What It’s Like Being The Daughter of A Serial Killer

True Crime Expert Melissa Moore revealed how it felt being the daughter of a serial killer, known as the Happy Face Killer.

Melissa Moore was an ordinary child, she liked to play games, go to school, and have fun with her friends — however, her world turned upside down when she found out she was the daughter of a Canadian-American serial killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson.

In the early 1990s, Jesperson raped and murdered eight women in America. He is also recognized as “The Happy Face Killer” — in his letters to authorities and media, he would often draw smiley faces. Let’s explore the life of Melissa Moore as the daughter of a serial killer and how she found her father’s reality and lived with it.

Not Everything is What It Seems — How Melissa Found Out Her Father Was A Serial Killer

The last time Melissa saw her father was when she was 15-years-old. Her parents were divorced at that time, and her father would come by to take Melissa and her siblings out for food. Just like any ordinary day, their father came by the house in Spokane and asked his children to join him for breakfast.

The kids had a normal and respectful relationship with their father, however, on this day they noticed some odd behavior, nothing too alarming, but still out of character for Melissa’s father. Melissa’s brother found a pack of cigarettes in the truck and it was an unusual thing for them because their dad wasn’t a smoker.

In an interview with BBC Melissa mentioned that Smoking was a big NO-NO for him, so when this discovery was made he just covered it up by saying the pack of cigarettes was his date’s. Then, while turning at the curb, a roll of duct tape tumbled onto Melissa, however, she didn’t really think much of it.

Later that day, Melissa was alone with her dad and they decided to go to a downtown diner. She stated that she always felt anxious when she was around her dad, not because he was unkind to her, but his behavior was eerie at times. He would often be quite sexual with other women in front of the children and explicit as well. This made Melissa very uncomfortable — and the day they went to the diner was no different. She found her dad badly flirting with a waitress at the diner.

Then, once he was done flirting, he turned to Melissa and said,

“Not everything is what it appears to be, Missy.”

To which Melissa responded,

“What do you mean Dad?”

It was almost as if he was about to tell Melissa about his heinous crimes, however, he stopped himself and said that if he told her what he was about to say, she would report this to the police.

Melissa explained that this was the time when she felt her stomach drop. She ran to the bathroom instantly and tried to wrap her head around the conversation she just had with her father. Looking back, the thought that if her dad had told her about his seven murders then an eighth murder would have occurred too. She was grabbed by the thoughts that her father could have killed her too.

A few months after that trip, Melissa’s mother told Melissa and her other kids that their dad had been arrested for murder. Melissa broke into tears as she couldn’t imagine her dad committing such a horrible crime. To avoid the media and backlash, the entire family had to pack up their lives and relocate!

Melissa Saw That Her Father Had A Dark Side Through Numerous Instances

Melissa had a flashback of her childhood when they lived as a family in a farmhouse. She and her brother had kept little kittens but when their dad saw them, he took them, hung them on the clothesline, and tormented them. While tormenting those little kittens, Jespersen had joy on his face. Reports suggest that he found inner satisfaction while tormenting animals.

This wasn’t the first time this had happened, Melissa recalled, that one time she was playing with a stray black cat and her father came up from behind and took the cat from her. She feared that he would torment this cat as well, but to her surprise, he started to pet the innocent animal. However, suddenly he pinned the cat down and started to twist its head and detach it from its body. Melissa was a witness to this violent and cruel behavior which she admits left her scarred her for life.

The After Effects of Being The Daughter of A Serial Killer

After Jesperson was arrested for murdering his girlfriend, Julie Winningham, Melissa found out a new side of her father. She often read reports of her father’s trials and it was during this trial where her father confessed to murdering other women too. Melissa was devastated because the Jespersen she knew was different and a kind person.

There were other incidents too which Melissa recalled when her dad talked about how to kill someone and get away with it. Later, she read in the newspaper that Winningham’s son is called Jespersen, a monster. She stopped reading the newspaper after that, after all, it was about her father.

In school, she had to face bullying and isolation. Parents kept away their children from her. When the terrible news came out, she got stared at high school. This made her feel guilty and she felt disgraced due to such shame. Due to this Melissa had to change schools numerous times.

After Melissa got married to a decent man, she had a daughter who impatiently asked her mother about her grandfather. She told Melissa that her teacher taught her about the family tree. So, she was excited to learn about her grandfather. Melissa didn’t know what to tell her daughter about Jesperson. How could she have told her daughter that her grandfather was a serial killer who raped and murdered eight women? In the end, she told her daughter that her grandpa lives in Salem and it was true after all — since that is where Jesperson was imprisoned and given a life sentence.

While she was considered a criminal’s kid all her life, she made a name for herself in the industry of true crime to destigmatize the portrayal of such children.

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