After nearly three decades, a woman killed by the so-called “Happy Face Killer” near Crestview, Fla., has become the seventh of his eight victims to be positively identified.

Through the efforts of Florida investigators, working in conjunction with Othram, Inc., a leader in forensic testing, the woman has been identified as Suzanne J. Kjellenberg, officials announced during a Tuesday press conference.

Keith Hunter Jesperson’s trail of victims stretches from Oregon to California to Nebraska to Florida, with the first victim found in January 1990 and the last in March 1995.

Jesperson, an interstate truck driver, was dubbed the “Happy Face Killer” by an Oregon reporter after he began writing to media and law enforcement and drawing smiley faces on the letters. The Canadian-born serial killer is currently serving three consecutive life sentences in Oregon for the three murders committed there.

Most of the victims were sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled by the 6-7, 255-pound Jesperson.

In February 1996, Jesperson admitted to an Okaloosa County investigators that he had killed a woman in August 1994 and dumped her body near the Holt exit on Interstate 10. He said at the time he believed the woman’s name was “Susan” or “Suzette.”

Although they knew the identity of her killer, the woman’s identity remained a mystery until March of this year, when Othram was able to develop a comprehensive genealogical profile through which leads were produced that led investigators to identify Kjellenberg as the Florida victim.

Members of Kjellenberg’s family reside in Wisconsin and have been notified, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said Tuesday. He said they were grateful for the perseverance of investigators, but also asked for privacy.

Last month, a team including Okaloosa investigators Kelly Henderson and Aaron Pittman, along with Mark Zagar from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Assistant State Attorney Michelle Sandler traveled to Oregon State Penitentiary to meet with Jesperson.

Before the interview, Jesperson was presented with a document assuring him the State of Florida would not seek the death penalty for Kjellenberg’s murder.

“As of today’s date, Jesperson has been charged with the murder of Suzanne Kjellenberg,” Aden said.

During the meeting, Jesperson again confessed to the crime, telling investigators he had met the woman (Kjellenberg) at a truck stop near Tampa in August 194 and she accompanied him to the Florida Panhandle. She was headed for Lake Tahoe, Nev., Jesperson said.

The two stopped at a rest area along I-10, with Kjellenberg sleeping in the bed inside the truck. Jesperson said when he sat down next to her, she began screaming and wouldn’t stop.

Jesperson said he was fearful a nearby security guard would hear the woman’s screams (he was not allowe to have unauthorized passengers).

“So I killed her,” he said, chillingly. “You have to consider that after so many people, it was just the easiest thing to do.”

Jesperson also said he was concerned that when he moved the body, the large spaghetti dinner the woman had eaten would “come up,” so he tied two plastic zip ties around her neck.

“I figured that way, when I moved her, nothing would come out,” he said.

Jesperson drove Kjellenberg’s body to the Holt exit. Her body was found by a inmate on a road work crew on Sept. 14, 1994.

“Thanks to the tireless efforts of so many over so long, the remains of Suzanne Kjellenberg, the final unidentified victim of Jesperson’s cross country murder sprees, can finally leave the Medical Examiner’s Office, and return home,” Aden said.

Although Aden referred to Kjellenberg as the “final” unidentified victim, one of Jesperson’s victims remains unidentified — a woman he referred to as “Claudia,” whose body was found near Blythe, Calif., in August 1992.

Kjellenberg is the second of Jesperson’s victims to be identified in the past 18 months. In April 2022, authorities in Santa Clara County, Calif., identified Patricia Skiple as his fifth victim, whose body was found near Santa Nella, Calif., in June 1993.