Where Is the "Happy Face Killer" Keith Hunter Jesperson Now?
Keith offered many justifications as to why he had to murder his victims, speaking casually like one would discuss the weather.
Published March 19 2025, 4:15 p.m. ET
Serial killers have a tendency to send a chill down our spines. They commit heinous crimes and leave us wondering how normal homes and families can hide dark, terrifying secrets.
The victims' faces haunt our nightmares at times, as we wonder what goes wrong to make someone a living monster.
One such monster is named Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the "Happy Face Killer." His crimes were horrifying and his countenance upon recounting them was truly chilling. But where is he these days? Here's what we know about where Keith is now, and how a 2025 movie made about his crime spree brought the collective trauma of his actions back to the surface.
Where is the "Happy Face Killer" Keith Hunter Jesperson now?
Keith was the ideal family man, at least on the surface. Beneath the surface, he was a troubled and violent person who rationalized multiple murders in order to avoid getting in trouble.
He enjoyed the media and attention circus around his crimes and was as cool as a cucumber when recounting the horrifying ways he stole the lives of at least eight victims.
As of 2025, Keith, dubbed the "Happy Face Killer" for his signature smiley face in letters written about his crimes, is in the Oregon State Penitentiary. He is serving multiple life sentences without parole.
His reign of terror stretched across the country as he took his routes while working as a truck driver before he was finally arrested in 1995.
But despite the fact that he has been in prison for three decades, the impact and horror Keith left behind remain.
Keith's apathy is all the more chilling, especially knowing he killed eight people and stole the peace of his children.
In 2025, Paramount Plus released a movie starring Dennis Quaid known as Happy Face. Like the real-life story it's based on, Happy Face portrays a family man who became a monster. It tells the story of how Keith's real-life daughter Melissa Moore discovered that her father was a serial murderer and how she grappled with the shocking reality.
But the movie did more than pique interest in Keith's story.
It brought the feelings of terror and horror that he inspired bubbling to the circus again for many people, including the families of his victims and those who were alive to remember the fear he spread in his wake.
While he was committing his murders, Keith grew furious after others took responsibility for his crimes. He began leaving notes with a smiley face for a signature and eventually wrote confessions which he sent to the media. It was a letter that held the key to his downfall.
In a 1995 letter to his brother, Keith confessed to eight murders. When speaking with detectives, he would only admit to the murder of his then-girlfriend, Julie Ann Winningham. But a combination of his letters to the press and DNA evidence connected him to more murders and he was convicted in November of 1995.
Although he's serving prison time for eight murders, Keith has bragged that he has killed over 160 people.
When he was finally caught, he spoke about the murders he committed like one would discuss accidentally forgetting to start the dishwasher. In one interview with ABC News, Keith says he's sorry it happened, but goes on to describe frustration that people can't "move on" from his crimes. In an emotionless voice, he explained, "I'm sorry it happened, wish it never happened. And can we move on?" When asked again, he added, "I mean come on, it's done. It's over with."
When asked how he would feel if someone hurt his daughter that way, he admitted he would probably kill them for what they did. But while he can't justify what he did "now," he says it was all "justifiable" at the time.
A sentiment the heartbroken and traumatized family members of his victims certainly can't appreciate.