On the “Happy Face” Podcast, the Daughter of a Serial Killer Goes on a Fascinating Journey of Self-Discovery

Melissa Moore’s life turned upside down when she found out her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was a serial killer. Just a teenager when she learned the horrible truth, Moore began to doubt her own mental state. Charismatic and intelligent like her father, Moore started wondering whether she, too, had psychopathic tendencies—this is the underlying question she explores on the Happy Face podcast.

Keith Hunter Jesperson killed at least eight women in the United States throughout the early 1990s and was dubbed the “Happy Face Killer,” since he signed his correspondence with media and law enforcement mockingly with a smiley face. But during her early childhood, Moore idolized her dad, never even knowing that he tried to murder her as well. On the podcast, Moore revisits her childhood home, filled with complicated and dark memories, explores her father’s crimes, talks to the families of his victims, and visits a neuroscientist to determine if she could be a psychopath as well.

Follow Moore’s uniquely difficult journey on the Happy Face podcast and decide for yourself—how much of an influence do genes really have over our own lives, and to what extent can we control what we become?

Happy Face Podcast​​​​​​​