Happy Face Killer premieres March 1st on Lifetime. And, yes, the creepo is a real guy, now behind bars forever.
Inspired by real-life events, “Happy Face Killer” follows the hunt and ultimate capture of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson. An aspiring cop turned long-haul truck driver after a failed marriage, Jesperson strangled his first victim following an argument and was back on the road again the very next day, killing at least eight women over a five-year span as he crisscrossed the country. Upset after a woman falsely confesses that she and her boyfriend are responsible for one of his murders, Jesperson begins to taunt the authorities by sending a series of disturbing letters to newspaper editors, even scribbling confessions on the walls of highway rest stops admitting that he loved killing his victims. By signing his morbid notes with a happy face, he earned himself the notorious nickname, “Happy Face Killer” and forever left his mark of fear.
“Happy Face Killer” is produced by Happy Face Productions/Front Street Pictures and executive produced by Tom Patricia (“Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story”) and produced by Harvey Kahn (“Abducted: The Carlina White Story”). The script was written by Richard Christian Matheson (Stephen King’s “Nightmares and Dreamscapes”) and directed by Rick Bota (“Beauty and the Beast”).
via Lifetime