LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Las Vegas may have ties to the final unidentified victim of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as “The Happy Face Killer.”
Investigators with the Riverside County, California District Attorney’s Office say the woman’s body was found on August 30th, 1992 along Highway 95 about seven miles north of Blythe. Jesperson told a reporter he picked her up as she headed out of Las Vegas. He later confessed to killing her and seven other women. All were identified except the woman investigators have called “Claudia” for decades.
Jesperson pleaded guilty to the murder on January 8th, 2010, and was sentenced to life in prison. Monday, on the 15th anniversary of that conviction, investigators renewed their appeal for public assistance identifying her.
“Our goal is to identify this victim and provide closure to her family, wherever they may be,” said Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin. “We are hopeful someone hearing any of these details may remember anything that could help us reunite this woman with the family who may have been looking for her for over three decades.”
Based on interviews with Jesperson, it’s believed the victim was living in, or was familiar with, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside County. They think she had ties to Las Vegas and southern Nevada, smoked cigarettes, and hitchhiked often.
The killer was a long-haul trucker at the time of the crime. He claims he picked her up outside Victorville along the I-15, and they traveled together until they reached the Indio/Coachella Burns Brothers rest area. He says that’s where he killed her after they argued about money. He told investigators he later dumped her body near Blythe.
Cold Case Victim Claudia
- 20-30 years old
- 5′6″ – 5′7″
- medium build
- 140-150 pounds
- found wearing a t-shirt printed with a motorcycle
- tattoo of two small dots on the left side of her right thumb
DNA analysis and forensic investigation led the District Attorney’s Office to “Claudia’s” biological father, but he had passed away. Some half-siblings were identified, but none had ties to her biological mother, and could not help identify her.
Investigators now ask anyone who may know anything about this woman, or this case to contact their Cold Case Hotline at (951) 955-5567, or email [email protected].
The victim’s DNA has now been entered into the CODIS system, so if you believe you may be related to the victim, you’re urged to contact GedMatch for DNA comparison.
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