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True crime fans pay attention: Happy Face is the new must-see on SkyShowtime

By Maartje Beks | #!30Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200+02:005230#30Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200+02:00-5Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam202530 18am30am-30Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200+02:005Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam2025302025Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200305304amFriday=9#!30Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam4#04-18-2025#!30Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200+02:005230#/30Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200+02:00-5Europe/Amsterdam3030Europe/Amsterdam202530#!30Fri, 18 Apr 2025 05:30:52 +0200+02:00Europe/Amsterdam4#

When you hear the name ‘Happy Face’, you might think of a cheerful story; but it's actually quite the opposite. It is the title of the latest true crime series from SkyShowtime, and the story is rather grim. What if your father is a serial killer, and after years without contact, you have to face him again? This reality turns Melissa's life completely upside down. And, even worse: it's based on a true story.

The storyline of Happy Face: father and serial killer

At the age of fifteen, Melissa (Annaleigh Ashford) discovers that her father Keith (Dennis Quaid) is a notorious serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer. She manages to cut off all contact and build a new life under a different name. But just when Melissa seems to have everything back on track, her father manages to prison get back in touch with her. He claims that he has never been completely honest about his actions and that he has one more murder to confess. He wants to do this only to his daughter, face-to-face in prison. Melissa is confronted with the impact of her father's actions and must prevent an innocent man from being convicted for something he did. All while she has to face her own past and now has to tell her family and friends about her true identity.

The gruesome acts of Keith Hunter Jesperson, the Happy Face Killer

The real name of the Happy Face Killer is Keith Hunter Jesperson. As a child, he already exhibits aggressive behavior; he abuses and kills animals. At school, he is bullied, and he also violently puts an end to that. At the age of twenty, he marries Rose, and together they have three children: Melissa, Carrie, and Jason. Even during this time, he continues to torture animals in front of his children. When he and Rose separate in 1990, things really go wrong. Jesperson abuses and murders 23-year-old Taunja Bennett but manages to stay out of the police's hands. In the following years, he repeats his act with at least four other women. He gets the nickname the Happy Face Killer after leaving an anonymous letter on a toilet wall in a bus station in Montana, in which he confesses to a murder. The letter is signed with a smiley. He then continues to send letters to various newspapers, all signed with the smiley. After he murders his girlfriend Julie Ann Winningham in 1995, Jesperson decides to turn himself in. According to him, to clear the air and have everything behind him. He also admitted to murdering Bennett, and later six more murders are linked to him.

Where is the Happy Face Killer now?

Jesperson is ultimately sentenced to three life sentences; he is still incarcerated at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. He claims to be pen pals with Rex Heuermann, who is suspected of being the Long Island Serial Killer. Jesperson has also reportedly tried to reach out to the outside world on several other occasions. Various investigations are still being conducted into other murders he may have been involved in. Something he voluntarily cooperates with, to, as he says, ensure that no unnecessary additional acts are pinned on him. “I don't need to be more of a monster than I already am,” Jesperson said.

The real Melissa

The real Melissa has no contact with her father anymore, and she absolutely does not want her children to ever meet him. “I don't want my father to nestle in the psyche of my children and hurt them in any way, because he is manipulative. He is a psychopath.” Nevertheless, Melissa decided to cooperate with the series. During the making process, she had a lot of contact with creator Jennifer Cacicio. She was present when the script was written. She provided her own input and shared, for example, her father's letters; the writers could also ask her anything. Despite this involvement, Cacicio and her team had complete freedom from Melissa to truly make it their own series . “Every time I asked her something or sought her approval, she would say something like: ‘It's your show, girl.’ Like: ‘Do your thing’,” Cacicio said.

The book and podcast behind the series Happy Face

Melissa had already shared her story earlier in the book ‘Shattered Silence’ which was released in 2009. In 2018, she started her own podcast, also named Happy Face. In it, Melissa examines her father's actions and discusses the impact all of this has had on her. Both the book and the podcast served as inspiration for the series; although some fictional elements have been added and names changed here and there. For Melissa, it was a way to show things she couldn't share well before. “The conversations and the emotions, everything that was experienced, although I can't capture it in reality, I could relate it to Cacicio, and she can take over the essence of it and reconstruct it, which is fascinating.”

When will Happy Face premiere on SkyShowtime?

So far, the series has only been available on Paramount+ and thus not watchable here in the Netherlands; but that is about to change. On May 8, the first three episodes will be released on SkyShowtime, and after that, we can look forward to the continuation of this bizarre story weekly. So just a little more patience.

Image: Paramount+ | CBS Studios Source: SkyShowtime