US News
Last unidentified victim of 'Happy Face Killer' identified after 34 years
DNA testing and genetic genealogy led investigators to identify Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter of Texas, whose body was found in California in 1992.
The short version
- California authorities have identified Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter of Texas as the final unknown victim of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson.
- McWhorter's body was discovered along a highway north of Blythe, California, in August 1992, and she was long known to investigators only as 'Claudia.'
- Her identification was achieved through genetic genealogy and DNA testing that connected her to both paternal and maternal relatives.
- The breakthrough closes the final unidentified-victim case tied to the murders for which Jesperson was convicted.
Key facts
- Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter's body was discovered on August 30, 1992, along Highway 95 north of Blythe, California.[Fox News]
- Serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson confessed to killing her, pleading guilty to her murder in Riverside County in January 2010.[Fox News]
- Jesperson, known as the 'Happy Face Killer' for drawing smiley faces on letters to the media, is serving multiple life sentences for killing eight women between 1990 and 1995.[Fox News]
- Investigators used genetic genealogy to link McWhorter to her paternal half-sister, and a final DNA sample confirmed a connection to a maternal relative to secure a positive identification.[Fox News]
- According to prosecutors, McWhorter's sisters had not known what happened to her since she disappeared from Texas in the 1990s.[Fox News]