson, labelled a happy face killer,
01:10had made his mark as one of the world's most evil killers.
01:34When 39-year-old trucker Keith Jesperson
01:38confessed all to detectives in March 1995,
01:41the media finally got a chance to put a name
01:45to the notorious happy face killer.
01:48Over a five-year period,
01:50Jesperson squeezed the life out of at least eight women
01:53across five states.
01:55Detective Monty Buettner was part of the investigative team
01:59that finally brought an end
02:01to the happy face killer's reign of terror.
02:05Jesperson targeted, typically, prostitutes, homeless women,
02:10women that he felt that would not have anybody
02:12that would report them missing anytime soon
02:15to give him a chance to escape,
02:17to get out of the area, driving his truck.
02:19Six-foot, seven-inch Jesperson,
02:22a divorced father of three,
02:24towered over his diminutive victims.
02:26For Keith Jesperson, his big thing was control.
02:30He wanted to control women.
02:32He wanted to abuse them in the way that he was aroused by.
02:35So he focused on finding victims
02:37that he thought would meet that need for him.
02:40Despite his size and destructive power,
02:44Jesperson was mild-mannered and softly spoken
02:47during his confessions to detectives.
02:50Keith, for purposes of voice identification,
02:52would you please state your full name, please?
02:54My name is Keith Hunter Jesperson.
02:57And you understand this conversation is being recorded?
03:00Yes, I do.
03:01Is that with your permission?
03:02Yes, it is.
03:04Every time I talked to him, he was my best friend.
03:08And when you looked at him,
03:09the last thing you would ever suspect
03:11that this guy was a serial killer.
03:13I mean, he didn't hang around with bad people.
03:15I never heard him swear.
03:18If you met Jesperson,
03:19the last thing you would suspect
03:20that he was a criminal.
03:22He doesn't come across as a criminal.
03:24At one point, he said to me,
03:26you know, you and I could go on a tour
03:28teaching people how not to get murdered.
03:30And that was kind of the mindset
03:32of this particular guy,
03:33that he really enjoyed people looking at him
03:36and saying, oh my God, this is our serial killer.
03:39And he must be really an important, powerful person
03:42to be involved in that sort of a lifestyle.
03:45So I don't think there was ever any remorse.
03:47It was all about, I want people to look at me.
03:52This killer's story begins just outside of Vancouver, Canada.
03:57Keith Hunter Jesperson was born in Chilliwack,
04:01British Columbia, on the 6th of April, 1955.
04:04He grew up in a large family in a rural home.
04:08Jesperson had two brothers and two sisters.
04:11He was the so-called runt, I think, of the litter.
04:15The boy, I think, sought to get his father's attention
04:19from quite an early age.
04:22His father was incredibly domineering.
04:25His father really looked down on women.
04:27So from a very early age,
04:29he develops this view that a misogynistic view of women,
04:33a view of women that is quite demeaning,
04:36is one that's normal.
04:38Jesperson's assertive father
04:40appeared to bring out a violent side in the young man.
04:44One of Jesperson's earliest memories
04:47is apparently of throwing a rock down a slide
04:50at the children's playground that hit his brother in the head.
04:54And I think what he was trying to do here
04:56was essentially get his father's attention.
04:59His father was somebody who valued aggression,
05:02who valued this kind of behaviour.
05:05And I think this really was a cry
05:07for that kind of validation from him.
05:10The ugly truth must be that
05:14he had no normality in his life.
05:17There was no convention in that family life
05:20and that upbringing,
05:21which meant that, in a sense,
05:23there was no moral compass.
05:25There was no right and wrong.
05:27Before he'd even turned seven,
05:30Jesperson displayed traits
05:32that had become synonymous with serial killers.
05:36Jesperson liked to kill and torture animals,
05:39so he harmed cats and dogs and gophers and crows.
05:44That gave him a sense of power,
05:46a sense of control that he couldn't get in any other way.
05:50But he's also realising that he quite enjoys
05:53having control over another living creature,
05:57of holding its life in your hands.
05:59The family moved south across the border into the U.S.,
06:04and Jesperson would eventually find work in a job
06:07that would assist him in his murderous career.
06:10He's become a truck driver for a company in Washington state,
06:14which gives him access to freedom,
06:17drive around, can sleep in the cab.
06:21He can pull up with whatever truck stop he fancies,
06:24where there are almost always a collection of young women
06:27knowing that drivers want company.
06:30It's the perfect fit for Jesperson's character.
06:35So he's got a lot of time on his hands to ruminate,
06:39to fantasise, to start to plan things.
06:42So this is quite a dangerous situation to be in
06:46because nobody's there to put the brakes on his behaviour.
06:50By early 1990,
06:53Keith Jesperson was separated from his wife
06:56and spending much of his time driving his truck
06:59up and down the seemingly endless highways of America.
07:03On the 22nd of January, 1990,
07:07in Portland, Oregon,
07:08a 23-year-old woman was found dead.
07:12Tonya Bennett was reported missing by her mother,
07:15and some young man stopped along that highway one day
07:20and discovered her body,
07:21which had been drug off the road down
07:24into a little bit of a ravine
07:25off of the scenic highway out in the Columbia Gorge.
07:30Detectives presumed they'd solve the case quickly
07:33when a local woman,
07:35Laverne Pavilinek,
07:36told the police that her boyfriend
07:38was responsible for the death of Tonya Bennett.
07:41Laverne was several years older than John Sosnovsky,
07:48and John was an alcoholic,
07:51and I think John was probably
07:53a very abusive partner to Laverne,
07:57and I think she was just trying
07:59to get John Sosnovsky out of her life
08:01and decided she would frame him for murder
08:04as a way to get John out of her life.
08:07In the beginning,
08:08she just tries to pin it completely on him,
08:11but then she kind of inserts herself
08:14into this narrative,
08:15and I think there's almost a sense
08:17in which she's enjoying the drama of the story,
08:19and she wants to play a larger part in it.
08:23Laverne's story was a lie.
08:25The police didn't know it yet,
08:27but Tonya had in fact been killed
08:29by a 34-year-old trucker named Keith Jespersen.
08:33He had met Tonya playing pool
08:36at the B&I Tavern,
08:37which was in East Multnomah County,
08:39and they had decided to go get something to eat
08:41at a nearby restaurant,
08:43and when they left the tavern,
08:47he realized he didn't have enough money
08:51with him to buy dinner,
08:53so he said,
08:54let's go to my house,
08:55and I'll get some money.
08:57He gets involved in a sexual act with Tonya,
09:00and at that point,
09:02Tonya said something that offended him,
09:04and he murdered her.
09:06He choked her with his fist,
09:09and he was a big man.
09:11Tonya was a little woman,
09:12and so it wasn't a big challenge to kill Tonya.
09:17And I don't think he cared very much.
09:20I mean, he left her in the house,
09:22and to cover his tracks,
09:23went back to the bar
09:24and had another series of drinks,
09:26and then went back to the house
09:27and decided he was going to dump the body.
09:29Well, he's got plenty of opportunities
09:30to dump the body.
09:31All he needs to do is to load her into the truck,
09:33and he can drop her where he wants.
09:35Tonya Bennett had become Jesperson's first victim,
09:39and despite the fact that two other people were in court
09:43charged with the 23-year-old's murder,
09:46Jesperson had an urge to tell the world
09:48that he was her killer.
09:51While the trial's taking place,
09:53he stops off in a restroom
09:56and writes a message on the wall,
10:00which is,
10:00I beat her, I raped her, I killed her.
10:02I liked it.
10:03You may think I'm sick,
10:05but I enjoyed it.
10:06And two other people are taking the form,
10:09and he signs it with a smiley face.
10:13And at first,
10:15this would appear to be quite compelling,
10:17but it wasn't new information.
10:19It was information that anybody could have heard
10:21and just repeated onto the wall.
10:24So I think this was a desire for recognition
10:27on Jesperson's part.
10:29It was a desire to be noticed
10:30and to actually take the credit for these murders.
10:34As news of the truck stop confession
10:37reached Laverne Pavilinek and John Soznofsky's lawyers,
10:41they were intrigued,
10:42but the jury would never get to hear
10:44about the revelations signed with a smiley face.
10:48The defence of Laverne and John
10:52try to get these confessions
10:56brought in as evidence in the trial,
10:59but the judge forbids it.
11:02It's hearsay, it could be anybody,
11:05it's not convincing,
11:07there's no forensic proof.
11:09Sorry, we're not allowing it into evidence.
11:11And both are duly convicted of the murder.
11:17And Keith Jesperson is free to kill again.
11:21After all, he's already boasted that he can,
11:25so why shouldn't he?
11:27As two innocent people
11:30were sentenced to life in prison
11:31for the murder of Tanya Bennett,
11:34Keith Jesperson remained free.
11:36And over the next four years,
11:38he would kill another seven women.
11:47In January 1990,
11:50Keith Jesperson had beaten the life
11:52out of Tanya Bennett,
11:53but the trucker remained at large
11:55as two other people
11:57had been convicted of her murder.
12:00In 1992,
12:03two years after killing for the first time,
12:06Jesperson struck again,
12:07this time in California.
12:10Jesperson's second victim,
12:12Claudia,
12:13was a woman who he kept alive
12:15in his truck for four days.
12:18He quite enjoyed torturing her.
12:21He quite enjoyed the fact
12:22that she would have been fearful for her life
12:24and probably pleading for her life.
12:26So this really highlights
12:28that it's the process
12:30that Jesperson enjoys.
12:32It's that feeling of power,
12:34that feeling of complete control
12:35and domination he gets
12:36when he has got somebody
12:38who's completely subservient to him.
12:41Eventually, after a few days,
12:43gets bored,
12:44kills her
12:44by punching her literally to death
12:46and then chucks her out of the truck.
12:49Now, how do you identify
12:51the body of a young woman
12:53found miles away
12:54from where she may or may have been last seen?
12:58Remember, we're in the early 90s here.
13:00We don't have the kind
13:01of elaborate databases
13:02that the police authorities have now.
13:05It's simply a body.
13:08And again,
13:10that confirms
13:12to Jesperson
13:13his ability to get away with it,
13:16his ability to do what he wants.
13:19It's a very powerful,
13:22addictive substance
13:23for a man
13:25who's already
13:25got a warped mind
13:28and has no moral compass.
13:30This is powerful medicine indeed.
13:32By April 1994,
13:35Jesperson had killed
13:36another three women,
13:38taking his gruesome tally
13:40to five.
13:41But the 39-year-old
13:42was growing frustrated
13:43with the lack of credit
13:45he felt he deserved
13:46for his ongoing killing spree.
13:49He began to right that wrong
13:51by sending letters
13:52to an Oregon courthouse
13:54and a local newspaper,
13:56reiterating his claims
13:57that he was the person
13:59responsible
13:59for the death of Tanya Bennett
14:01back in January 1990.
14:05Keith loves the media attention.
14:07He was doing anything he could
14:08to obtain that attention.
14:10And when somebody else
14:11was getting it,
14:12Keith wasn't comfortable with that.
14:14So when that occurred
14:15was the first time
14:16Keith came out of hiding,
14:19so to speak,
14:20contacted the newspaper,
14:21took credit
14:22for the homicide
14:22of Tanya Bennett,
14:24but would not
14:25divulge who he was.
14:27With all of the letters,
14:28he signed them
14:28with a happy face
14:29at the bottom
14:29and the Oregonian newspaper
14:31deemed him
14:31the happy face killer.
14:34At this point,
14:35he's really,
14:36really frustrated.
14:37He's written
14:38on the walls of truck stops.
14:39He's written
14:40to the county court
14:41and yet still,
14:42he's not getting
14:43the recognition
14:43that he feels he deserves,
14:45especially around
14:46that smiley face
14:47this moniker
14:48that he's crafted.
14:49He probably thought
14:50that was a brilliant
14:51kind of brand identity
14:53and nobody's picking it up.
14:55So at this point,
14:56he's really, really angry.
14:57He's screaming out now,
14:59I've done this.
15:00I'm proud of this.
15:01I deserve recognition for it.
15:04The letters detailed
15:06all five of the murders
15:08that Jesperson
15:08had committed,
15:10allowing authorities
15:11to link
15:11these separate cases together.
15:13But the trucker
15:15continued on regardless.
15:16He killed a sixth victim,
15:18known only as Suzanne,
15:20in September 1994.
15:22And in January 1995,
15:25he claimed a seventh,
15:27his most inhumane so far.
15:31Angela's debris
15:32is one that
15:35always sticks in my mind
15:38because it doesn't start out
15:39at a truck stop
15:40in the same way
15:42as many of the
15:43other killings have.
15:45This time,
15:46he offers
15:48Angela a lift.
15:49She's 21.
15:50She wants to lift
15:52to see her father.
15:53In the end,
15:54she phones her father
15:55and her father says,
15:56oh, don't come now.
15:57So she decides to go
15:58and see her boyfriend
15:59in Indiana.
16:01According to Jesperson,
16:02he got irritated with her
16:04because she was telling him
16:05to hurry up.
16:06He says how much
16:07she was nagging at him
16:08and how much
16:09she was bitching at him.
16:10And what he's doing here
16:12is victim blaming.
16:14He's drawing on
16:15these stereotypical notions
16:17of women as annoying,
16:18as nagging,
16:19because that has often
16:21been used in the past
16:22to justify murders.
16:23It's this kind of
16:24crime of passion
16:25type of argument.
16:27And he really is
16:28quite in tune with that.
16:30After spending
16:32a week together
16:32on the road,
16:34Jesperson strangled
16:35Angela to death,
16:36but he was far
16:37from finished with her.
16:39You have a man
16:40who is now
16:42quite literally
16:42out of control.
16:43But what makes
16:46Angela's killing
16:47so horrible
16:50is that
16:51he decides
16:52to cover his tracks
16:54and he ties
16:57the poor dead
16:58young woman's
16:59body
17:01under his truck
17:02and toes it.
17:04And the objective
17:05is to obliterate
17:06her face
17:07and her fingerprints.
17:09He's sufficiently aware
17:11that he knows
17:12that this one
17:14could be traced.
17:15After all,
17:15one or two people
17:16may well have known
17:17that he had offered
17:18her a lift.
17:18And he wants to make sure
17:20that she's unidentifiable.
17:25This is a killing
17:26of the supreme wickedness.
17:28I mean,
17:28one feels desperately
17:29that she couldn't
17:32possibly have deserved
17:33that horrific fate.
17:36And yet,
17:38Jesperson meted it out
17:40to her
17:41without a twinge
17:44of conscience
17:44as far as we can see.
17:46The pace
17:47of Jesperson's
17:48killing spree
17:49was accelerating
17:50and just two months
17:51after the murder
17:52of Angela Sobrise,
17:54in March 1995,
17:56a body was discovered
17:57in Washington
17:58just off Highway 14.
18:01I'm at the
18:02Washougal Police Department
18:03and I need to see
18:04an officer.
18:05I think I found a body
18:07alongside the road.
18:08So why do you think
18:09it's a body?
18:10Well,
18:11because I was
18:12at the side of the road
18:13and I was urinating
18:14and I saw it down
18:14on the hillside
18:15and it looks like a female.
18:16I can see a hand
18:17with a fingernail polish.
18:19I was actually
18:20on days off
18:20and it was,
18:22I believe,
18:22March 11, 1995
18:24when I received
18:25a call at home
18:26stating that
18:27they had received
18:28a report of a body
18:30that was found
18:30near the county line
18:31just in the Skamania County.
18:33The patrol officers
18:34were responding
18:34at that time
18:35and they asked
18:35that I respond as well.
18:37I went off the bushes
18:38there and I looked
18:39down the hill
18:39and it looked like
18:40I thought it was
18:40a mannequin at first
18:41and I saw
18:42the fingernail polish
18:43and I went down
18:43and got kind of close
18:44but then I got
18:44kind of sick.
18:46The only thing
18:47really in that area
18:48between the highway
18:49and the river
18:50is a set of railroad tracks
18:51that was all the way
18:52at the lower edge
18:52of that
18:53but just over the bank
18:55probably 20 feet
18:56down over the edge
18:57from the highway
18:58is where the body
18:59was located.
19:00This latest case
19:02bared all the hallmarks
19:03of the notorious
19:04Happy Face Killer.
19:06When we look
19:07at the locations
19:08in which Jesperson
19:08dumped the bodies
19:10and you look
19:11at the other types
19:12of item
19:12that you find
19:13in that location
19:14it's trash
19:14it's rubbish
19:15it's discarded things
19:16that people
19:17no longer want
19:18and that is exactly
19:19how Jesperson
19:20sees his victims.
19:21He's had his fun
19:22with them
19:23they've served
19:23their purpose
19:24and now he's just
19:25going to dispose of them.
19:28It appeared to me
19:29that she had not
19:30been there very long
19:31between possibly
19:3224 and 36 hours.
19:34She was laying
19:35on her right side
19:36and her face
19:37was facing the ground.
19:39I could see evidence
19:40that's either consistent
19:41with strangulation
19:43or lividity
19:45because she was
19:46basically inverted
19:48her head was lower
19:48than the rest
19:49of her body
19:50once the heart stops
19:51blood will pool
19:53at its lowest point
19:54and in this case
19:55it would have been
19:55her upper torso
19:56neck and face.
19:59One of the things
19:59that became a hallmark
20:02of Jesperson's killing
20:04was the punched
20:06his victims
20:07repeatedly in the neck
20:09and face
20:09and in the throat
20:10thereby eventually
20:12killing them.
20:13He was a puncher
20:14beat them literally
20:15to death.
20:18The first task
20:19for the investigating team
20:21was identifying
20:22the body.
20:23We had no clothing
20:25we had no purse
20:26no wallet
20:27no way to identify her
20:29so one of the things
20:30that we do
20:30at the medical
20:31examiner's office
20:32is we take fingerprints
20:33from the victim
20:34we then run those
20:36through the automated
20:37fingerprint identification
20:38system known as
20:39AFES and in this case
20:40the victim Julie
20:41Winningham
20:42her fingerprints
20:42were in AFES system.
20:4441 year old
20:46Julie Winningham
20:47had become the latest
20:48woman to be killed
20:49at the hands
20:50of the happy face killer.
20:52Jesperson is a man
20:54who feels completely
20:55entitled to treat
20:56women in this way.
20:57He picks up women
20:59in his truck
20:59he thinks
21:00I have a right
21:01to do with these
21:02women
21:02whatever I want.
21:03Now he knows
21:04that what he's doing
21:05is wrong
21:05but that that
21:07doesn't stop him
21:08because he feels
21:09that he has some
21:10God-given right
21:11to do this.
21:12In a sense
21:14they were falling
21:15into the hands
21:15of a wolf.
21:17Their hens
21:17in the hen coop
21:19and Jesperson
21:20is the wolf
21:21at the door.
21:22But Jesperson's
21:23world was about
21:24to come crashing
21:25down around him.
21:26The 39 year old
21:28serial killer
21:29had made a mistake
21:30that would lead
21:31the police
21:31to his door.
21:33Julie Winningham
21:34had become
21:34Keith Jesperson's
21:36eighth victim
21:36but she would also
21:38be his last.
21:46In March 1995
21:48Keith Jesperson
21:50a serial murderer
21:51known as
21:52the happy face killer
21:54had claimed
21:54an eighth victim.
21:56The body
21:57of 41 year old
21:58Julie Winningham
21:59had been found
22:00just off
22:01Highway 14
22:02in Washington state.
22:04Julie's son
22:05Don Finley
22:06was 24
22:07at the time.
22:13My mom
22:14she was a cheerful
22:15free spirit
22:16caring
22:18and loving.
22:19She was just
22:19a traveler
22:20and an adventurer
22:21and was a free soul
22:23and didn't understand
22:25that when I was
22:26young
22:27but
22:28as I grew up
22:29I grasped
22:31what it was all
22:31and why she
22:32chose her life
22:33the way she did.
22:34Julie and Don
22:36did not have
22:37a traditional
22:37mother-son relationship.
22:39Don was working
22:41in California
22:42while Julie
22:43moved between
22:43the Pacific Northwest.
22:45There was
22:46a time
22:47when I came up
22:48here in 91
22:50the last time
22:51I
22:52physically saw
22:53my mom
22:54we drove around
22:56we talked
22:57we got caught up
22:58and in 95
22:59my mom had called me
23:00February 12th
23:02which was her birthday
23:03and my birthday
23:04was February 20th.
23:06She told me
23:07she was
23:08up in Idaho
23:09with a friend
23:11and planning
23:12on coming
23:13down to
23:13Washington.
23:15By March
23:161995
23:18Julie was
23:19spending a lot
23:19of time
23:20with some friends
23:21in the Portland
23:22area
23:22just on the
23:23Oregon side
23:24of the
23:25Columbia River.
23:26She started
23:27hanging out
23:28at some of
23:28the truck stops
23:29Burns Brothers
23:31over in
23:31Troutdale
23:32had a dance
23:33floor
23:33and quite the
23:35nightlife
23:35a lot of people
23:36would go over
23:36there whether
23:36they drove
23:37trucks or not
23:37and I believe
23:38it was a
23:39country and
23:39western bar
23:39and they
23:40would just
23:41hang out
23:42and have
23:42drinks with
23:43friends over
23:43there.
23:43So she
23:44got into
23:44that circle
23:45over there
23:45as well.
23:46After Julie's
23:47body was
23:48found just
23:49across the
23:49river in
23:50Washington
23:51her son
23:52Don was
23:52given the
23:53devastating
23:54news.
23:55I was at
23:56work and
23:57I received
23:57a phone call
23:58from my
23:59aunt telling
24:00me that
24:01they had
24:02found my
24:03mom dead
24:05on the
24:06side of
24:06Highway 14
24:08murdered and
24:09raped.
24:11I lost
24:12it.
24:16I
24:18punched
24:18fences,
24:19I pulled
24:20off paper
24:21towel rolls,
24:24walked down
24:25the street and
24:25just collapsed
24:26in the middle
24:27of the street,
24:27no one
24:28around.
24:29Friends didn't,
24:30the people I
24:30knew as
24:31friends didn't
24:31know what
24:32to think.
24:34Detectives
24:35interviewed Julie's
24:36friends and they
24:37immediately had a
24:38lead.
24:39She had a
24:40boyfriend who
24:41was a truck
24:41driver.
24:43Speaking with
24:44Julie's friends,
24:45we were very
24:46interested in who
24:47this truck driver
24:47was that she was
24:48with.
24:49Unfortunately,
24:49her friends really
24:50didn't pay much
24:51attention to him.
24:52They noticed that
24:53he drove a big
24:53blue truck, a
24:54semi-truck with a
24:55sleeper cab, but
24:56they weren't sure
24:57of his name.
24:58Some of them
24:59said his name
24:59maybe was Keith,
25:01some of them
25:01said his name
25:02was Chris.
25:03They were just
25:04unsure.
25:05Just as it
25:06seemed the trail
25:07was going cold,
25:09investigators got
25:10their biggest
25:11break yet.
25:12Fortunately, one
25:13of Julie's
25:14friends had just
25:15bought a car
25:16from Julie, and
25:17out of that
25:18transaction of
25:18buying the car,
25:20Keith was there
25:20and was asked to
25:21sign the bill of
25:22sale as a witness.
25:23So the friend
25:24gave us the
25:25bill of sale,
25:26and as a
25:27witness, it
25:27said Keith
25:28Hunter Jesperson.
25:29So that was
25:30our first
25:30indication of
25:31who we were
25:31looking for.
25:33For the first
25:34time since his
25:35killing spree
25:35began, the
25:37name Keith
25:37Jesperson was
25:38with the
25:39detectives.
25:40The 39-year-old
25:41had made an
25:43uncharacteristic
25:43error.
25:44There's all
25:45sorts of
25:48footprints that
25:50have been left
25:50in the sand
25:51that lead you
25:52directly back to
25:54Keith Jesperson.
25:55He makes the
25:56mistake of
25:56killing someone
25:57who has
25:57got a
25:57past, would
25:58have a
25:59future, and
25:59has got a
25:59whole network
26:01of friends
26:01to prove
26:01it.
26:02It's a
26:03gigantic
26:03miscalculation,
26:04but the
26:05reason he
26:05miscalculates
26:06is by now
26:07he is simply
26:08addicted to
26:08killing.
26:09He oversteps
26:10the mark.
26:10He goes too
26:11far because
26:12he can't
26:12stop himself.
26:13And I
26:14think that's
26:14testament to
26:15his arrogance
26:16at this point
26:17in his
26:18serial murders.
26:20He really
26:20does think
26:21he's untouchable,
26:22that he's not
26:22going to get
26:22caught.
26:24Detectives
26:24traced Jesperson
26:25via his
26:26employers to
26:27a job over
26:281,000 miles
26:29away from
26:30Washington.
26:32Keith Jesperson
26:33was told that
26:34when he dropped
26:34off his load
26:35in Hurley,
26:36that he was
26:36to travel to
26:38the Las Cruces,
26:39New Mexico
26:39fairgrounds,
26:40county fairgrounds,
26:41to pick up a
26:42load of steel
26:42at that point.
26:43That was
26:44fabricated to
26:44the point to
26:45where we could
26:45basically bring
26:46Keith Jesperson
26:47to us,
26:47and him thinking
26:49that it was
26:49another pick-up
26:50point, it was
26:51actually us waiting
26:52for his arrival.
26:53Monty remembers
26:54his first encounter
26:56with the
26:57imposing killer.
26:58Keith Jesperson
26:59is a very big
27:00man, however,
27:01he is somewhat
27:02soft-spoken,
27:03so it's almost
27:03like he's
27:06using that
27:07to make people
27:09feel comfortable
27:09around him.
27:10And my first
27:11impression was
27:13using the way
27:14he was speaking
27:15to us
27:16and the soft
27:17tones,
27:17even though he
27:18was a very
27:18big man,
27:19I could see
27:20where he could
27:21pick a victim
27:22up and they
27:24would feel
27:24somewhat safe
27:25being with him
27:26until he changed
27:27unexpectedly.
27:28So that was
27:29my first impression
27:30that this man
27:32could easily
27:32victimize some
27:33women.
27:34Jesperson claimed
27:35that Julie was
27:36still alive
27:37when he last
27:38saw her.
27:39Without any
27:40physical or
27:40forensic evidence,
27:42the detectives
27:43were powerless
27:44to arrest him.
27:45They flew back
27:46to Washington
27:47to continue
27:48their investigation
27:48into the death
27:50of Julie Winningham.
27:53I saw my mom
27:54for the very last
27:56time in a white
27:57room on a silver
28:00slab with a white
28:02sheet up to her
28:04neck with a black
28:06and blue mark
28:07across her whole
28:08face, shrub marks
28:10on her cheeks,
28:11face, and that
28:13was the last
28:13time I
28:16physically saw
28:17him.
28:20No sooner
28:21had the detectives
28:22touched down
28:23in Washington,
28:24Jesperson had
28:25a sudden
28:26change of
28:27heart.
28:28Maybe at this
28:29point,
28:30Jesperson
28:31realizes that
28:32really the game
28:33is up and
28:34there's nothing
28:34he can do.
28:35So he confesses
28:37to his employer,
28:38the truck
28:39company,
28:40that he's going
28:41to confess
28:41to the police
28:45and he
28:46himself leaves
28:47a voicemail
28:48for one of the
28:49detectives who's
28:49come to interview
28:50him.
28:52This is
28:52Keith Jesperson.
28:54I'd like to
28:55talk to you.
28:57I'll be in
28:58Phoenix in the
28:58morning.
29:00And you were
29:00right.
29:01I have, uh,
29:03I've been
29:03fighting with
29:04myself for last
29:05two days.
29:06Tried to kill
29:07myself a couple
29:08times and it
29:08hasn't worked.
29:10It's not a damn
29:10pill from this
29:11damn country.
29:12I'll talk to you
29:14in the morning.
29:15Bye.
29:18March 23,
29:2010,
29:2138,
29:22PM.
29:23To save this
29:24message,
29:24press 1.
29:26Yes,
29:27Keith,
29:28I am in
29:29Arizona.
29:31I'll call you
29:32when you're
29:32there, I guess.
29:34I don't want to
29:34turn myself in,
29:35so I'll talk to you
29:37later.
29:38Bye.
29:40Detective Rick
29:41Buckner spoke to
29:42Jesperson on the
29:43phone when the
29:44killer reached a
29:45truck stop in
29:46Arizona.
29:48OK, Keith,
29:49tell me what
29:49happened.
29:50Where are you at
29:50right now?
29:51Right now I'm at
29:52the 4D truck stop
29:55exit 378 and I-10
29:57in Arizona.
30:00OK.
30:01Keith, let's go
30:02ahead and tell me
30:02what happened.
30:04We heard sex once
30:05and then I wanted it
30:07again and then she
30:08said I was for rape.
30:09She's going to tell me
30:10if I raped her if I did
30:12that.
30:13Oh, rape is all I need.
30:15And she started to
30:17yell and scream at me
30:19and I just,
30:20I gasped her.
30:22I just couldn't help her.
30:23Julie then was angry
30:25because of the car that
30:27she recently sold to
30:29the friend because
30:30Keith Jesperson signed
30:31it as a witness.
30:34She wanted the car back
30:35and she blamed Keith
30:36because she couldn't get
30:38the car back because of
30:39the bell of sale that
30:39he had witnessed.
30:40Keith said that they got
30:41into an argument about
30:42that.
30:44What'd you do at that
30:45point?
30:46What?
30:46What'd you do then?
30:48I just grabbed her by
30:49his throat and pushed her
30:50down to the bike.
30:52And I even wanted to
30:53quit spinning at me.
30:56It's worked too long
30:56as she quit.
30:59OK.
31:01And I thought she was
31:02still breathing when I was,
31:05but I don't know,
31:06I'm not so sure.
31:08He held his hands around
31:10her neck or his fist on
31:11her throat and held her
31:13down.
31:13At that interview,
31:14on the phone interview,
31:15he said as long as five
31:17minutes.
31:17In later interviews,
31:18he thought it was as long
31:19as 10 minutes that he
31:20held his fist or hand
31:22over her neck, strangling
31:25her until she stopped
31:26moving.
31:28OK.
31:29Drove up Highway 14
31:31at the top.
31:33No one might do.
31:36I had to get rid of the
31:37body somewhere, so I
31:39parked in a white spot
31:40and put her over to the
31:41side.
31:43So at our request,
31:45Cochise County Sheriff's
31:46Office sent deputies out
31:47and they arrested him at
31:49the truck stop where he
31:50had made the call to call
31:51Detective Buckner.
31:53Keith Jesperson was
31:54finally in custody, but
31:56the police were only just
31:58beginning to realise they'd
31:59captured the notorious
32:01happy-faced killer.
32:02In a letter to his
32:03brother, sent just before
32:05his arrest, Jesperson had
32:07outlined his crimes,
32:08writing,
32:09I am sorry that I turned
32:10out this way.
32:12I've been killing for five
32:13years and have killed
32:15eight people, assaulted
32:16more.
32:17I guess I haven't learned
32:18anything.
32:19By the time that we had
32:21knowledge of those letters,
32:22the investigation of Julie
32:23Winningham was in its final
32:25stages.
32:26And so at that point in
32:28time, the letters to his
32:30brother that was reviewed,
32:31the letters to the Oregonian
32:32that were reviewed, it was
32:34believed at that time that
32:36yes, we indeed possibly had
32:38multiple victims in this
32:39case of Keith Jesperson.
32:41It was time to sit down
32:43with Keith Jesperson and
32:45find out exactly what the
32:46happy-faced killer had to
32:48say for himself.
32:49In a series of interviews,
32:51detectives would be
32:52stunned, especially when he
32:54confessed to a murder that
32:55two innocent people were
32:57serving time for.
32:58I didn't feel like I had
33:01control of what I was
33:02doing.
33:02I felt like I was sitting
33:04back watching and I just
33:05couldn't believe I did it.
33:15In March 1995, Keith
33:19Jesperson, the so-called
33:20happy-faced killer, was
33:22finally in police custody,
33:24charged with the murder of
33:2541-year-old mother, Julie
33:27Winningham.
33:29From interviews with
33:30Jesperson, detectives learned
33:32that he'd killed eight women
33:33across the USA, from the very
33:36northwest in Washington, all the
33:38way down to the southeast in
33:40Florida.
33:41Investigators were determined
33:42to put names and faces to
33:44some of the unknown women that
33:46Jesperson had claimed to have
33:48murdered.
33:50Gradually, the police put
33:52together a picture of the
33:54victims and where they are.
33:56They begin to find or at least
33:57identify some of the bodies
33:59which are in five states, so
34:00it's not an easy task.
34:03In a letter he sent to the
34:05Oregonian newspaper a year
34:07before his arrest, Jesperson
34:09had claimed to have killed a
34:11woman before dumping her body
34:13in Salem, Oregon.
34:14This alerted Marion County DA,
34:17Mark Mackler, when he heard that
34:19the happy-faced killer had been
34:21apprehended.
34:23His hands were very large.
34:25When I met him and interviewed
34:27him and saw him for the first
34:29time in the Clark County jail in
34:31Vancouver, Washington, he had to
34:32duck when he walked through
34:33doors because he had that kind
34:36of size.
34:37I mean, he was a big guy.
34:38And he didn't present himself
34:40with that size as a monster so
34:45much as somebody who probably
34:48looked like a big, giant, friendly
34:51guy until enraged, I suppose.
34:55Mark was able to get a blood
34:57sample from Jesperson, which
34:59revealed a DNA match to semen
35:02found on the body of Laurie
35:04Pentland, who'd been the killer's
35:06fourth victim in November 1992.
35:09Laurie Pentland was choked to death.
35:11And what we understood was whether
35:15he intended to kill her or not,
35:18whether he intended that she was
35:19the next victim or not, what we
35:21understood was that she was engaged
35:23in a sex act with him, an oral sex
35:25act with him.
35:26I think it probably got violent with
35:28him a little bit, and she bit him,
35:30and he killed her.
35:33That's what we understood.
35:35Jesperson had employed his usual
35:37M.O. of squeezing the life out
35:39of Laurie Pentland's body.
35:41Jesperson killed Laurie by a process
35:44of stop-start strangulation.
35:46So he would throttle her until she
35:49almost went unconscious, and then
35:51he would kind of back off, and she
35:53would come around again, and then
35:54he would start that process over
35:57again.
35:57So I think this is part of the
35:59murder that Jesperson really enjoys,
36:01this holding somebody else's life
36:03in his hands.
36:04It's something that he wants to
36:06prolong.
36:07It's something that he wants to
36:08amplify.
36:08So this must have been incredibly
36:10terrifying for his victim.
36:13When a victim is choked, typically
36:15bones in the neck are broken.
36:16Remember I told you he had massive
36:18hands, so he'd crush your neck.
36:21I mean, that's effectively what
36:24happened.
36:26Jesperson was charged with the
36:27murder of Laurie Pentland, and
36:30after telling detectives where they
36:31would find her mutilated body, the
36:3440-year-old was charged with a third
36:36murder, that of Angela Sobrise, the
36:39woman he dragged under his truck in
36:41January 1995.
36:44As his confessions continued, he once
36:47again claimed to be responsible for
36:49killing Tanya Bennett in January
36:511990, a crime for which two people had
36:55already been convicted.
36:57Okay, at some point, did you meet a
37:00female that you were killed?
37:03Yes, I did.
37:05I met a gal that, I can't remember
37:10exactly if it's the 20th or the 21st
37:12of the month.
37:12It's been such a long time ago.
37:14Of what month?
37:15Of January 1990.
37:18You mean, you know what her name was?
37:19I found out it was Tanya Bennett.
37:24Jesperson told detectives that Tanya
37:26had come back to his home after the
37:29pair had met in a bar and been for a
37:31meal.
37:32They soon began having sex on a
37:34mattress on the floor.
37:36And she made a comment to when I was
37:40over the top for her, something like,
37:43well, I'm not getting there, why don't you
37:44just hurry up and get it over with, kind
37:45of like, I pissed, like that pissed me
37:48off.
37:49I, uh, tagged her with my right arm.
37:53What do you mean by you tagged her with
37:54your right arm?
37:54What does that mean?
37:56I just lost my cool and I, I struck her
37:59in the side of the face and I never
38:01stopped striking her until she was laying
38:05there.
38:06I took my right fist and put it into her
38:08Adam's apple and shoved down until she
38:10was dead.
38:12I felt she was dead.
38:13I just heard gurgling noises and that.
38:16She probably died at the time I put my
38:18fist in her throat.
38:22Jesperson described the brutal murder, the
38:25first one he committed, in a calm manner.
38:28The Washington detectives contacted their
38:31colleagues across the Oregon state border.
38:35One day I got a call from Rick Buckner, who
38:38was a Clark County detective.
38:40Rick said, we've got an inmate in custody in
38:44Clark County for, for killing his girlfriend.
38:49And he is telling us and he's telling his
38:52fellow inmates that he murdered a woman named
38:55Tanya Bennett.
38:56Of course, detectives didn't believe him because we
38:59have two people in prison already, one of which
39:01confessed to it.
39:02However, Keith Jesperson asked if we located Tanya
39:05Bennett's purse and identification card, which
39:09wasn't located at the location where her body was.
39:12He indicated that he dumped that at a different location
39:15and he was willing to show us where that was.
39:17Jesperson described throwing the evidence into a
39:20blackberry field the morning after he'd murdered Tanya.
39:25I look down off the side and nobody's around.
39:30I take the person's contents and throw it down off over the
39:33bank.
39:34I figure I threw the purse probably 40 feet.
39:38If, uh, if I could get you out of jail, would you take me
39:41and show me where you dumped it?
39:42Yes, I would.
39:44We took him to the crime scene or the dump site
39:47out in the Columbia Gorge and he said that he left her body
39:52but took the purse with him.
39:53He said, I threw the contents of her purse in this area.
39:59Well, it was a big area and it was, the blackberries were
40:0110 feet high.
40:03After a thorough search of the vast area by police
40:06and the local scouts, they failed to find any evidence.
40:10But the detectives refused to give up the ghost.
40:14My partner, Jim McNally, said maybe we ought to do it one
40:17more time.
40:18So the next Saturday, we sent the Explorer scouts out again
40:22with the police supervisor and they found Tanya's ID card,
40:26her Oregon-issued ID card, and it was as good a condition
40:30as it was the day it was thrown there.
40:34Well, only a person who threw it there could have pinpointed
40:38that precise location within, I guess, 100 yards
40:43of where we found it.
40:44So that was the turning point and that was the point
40:48where I felt we could charge Jesperson with the crime
40:52because we had enough evidence to implicate him in the crime
40:55and we wanted more than his confession
40:57and the ID card turned out to be that one piece that we needed.
41:03Anything else you want to tell us?
41:04We didn't ask, so we should ask you.
41:06Did you ask you something?
41:07I'm sorry it happened.
41:09I've been sorry for a long time.
41:13Just three weeks after the ID card was uncovered,
41:16on the 2nd of November, 1995, Keith Jesperson entered
41:21a no-contest plea for the murder of Tanya Bennett.
41:24He was given a life sentence.
41:27Less than a month later, Laverne Pavlinak
41:30and John Sovnovsky were freed from prison.
41:35Jesperson, had he not wanted to talk about it,
41:37probably never would have been convicted.
41:39There was virtually no forensic evidence left at the crime scene.
41:43So, had Jesperson not come forward,
41:47there's a good chance that the two people
41:50who went to prison would still be in prison.
41:53On the 15th of November, 1995,
41:57Jesperson was given another life sentence
41:59for the murder of Laurie Pentland.
42:01And in December, Jesperson was back in court for a third time,
42:06this time charged with the murder of Julie Winningham,
42:09the girl whose death had led to the downfall
42:12of the Happy Face Killer.
42:13I attended every day, front row.
42:16What he said in court was,
42:20he had raped my mother,
42:23he had duct taped my mother,
42:26stuck his fist down her throat
42:28to make sure she was dead.
42:32He kept her in the cab of his truck
42:34for 12 to 24 hours
42:36and drove her up and threw her off
42:38the side of the gorge
42:41like a piece of garbage.
42:45And I had to hear this man say that in court,
42:48this monster's telling me what he did.
42:51Once again, Jesperson was found guilty,
42:54his third life sentence.
42:57He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in Oregon
43:02and a consecutive life term in Washington,
43:04effectively three lives,
43:06back to back to back.
43:07So he's going to die in prison.
43:11And he took a kind, caring, loving,
43:16free-spirited mother,
43:18aunt, sister, daughter, soul
43:22from this planet
43:24for his enjoyment.
43:27And the impact it's left
43:31is almost unreal.
43:36But I had to face it
43:38because it was my mom,
43:40not nobody else's mom.
43:43In 1998,
43:46Jesperson was found guilty once more
43:48for the murder of Angela Sobrise.
43:50And in 2007 and 2010,
43:54he was convicted of two murders in California
43:57between 1992 and 1993.
44:01In total,
44:02the outspoken killer
44:04has been convicted six times.
44:06He remains in prison in Oregon.
44:09I've arrested a lot of people
44:10for a lot of crimes
44:11and a fair number of murders.
44:13And this is the only one
44:15that I ever arrested
44:16that seemed to be awful pleased
44:17with his accomplishments.
44:19Keith Jesperson is a very evil person.
44:22He looks for people's weaknesses,
44:24he looks for women's weaknesses,
44:25and then exploits those
44:27to get everything
44:27he can possibly get from them.
44:30And then he kills them
44:31and discards them when he's done.
44:33He is the epitome of evil.
44:37Jesperson was an imposing figure
44:39who used his huge fists
44:41to either beat his victims to death
44:44or strangle the life out of them.
44:46For five years,
44:47he managed to evade justice
44:49until the same hands he used to kill
44:52signed a document
44:54that led detectives right to his door,
44:57wiping the smile off the happy face
44:59of Keith Jesperson,
45:01one of the world's most evil killers.
45:20The end of the world's most evil Freddy