California authorities identify final unknown victim of Happy Face Killer Keith Jesperson after 34 years
The final unidentified victim of notorious serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the "Happy Face Killer," has been identified more than three decades after her body was discovered along a California highway, authorities announced Thursday.The Riverside County District Attorney's Office identified the woman, long known to investigators only as "Claudia," as Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter of Texas, after DNA testing confirmed a connection to a member of her maternal family.McWhorter's body was discovered Aug.30, 1992, along Highway 95 about seven miles north of Blythe, California.Jesperson, a long-haul truck driver who confessed to killing eight women across multiple states, later admitted killing her.Jesperson told investigators he knew the woman as "Claudia," but authorities were unable to determine whether that was her real name.INVESTIGATORS FIND RELATIVES OF ‘HAPPY FACE’ SERIAL KILLER’S LAST UNKNOWN VICTIM IN MISSION TO IDENTIFY HERKeith Hunter Jesperson, center, listens as Don Findlay, far right, son of murder victim Julie Ann Winningham, addresses the court during sentencing on Dec.
19, 1995, at the Clark County Courthouse, in Vancouver, Wash.(Jeremiah Coughlan/AP Photo/The Columbian, File)The identification comes after Riverside County investigators publicly renewed their effort to identify McWhorter in 2024, when genetic genealogy had connected the unknown victim to relatives on her father's side but had not produced the maternal connection needed to confirm her identity.Fox News Digital reported at the time that DNA testing had identified Summer Gonzales as the victim's paternal half-sister.
Gonzales said she wanted to learn her sister's real name and eventually lay her to rest with family.An investigative lead ultimately brought the cold case team to one of McWhorter's direct maternal relatives, according to the district attorney's office.Investigators then identified a possible genetic connection to another member of the maternal family.A DNA ...