Happy Face Killer's RivCo Victim: Public's Help Sought To ID Her

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — The body of a woman dumped in Riverside County by the "Happy Face Killer" more than three decades ago is the only remaining unidentified victim of the serial murderer, and on Monday authorities announced they are closer than ever to figuring out who she was.

On the 14th anniversary of Keith Hunter Jesperson's conviction for the woman's murder, the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team, led by investigators from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, is seeking help from around the world in putting a name to her face.

Jesperson — known as the Happy Face Killer — pleaded guilty to her murder in Riverside County on Jan. 8, 2010, and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. She was one of eight killings the Pacific Northwest truck driver and father of three carried out over five years until his arrest in 1995. Jesperson was convicted in all eight cases and is serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Jesperson told authorities that the woman he killed in Riverside County was named "Claudia," but no one knows her identity for sure. Her body was found Aug. 30, 1992, along Highway 95, approximately seven miles north of the city of Blythe, in Riverside County, California's remote desert.

Jesperson confessed to a news reporter in Portland, Oregon, and later to Riverside County Sheriff’s Office deputies, that he killed "Claudia" and seven other women.

Jesperson, now 68, is known as the "Happy Face Killer" because he drew smiley faces on his many letters to the media and authorities during his murderous cross-country travels as a trucker. Many of his victims — most of whom were strangled — were sex workers and transients.

Riverside County investigators say that recent advances in DNA technology have allowed them to come the closest they’ve ever been to identifying "Claudia."

“Our goal is to identify this victim and provide closure to her family, wherever they may be,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Monday. “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.”

Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide investigators interviewed Jesperson in late 2023 at Oregon State Penitentiary. He told investigators he met "Claudia" at a brake check area along Interstate 15, south of the Victorville area, around August 1992 while he was working as a long-haul truck driver. He was working on his purple Peterbilt rig when the woman asked to hitch a ride to the Los Angeles area.

Jesperson told her his planned travel route was to Arizona, so they agreed she would ride with him to Cabazon, Calif. After stopping in the small desert town east of the San Gorgonio Pass Area, "Claudia" decided to continue traveling with Jesperson, according to investigators.

The two made it to the Indio/Coachella Burns Brothers rest stop along Interstate 10 for lunch. It would be Claudia's last meal. She and Jesperson argued about money, and he killed her in his truck, then drove his semi from the Coachella Valley to the Blythe area, where he dumped the body, Jesperson told investigators.

Jesperson described "Claudia" as having shaggy, wild blonde hair, and tight clothing. She was 20 to 30 years old, about 5'6" to 5'7," with a medium build, around 140-150 pounds.

She was found wearing a t-shirt printed with a motorcycle and had a tattoo of two small dots on the left side of her right thumb. Several sketches were made of the woman, showing what she may have looked like before her death. The images were created using a combination of DNA technology, her remains, and a description by Jesperson himself, investigators said.

Based on conversations with Jesperson about his encounter with "Claudia," it is believed she was living, or at least familiar with the Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside County areas, and had ties to Las Vegas and southern Nevada. She is believed to have been a cigarette smoker and a frequent hitchhiker.

In the years since the woman's death, improvements in forensic science have allowed investigators and genealogists to determine some familial relatives, including her biological father, who is now deceased. He was from Cameron County, Texas, but traveled all over the country, including Texas; Santa Barbara County, California; Washington state and Oregon.

Several half-siblings were identified, but these living relatives are not biological matches to the victim’s mother. The relatives were not aware of "Claudia" and could not assist with her identification, according to the DA's office.

There is reason to believe the woman’s maternal side of the family has ties to the Louisiana and/or southeast Texas area, the office said.

Investigators are seeking people who may have known the woman from interactions in Southern California, or in Las Vegas, or more significantly, anyone who recognizes her face as an acquaintance from a long time ago.

Recently, investigators in Florida were able to use DNA technology to identify one of Jesperson’s victims. In October, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office and the medical examiner's office announced the identity of the victim as 34-year-old Suzanne L. Kjellenburg. Her body was found in Okaloosa County, Fla., in 1994.

The success in identifying Kjellenburg's remains through DNA technology has spurred on Riverside County investigators.

"If you believe that you are a relative in ['Claudia's'] case or other unsolved homicides, please consider contacting GEDMatch for DNA comparison," the Riverside County DA's office said.

The office is also calling on the community to contact investigators with leads.

"Any leads, no matter how insignificant they may seem," can be reported to the Cold Case Hotline at 951-955-5567, or by emailing coldcaseunit@rivcoda.org, the agency said.