What’s it like to have ‘Happy Face’ serial killer as dad? Daughter shares on TikTok
Melissa Moore was a sophomore in high school when she woke up from a sleepover and saw her father’s trial on TV.
“I was deeply embarrassed and ashamed,” she said on her TikTok.
Many watched instead with horror. In 1995, Moore’s father, Keith Jesperson, was arrested and identified as the “Happy Face Killer,” a serial killer who would be convicted of killings over a span of five years across the country, ABC reported.
“I used to live in shame, thinking that you’re somehow responsible for that family member’s actions, that you owe the world an apology,” Moore told ABC of her father’s conviction in 2015, and how it turned her world upside down.
It impacted so much about her life, she said on TikTok: School, dating, friendships. Even watching “Silence of The Lambs.”
In the 20-plus years that Moore’s father has been in custody, the Washington native has spoken out about the trauma of being a relative of a serial killer. One of those platforms is TikTok, where millions are listening to her story.
Moore’s TikTok, @lifeafterhappyface, details the experiences and emotions she experienced as a child and discovering her father was living what she called a “double life.”
“I truly feel deep sadness for the families my father has destroyed. I didn’t do anything to hurt them, but I’m ashamed my family member did,” she said on TikTok.
She also confronts stereotypes or harmful assumptions the public makes about the relatives of criminals, especially following the release of Netflix’s Jeffery Dahmer series.
“I did not know my father was a serial killer,” Moore said on one of her videos in comparing her experience to that of the Dahmer family, which she has met. “We can’t throw stones at people who are innocent and expect them to share their story.”
Jesperson was arrested on suspicion of killing his then-girlfriend Julie Winningham, Forensic Magazine reported. Though he claimed to have killed up to 185 people, officials have only been able to connect eight deaths within a five-year period, the outlet reported.
He was called the “Happy Face Killer” due to the smiley faces he drew on letters he sent to the media and law enforcement, NBC reported.
“There’s no books like what to do if your dad is a serial killer. There’s no pamphlets, no support groups, and the best answer that I could find for myself was just little by little,” Moore told ABC.
Searching for solace following her discovery of her father’s killings, Moore wrote a book, created a podcast and has taken to TikTok to share her story. Along the way, she says she’s found others like her.
“Now, meeting family members of other serial killers, I know that that’s my meaning. Not because of, but despite of what happened to me, we are finding meaning together in the aftermath of these, you know, horrible crimes,” Moore told ABC.
Moore shared the letters her father sent her while incarcerated in a video that’s gotten over 9 million views. The letter included a printed-out photo of Moore and her husband’s wedding photos that she posted on Instagram, which is how she found out her father has access to her social media while in the Oregon State Penitentiary, she said.
“He’s somehow able to see my Instagram,” she says in the video, and shows the letter, which asks Moore why he wasn’t invited to the wedding.
“You should see how deep the ink was into the paper,” she told one viewer. “It was embossed with anger.”
Moore said she only responded to her father’s letters once — after her mother died on his birthday. She told Moore that she was her “dad’s last victim and that it just took her a lot longer to die.”
Moore still talks about her journey through therapy and healing, and hopes that speaking out will help other family members living through trauma feel less alone.
“It is not very often you see children of serial killers speak out,” one viewer commented. “Thank you for telling your story.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 3:51 PM with the headline "What’s it like to have ‘Happy Face’ serial killer as dad? Daughter shares on TikTok."
