“NOBODY WILL EVER KNOW WHO SHE WAS”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PROSECUTORS SAY CONVICTED SERIAL KILLER KEITH HUNTER JESPERSON KILLED A WOMAN FOUND OFF A CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY IN 1992… AND INVESTIGATORS HAVE FINALLY IDENTIFIED HIS FINAL UNNAMED VICTIM AS LYDIA JANE WADE MCWHORTER.
A woman considered the final unidentified victim of convicted serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson has been formally identified.
Jesperson is notoriously known as the “Happy Face Killer.”
The identification comes nearly 34 years after the victim’s body was discovered along a stretch of California highway.
On Thursday, August 27, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office announced that the woman had been officially identified as Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter.
McWhorter had vanished from Texas prior to the discovery of her remains.
Her body was located on August 30, 1992.
According to prosecutors, she was found dead along Highway 95 near Blythe.
That location sits approximately 75 miles east of Joshua Tree National Park.
McWhorter was 26 years old when she died, according to CBS News.
“Lydia’s sisters that she grew up with spent decades not knowing what happened to her after she disappeared from Texas in the 1990s,” the district attorney’s office said in a news release.
For years, the victim had been known only by a pseudonym given by her killer.
Jesperson had called her “Claudia,” according to prosecutors.
In 2010, Jesperson pleaded guilty to killing the woman, prosecutors said.
He was sentenced to 25 years to life in connection with her death.
Jesperson remains behind bars in Oregon.
He is currently serving several life sentences there.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Jesperson has admitted to the murders of eight women between 1990 and 1995.
He became known as the “Happy Face Killer” after writing letters to news outlets detailing his crimes and signing them with a smiley face.
When Jesperson eventually admitted to killing her, he said he encountered McWhorter “while working as a long-haul truck driver,” the district attorney’s office said.
Yet her true name remained unconfirmed for decades.
In 2024, Riverside County cold case investigators asked the public for help to identify McWhorter.
“At that time, advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy had allowed investigators to identify relatives on Lydia’s paternal side, but a maternal connection was still needed to confirm her identity,” the district attorney’s office said.
Then investigators located one of McWhorter’s maternal relatives.
Prosecutors said investigators obtained a DNA sample from that relative.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the sample came from a cheek swab provided by McWhorter’s sister.
That DNA sample confirmed McWhorter’s identification.
The district attorney’s office stated that it is coordinating with McWhorter’s family on “how they would like to honor and lay her to rest.”
“I want to thank the public for the role you play in our investigations,” Billy Hester, the supervising investigator of Riverside County’s Cold Case Unit, said in a statement.
“When people take the time to share information, submit a tip or simply pay attention to what is happening in their community, it can make a real difference,” Hester added.
“You may not know where a piece of information will lead, but our investigators will follow it,” Hester said.
“Most importantly, I hope this will finally bring closure to Lydia’s family.”
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