Authorities have identified the final unknown victim of the Happy Face Killer, more than three decades after her body was found along a California highway.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that DNA testing confirmed the remains as Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter of Texas, ending a 34‑year cold case.
McWhorter’s body was discovered on August 30, 1992, on Highway 95 near Blythe, California.
Keith Hunter Jesperson, a former truck driver who confessed to eight murders, admitted involvement in her death.
In 2024, Riverside County renewed the investigation, using genetic genealogy that linked the unknown victim to paternal relatives before finally connecting her to a maternal relative.
A DNA sample matched a direct maternal relative, allowing investigators to positively identify McWhorter this week.
Her sisters, who grew up without knowing her fate, finally have closure; Billy Hester, supervising investigator, said the public’s tips were crucial.
Case Closed: Final Victim Identified
With McWhorter’s identification, Riverside County’s cold case team has now closed the last unidentified‑victim file tied to Jesperson’s convictions.
Jesperson was arrested in 1995, pleaded guilty to McWhorter’s murder on January 8, 2010, and received a 25‑to‑life sentence, currently serving multiple life terms in Oregon.
“We thank the public for the role you play in our investigations,” the district attorney’s office stated, noting that community tips can shift a case’s direction.
McWhorter’s family will now decide how to honor her and lay her to rest, bringing a long‑awaited sense of finality to a case that shocked the nation.
Brittany Miller, a Fox News Digital breaking news writer and former Independent reporter, graduated from Syracuse University in 2023.
