Paramount+ series features fact, fiction about serial murderer

 

As a fan of true crime, I was looking forward to binge-watching “Happy Face,” a Paramount+ Original, after I learned that Hermiston was mentioned in two episodes. However, before I settled in with a bowl of popcorn, I conducted a Google search about the eight-episode series.

I was familiar with Keith Hunter Jesperson, a serial murderer dubbed “The Happy Face Killer” in the early 1990s. He received the moniker because of the smiley faces he drew on anonymous letters he sent to the media and authorities, including The Oregonian and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office in Portland.

A former long-haul trucker, Jesperson, who has been linked to the deaths of eight women from 1990 to 1995, has been incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary since Nov. 2, 1995. On the Oregon Department of Corrections website, his earliest release date is noted as March 1, 2063, although, since he turned 70 in April, it’s likely he will die in prison.

A March 20 article in The Oregonian said the series “ … too often comes off as wobbling uncertainly between fact and fiction.” Paramount+ indicates “Happy Face” is “inspired by a true life story.” Melissa Moore, Jesperson’s daughter, said the show’s flashback scenes are based on things she experienced or witnessed as a child and young teen.

Moore learned of her father’s crimes when she was 15. Shrouded in secrecy and shame, she didn’t openly discuss it for more than a dozen years. She was moved to confront the truth when her daughter inquired, “Mommy, everybody’s got a daddy. Where’s your daddy?” while working on a family tree project for school.

In 2008, Moore attended a “Get Real Retreat” with Phil McGraw, culminating in an appearance on the “Dr. Phil Show.” During a follow-up on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” McGraw encouraged Moore to write her memoir. “Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter” was published in September 2009.

Based on her book and her “Happy Face” podcast (2018), Moore was credited as a writer for the TV series. Also, she served as an executive producer for the show’s first five episodes.

The series uses fictional names for most of the characters. And the present-day plot presents a “what-if” scenario with Jesperson (played by Dennis Quaid) manipulating his way back into Melissa’s (played by Annaleigh Ashford) life after decades of no contact by playing a cat-and-mouse game in providing details about an alleged ninth murder victim.

The storyline also depicts Jesperson secretly reaching out to his granddaughter via a cell phone supplied to him by a crooked correctional officer. He told Hazel where he stashed several personal belongings of his victims at the Pioneer Falls Motel, located near Hermiston. The plan, Jesperson said, was to reveal where the trinkets were as a sort of apology to the families of his victims.

Hazel, along with several friends, drove to the motel. After finding it abandoned, they searched for hidden items to no avail.

In a May 5 report on Pasco-based NewsTalk KFLD radio station, Paul Drake said people are drawn to the series “​​not only because of the eeriness behind the gruesome story,” but its connections to area cities, including Hermiston. He conducted an extensive internet search but couldn’t find evidence that the motel ever existed. Although Jesperson disposed of personal items of some of his victims, Drake said there was no indication that the murderer ever purposely hid any of their belongings.

Drake surmised that “Hermiston was just a town that was likely along his trucking route.”

While a cliffhanger ending leaves the door open for another season, Paramount+ has not renewed the series. And even if they do, I won’t be watching. Although the series depicts some of Moore’s early life experiences growing up with a serial killer, the present-day storyline is all Hollywood — not true crime.