By admin 
Investigators have identified the final unidentified victim of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the “Happy Face Killer,” just days ahead of the 34th anniversary of the discovery of her body.
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Jesperson killed at least eight women, including one whose body was found on the side of California State Route 152 in unincorporated Gilroy, about 30 miles north of Salinas, and is serving several life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, where he has been since 1995.
The woman, previously referred to by investigators as “Claudia,” has been identified as Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Aug. 27, 2026.
McWhorter’s body was found on Aug. 30, 1992, along Highway 95, approximately seven miles north of Blythe. Jesperson later confessed to her murder and told investigators he had met her at a brake check area on Interstate 15 south of Victorville while working as a long-haul truck driver. He said she asked to be taken to Los Angeles, but agreed to ride with him toward Indio. He referred to the woman as “Claudia,” but investigators were never able to confirm that was her real name, the District Attorney’s Office said.
He told investigators that the two of them argued about money and he killed her in his purple semi-trailer before driving from Coachella to Blythe.
In 2024, the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide Team (RCCHT) publicly appealed for information that could help identify her. At that time, advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy had allowed investigators to identify relatives on Lydia’s paternal side, but a maternal connection was still needed to confirm her identity.
After receiving a lead, investigators identified a possible genetic connection to a member of Lydia’s maternal family and last week, a DNA sample confirmed the connection, allowing investigators to positively identify the victim, the agency said, adding that McWhorter’s sisters spent decades not knowing what happened to her after she disappeared from Texas in the 1990s.
“I want to thank the public for the role you play in our investigations,” said Billy Hester, Supervising Investigator of the Cold Case Unit. “When people take the time to share information, submit a tip or simply pay attention to what is happening in their community, it can make a real difference. You may not know where a piece of information will lead, but our investigators will follow it. Most importantly, I hope this will finally bring closure to Lydia’s family.”
The District Attorney’s Office Division of Victim Services is working with Lydia’s family as they determine how they would like to honor and lay her to rest.
Jesperson pleaded guilty to McWhorter’s murder in Riverside County on Jan. 8, 2010, and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
With McWhorter’s identification, the final case associated with the murders Jesperson was convicted of is closed.
Salinas-area connection to Happy Face Killer
In 2022, California authorities announced they had identified the victim discovered in Gilroy.
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On June 3, 1993, Patricia Skiple’s body was found by a truck driver who stopped on the side of State Route 152 in unincorporated Gilroy, about a half-hour north of Salinas. The woman was dressed in blue denim when she was found by detectives from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
An autopsy classified her death as “undetermined,” and with no leads on her identity, authorities referred to her as “Blue Pacheco.” With the help of DNA Doe Project, authorities were able to uncover Skiple’s identity and confirm the identity of her killer, Jesperson.
By then, Jesperson was already serving four life sentences for murders in California, Oregon and Wyoming. In 2006, Jesperson wrote a letter to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office as well as former Statesman Journal reporter Jan Davies, admitting to sexually assaulting and killing an unknown woman along a dirt turnout on Highway 152 in California.
Skiple, known to her family and friends as “Patsy,” was a mother and long-term resident of Colton, Oregon, according to a release from the Sheriff’s office. Skiple would have been about 45 at the time she was killed.
Killings sparked ‘Happy Face’ Paramount+ crime drama
The Paramount+ crime drama series “Happy Face” delves into the seemingly all-American upbringing of Melissa G. Moore, which is terrifyingly upended when she discovers that her truck driver father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, is the serial murderer known as the Happy Face Killer.
“It’s a true-crime story based on true events,” says Dennis Quaid, who plays the wire-rimmed glasses-wearing Jesperson. “Melissa had to reconcile the loving relationship she had with her father as a child with the monster her father was in reality. That’s where our story comes from.”
The real Melissa, an executive producer on the series, is an author, true-crime journalist and victim’s advocate who lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband Steve.
Moore’s story garnered attention with her 2018 true-crime podcast “Happy Face.” But she first told it in her 2009 book “Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter.”
“That was my chance to have a reckoning with my own story and tell it,” Moore told USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Happy Face Killer’s last unknown victim finally gets a name
Reporting by Christopher Damien, Elizabeth Roberts and Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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This story was originally published August 31, 2026 at 9:30 AM.