Happy Face serial killer's daughter Melissa Moore comforted by relatives of murderers

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Melissa Moore still struggles to cope with father's crimes 20 years ago
Keith Hunter Jesperson raped and strangled eight women in the 1990s
Melissa has since started a support network for the families of other killers

By Kate Pickles and Louise Boyle for MailOnline

Published: 04:25 EST, 10 July 2015 | Updated: 10:57 EST, 10 July 2015

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The daughter of the 'Happy Face' serial killer has revealed how difficult it was to tell her own children who their granddad is.

Although it has been two decades since Keith Hunter Jesperson - one of America's most notorious serial killers - was told he would spend the rest of his life in prison, his daughter Melissa Moore still struggles to come to terms with his crimes.

Now 36, she has become an advocate for relatives of mass murderers - and she has been interviewing them for a new TV series Monster In My Family.

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Melissa Moore, her husband Sam and their two children visit her father Keith Jesperson (right) in jail in 2005. It was the last time she saw her serial killer dad, although she says he continues to write to her

'It was really tough to try to find the resources to tell my children who their grandfather is,' Melissa told ABC News.

'There's no books like what to do if your dad is a serial killer. There's no pamphlets, no support groups, and the best answer that I could find for myself was just little by little.'

Jesperson, now 60, earned his notoriety by sending confessions describing his heinous crimes to police and journalists. The letters were signed with a smiley face - hence his nickname.

He usually targeted prostitutes and homeless women - raping them before strangling them with his bare hands.

His daughter Melissa, one of three children, says her family are secondary crime victims - and still carry a lot of shame. 'I feel in a sense I am related to my father, but I didn't cause the pain,' she explained. 'But knowing that my father caused some pain causes me pain.'

Jesperson in his 1995 mugshot and in jail in 2009. The long-haul truck driver killed eight women in the 1990s

Family snap: Jesperson with Melissa as a child. She recalls him killing her kittens when she was five

When Melissa was five she watched in horror when her father hung her pet kittens on a clothes line and tortured them to death - paying no heed to his daughter's screams.

Another time, he pinned down a cat and twisted its head until its neck snapped, as his children looked on. Melissa said he had a look of 'enjoyment' on his face.

There's no pamphlets, no support groups, and the best answer that I could find for myself was just little by little

Melissa Moore

She also recalled her father's desire to describe graphic sexual details, including about sex with her own mother, and his lewd comments to female strangers. She said these made her sick to her stomach.

Jesperson murdered his first known victim Taunja Bennett, 23, in January 1990, after meeting her at a bar near Portland, Oregon.

He invited her back to a house he was renting, where they had sex. Then he beat her and strangled her and went back out to a bar to have more drinks and provide himself with an alibi.

He later returned to the house, strapped Taunja's body into the front seat of his car and disposed of it before leaving town.

Three months later, Jesperson met Daun Richert-Slagle, a 21-year-old mother of three who became the only known victim to survive an attack.

Happy Face Killer chronicles life of murderer Keith Jesperson

Victims: Taunja Bennett, 23 (left), who was killed in January 1990, and Julia Ann Winningham, 41, who was Jesperson's long-term girlfriend when she was strangled

She had stormed out of her home in Chico, California, with her infant son in her arms after having an argument with her husband on April 13, 1990.

She walked to a nearby shopping center where she struck up a conversation with Jesperson, and eventually got into his car to fight off the cold. He drove her to a lakeside where he tried to sexually assault her for three hours in front of her baby. When she fought him off, he tried to strangle her.

Ms Richert-Slagle believes she only survived because of her son, and she managed to eventually convince Jesperson to let her go.

He was caught by police and charged, and he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of sexual battery. He was then released... but he vanished.

The truck driver waited for more than two years before he struck again in 1992 - raping and strangling a woman near Blythe, California. She has still not been identified but Jesperson said her name was Claudia.

His killing spree then escalated - a month later he raped and strangled a prostitute Cynthia Lyn Rose in Turlock, California.

Sole survivor: Daun Richert-Slagle, a 21-year-old mother of three, was abused in front of her son

The next month, he killed a fourth woman, also a prostitute, named Laurie Ann Pentland from Salem, Oregon. He claimed to have strangled her because she tried to double the amount of money she wanted for sex and had threatened to call the police.

His fifth victim, an unidentified 'Jane Doe' living on the streets in Santa Nella, California, was discovered in July of 1993. Police initially believed she had suffered a drug overdose.

Another Jane Doe death, attributed to Jesperson, was found in September 1994 in Crestview, Florida. He said her name was Susanne.

In January 1995, Jesperson picked up a 21-year-old hitchhiker, Angela Subrize, whom he offered to drive from Spokane, Washington, to meet her boyfriend in Indiana.

On the journey, he raped and strangled her, then strapped her body face-down to the undercarriage of his truck so her face and prints would be ground off by the road while he drove.

Reaching out: Melissa Moore, 36, pictured with her husband Sam, has started a network for relatives

Don Findlay (right), son of murder victim Julie Ann Winningham, addresses Keith Jesperson in court before he was sentenced to life without parole on December 19, 1995 in Vancouver, Washington

The killer was finally caught in March 1995 after strangling his long-time girlfriend Julia Ann Winningham, 41, who he claimed did not love him but only wanted his money. She was the only victim he could be connected to. The rest are believed to have been strangers.

Jesperson initially refused to talk to police and attempted suicide twice. He then turned himself in, hoping for leniency at his trial.

He confessed details of his murderous history while in custody but later recanted much of it. At one point he claimed to have had as many as 160 victims. Only eight have been confirmed.

Melissa Moore has written this book about coming to terms with being the daughter of a serial killer

Jesperson is currently serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. Melissa took her two young children to meet their grandfather in 2005 but has not visited him since. She says he continues to write but she does not respond to the letters.

At one point during her childhood, Melissa said her father told her a story about driving past the prison.

'''I honked my horn," he told me on the phone one time. He said: ''Someday I'm gonna be there. But not yet!'''

In 2009 Melissa wrote a book,Shattered Silence, about her father and her family's struggle to cope.

She now reaches out to other serial killers' family members, who she she says often cope silently with the trauma and stigma of who they are related to.

Recently, a mother of two girls whose father had killed people in Europe, had written to her saying that one daughter was so depressed that she had thought about committing suicide.

The writer asked her network to reach out to the young girl to give her hope.

Melissa has also reached out to the family of one of her father's victims, Taunja Bennett, along with survivor Daun Richert-Slagle.

She said that she was able to move past her horrible deeds with the support of her husband, Sam Moore - the father of her children Aspen and Jake.

However it was a conversation with her grandfather while writing her book that helped Melissa finally leave Jesperson in the past and stop separating who he was as a father - which at times she remembered fondly - from the violent serial killer.

Her grandfather told her that Jesperson had once admitted to thoughts of killing his own children.