The Happy Face Killer

In February 1990, police arrested John Sosnovske and Laverne Pavlinac for the vicious rape and murder if 23-year-old Taunja Bennett. Pavlinac had come forth and confessed, implicating her boyfriend and producing physical evidence that linked them to the crime. Authorities closed the case. There was just one problemÖthey had the wrong peopleÖ. Keith Hunter Jesperson was a long haul truck driver and the murderer of eight women, including Taunja Bennett. He began a twisted one-man campaign to win the release of Sosnovske and Pavlinac. To the editors of newspapers and on the walls of bus stops, Jesperson scribbled out a series of taunting confessions. At the end of each, he drew a happy face, earning for himself the grisly nickname 'The Happy Faced Killer'. Based on access to interviews, diaries, court records, and the criminal himself, this is Jesperson's horrific story. Jack Olsen lets the killer tell his story in his own words, offering unprecedented insight into the twisted thought process of a serial murder.

Jack Olsen was a winner of the Edgar and other prestigious awards.