An Oregon woman killed by Keith Hunter Jesperson—known as the Happy Face Killer—has finally been identified after almost 30 years. A truck driver stumbled upon the body of Patricia Skiple on the side of California State Route 152 on Thursday, June 3, 1993.
True Crime: Oregon Woman Finally Identified Almost 30 Years After Being Murdered by the Happy Face Killer
Wearing blue denim when Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office detectives found her, she was given the name “Blue Pacheco” after an autopsy couldn’t identify her or her cause of death. She also went by “Carla” while unidentified. The case saw little actual progress as the decades passed until detectives teamed up with the DNA Doe Project in 2019.
The DNA Doe Project is a nonprofit which uses genetic genealogy services to put a name and face to John and Jane Does. Skiple was not only identified last week, her murderer was identified as Keith Hunter Jesperson.
In 1993, the Colton, Oregon native would’ve been around 45-years-old.
Keith Jesperson: Failed Mountie Turned Murderer
Born in British Columbia, Keith Jesperson had dreams of becoming a part of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police but a training injury brought an end to that goal. Standing a bit over 6’7, he worked as a truck driver after moving to Washington state.
His work as a truck driver allowed him to navigate the highways and byways of the west coast almost anonymously. It also gave him a number of victims from those who were still hitchhiking or frequented trucker gas stations.
Committing the murders between 1990 and 1995, Jesperson’s modus operandi was to kill via strangulation. In writing to the police, he would draw a smiley face on the letters. Jesperson would also confess to his brother in a letter and even left a confession on a bathroom wall. The letter to his brother resulted in authorities in different states reopening cold cases in hopes that Jesperson’s claims could help solve them.
Initially, he claimed to have eight women on the west coast and in Florida but that has since ballooned to 185. Jesperson was apprehended on Thursday, March 30, 1995, following the murder of Julie Winningham. He had been investigated by police weeks earlier and following two failed suicide attempts, the Happy Face Killer turned himself in.
A major breakthrough in Skiple’s case came in 2006 after Keith Jesperson contacted the Santa Clara County DA’s office and admitted to the rape and murder of a woman found just off Highway 152. He would plead guilty to the then-unidentified Skiple’s murder in 2007.
With Patricia Skiple being identified, there are still two women without a name. Currently, Keith Jesperson is serving four life sentences without parole consecutively in the Oregon State Penitentiary.
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