Riverside County identifies last unknown victim of Happy Face Killer after 34 years
Authorities confirmed the identity of the final unidentified victim of serial killer Keith Jesperson, naming her Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter.
Riverside County investigators announced that the last unidentified victim of Keith Hunter Jesperson, the “Happy Face Killer,” has been positively identified as Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter of Texas. Her remains were discovered on August 30, 1992, along Highway 95 near Blythe, California, and she had been referred to only as “Claudia” for more than three decades. DNA analysis and genetic genealogy connected the case to a paternal half-sister, Summer Gonzales, in 2024, and a subsequent maternal relative provided the final confirmation this week.
Supervising Cold Case Unit investigator Billy Hester praised public tips that aided the effort. The District Attorney’s Division of Victim Services is now working with McWhorter’s family to arrange her burial. Jesperson, serving multiple life sentences, had pleaded guilty to her murder in 2010, completing the closure of all his known victims.
Why it matters
Solving the last cold-case victim gives closure to the family and demonstrates the power of modern DNA genealogy in criminal investigations.
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