10 Serial Killers Who Turned Themselves In

9. Keith Jesperson (The Happy Face Killer)

Keith Hunter Jesperson - aka The Happy Face Killer - murdered at least eight women from 1990 to 1995, though claims to have killed as many as 185 people.

As a youth Jesperson showed violent tendencies, killing animals and even twice trying to kill children who he had problems with.

As an adult, he worked as a truck driver, and at the age of 34 in 1990 - the same year his wife divorced him - he started killing transients and prostitutes.

His first accounted-for victim was 23-year-old Taunja Bennett, who Jesperson beat and strangled on January 23, 1990.

He went more than two-and-a-half years before killing again, after which his murders became far more frequent, killing seven women between September 1992 and March 1995.

His murderous moniker emerged after Jesperson wrote taunting confessional letters to local media and police departments, which he signed with a smiley face. A journalist working for The Oregonian subsequently dubbed him The Happy Face Killer.

Jesperson's final victim was his own girlfriend Julie Ann Winningham, the only victim he had a link to and which led to his arrest despite police having no evidence linking him to the crime.

Days later, Jesperson knew he would be re-arrested eventually, and after two unsuccessful suicide attempts, turned himself in, hoping that this would result in a more lenient sentence.

Despite Jesperson's claims to have killed so many more, he's only ever been convicted of eight murders, and is currently serving three consecutive life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary.