NewsCalifornia News

Actions

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

California 'Happy Face Killer' victim ID'd after 29 years
Posted
and last updated

GILROY, Calif. (AP) — A victim of the serial murderer dubbed the Happy Face Killer has been identified nearly 30 years after her body was left near a California highway.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office says genetic genealogy was used to match DNA to Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon. She was found dead in 1993 on the side of California State Route 152 in the Gilroy area.

Keith Hunter Jesperson is serving several life sentences in Oregon for the 1990s murder of eight women in California, Washington, Oregon, Florida, Nebraska, and Wyoming.

He was dubbed the Happy Face Killer because of smiley faces on letters he wrote to police and the media.



,

Weather

Daily Forecast

View Hourly Forecast

Day

Conditions

HI / LO

Precip

Saturday

01/03/2026

Rain

61° / 53°

89%

Sunday

01/04/2026

PM Showers

58° / 48°

50%

Monday

01/05/2026

Partly Cloudy

60° / 48°

9%

Tuesday

01/06/2026

Partly Cloudy

58° / 46°

12%

Wednesday

01/07/2026

Mostly Cloudy

54° / 44°

19%

Thursday

01/08/2026

Partly Cloudy

52° / 39°

24%

Friday

01/09/2026

Partly Cloudy

54° / 36°

6%

Saturday

01/10/2026

Mostly Sunny

55° / 36°

5%