In the early 1990s, long-haul trucker Keith Hunter Jesperson killed at least eight women in his travels across the United States. To gain notoriety, he sent anonymous confession letters to journalists and investigators, many of them signed with smiley faces.
Since Jesperson?s arrest in 1995, investigators in at least six states have worked to unravel the identities of his victims.
On Monday, authorities in Riverside County, California, unveiled a sketch of what they described as the final unidentified victim in his killing spree, which also spanned Nebraska, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and Florida.
Jesperson, 68, confessed to killing the women and is serving four life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Because some of his victims were drifters or sex workers who were not in regular contact with their families, investigators have had difficulty identifying them.
The body of the California woman, whom Jesperson referred to as Claudia, was found on August 30, 1992, along Highway 95 near Blythe. But Claudia may not be her real name, and her identity ? and that of her family ? remain unknown, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said this week.
The goal, he said, is to identify her and provide closure to her family.
?We hope to give this victim back her identity,? Hestrin said in a video statement. ?We are hopeful someone hearing any of these details may remember anything that could help us reunite this woman with the family.?
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