When Melissa Moore was a child, her father had the nickname “Disneyland Dad” because he seemingly always had a fun activity planned. “He’d take us bowling, fishing. He’d always say he had the best kids because we were well-behaved. I loved him—he was my dad,” Moore told People in 2009.
But underneath that benevolent exterior was a chilling secret: Her father was Keith Hunter Jesperson, the infamous “Happy Face Killer.”
Moore’s struggle to come to terms with Jesperson’s true identity—and her own as his daughter—inspired the new Paramount+ show Happy Face, which began streaming Thursday. Based on her 2009 memoir and 2018 podcast of the same name, the drama stars Annaleigh Ashford as Melissa Reed, a character based on Moore, and Dennis Quaid as the killer.
Moore found out about Jesperson’s crimes when she was a teenager and spent more than a decade wrestling with the knowledge. “The reason why I wanted to tell my story is because I felt alone. We don’t really hear about serial killers’ families,” Moore told Deadline. “We see serial killer documentaries, and it really focuses on the offender, but there’s a lot of other people affected by a criminal.”
Moore has put her words into practice by becoming an advocate for the families and victims of other criminals. Here’s everything you need to know about Melissa Moore today.
Moore saw warning signs in her dad
While Jesperson could act like a fun-loving father of three, there were clues signaling his more ominous tendencies. According to Moore, her father tortured and killed small animals. Following his divorce from her mother, Rose Hucke, in 1990, Jesperson began sharing graphic details about his sex life during conversations with his daughter.
Little did she know the reality was much worse: Jesperson had secretly begun a five-year killing spree, murdering eight victims while traveling as a long-haul truck driver. In the meantime, he appeared sporadically in the lives of Moore and her two younger siblings, Jason and Carrie.
Moore saw Jesperson for the last time at a diner in 1994 just before her 16th birthday. She revealed during a 2009 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show that her father nearly confessed to her at the restaurant. “The conversation turned to, ‘Melissa, I have something to tell you, but you’ll tell the police.’ I didn’t know what it was. I thought maybe stealing. I thought misdemeanors. I wasn’t thinking murder,” she said.
Jesperson contacted Moore through letters
Jesperson didn’t divulge his secret that night, but it wasn’t long before he did. Questioned after the death of his girlfriend Julie Winningham in March 1995, he admitted to her murder. Jesperson also wrote his brother a letter confessing to killing eight people.
According to People, Moore’s sister saw Jesperson’s mugshot on TV, prompting their mother to reveal he had been jailed for murder. The imprisoned Jesperson wrote letters to Moore, saying he missed his three children. He also suggested she and her siblings change their name, which Moore did.
Reaching adulthood, Moore got married in 2000 and started her own family but concealed details about her father from her children, Aspen and Jake. Finally in 2008, Moore decided she could no longer hide from Jesperson’s past.
Moore said her father deserves the death penalty
Moore began writing her memoir, Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter, which published in 2009. She also began giving interviews, announcing her identity as the Happy Face Killer’s daughter.
In a 2009 TV interview with Oprah and Dr. Phil, she spoke about why it took her so long to fully comprehend the evils of her father. “The denial was so thick. I just could see the memories that we had of him as my father. I couldn’t see the actions, the heinous actions that he committed,” she said. “I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. It was just too big for me.”
Then in a 2014 essay for the BBC, Moore wrote that Jesperson, who is currently serving multiple life sentences at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, deserves the death penalty for his crimes. She explained her reasoning, writing:
“I don’t say that for myself, but for his victims. Justice will never be served to them. I’m not going to go into the details of the horrific torture he inflicted on those poor women, who were mothers and daughters and sisters. Not all his victims have even been identified. There are some parents who still don’t know where their daughter or sister disappeared to.”
Today, Moore is a successful podcaster and TV producer
Now in her mid-40s, Moore divorced her first husband, Sam, in 2018 and got remarried in 2022 to Steve Kenoyer. She is a public speaker and advocate for trauma and domestic violence victims, as well as family members of other serial killers who are seeking advice and support.
Moore has become an important figure in true crime media following the success of her podcast Happy Face, about Jesperson’s crimes and the “horrific legacy he gifted his children.” The series was nominated for Breakout Podcast at the 2019 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards and returned for a second season in 2020 about the case of Diane Downs, who murdered her daughter and attempted to murder her other two children in 1983.
Beyond podcasting, Moore has helped bring several true crime stories to television. She served as an executive producer for the TV documentary films Casey Anthony: Her Friends Speak (2018) and Jodi Arias: The Friends Speak (2019).
Most recently, she executive produced three Lifetime TV miniseries. The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, about the former wife of football player O.J. Simpson, as well as The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, featuring the convicted killer on the eve of her release, both premiered in 2024. The third project, Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up, is now in its second season. Now Happy Face, which Moore also produces, is putting the spotlight back on her own story of resilience and acceptance.
Watch Happy Face on Paramount+
Happy Face fictionalizes several aspects of Jesperson’s and Moore’s lives. Star Annaleigh Ashford told the Boston Herald the conflict within Melissa as she processed Jesperson’s crimes made the character “interesting as an actor to play.”
Ashford also lauded the real Melissa’s efforts to help other families affected by violent crime. “She has a real gift for empathy and an open heart—just so the opposite of her father. I truly tried to live in that space of her spirit and show how her goal was to make things right. That is such a worthy objective,” Ashford said.
The first two episodes of Happy Face premiered Thursday on Paramount+, with six additional episodes releasing weekly through May 1.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
