The Happy Face Murderer – Keith Hunter Jesperson –11. Julie Ann Winningham

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Julie Ann Winningham
Life after the death of Angela was tough for Keith Jesperson. More than once, he considered suicide. Thoughts of crashing his truck into a concrete barrier were only abandoned after Keith realized how his children might react should the truth about his murders ever come to light. At night, he would steer his truck with the lights off, driving by the light of the full moon. He played pranks on other drivers, slashing fuel lines, puncturing tires, and even chaining two trucks together and watching them try to drive away. It seemed as though, despite the suicidal thoughts, he was having altogether too much fun to die.

That was when Julie Winningham came back into his life. It was a chance encounter in Oregon. Keith ran into his ex-girlfriend while walking out of a restroom in a standard truck stop. He immediately went back into the bathroom, worried that he might not want to talk to her. For all the hassle and annoyance she had brought him, he had a rest day ahead and nothing much to do. Keith decided to spark up a conversation, and the two went for coffee.

Over drinks, they apologized to one another. Keith was certain that she hadn't changed, that she was still a "scammer" but he decided to play along. When she said she was out of cigarettes, he told her that he always kept a special pack of her favorite brand in the truck, just in case he ever ran into her. They were barely in the cabin before she started to kiss him.

The two agreed to go out. First, Julie revealed the hot water she was in. She desperately needed $700 to pay a fine and asked Keith for the money. He played along, hoping that he'd be able to get her into bed and never hand over the actual cash. They went out to a bar, played pool, and got drunk. When they were stumbling back to bed, a drunken Julie proposed. Again, Keith agreed to go along with her, assuming he'd renege on the deal later. His head was already filling up with the old fantasies about trapping a woman and holding her as a sex slave.

They drove up to Julie's mother's house and revealed their engagement plans. They left her shocked mother behind and went back to the truck stop. The two spent the evening together, and by the morning, Keith had fallen back in love with Julie. Murderous thoughts were abandoned, and he was back under her spell.

Calling into his company, Keith found himself with a few days off. Now partnered up with Julie, he had something to do. When he woke her up, she revealed more debts hanging over her head. Car repairs were going to cost her $1000. She had drunkenly crashed the vehicle. A court date had been set and fines for the accident could total a further $1500. If she didn't, then she'd end up in jail. Add in lawyers' bills, and she was having to sell her car in order to make everything work. She asked Keith whether he'd be a witness to the sale and whether he'd sign his name to the contract. The idea worried Keith. What if his signature matched up against the Happy Face letters he had been sending out? If he killed Julie one day, they might be able to match up all the handwriting.

They drove to her friend's house to pay a visit. Keith noticed drugs laid out on the table, and soon enough, Julie was inquiring about buying marijuana. Knowing she had no money to pay for it herself, he started walking back to his truck. In no time, she was chasing him out of the house. Despite his refusal to give her any cash, she whisked his wallet from his pocket and took out two twenty-dollar bills. Fuming, Keith sat in the truck for the next few hours while Julie got high with her friends.

It had been arranged that they would go back out to her mother's house the next day to have dinner. Keith made up some excuse to duck out of the evening. He left and went hiking for a few hours, and by the time he got to the house, Julie and her mother were engaged in a shouting match. They left.

Together over the next week, Keith was eventually reminded of exactly how much Julie used to annoy him. Someone had stolen her car keys. Her own mother had called the police on her. The court date for the drunk-driving case was just around the corner. She didn't have any money. She depended on Keith. She wanted to borrow thirty dollars to get a license to work a temporary job. Keith gave her fifty, but as he fully expected, he got no change. To him, it was "one aggravation after another."

Leaving her with some money at a bar, Keith left to play cribbage. He had fallen asleep by the time Julie made it back to the truck. After they had sex, she sparked up a cigarette, leaned back, and explained just how she and her friends had come to the agreement that it was actually Keith's fault that she had lost her car. He owed her $600 for that. Added to this, she revealed a second drunk-driving offence, so those fines would total more than $2000. She would need that money by the next day. As they were now engaged, she explained, they had to help one another out.

But Keith knew what she was after. This wasn't a marriage of love, but rather one of convenience, He felt she just wanted his money. He didn't have $2000, he informed her, and even if he did, he would never hand it over to her. He didn't like her attitude, and he didn't like being depended on for money. Keith told her as much, but Julie did not react well. She had spent the entire night describing to her friends how often he wanted to have sex with her, and how little she satisfied these urges. If he wasn't going to give her the money, then they would back up her story when she went to the cops and claimed to have been raped.

Angry but remaining calm, Keith warned Julie that she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Julie didn't care. Either she'd get paid, or she'd get the cops. She was already screaming pretty loudly as the pair argued in the back of the truck. Balled up in the corner of the cabin, she just looked like all of the other girls Keith had killed. He lunged for her, surprised to find that she reciprocated his attempts to kiss her. This was all part of the game, Keith thought. After they were done, however, his hands wrapped around her throat and began to cut off her breathing. Her eyes, bulging, seemed to be genuinely shocked.

Choking until Julie passed out, Keith reached for the duct tape, bound her hands behind her back, and tied her ankles together. Her mouth was sealed shut with more tape. Climbing into the driver's seat, he began to steer the truck out onto the road. Julie woke up as they braked hard for a stop sign. Attempting to reach the passenger's seat, she could only flop onto the floor. Falling, her head caught against a corner of the seat, and she cut herself. There was soon blood over the floor. Keith reached down and petted her head. Trying to talk through the duct tape, Julie's words were only muffled noises. She was scared enough that she lost control of her bodily functions. Later, Keith would have to clean the carpet.

When they finally stopped, he picked her up and took her into the back of the cabin. Ripping the tape from her face, Keith announced that they were going to be having a kissing contest. Julie would have to show him just how much her life was worth. And she tried. After they had sex again, Julie plead for her life, explaining that she didn't need the money. She had only been kidding. But it wasn't enough. Bluntly, Keith told Julie Winningham that she was about to die.

Removing the tape from her ankles and closing the curtains, Keith ignored Julie's claims that she felt sick. He tied a shirt around her head as a blindfold and began to touch her body wherever he pleased. Once again, he had sex with her as she pleaded for her life. As she lay on the bed blindfolded, Keith began to recount the stories of his murders. Starting with Taunja Bennett, he rattled off dates and names. He told her how he'd dragged one girl along beneath the truck. And then he started to choke her. Julie woke up and was throttled four times, with Keith even tempted to keep her alive until the next night. But he didn't want to push his luck too far. After he had choked her again, Keith hopped out of the truck and began to urinate against a wheel. As he did so, he spotted a sheriff's car coming along the road. Standing by the wheel of his truck, he waved the officer by as the car carried on past him.

It was nearly dawn. If he waited too long, then it would be too busy to dump the body. But she was still alive. Clambering back inside, Julie was whispering to Keith. She told him that she loved him. She assured him that she would never say anything. He touched her hair, kissed her face, and said that everything would be alright. She would be allowed to prove her love. With his encouragement, they fooled around again. After that, Keith strangled her for the final time.

Keith and the body drove down Highway 14. As it happened, they were near the spot where he had dumped Taunja's body all those years ago. Jumping over a fence at the side of the road, he threw the corpse down a fifteen foot slope and watched as the crumpled Julie lay at the bottom of the ravine. By the time he was back in the truck, he had begun to realize just how many people had seen them together. If the authorities came looking, he'd be a prime suspect. Later on that night, Keith decided to sneak back to the roadside and move the body. But he never bothered. Tired of being a serial killer, he felt that this was the best way to get caught. While he would never hand himself in, he knew that they would be coming for him eventually. This time, he had gone too far.