Identity Of Happy Face Serial Killer's Riverside County Victim Confirmed

RIVERSIDE, CA — After decades of uncertainty, the last woman to die namelessly at the hands of the man known as the "Happy Face Killer" during one of his trips through Riverside County now has an identity, authorities confirmed Thursday.

Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter, 26, of Texas was known for years only as "Claudia" — because that's what serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson called her. However, through persistent efforts by the county's Regional Cold Case Homicide Unit, McWhorter's identity at last was verified via genetic coding, according to the District Attorney's Office.

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"I want to thank the public for their role in our investigations," Cold Case Unit Supervising Investigator Billy Hester said. "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 ... I hope this will finally bring closure to Lydia's family."

McWhorter's remains were located on Aug. 30, 1992, along Highway 95, about seven miles north of Blythe, according to investigators.

Jesperson, a long-haul trucker now incarcerated in Oregon, later admitted to killing her and dumping her next to the highway.

"Jesperson said he met `Claudia' at a brake check area on Interstate 15, south of the Victorville area around August 1992, while he was working as a truck driver," according to a D.A.'s statement from 2024. "The woman asked to be taken to the Los Angeles area, but he refused, and due to his planned truck route to Arizona, took her to Cabazon instead."

At a rest stop near Indio, they got into a verbal exchange over money, and he killed McWhorter in the cab of his big rig. He told investigators that he then resumed his route, heading east, looking for a place to dump the body, which happened to be near Blythe.

Riverside County sheriff's investigators at the time were unable to develop any solid leads, and the case went cold.

The Cold Case squad assumed responsibility, renewing efforts to identify the victim after Jesperson pleaded guilty to the homicide in January 2010. He received a 25-years-to-life prison sentence, but he had already been convicted in Oregon, where the 71-year-old is now serving multiple life sentences for murders there.

"An investigative lead ... led to a direct maternal relative of Lydia's," the D.A.'s office stated Thursday. "Following that lead, investigators identified a possible genetic connection to a member of her maternal family. Earlier this week, a DNA sample confirmed the connection, allowing investigators to positively identify the her as Lydia McWhorter."

Investigators said her sisters never knew what had happened to her after she vanished from Texas in the early 1990s.

Jesperson was dubbed the "Happy Face Killer" because he put smiley faces on letters sent to media, bragging about his murders. McWhorter is believed to be the only woman he killed in Riverside County.

"The District Attorney's Office's Division of Victim Services is working with Lydia's family as they determine how they would like to honor and lay her to rest," the agency stated.