Murder and Mimosas Podcast
A true crime podcast with a focus on lesser known crimes and the background of those who commit these heinous acts. Each case is told with a bit of southern sass, but with tons of in depth research and respect for those lost. Join this mom and daughter duo as they sip their mimosas while diving into tragic cases. New episodes every Saturday, just in time for brunch (and a mimosa of your own)!
Murder and Mimosas Podcast
Inside the Mind of the Happy Face Killer: Duality, Darkness, and Family Shadows
Step inside the mind of one of America's most notorious serial killers with author Nicole D. Phoenix as she unveils her groundbreaking book, "Happy Face: A Family of Monsters." The chilling story of Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the Happy Face Killer, is brought to life through his own unfiltered words. Nicole's unique perspective sheds light on his twisted psyche, shaped by a traumatic childhood and a bizarre sense of compassion towards his victims. Our conversation exposes the duality of Jesperson’s character, questioning whether it reveals a trace of guilt or mere manipulation.
Together with Nicole, we navigate the complex terrain of communicating with infamous criminals, contrasting their disturbing, crude responses with surprisingly mundane exchanges. The intricate dance between Jesperson's artistic inclinations and his violent crimes invites us to explore the potential therapeutic benefits of creativity for those behind bars. We also ponder the profound impact on Jesperson’s family, especially his daughter Melissa, who has bravely chosen to share her experiences through writing, adding a poignant layer to this dark narrative.
Our journey doesn't end with Jesperson. We dive headfirst into the psychological thriller world of "Willow's Wounds," examining the blurred lines between fiction and reality. As we wrap up, we extend an invitation to our listeners to join our vibrant online community, where thrilling mysteries and engaging discussions await. With each episode, we strive to unravel the tangled webs of crime and human nature. Cheers to more captivating stories and intriguing insights!
https://www.amazon.com/Happy-Face-Monsters-Nicole-Phoenix-ebook/dp/B0DNWWY3ZM
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DarkCast Network. Welcome to the dark side of podcasting.
Speaker 3:Welcome to Murder and Mimosas a true crime podcast brought to you by a mother and daughter duo.
Speaker 2:Bringing you murder stories with a mimosa in hand. With a mimosa in hand, murder Mimosas is a true crime podcast, meaning we talk about adult matters such as murder, sexual assaults and other horrendous crimes. Listener discretion is advised. We do tell our stories with the victims and the victims families in mind. However, some information is more verifiable than others. However, you can find all of our information linked in the show notes.
Speaker 2:Today we have Nicole D Phoenix with us and she is going to be talking about her new book. Can you give us just the name of the book and just a little preview about it and what it's about? And just a little preview about it and what it's about.
Speaker 5:The name of the book is called Happy Face A Family of Monsters, by myself, nicole D Phoenix. As told to me by Keith Hunter Jesperson, the happy face killer from Oregon 1990s. It is a unique presentation of his story, of his crimes in life, because it is written in his words, unaltered, unfiltered, unedited, completely his own, with no lens or alterations done with his vocabulary or cadence or sentence structure.
Speaker 2:It's a one-of-a-kind presentation, perfect, and I noticed that you said you wrote it, but it's in his words. Can you explain a little bit about how that works? How did you get this information from him?
Speaker 5:I corresponded with Keith Jesperson for almost a year and a half through written letters as well as phone conversations, and that's how I obtained the information. He would either tell me vocally or he would write it down, and then I would take everything and compile it and transcribe it.
Speaker 2:Perfect. What made you decide to write him specifically of all of the people? I know you've written others, but what drew you to him?
Speaker 5:I don't know if it was anything with him in particular, I think it was just as a whole. I was trying to focus my research on serial cases and then he just happened to pop up and his information with the Oregon State Penitentiary inmate number and address and all was easy, easily obtainable, and it was just more so he was. He fell into the umbrella of my research. It really wasn't anything special about him, because nothing's really. I mean, he's not a special person at all, he's just one of many monsters.
Speaker 3:Right, so tell us, like, what made you start doing this? Or I know you've said research, so tell us what you're researching and why you are corresponding with any serial killers at all.
Speaker 5:So understanding the minds and motivations of serial killers can be a very difficult and disturbing task, but I believe it's a crucial one. By studying their words, we can gain valuable insights into their thoughts, their feelings, their behaviors. But knowledge can help us better understand the root causes of their actions and hopefully, ultimately prevent similar crimes from happening ever again in our future. In mind that line they cross and what led them to cross that line, by analyzing their language, their handwriting, their tone, their demeanor, their sentence structure, I believe we can identify patterns and warning signs that may indicate violence in some. For instance, researchers have found that many serial killers exhibit certain linguistic patterns, such as the lack of empathy, the tendency to blame others, the egotistical side that law enforcement, mental health professionals, future criminologists, future students of criminal law can better identify those potential threats and intervene before it's too late, before that frost of that lie ever happens.
Speaker 5:That line never happens, and what I'm doing, I feel, is, moreover, studying the words corresponding with them, writing letters, because I'm trying to obtain that valuable insight into not only their social but their environmental factors that contributed to the development of the monster that they became, for example, a lot of the ones that I have written to the US person included have talked about childhood trauma, abuse, neglect. Some try to brush it off and say they had a normal childhood and by understanding how these experiences their childhood, their life, their core memories shape their worldview, their behavior, how it ultimately warps their worldview and behavior, I think we can work to prevent similar traumas from occurring. It's not easy, it's not pleasant to talk to these people, it's not something that is enjoyable because it is very mentally taxing, mentally exhausting. But ultimately it's about trying to gather as much knowledge as I can in the hopes of creating a safer and more compassionate society. And I think by obtaining these letters and offering that unfiltered word, we're one step closer to preventing those tragedies.
Speaker 2:I agree. I think it's honestly a really unique and great perspective that we're able to provide and I think it will, you know, in the long run benefit a lot, like you said, in the law enforcement criminologist in the future. For those who aren't really familiar with the happy face killer and his know crimes, can you just from the information he provided you in correspondence, give like a quick overview of his crimes in his case?
Speaker 5:the quick, the quick and easy of peace. Jesperson, keith hunter. Jesperson, he is almost 70, he'll be 70 in April. He was a Canadian-American serial killer who murdered at least eight women that we know of in the United States during the early to late 1990s. Infamous moniker, the Happy Face Killer, which is also the name of this new Paramount Plus original that's coming out with Dennis Quaid about his case. He got that because he would draw smiley faces, supposedly on letters and bathroom stalls. In his words, he said he only drew one. In his words, he said he only drew one. Most of his victims were either sex workers, hitchhikers, people he met in bars and because of his size, 6'8", he was a huge country red trucker. He never really used a weapon. He would always murder them by strangulation.
Speaker 5:He would make it as personal as he could, which is even more horrific, yeah.
Speaker 2:So he was a true monster by the definition of the word. I'm glad you said that he claims he only wrote it on one, because of course I looked into the case more and it was talking about he drew, you know, happy faces on envelopes that he sent to you know whoever, and the media and the police gave him that name.
Speaker 5:but it's really interesting that I could see it just being one and that being what the media goes with, because he drew one when he was out and then, of course, after he was arrested, he drew it on everything because that was like his famous signature, supposedly. According to him, the state prison, oregon State Penitentiary told him he could never draw a happy face, ever again. He couldn't draw one, couldn't write one couldn't sign. So he said, since then he's not ever, he's not been allowed to even put one in a letter anymore.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, I didn't know that you could be banned from doing a smiley face. I guess that's interesting, that is.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, so what I know? We were talking about their background. There's usually something that happens along the way. Did he let you know something tragic, or something that happened that changed his trajectory in life, or something?
Speaker 5:To read his story from his words. His dad was for want of a better word an asshole. He was verbally or physically abusive. His mother was distant and not there. His siblings didn't really care for him all that much either. He kind of just brushes off the fact of molestation. He just kind of brushes that off like an everyday experience, like it's a everyone does it, so it's nothing important. Um, like everyone goes through that it's.
Speaker 2:It's nothing special and it's like a huge red flag.
Speaker 5:Obviously like this was a big for him obviously like this was a big thing for him. Um, yeah, it's very, it's very strange. Um, some of the things that he brushes off like it's just normal childhood and it's nothing special. But yet when you start to really pick apart what he's saying, you're like, hmm, and I always thought it was very fascinating. In his childhood he would always talk about how compassionate he was with dogs, with animals, how he stopped his dad from, you know, picking or herding a dog, how he you know he wouldn't hunt because he didn't like killing animals. And it's just so bizarre for me to think that someone that has that supposedly that much compassion for an animal would do the things that he ultimately did, yeah, and I think especially within the true crime world for a long time, that whole you know was it the cruelty to animals?
Speaker 2:and yeah, that like the three big things you know that they said were signs. One of them was the cruelty to animals, and so for him to be the polar opposite makes you wonder. You know, how accurate are those? But also, I think you know when you're talking about his childhood and the way he would brush off things like you know, molestation, even though he didn't come out and say you know, this was a severe thing in my life, in my childhood. I think, like you said, getting those words and being able to pick them apart, we can learn a lot just from his attitude of you know not being able to deal, being able to really analyze the words he uses.
Speaker 5:The most interesting thing I always thought of throughout the entire book was when he talked about disposing the bodies after he would murder them horrifically. He would always use the same phrase.
Speaker 5:I was finding her a resting place, as if it was just this peaceful, happy-go-lucky act, like he was doing her a favor, and even during one section he was talking about how he went out of his way to try to find this one in particular. I can't remember, unfortunately I can't remember. He took so many innocent lives away when he was trying to find her a soft place of leaves instead of putting her on the ground itself because it was hard and cold, and I just thought that was just fascinating, because why would that matter to you?
Speaker 5:you've already done this horrid, tragic, violent act, but you you call it finding her resting place yeah, it is a weird like sense of compassion he seems to have after the fact yeah, after the fact yeah.
Speaker 3:After the fact, that is really interesting Was like the reasoning that he was sending letters to, like the journalist, like did he have remorse afterwards and wanting to be caught, or did he let you know what caused him to write the letters? I know in the letters he talks about, like you know, I didn't think I would do this again and like almost like a remorse.
Speaker 5:I think it was his version of remorse. It was his version of knowing that two innocent people were incarcerated because they took the fall of a crime. That was his it was. It was as much of remorse as someone as him would give.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 5:Which is still very little, and I think it was his version.
Speaker 2:I feel like when reading the book he had a lot of almost mockery towards the law enforcement. Who was handling it? Because you know they went after two people. Who was handling it? Because you know they went after two people which I, in reading it from his perspective, I'm like, yeah, they seem like they kind of bought me, no, fumbled this, like they didn't do some basic things here. But it was really interesting because you know, I, I don't know I feel like if I got away with it and two other people took the fall, I mean as a normal human being I feel bad, but you know I'm not killing eight people, so I feel like you would feel a sense of relief. But he almost felt like he was like mocking them or felt can't think of exactly the emotion it's the kind of boastful it's like.
Speaker 2:ooh well, I can just go do it um kind of boastful, it's the I gotta, it's like, oh well, I can go, just go do it again kind of mentality, and yes so I found that was really an interesting to have it from his perspective, because of course you have you know, we talked about journalists who write about their cases or you know authors or whoever law enforcement. We've talked to law enforcement who've written about cases. To have it from his point of view was really interesting, because you see how he feels about law enforcement and things like that and you don't get those, you know, in regular true crime books no, because regular true crime book, your normal true crime book, because this is such a unique presentation.
Speaker 5:don't think it's a one-of-a-kind, but it is a unique presentation just because it does not happen often. Usually when, say, a serial killer, serial murderer writes, say, a sentence, that sentence is going to be read by a writer or a journalist or a law enforcement agent and they're going to make those words say something different. It's just an automatic thing for a writer to say the sky is blue. The writer is going to say that and be like well, the sky was a very light blue on a sunny day and it might say the similar thing, but it's not what he said.
Speaker 2:Right, it's not a verbatim translation. They do and I understand, like, as a writer, you want imagery, you want it your point of view, but I think having it verbatim from his point of view is a very unique perspective that, honestly, I agree that the true crime world needs more of if they really want to have a deeper understanding in order to have more prevention in the future.
Speaker 3:All right, it's easy to see after the fact, or maybe not easy to see, but sometimes you forget these people were just people in life and you have to see what's you know behind the scenes. I guess, if you want to say it like that, what to look for? Yeah, what to look for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So I know that he's not the only one you've written to. Do you have a plan to do another book with a different one in the future?
Speaker 5:My intentions are to. At the moment I'm currently writing a few different um. I'm profile cases, mostly serial cases. There's a two, there's two in particular that are on the fence of whether or not they want to work on the book. There's one who wanted to, but then he backed out when we got about four pages in. At least there wasn't many pages, yeah, yeah at least he backed out soon.
Speaker 5:we had we have another one that I'm working with that he wanted to. But then once he found out that he was not going to receive any money, he backed out because, just like with Jesperson, he receives no money, money to they do not earn anything. So just in case anyone was wondering about Keith Jesperson, he does not profit in this at all. With any kind of commissary money or canteen money or no money is exchanged into his hands. None, and just like anyone else, I write. So I brought that up to one in particular. I was like, well, you're not going to receive any money and he was like, oh well, I don't want to write it anymore.
Speaker 1:And I was like, okay, so you're looking for something creepy to read? Well, I got you. Just grab my two books psychological domestic thriller series called Willow's wounds. Willow's flame is book one and Willow's Crush is book two. Both are told from dual point of views and in book two there is a stalker psychopath. You're not going to know who that is until the very end and all chapters of his are labeled as him. Both have creepy, stalker psychopath vibes and they are realistic stories, which makes it even scarier. You can grab it on Amazon, Barnes, Noble and more. Thank you for reading and reviewing Willow's Wounds.
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Speaker 3:As a murder and mimosas listener, you can get 20% off the power plan using code MM power 20. That's MM power 20. So head on over to help you find dot me and get your setup today. I know we talked about understanding their mind, like with Keith. Does he have counseling in there or is that something that he wants, or help, or anyway?
Speaker 5:I feel like most penitentiaries or prisons, correctional institutions have counseling and psychiatric help and whatnot. Institutional institutions have counseling and psychiatric help and whatnot. Whether or not he goes, he's never mentioned it. Whether or not he's ever been, he's never mentioned it. Whether or not he even wants it, he's never made mention of it. The only thing that he's mentioned was when he had to go to the hospital last year for septic I believe it's called.
Speaker 3:And other than that?
Speaker 5:he doesn't mention really any going ons. You know every, every conversation usually is like well, I remember when kind of conversations and it's never that is true.
Speaker 5:Every old man conversation it's never in the now, it's always. Well, hey there, this reminds me of this time and, um, yeah, he never really shares of in the moment right, other than the one hospital stay that he had last year and then, when you know, he mentioned going to court in last april, but other than that it was. It's always the remember when, back to my day, or you know yes, yeah, speaking to an old man conversation. He's all. He's 70 in April.
Speaker 2:So yeah, he's. I know that there is um speculation that outside of the eight murders he committed that there might be more. Has he ever hinted or made mention or anything like that in his letters of more possible victims?
Speaker 5:No, he's never hinted or insinuated. When I asked him why he wanted to write this book, his words were all the cases are done, they're all found. I want all this to be out in the open. And that was his words. He never tried to hint that there were more. Was he lying? I don't know. Or did he just want some more spotlight because he's aging, don't know. Just like the foreword by film director John Borowski tells you at the very end of his foreword is. Whether or not this account is really true is up to the reader. It's as true as it can be because it's coming from the horse's mouth.
Speaker 2:Right. We just don't know if the horse is honest.
Speaker 5:But the fact that he was a truck driver who entered numerous states, the possibility is real.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 5:There could be.
Speaker 2:I know that at one point when I was reading into him he talked about having a lot of anger and that kind of being the catalyst for the first murder and that kind of being the catalyst for the first murder. Does he ever talk about where that anger he feels like came from? Or there was a trigger that set that off for that first one?
Speaker 5:I think most of it was supposedly Tonya Bennett reminded him of his partner at the time and because he was going through the divorce, he was going through having his kids ripped away, going through losing his job, going through losing money, and she had said something that she had said before to him and it triggered him. When he initially started beating or when you've been at to death, that's who he had in his mind, that's who he was hitting.
Speaker 5:but I think it was the fact that he got away with it right and that in that brief moment and his warped way of thinking, he felt that he had control over his life because he didn't have any control elsewhere. But he had it in that moment and I think that's what fueled him.
Speaker 2:every single one after the fact yeah, and I guess, after the fact the fact that he continued to keep getting away with it also, which you know you feel a little invincible. And when you know, as you're talking, you know he's losing his kids and his wife, and I was like, yeah, that's a lot of loss, and when you feel you're feeling that immense amount of loss and control in your own life, you get it for a minute and you feel like you've gotten away with it Now, you feel like you've got your control and you feel invincible.
Speaker 3:It seems like an unfortunate recipe for and you didn't have any control as a child to keep things from happening to you, yeah, from happening to you, yeah.
Speaker 2:It seems like the unfortunate recipe for this exact thing to occur and him to continue because he could and he got away with it.
Speaker 5:Exactly.
Speaker 6:Are you tired of hearing about the Ted Bundys and Jeffrey Dahmers on True Crime Podcast? I thought so. We've got something just for you. I'm Pat and I'm Darcy, and we are the hosts of Pod of Terror, a true crime podcast that dives into lesser known cases from around the world. Grab a glass of wine and join us every Thursday as we discuss the most vile, despicable human beings on the planet. It'll be a dark and twisted journey, so don't forget your drink. You're gonna need it. We're looking forward to seeing you next Thursday.
Speaker 2:Was there one point when you were corresponding with him that really stuck out with you the most or that shocked you the most, or anything like that?
Speaker 5:Nothing in particular he was always. The thing that I always thought was very intriguing Was the fact that At first he was very standoffish In his letters he was like don't write people, send me money, I'll send you artwork, that's all I do. But then I kept writing and he noticed that I just kept writing and then eventually he kind of broke his little barrier and he started writing me. And the fact that he was so weirdly friendly yeah, the weird I thought that was I thought that was very strange for him to be just so seemingly normal on paper.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 5:He talked about the weather, talked about a movie he watched, talked about drinking coffee, you know, and it's just your everyday, normal chit chat, and I just thought that was very strange.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it seems almost like it would be the. You would expect something dark and you know, yeah, you know, I don't know, I don't know what I would expect, I guess. But friendly is not an adjective I'd think of when I'm like, yeah, you know, right, a serial killer. This is how I think he's going to be.
Speaker 5:Friendly is not the word. He's going to be a nice happy-go-lucky. I didn't think that. I thought he was going to be very.
Speaker 2:Maybe that's why he's a happy bait killer, because really he's a happy person, yeah maybe I was expecting.
Speaker 5:Sometimes I've had a few that I've written to, and this is usually the expectation I have for all of them is usually they're crude, vulgar and kind of just nasty.
Speaker 3:Those are vulgar, and that's what I usually expect out of just nasty those are all words.
Speaker 5:And that's what I usually expect out of these people. I've written one letter before to say what was. I can't remember his name now. I think it was William Powell. I think I wrote him once and you know, the very first thing that he said in his first letter was hey, how are you? I noticed you're a girl. Your name is Nicole. How about you send me some pictures and make sure you're not wearing clothes? I'm like, well, that's just disturbing, that's just no.
Speaker 2:Comfortable, disturbing.
Speaker 5:Yes, and that's what I expect from people like this. Yes, to be sitting there and be like like well, I enjoyed my coffee this morning. The weather's nice. I hope you're doing well. I watched the news not long ago and heard a hurricane went through north carolina. Hope you're safe. Are you doing okay, sending lots of positive energy your way. By the way, I got some coffee at commissary. I'm going to be drinking coffee now. I got an artwork and it's just so normal.
Speaker 2:Like it really feels like you're having a conversation with your grandpa.
Speaker 3:I was going to say I feel like that's more of what I would expect, because I don't even know if you would say a facade that they have, because I mean, they're still human, they're you know, I feel like some of them are just would be crude and like that just for the attention maybe.
Speaker 2:I don't know if that even makes sense, but this is a very, very strange parallel to make, but when children because I'm a teacher and I may cut this out because I don't really want to compare serial killers and first graders, but just for the sake of us the parallel I get is you know, there are kids who maybe don't have the best home life, and then they come to I believe that people like joseph and some of the others go out of their way to continue to write letters to say the media and an artwork to medias and an artwork or hand tracings or weird gifs to people.
Speaker 5:It is to remain in the spotlight because, you know, after a while I mean the case is in the 90s your popularity is to it. I mean, granted, there is an upcoming Paramount Plus show called Happy Face starring Dennis Quaid, come out this year in March. But overall, unless you're a true crime fanatic or a true crime junkie or whatever you call yourself, as you're an enthusiast of true crime, most of your normal people don't remember who Happyface is and most people, if you say Jesperson, they'll be like who is that?
Speaker 2:I was about to say, they're going to at most remember the moniker of Happyface Killer. They're not going to know Jesperson or whatever, and with his being so close to the Smileyface Killer, those monikers are so close it's real easy to be forgotten or even mixed up with someone else because people move on so quickly with the amount of media we consume now. I could see it as a way to stay relevant, or even to you know. Feel important, yes, relevant, or even to you know feel important especially with him aging.
Speaker 2:I could see it as a way to almost have his legacy with people, as a way for them to have to remember. Yeah, this is from the happy face. Let me tell you about him even after he's gone. So I could see it as that as well, with him being up in age. But we'll say he's a very good artist so yeah, his artwork is impressive.
Speaker 5:I've heard some psychologists discuss that his artwork was amateurish and that it showed lack of talent then they don't want to see my artwork. I've heard he does pump out a lot of artwork. He draws constantly. That's pretty much his thing. That's how he does his time.
Speaker 2:So he has a lot of time for that now yeah, oh yeah but I wonder if it's almost, because I, you know, there's music therapy, there's art therapy, there's all these different things and I wonder if this is like an art therapy almost for him. I know you talked about counseling and things, but I wonder if this is a kind of a therapeutic thing for him to keep himself busy, to keep his mind going.
Speaker 5:I could I believe it is. I think it's his way of trying to keep his mind sharp, kind of. He is aging and when you're in a cell for X amount of time your mind does start to kind of fade. If you don't keep it practiced, if you don't do things, your mind can quickly deteriorate.
Speaker 3:Does his children have anything to do with him?
Speaker 5:I don't believe so. I don't think anyone has anything to do. I know that his daughter, melissa, is involved with this upcoming show. I know that she has written a book and has done a show prior to all this. I know she's written about her experiences and her life with with her father. But as far as still keeping in contact, no, I don't think anyone has. I don't believe I could be wrong. He's never really mentioned per se whether or not they still talk to him, right? I wouldn't think so.
Speaker 2:I feel like, with her being as vocal as she is within the true crime world, I feel like there might be a lot of scrutiny if she still had regular contact with him. Personally that was my opinion I think the true crime world would look at her and it would be something they'd talk about. Opinion I think the true crime world would look at her and it would be something they'd talk about before we talk about where we can get the book. Is there anything that you wanted to add that we didn't talk about?
Speaker 3:well, could you read us a piece of the book?
Speaker 5:yes, I can read you a piece, okay. Everyone loves my reading voice, so I get to supply you with that okay, is there an audiobook version? There is one in the works, I am not doing it but there is one in the works all right.
Speaker 2:I assume, though, that you picked a good voice actor to make sure that it sounds good there, there will be a good voice yes, that's my one thing about audiobooks, like if it's a good voice actor, I'm like I can't do it. All right, whenever you're ready.
Speaker 5:So this is his segment of the book called Defining Stupidity, and I believe it was one of the more intriguing sections of the book. Yes, defining Stupidity. After everything you've read in this book, you may still have questions such as what advice do I have for those who are thinking of murder? How can you not be a murderer's victim? And the ultimate why about everything? Almost 30 years behind bars and I have no real answers for people, not what people have been told already. It always comes down to pluses and negatives, the tipping of the scales to what is important to our lives. What are you willing to lose? I lost everything. When the door closed behind me, I cried to myself.
Speaker 5:While I was killing, I gave no thought to what my actions would do to my family. Why? Because getting caught never entered my mind. But sitting here in a six-by-eight-foot cell for the rest of my life hits home. What life I have left is defined how I lived it outside of these walls. I killed myself, being a murderer. We only have one life to live and we have to make it a quality life, not toss it off like trash.
Speaker 5:Am I boring you with my feeling sorry for myself? Boo hoo, getting caught as a serial killer will do that. Poor, poor, pitiful me. I get it. You're not convinced. My advice is to not do it. Some of you will go ahead and become murderers, regardless of what we convinced convicted murderers will tell you why. Because you believe you are special and not as stupid as us. You believe you'll do it right and not get caught or tell on yourself. You think you can commit the perfect murder.
Speaker 5:I've heard people claim I believe I'm cured of being a killer because I've said I would never kill again, that I have learned my lesson being in prison for the past 29 years, cured Call in murder or sickness Curable. I'll tell you this If released, I will not murder anyone. I value freedom. If you value your freedom, walk away from the trouble. Do not engage in such a senseless act as murder. Don't be a me.
Speaker 5:Sitting in prison these past 29 years has taught me plenty. Sitting in prison these past 29 years has taught me plenty. Crime shows like CSI Law Order have schooled me with every changing technology, proven and providing the scientific facts of evidence. And it's all getting better. Killing's the easy part. Anyone can be a killer. Getting away with it is something else. Read my story in this book. It will explain who and what I am. The mistakes I made has robbed me of a good life full of family and friends that love me, robbed me of my freedom. Do not let it rob you of yours. My advice don't do it. Trust me, it isn't worth it. Who I am today is not what I was back then. I value life now.
Speaker 2:I feel like I have to snap like a slam poetry thing. That wasn't so good well, thank you thank you so much and it almost had like a poetic feel to it at some point.
Speaker 5:Sometimes the way he writes is almost as if he's trying to come off philosophical, Almost as if he's trying to make like he's trying to really give that effort of giving profound statements at times.
Speaker 2:And he knows that it's going in the book right. So I feel like you know there's that extra effort of okay people are going to read this. So I don't want to make myself sound, you know, like an idiot.
Speaker 3:So I can understand like trying to make himself sound more you know profound, yes, but I mean it didn't even dawn on me to like he's saying it. All of them think they won't get caught, so none of them he's the ones he would be giving advice to probably don't care what he says, because they don't think they'll get caught. Right, and I'm thinking I've got a panic attack if I'm speeding and the police come.
Speaker 2:I'm at like the TSA line and I'm like did someone put a gun in my bag? I didn't put a gun in my bag, but are they going to find a gun in my? Bag, because now I'm concerned that there might be a gun in my bag, so I don't even know how you commit murder and not just be Wrapped with anxiety.
Speaker 2:But I feel like when that happened, I think when they get away with it they have this like a redline rush or something and like that's what keeps propelling them forward and it gives them that sense of, you know, being invincible the longer they get away with it and then it's like, oh well, nobody can catch.
Speaker 5:And then when it almost becomes, it almost becomes as if it's a game a challenge. Well, I got away with this. When I beat level one, can I do level two? Can I continue this game?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, and especially with Jefferson, when they are actively putting other people in jail for his crimes. He's got to feel extra. And not only am I not getting caught, they're taking other people away for my crimes like no one's looking my way. So he has to feel almost like an extra layer of, you know, being invincible. Yeah, exactly, um. Was there anything else that we didn't cover that you wanted to mention about the book that we didn't touch on?
Speaker 5:Not that I know of. I think we've covered pretty much everything that we could without spoiling too much of the book for people.
Speaker 2:Yes and yeah, we don't want to give it all away because, having read the book, it is a really, really great read and it's just a perspective that I didn't realize. Yes, it's heavy. It's a perspective that I didn't realize. Yes, it's heavy, and as a true crime reader, it wasn't one. I realized that I hadn't really read, and so it was a really interesting, you know, read because it was a new way to look at things for me. Thank you, well, thank you.
Speaker 1:This is your genius idea.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. So where can people get the book and remind us of the name of the book again?
Speaker 5:The name of the book is Happy Face A Family of Monsters by Keith Jesperson, as told to Nicole D Feenan. It's available on Amazon, barnes, noble and wherever else books are sold. E-book, hardback and paperback are available.
Speaker 2:An audio book coming soon right.
Speaker 5:An audio book is in the works. You definitely should be doing it though, just not me doing it, just not me doing it All right.
Speaker 2:Well, if you change your mind, I still I would vote for you to do it Well. Thank you so much. This was an amazing conversation.
Speaker 3:I will be looking forward to it. Thank you very much for having me on here.
Speaker 5:I'm a fan of Murder and Mimosas. I really enjoy the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Well, when the next book comes out, you'll have to let us know so you can come back and we can talk about the next one, because I know it's going to be just as amazing.
Speaker 3:We always recommend more bubbly and less OJ.
Speaker 4:Cheers. If you'd like to see pictures from today's episode, you can find us at murdermimosas on instagram. You can also find us at murdermimosas on tiktok twitter and if you have a case you would like us to do, you can send that to murdermimosas at gmailcom. And lastly, we are on facebook at murder and mimosas podcast, where you can interact with us there. We love any type of feedback you can give us, so please rate and review us on Spotify, itunes or wherever you listen to your podcasts.