TRUE CRIMEHappy Face Killer's Daughter Recalls 'Ironic' Childhood: 'He Would Tuck Me in Like a Burrito'
The Happy Face Killer’s daughter Melissa Moore shared bittersweet and ‘ironic’ memories of growing up with her father.
April 15 2025, Published 7:14 p.m. ET
During her childhood, Melissa Moore believed Keith Jesperson was "a really great dad."
When Moore reflected on her past, alongside her father, the so-called "Happy Face Killer," a swirl of bittersweet memories washed over her.
Growing up in Washington, during the '80s, many of those memories are, shockingly, happy.
Keith Jesperson remains behind bars.
But the world knew a different Jesperson. Behind closed doors, he was a monster, a serial killer with a dark reputation. In 1990, the same year he divorced Moore’s mother, Jesperson launched into a five-year killing spree. During this gruesome period, the 6-foot-8 long-haul truck driver strangled at least eight women to death, while proudly signing letters to the media and police with a chilling smiley face.
Moore was 15 when the horrifying truth shattered her world. Three decades later, Jesperson, now 69, remains behind bars, serving a life sentence without parole.
"It was deeply shameful, embarrassing," she admitted, particularly when her grimmer memories reemerged, such as finding her dad “hanging kittens on the clothesline."
Desperate to escape, Moore switched schools, married and started a family, tucking her past life away from her.
"Nobody knew about my father. I didn’t tell anybody about it. It was a secret," she revealed.
Melissa Moore's daughter asked about her grandfather.
Moore’s moment of reckoning arrived unexpectedly when her daughter returned home from kindergarten with a family tree project and asked about her grandfather.
The innocent question pushed Moore to confront her buried trauma: "I can't run from my past forever."
This prompted her to begin writing, a cathartic endeavor that would ultimately lead to her 2009 book, Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter.
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Paramount+ crime drama series 'Happy Face' delves into the life of serial killer Keith Jesperson.
Fast forward ten years, and Moore launched the "Happy Face" podcast, paving the way for the new Paramount+ crime drama series, Happy Face, which dives deep into the haunting impact a killer has not only on his victims but his own family, too.
She last interacted with Jesperson, incarcerated in an Oregon prison, in 2005. "One of the first things he said to me was, 'Missy, do you want to know why?'"
But Moore wasn’t ready to delve into the darkness. "It wasn’t that I didn’t want to know," she explained, “it’s just that I felt that whatever he would say wouldn’t be the truth."
Since then, she’s severed ties and no longer reads the letters he sends. "I guard my heart," she added. "If I’m not reading his letters, he can’t manipulate me. That’s helpful."
Finding solace in connection, Moore linked up with others who share her plight. She’s formed a bond with Kerri Rawson, the daughter of BTK Killer Dennis Rader.
"There aren’t any support groups for the families of serial killers, [so I’m] trying to just connect with other people [like me] so we don’t feel alone," Moore shared.
Moore kick-started a GoFundMe for the family of suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann, who has pleaded not guilty.
Rex Heuermann has pleaded not guilty.
"His wife, Asa Ellerup, reminded me of my mother, and I knew she needed help for herself and her children [Victoria and Christopher]," Moore said.
"I’m just choosing every day to be the best person I can be," she asserted.
