Keith Hunter Jesperson - Crimes

Crimes

His first known victim was Taunja Bennett on 23 January 1990, near Portland, Oregon. He introduced himself to Bennett at a bar and invited her to the house he was renting. The two were intimate before an argument that ended with him brutally beating and then strangling her to death. He established an alibi by going back out for some drinks, being sure to converse with others, before returning to retrieve Bennett's body and belongings to dispose of them. He was back on the road the next day. The body was found a few days later, but there were no suspects and no leads.

It was a year and a half after his first kill when Jesperson killed again. On 30 August 1992, the body of a woman he raped and strangled was found near Blythe, California. He says the Jane Doe's name was Claudia. A month later, in Turlock, California, the body of Cynthia Lyn Rose was discovered. He claims she was a prostitute who entered his truck at a truck stop while he slept. His fourth victim was another prostitute, Laurie Ann Pentland of Salem, Oregon. Her body was found in November of that year. According to Jesperson, she attempted to double the fee she charged for the sex he had been engaged in with her. She threatened to call the police, and he strangled her. It was more than six months before his next victim was found in July 1993, a Jane Doe "street person" in Santa Nella, California. Police originally considered her death a drug overdose. More than a year later, in September 1994, another Jane Doe was found in Crestview, Florida. Jesperson claims her name was Susanne.

In January 1995, Jesperson agreed to give a young woman, Angela Surbrize, a lift from Spokane, Washington, to Indiana. Approximately a week into the trip, Surbrize became impatient and began to nag Jesperson to hurry up, as she wanted to see her boyfriend. In response, Jesperson raped and strangled her. He then strapped her to the undercarriage of his truck and dragged her, face down, "to grind off her face and prints." Her body was not found for several months—and then only after Jesperson gave details to police. Two months after murdering Surbrize, Jesperson decided that his long-time girlfriend, Julie Ann Winningham, was interested in him only for money. On March 10, 1995, in Washougal, Washington, Jesperson strangled her. She was the only victim he had a link to, which ultimately set police on his trail.

Jesperson was arrested on 30 March 1995, for the murder of Winningham. He had been questioned by police a week before, but they had no grounds to arrest him after he refused to talk. In the days following, Jesperson decided that he was certainly going to be arrested, and after two failed suicide attempts, he turned himself in hoping it would result in leniency during his sentencing. While in custody, Jesperson began revealing details of his killings and making claims of many others, most of which he later recanted. Also, a few days before his arrest, he wrote a letter to his brother. In it, he confessed to having killed eight people over the course of five years. This led police agencies in several states across the country to reopen old cases, many of which were found to be possible victims of Jesperson.

Although Jesperson at one point claimed to have had as many as 160 victims, only the eight women killed in California, Florida, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming have been confirmed. He is serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. In September 2009, he was indicted for murder in Riverside County, California, and was extradited to California to face the charges in December.