It was a gruesome crime spree – Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the Happy Face Killer, confessed to murdering eight women across several states. One of those women were killed in Okaloosa County in Northwest Florida.

“Had probably been here about five months since the discovery in September and the woman had been killed not too long before being placed there,” said former public information officer for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO), Rick Hord.

The victim has remained a Jane Doe for nearly 25 years. Reports state she was beaten, raped, and strangled before being tossed in a wooded area off Interstate 10 in Holt.

“Honestly it was going nowhere. We couldn’t identify the victim, there was not much evidence left at the scene and a year later is when we got our big break in the case,” explained Sgt. Mike Smith with OCSO.

That’s when Jesperson gave a candid confession while sitting in the Oregon State Penitentiary.

“He put three tie wraps around her throat and what we found at the crime scene in September of ‘94 was three tie wraps. So, we had no doubt he knows what he’s talking about,” said former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Dennis Haley.

In 1995, the serial killer admitted to killing women across the county in Oregon, California, Wyoming, and Washington. Jesperson sent letters to local newspapers describing in graphic detail how he killed his victims.

Most of the notes were stamped with his signature happy face.

Jesperson now faces multiple life sentences for the murders. Investigators say their goal is not to pin more charges on him.

“We have the murderer, and is in prison and is never going to see the light of day. So, at that point, it became almost a quest to identify who that person is,” said Sgt. Smith.

Their goal is to identify Jane Doe and to give the nameless victim an identity.

“Jesperson said that a wave of emotions came rushing over him and he had to get the picture out of the cell as quickly as possible because it brought back so many memories of that night because it looked just like her,” Haley said.

Jesperson told authorities he picked the woman up from a truck stop in Tampa and even gave investigators a name.

“Susan or Suzette. She came from Miami, Florida – was headed to Reno, Nevada and at the time Jesperson was a cross-country truck driver,” Haley explained.

However, the woman never made it to Reno. Jesperson told authorities he raped and strangled her before dumping her body off of I-10.

Recently, DNA technology was used to track down the man believed to be the Golden State Killer accused in more than 60 rapes and murders across a 12-year time span.

WEAR spoke to the man behind those big breaks. Paul Holes is a retired investigator with the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office in California. He said the technology used to track down his alleged killer, genealogy DNA testing, could be an option for identifying our Jane Doe.

“This is another major revolutionary step in DNA technology in that you generate a genealogy compatible profile in these genealogy databases and then track back from relatives who your offender is,” said Holes. “As long as you have that sample, then you’re able to create this genealogy DNA compatible profile hoping. You’re hoping to find of course close relatives in these genealogy databases to identify your victims.”

Okaloosa County Investigator Joe Trimboli said he’s sending off her remains to the University of Texas for advanced DNA testing where researchers will compare her DNA to a missing persons database.

“Think with the advancements of technology that we’ll definitely solve this case. It’s just a matter of time,” said Investigator Trimboli.

“She needs to go home. She needs to go back to her family, rather than sit in a box at the medical examiner’s office,” said Haley.