Daughter of ‘Happy Face Killer’ reflects on new book, Paramount show and returning home to Spokane

SPOKANE, Wash. (The Spokesman-Review) — Melissa Moore was a Shadle Park High School student when her image of her father was shattered after he was arrested and accused being a serial killer.

“It’s the total death of perception. You can’t reconcile the killer with the dad, but they’re one and the same,” Moore said. “You can’t go back to the old way of thinking, ‘This is the loving dad who tucked me in at night.’ Now he’s only this monster.”

Her father, Keith Jesperson, was known as the “Happy Face Killer” and was arrested in March 1995 in connection to the murder of 41-year-old Julie Winningham near Washougal.

“This image of who you thought they were, dies. It’s a grief; it’s really like a death,” Moore said. “There was no playbook for this.”

Months before, Moore had a strange conversation with her father when he visited Spokane.

During the fall of her freshman year, they went to a diner for breakfast alone since her younger siblings had other plans.

“I remember him looking out the window and talking about how he wanted to tell me something, but I couldn’t tell the authorities,” Moore recalled.

There had been a family story where she heard bits and pieces that involved Jesperson having stolen welding equipment from his former employer, so she thought that’s what he had to get off his conscience.

At first, she insisted he could tell her whatever was on his mind, but at some point in the conversation, the tone of the conversation shifted into something more serious.

“You’ll tell the authorities,” he told her.

“I kept assuring him no, and then I started to get a sick feeling in my stomach, this is maybe deeper than I thought,” Moore said.

She believes her father was wrestling with confessing and with the consequences if someone else knew – and what he might be forced to do to protect himself.

“I definitely felt like it was something darker than stolen welding equipment,” Moore said.

She excused herself to the bathroom, and when she came back, he had dropped the subject and they finished their meal.

The “what if” he had told her the truth has haunted her for three decades.

“Knowing what I know now, I replay that last time I saw my dad was in Spokane, because would he have dropped me at school? Would he have had to have killed me? Would he have turned himself in?” Moore asked. “He restrained himself from telling me as a way of protecting myself, because he would have killed me if he told me.”

She channeled some of her experiences and the fallout her family endured into storytelling for the television show “Happy Face” on Paramount+, starring Dennis Quaid and Annaleigh Ashford, and her new book, “Killer in the Family: The Hidden Cost of Loving Someone the World Hates.”

After 30 years away from Spokane, she’s moving back to the area and celebrating the release of “Killer in the Family” with a dinner event on Thursday.

In the ’90s, kids at her school and their parents started treating her differently after they read about her dad in the newspapers or saw the story on the morning news.

The name Jesperson was unique enough for parents to connect the dots and realize that Moore’s father had been on the school campus and attended games or school plays.

“I think these parents were realizing there was a monster among us, that their kids were around this guy from school. It was a terrifying thought for parents,” Moore shared. “I’ve received an intense amount of rejection in my life based on the stigma of being related to a killer and the judgment that comes with it.”

The talk about her and her family ranged from quiet support to the “diabolical and cruel” comments.

The years have taken away the initial shock waves from her father’s arrest and the sometimes harsh judgments her family received from the community when he was eventually connected to the murders of eight women.

“I originally left to get away; it felt like the epicenter of it all, and there were places that had a lot of bad memories attached to them,” Moore said.

She found some peace in distance, moving to California and Texas. The years slowly gave her a space to process her feelings and examine memories.

“Spokane was in the rearview mirror. But time does heal all wounds,” Moore said. “I think it just takes the sting away.”

Through the public scrutiny, she learned to trust and fully accept herself.

Friends she has stayed close to over the years in Spokane are welcoming her back to town after three decades.

“Community is so important, and I’m coming back to my friends. It’s kind of a homecoming. It’s a big little town,” Moore said.

One of her former classmates told her about Light a Lamp, a nonprofit, and she decided to donate proceeds from all the books and drinks sold at Thursday’s event to the organization.

The organization supports youth and their families facing tough circumstances and does outreach in the Spokane area.

“We don’t know what students go home to, what their home life is, or mental health battles or family crises they’re facing,” Moore said.