RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Riverside County authorities are reaching out to the public for help in identifying the only remaining unidentified victim of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a serial killer known as the “Happy Face Killer.”
Recent advances in DNA technology have given investigators a major lead in identifying the woman, referred to as “Claudia” by Jesperson, who was killed 31 years ago. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office used DNA technology, her remains, and Jesperson’s descriptions to create a forensic approximation of the victim.
Investigators found the woman’s body on August 30, 1992, along Interstate 95, about seven miles north of Blythe, California. Jesperson was convicted of her murder in 2010, and confessed to killing her and seven other women. However, “Claudia” remained the only victim who was never identified.
Jesperson, who is serving a 15 years to life sentence, recently provided more details about “Claudia” during an interview at the Oregon State Penitentiary. He said they met in August 1992 at a brake check area on Interstate 15, south of the Victorville area, where he was working as a truck driver. Following an argument over money after arriving in Coachella, California, Jesperson claimed to kill her in the truck and later dispose of her body near Blythe.
The victim is described as a young woman with shaggy, wild blonde hair, in her 20s. 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, according to cold case investigators.
Authorities believe “Claudia” had ties to Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside County, with connections to Las Vegas and southern Nevada, based on Jesperson’s descriptions. Investigators suspect her maternal side of the family has ties to the Louisiana and/or southeast Texas area.
District Attorney Mike Hestrin said, “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.”
The Riverside County DA’s Office, in collaboration with the Regional Cold Case Homicide Team, is urging anyone with information to contact the Cold Case Hotline at (951) 955-5567 or email coldcaseunit@rivcoda.org.