My Interview With The Happy Face Killer In Cheyenne

In my many years of doing local news in Wyoming I have interviewed a lot of people.

A former president, Gerald Ford. NFL Hall of Famer Bart Starr, who by the way was a really nice guy. I was part of a group that covered a news conference with future president George W Bush at the Cheyenne Airport.

I've interviewed Olympic athletes such as Rulon Gardner and John Godina, both of whom were funny, likeable guys. I've interviewed every major political figure in Wyoming over the last 30 years, in most cases multiple times.

I probably interviewed former Senator Craig Thomas at least 20 times before he passed away. May he RIP. Whether you agree with his politics, I liked Craig Thomas and thought he really cared about Wyoming.

Keith Hunter Jesperson, The Interview Unlike The Others

But there was one interview that is completely unlike all of the others. Keith Hunter Jesperson. The Happy Face Killer.

To say he was "different" is like saying the wind blows in Wyoming. A vast understatement.

He was being held in the Laramie County jail in late 1997 and early 1998 on charges alleging he killed Angela Subrize in Laramie County in 1995. He later pled guilty, saying she had made him angry because she wouldn't let him sleep as he was parked at a Cheyenne-area truck stop.

So he killed her, strangling her to death.

At the time, I was the News Director at KMUS radio in Cheyenne.

At the urging of my boss, I arranged a phone interview with him while he was incarcerated in the Laramie County jail. This was almost 30 years ago. I don't remember the interview verbatim, but I will never forget the impressions I formed.

I had already seen Jesperson in court for one of his hearings. That in itself was strange.

As the lawyers were in the judge's chambers, Jesperson turned to myself and two other reporters in the court, saying ''I'll bet you wonder why I killed those women. Let me tell you about it.'' While the impromptu news conference was cut short, it was clear that this was a guy who loved the attention, as if he was a rock star or famous athlete.

The other thing? Jesperson was massive, a towering 6 feet 6 inches tall. There was something surreal about the whole thing.

Like something out of the movie "Natural Born Killers."

So on the afternoon of the interview, he called from the Laramie County jail. Again, the exact conversation is not something I recall in detail, but I certainly remember the tone and the impressions I formed. I will likely retain those memories until the day I die

There is this exchange that I recall in detail.

"So let's cut to the chase. Why did you kill those women?"

Jesperson: "You know, I think I have anger management issues. For awhile I tried taking a punching bag on the road to vent my anger. But it just didn't work."

I won't pretend to remember most of the rest of the conversation. But I did form some impressions. Obviously these are based on my own reactions, but they are pretty clear-cut in my mind to this day:

Jesperson really, really liked the attention. After the interview, I read online that he had conducted an interview that would "blow up the internet." At least by the time I interviewed him, he was not someone who pretended to be innocent of his crimes. He seemed to enjoy talking about them.

Total lack of remorse. To the best of my recollection he never said he was sorry. If he did feel remorse, he didn't express that during our interview. On the contrary, he seemed proud of being a serial killer, bizarre as that may be.

In a strange sort of way he was likeable IF you didn't know what he had done. At times he displayed a sense of humor, and he seemed reasonably intelligent. He exuded a "regular guy" persona when he wasn't talking about killing people. My point here is that I can understand why his victims didn't feel threatened by him. It would be easy to think you were chatting with Keith the truck driver as opposed to a serial killer.

Keith Hunter Jesperson was easily the most evil person I have ever had contact with in my years on this earth. All the more so because he seemed chillingly average. A raging killer hiding behind a very average, even likeable personality. I can only imagine the terror his  victims felt in their dying moments as the monster came out of hiding and choked their lives away, a mountain of rage and brutality.

Jesperson is known to have murdered at least eight women, but the true number may be much higher. He is the subject of "Happy Face," a series starring Dennis Quaid that will stream on Paramount Plus platform March 20, 2025.

You can see the trailer below;