California 'Happy Face Killer' victim ID'd after 29 years

California investigators have identified a victim of the Happy Face Killer using DNA nearly 30 years after her body was left near a California highway.

On Monday, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office announced that the body found on the side of California State Route 152 in the San Francisco Bay Area on June 3, 1993 belonged to Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon. 

Skiple, a mother known to friends and family as 'Patsy,' would have been about 45 years old when she was killed, the sheriff's office said.

For decades Skiple had been known to detectives only as 'Blue Pacheco' for the color of her clothing until genetic genealogy was used to identify her last week. 

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office announced that the body found on the side of California State Route 152 on June 3, 1993 belonged to Patricia Skiple (pictured) 

For decades Skiple (pictured as a child) had been known to detectives only as 'Blue Pacheco' for the color of her clothing until genetic genealogy was used to identify her last week

Keith Hunter Jesperson, (pictured) who was arrested in 1995, was dubbed the Happy Face Killer because he drew smiley faces on letters he sent to the media and police

Authorities identified her with help from the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit group that uses volunteers to help identify people listed as 'Jane Does' or 'John Does' through DNA profiles of possible relatives.   

In 2006, Keith Hunter Jesperson wrote to the county district attorney's office and said he had sexually assaulted and killed a woman near the highway.

A year later pled guilty to killing the woman, although her identity wasn’t yet known at the time of his conviction. 

Jesperson, 67, from British Columbia, was arrested in 1995 on suspicion of killing a woman in Washington state and was dubbed the Happy Face Killer because he drew smiley faces on letters he sent to the media and police, prosecutors said. 

Jesperson would eventually confess to killing eight women between 1990 and 1995 in California, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Nebraska, and Wyoming and is currently serving four life sentences without possibility of parole in Oregon. 

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During his reign of terror as the Happy face Killer Jesperson usually targeted prostitutes and homeless women - raping them before strangling them with his bare hands.

In 2021, Jesperson detailed his horrific crimes in Oxygen's Snapped Notorious: The Happy Face Killer. 

He claimed his first memories of violence were being beaten with a belt by his father, who seemed to take pleasure in the abuse. Despite his troubled upbringing, he found a partner and started his own family.

In 1975, the then 20-year-old married his wife, Rose Huck, and they went on to have three children. However, Huck later suspected he was being unfaithful, and their marriage became to crumble. 

Jesperson would eventually confess to killing eight women between 1990 and 1995 in California, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Nebraska, and Wyoming

Other victims: Taunja Bennett, 23 (left), who was killed in January 1990, and Julia Ann Winningham, 41, who was Jesperson's long-term girlfriend when she was strangled

Huck shut him off sexually, according to Jesperson, who opened up to Phelps about how his marital troubles fueled his future murders.

'My wife used to say, "Go stick it in the keyhole. Just leave me alone,"' he recalled. 'It really kinda struck me, kinda like, you know, what the hell, I don't need this.'

The couple finalized their divorce in 1990 after 15 years of marriage, and he admitted to Phelps that he was 'really angry at women' at the time.

That same year, he was dumped by his new girlfriend, who left him for another trucker. To get over the breakup, he went barhopping at B & I Tavern in Portland, Oregon, in January 1990.

'That's when I met [Taunja] Bennett,' Jesperson said of his first known victim, who was 23 when he raped and killed her after convincing her to come home with him.

Jesperson murdered Bennett, 23, in January 1990, after meeting her at a bar near Portland, Oregon.

He invited her back to a house he was renting, where they had sex. Then he beat her and strangled her and went back out to a bar to have more drinks and provide himself with an alibi.

He later returned to the house, strapped Taunja's body into the front seat of his car and disposed of it before leaving town. 

During his reign of terror as the Happy face Killer Jesperson (pictured) usually targeted prostitutes and homeless women - raping them before strangling them with his bare hands

In 1975, the then 20-year-old Jesperson married his wife, Rose Huck

Jesperson told filmmakers that his first memories of violence were being beaten with a belt by his father, who seemed to take pleasure in the abuse

Three months later, Jesperson met Daun Richert-Slagle, a 21-year-old mother of three who became the only known victim to survive an attack.

The truck driver waited for more than two years before he struck again in 1992 - raping and strangling a woman near Blythe, California. She has still not been identified but Jesperson said her name was Claudia.

His killing spree then escalated - a month later he raped and strangled a prostitute Cynthia Lyn Rose in Turlock, California.

The next month, he killed a fourth woman, also a prostitute, named Laurie Ann Pentland from Salem, Oregon. He claimed to have strangled her because she tried to double the amount of money she wanted for sex and had threatened to call the police.

His fifth victim, an unidentified 'Jane Doe' living on the streets in Santa Nella, California, was discovered in July of 1993. Police initially believed she had suffered a drug overdose.

Another Jane Doe death, attributed to Jesperson, was found in September 1994 in Crestview, Florida. He said her name was Susanne.

In January 1995, Jesperson picked up a 21-year-old hitchhiker, Angela Subrize, whom he offered to drive from Spokane, Washington, to meet her boyfriend in Indiana.

On the journey, he raped and strangled her, then strapped her body face-down to the undercarriage of his truck so her face and prints would be ground off by the road while he drove.

The killer was finally caught in March 1995 after strangling his long-time girlfriend Julia Ann Winningham, 41, who he claimed did not love him but only wanted his money. She was the only victim he could be connected to. The rest are believed to have been strangers.

Jesperson initially refused to talk to police and attempted suicide twice. He then turned himself in, hoping for leniency at his trial.

He confessed details of his murderous history while in custody but later recanted much of it. At one point he claimed to have had as many as 160 victims but so far only eight have been confirmed.

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