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[OMINOUS MUSIC]
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NANCY GRACE: 1994,
Okaloosa County, Florida.
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A group of inmates
uncover a disturbing scene
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alongside Interstate 10.
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MICHELLE SANDLER: One
of them discovered
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a body while they
were landscaping,
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almost fully decomposed.
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DEANNA OLESKE: She was
almost entirely skeletonized.
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She still had some flesh on her.
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There's a lot of
information that you gather
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from the soft tissue that
you wouldn't necessarily
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have on your skeletal remains.
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MICHELLE SANDLER: The
zip ties at her throat
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were really the clue
that this was a homicide.
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NANCY GRACE: Detectives
exhaust every lead trying
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to identify their Jane Doe.
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Eventually, they hit a dead
end, and her case goes cold.
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KELLY HENDERSON: We did get
some leads from other people
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that were missing.
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However, those
leads were followed,
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and nothing was able
to come out of it.
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We weren't able to identify her.
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I think that they
were shocked to find
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someone they couldn't identify.
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NANCY GRACE: Almost
30 years later,
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new forensic science
jumpstarts the investigation,
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giving detectives another
chance to identify Jane Doe.
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KELLY HENDERSON: We were very
excited, as we had wondered
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since 1994 who this victim was.
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I told my colleagues that
we were going to identify
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her before the end of the year.
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This is the story of the
30-year search for the identity
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of a murder victim and the name
of the person who murdered her.
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I'm Nancy Grace.
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This is "Bloodline Detectives."
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[THEME MUSIC]
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[PENSIVE MUSIC]
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NANCY GRACE: Okaloosa
County in Northwest
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Florida, known for stunning
beaches along the emerald coast.
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ERIC ADEN: We have emerald-green
waters and white-sugar beaches
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on the south end, and
then we have farmland
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in the north end of the county.
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"Okaloosa" itself is a
Choctawhatchee Indian word
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for "black water" because of the
color of our rivers in the north
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end of the county, contrasted
with the white-sugar beach sand
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of the banks of the rivers.
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It's small.
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We get a lot of tourists
for our beaches.
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We live where people vacation.
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So this is a wonderful place
to live and raise your family.
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There is not a lot
of violent crime.
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I think when we do have
violent crime, it's shocking.
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I think it's fair to say that
the violent crimes are rising,
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but nothing compared
to other cities,
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and then in 1994, in the
'90s, from what I understand,
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pretty low crime rate.
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ALAN DUKE: Much of
the Okaloosa area
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is occupied by swamps,
recreational vehicle parks,
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RV parks.
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But the main feature
of Okaloosa County
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is Interstate 10, because
it's this main road that
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takes you from the
coast of Florida
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all the way to the west coast.
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In California, it is a
major trucking route.
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Any goods, any vehicles,
anything that is transported
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by a large truck that goes
from the west to the east,
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there's a good chance it
will be, at some point,
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on Interstate 10.
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NANCY GRACE: September 14,
1994, inmates from the Okaloosa
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Correctional Institute carrying
out supervised maintenance
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on Interstate 10.
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MICHELLE SANDLER: The
inmates were working
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a shift along Interstate 10 with
a supervisor, and one of them
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discovered a body while
they were landscaping.
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[TENSE MUSIC]
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That inmate ran to his
supervisor right away
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and let the supervisor
know what he found.
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They notified law
enforcement right away.
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Then a senior officers
with investigations
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would direct the scene and
collection and things like that.
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Back then, we had about
seven investigators that
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worked for the whole county.
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One of them would
come out and be
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the lead on the investigation.
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KELLY HENDERSON: They would
immediately secure the scene.
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They would remove
everybody from the area.
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They would tape it off to
prevent anybody from being
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able to come into the area.
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And then they would do
scene sketches, drawings.
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They would photograph the
scene and then contact
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the medical examiner's
office, at which time
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the coroner would respond and
take possession of the body
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and/or the skeletons
in this case,
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and then just finished
processing the scene.
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ALAN DUKE: They're looking
for artifacts, things,
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clues as to if there
was a struggle,
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was the person alive
when they were there?
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Or were they dumped?
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But the remains
themselves were mostly--
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it's just a
skeleton, just bones.
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DEANNA OLESKE: She was
almost entirely skeletonized.
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She still had some flesh on her.
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She was wrapped up
in a puffy jacket.
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MICHELLE SANDLER:
There was a little bit
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of a floral print dress and
then a little bit of jewelry.
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She had some
jewelry in her hair.
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And she had, you know,
kind of costume jewelry
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and a sterling silver ring on.
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What was left of her hair was
brown with obvious bleaching.
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Another really
important artifact
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that they found, actually,
were these zip ties
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that, typically, an electrician
or a sound engineer or someone
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would use to wrap cords
to keep them organized.
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They found that, and it was
right with the body and right
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in the neck area of the body.
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The zip ties at her
throat were really the clue
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that this was a homicide.
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NANCY GRACE: The
missing Jane Doe becomes
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a homicide investigation.
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Crime scene investigators
preserve all evidence found
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with the victim's remains.
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They also take samples
from the surrounding area.
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Detectives want to nail
down who is this victim
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and how long has she been there.
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MICHELLE SANDLER: They
collected insects, foliage.
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I know that there was a
forensic entomology report done
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to try to determine
the time of death
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based on the degree
of decomposition.
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ALAN DUKE: They can
look and see, oh, well,
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that insect takes this
long to find and colonize
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and grow in a corpse.
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And it's like a flag,
a marker for them.
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When they see that particular
insect, that bug in the remains,
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they then can make a
conclusion generally,
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an educated guess about
how long that body
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has been exposed to the
elements and to the insects.
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I don't think
anyone ever pinpointed
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an exact time of death.
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Because of the state
of decomposition,
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it was very difficult. But they
did use forensic entomology
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and do the best that
they could with the state
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that the body was in.
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They believed that it had
been there no later than April
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of that year, April of 1994.
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The evidence is collected.
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It's secured.
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And then we send it here locally
to the Florida Department of Law
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Enforcement to get analyzed
to see whatever DNA
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or anything they
could get from it.
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What they're looking for as
well is evidence of identity.
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Okaloosa County detectives
wait for autopsy results that
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could reveal information
about the ID of their Jane Doe
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and the ID of her killer.
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That's next on
"Bloodline Detectives."
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[AUDIO LOGO]
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[AUDIO LOGO]
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[TENSE MUSIC]
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NANCY GRACE: September 14,
1994, Okaloosa County, Florida.
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Skeletal remains of
an unidentified person
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discovered along Interstate 10.
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Investigators secure
every bit of evidence
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they can for testing.
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The victim's remains
undergo autopsy.
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Detectives aim to learn
more about their Jane Doe.
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DEANNA OLESKE: When we have
just skeletonized remains,
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we've lost all the soft tissue.
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So if you were
bruised, I would never
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see it or ever know
it unless there
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was an injury to your bones.
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If you were shot, I'd have
to hope it hit some bones.
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Otherwise, I'd never
be able to tell.
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There's a lot of
information that you gather
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from the soft tissues that
you wouldn't necessarily
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have on your skeletal remains.
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The clothing actually kept the
skeletal remains mostly intact,
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but there was some surface
scatter of the smaller bones,
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and the skull, I think, was
found about 4 feet away.
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When they brought her, they
brought what they could find--
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surprisingly covered quite
a bit of her remains.
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I'd say about 85% of
her came back to us.
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They documented all
of her clothing.
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And since she was an
unidentified person,
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they also documented the tags
and the size of the clothing,
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which can help us determine
maybe how old she is
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and how big she was.
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We're looking for other
pieces of evidence.
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Again, we wouldn't have any
fingernails or places where you
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could possibly collect for DNA
evidence for sexual assault
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because they're just
skeletonized remains.
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We would do what we could.
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In this case, we
found two ligatures
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that were encircling her
cervical vertebrae that were
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still left over and intact,
that were still held
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there, actually, by her hair.
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And then we would do X-rays
or radiographs, again, to see
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if there's anything there.
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Following that, we would
inventory and document what
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we do have, note what we
don't have in terms of bones,
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do a dental examination or have
that sent to a forensic dentist
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to determine where she
had any dental repairs.
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Then we would send these remains
to a forensic anthropologist
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to go over every
single bone in detail
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and try to gather as much
information as they can
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from what the
bones can tell you.
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We learned about
how tall she was.
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She was about 5 foot 4
plus or minus 2 inches.
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And surprisingly, they made a
guesstimation of how much she
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weighed based on her bra size.
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She was a 34B, which I
thought was remarkable.
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She was about 110 to 114 pounds.
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There was no perimortem trauma.
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That means that there
was no obvious signs
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of trauma or
injuries to the bones
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immediately surrounding death.
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However, we were lucky enough to
recover part of the hyoid bone,
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about 2/3 of it.
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A third of it was missing, and
that could have been because it
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wasn't fused there,
or it could have
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been because it was fractured,
as if she were strangled.
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There was a major
clue in the autopsy room
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that would lead to a conclusion
of the cause of death.
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And that would be these
black electrical cord
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ties around the neck.
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It doesn't take a very
experienced detective or even
00:12:09
a journalist to
conclude probably
00:12:11
was a strangulation
involved in this.
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NANCY GRACE: The autopsy
reveals a lot to investigators--
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Jane Doe's height, her
weight, and the suspected COD,
00:12:24
Cause Of Death.
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It's a start, of course, but
forensic science is still
00:12:28
in its infancy in the 1990s.
00:12:31
Detectives and science
have a long way to go.
00:12:36
In the mid '90s,
they didn't have
00:12:38
the tools that are relied on
today by the same detectives.
00:12:42
Databases were just starting
to be created and to be shared.
00:12:48
Forensic tools that
we depend on today
00:12:51
were in their very early stages.
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Sciences-- forensic
science has come a long way
00:12:57
in the last 30 years.
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MICHELLE SANDLER: They consulted
with multiple agencies,
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and they scoured
missing persons reports.
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ERIC ADEN: But with
the skeletal remains,
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it's a lot more difficult.
You do not have facial ability
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to be able to
recognize them, had
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no identifiable victim
to be able to say,
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this person is missing.
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We might send out a notification
to other agencies in the area,
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and we would tell
them internally,
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hey, we have found a body,
a remains of a female.
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Do you have anyone missing?
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KELLY HENDERSON: In fact, when
we were reviewing the report,
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we noticed that
they had at least
00:13:29
30 different missing people that
they had further investigated
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to see if, by chance,
our skeletons were
00:13:35
one of those victims.
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MICHELLE SANDLER: They tried
to track down the manufacturer
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of the clothing-- believe
it was Brandywine Creek,
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I want to say--
and determine where
00:13:45
that particular dress was sold.
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They interviewed as many
people as they could.
00:13:51
They got trucking records.
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They went down every rabbit
hole they could possibly go down
00:13:58
and used every tool at their
disposal that was available
00:14:00
in the '90s,
including working with
00:14:02
other law enforcement agencies.
00:14:04
They did everything they
could to try and figure out
00:14:08
the identity of this victim.
00:14:12
NANCY GRACE:
Investigators are nowhere
00:14:14
in identifying their Jane Doe.
00:14:17
Then, 1995, one year
after she's discovered,
00:14:21
a new potential
suspect comes forward.
00:14:28
They had received notification
from another law enforcement
00:14:31
agency that Keith Jesperson
had admitted to killing
00:14:35
a woman along I-10 in Florida.
00:14:38
KELLY HENDERSON: He was
incarcerated for, I believe,
00:14:40
Taunja Bennett's murder.
00:14:42
And he, again, confesses to
killing multiple other victims
00:14:45
in different jurisdictions.
00:14:48
Keith Jesperson is infamous.
00:14:52
He shamelessly confesses to
seven additional homicides
00:14:57
after his first arrest in 1995.
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His nickname?
00:15:01
The Happy Face Killer.
00:15:05
Mr. Jesperson was very
believable to the Okaloosa
00:15:08
County Sheriff's Office.
00:15:10
He told a story that
made sense, and he
00:15:14
gave them information that
he would not otherwise
00:15:17
have been able to get.
00:15:19
At that point of time, we
didn't have the public records
00:15:23
that we have now, the
internet and all of the things
00:15:26
that we have to make
the kind of information
00:15:29
like she was found with
zip ties in a floral dress
00:15:32
and the kind of jewelry she
wore and things like that--
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it wasn't widely publicized.
00:15:39
They can't do a whole lot
without an identity of a victim.
00:15:43
It's very difficult to
prosecute those cases.
00:15:46
NANCY GRACE: Keith Jesperson's
confession in the Jane Doe case
00:15:50
seems credible until he's
asked to ID the victim.
00:15:54
Other than the name Suzanne or
Suzette, he now says he can't
00:15:59
remember much else about her.
00:16:01
He said her name was
Suzanne or Suzette.
00:16:05
I need to know that that's
a Suzanne or a Suzette
00:16:08
in order to prosecute the case
beyond a reasonable doubt.
00:16:12
We're required to prove that
there is a crime that occurred
00:16:15
and the body of the crime.
00:16:16
And the way the law works is you
can't prove it on a confession
00:16:19
alone.
00:16:21
Even with Keith
Jespersen's confession,
00:16:24
detectives are unable
to move forward.
00:16:26
Why?
00:16:27
Because prosecutors
want a definitive ID
00:16:31
for the murder victim.
00:16:33
So for now, not much
else can be done.
00:16:38
ERIC ADEN: '96, you
know, about then,
00:16:40
it went real cold
because, you know,
00:16:42
in '95, he had
already confessed.
00:16:44
And then we interviewed in '96,
but then shortly thereafter,
00:16:48
couldn't do much
with it from there.
00:16:49
I mean, the investigators tried
to use whatever means they had
00:16:52
at the time at their disposal
to try and get justice,
00:16:56
but they just were
simply unsuccessful.
00:17:00
NANCY GRACE: The murder
case of Jane Doe goes cold.
00:17:05
Can detectives trust a serial
killer, Keith Jesperson,
00:17:09
to give a truthful confession?
00:17:11
We find out next on
"Bloodline Detectives."
00:17:14
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:17:18
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:17:21
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
00:17:23
NANCY GRACE: Okaloosa
County, Florida, 2007,
00:17:26
investigators
reopen the cold case
00:17:28
of an unidentified woman
discovered along Interstate 10
00:17:32
back in 1994.
00:17:34
The only lead?
00:17:35
The 1995 confession
of a ruthless
00:17:39
serial killer, Keith Jesperson.
00:17:43
Jesperson's info about
Jane Doe is sketchy,
00:17:47
so detectives try a new
strategy to ID their victim.
00:17:54
In 2007-- this is 13
years after the body
00:17:59
was found and a long time after
this case was put on the shelf--
00:18:04
a new approach was attempted.
00:18:08
MICHELLE SANDLER:
They sent the skull
00:18:09
off to a forensic anthropologist
to do facial reconstruction to--
00:18:14
and what they used was
a clay imaging process.
00:18:17
And that's where they placed
clay over certain points that
00:18:21
are known to be of
a certain thickness
00:18:23
on the skull to recreate
what the individual looked
00:18:27
like in life.
00:18:29
They're interesting
because it's actually
00:18:32
a 3D rendering based off
of their skull structure.
00:18:35
They can be really accurate.
00:18:38
ALAN DUKE: Have you
seen this person?
00:18:39
Is this person someone
you knew in 1994?
00:18:44
And at least it might
be a visual trigger
00:18:48
that would cause
people to come forth
00:18:50
with clues as to who this was.
00:18:53
We did get some leads from
other people that were missing
00:18:56
and family members
that had reported
00:18:58
their loved ones missing.
00:18:59
However, those
leads were followed,
00:19:01
and nothing was able
to come out of it.
00:19:04
We weren't able to identify her.
00:19:06
NANCY GRACE: The
clay mask strategy
00:19:08
does not help identify
their Jane Doe,
00:19:11
but investigators won't give up.
00:19:13
They send the remains off for
a new round of DNA testing,
00:19:17
hoping to create
a new DNA profile
00:19:20
they can then upload to CODIS.
00:19:25
MICHELLE SANDLER: CODIS
is the Combined DNA Index,
00:19:28
and that is basically the
national database where people
00:19:31
whose DNA has been taken for
crimes is entered so that it can
00:19:35
be compared to and
run against crimes
00:19:36
in which there's known DNA, but
not a known suspect or victim.
00:19:42
DEANNA OLESKE: Well, we ended
up sending both to FDLE,
00:19:45
the Florida Department
of Law Enforcement,
00:19:47
to their lab for
genetic testing,
00:19:50
and then ultimately,
also in 2007, to the FBI
00:19:54
to do mitochondrial DNA testing.
00:19:56
The profiles were generated,
they were uploaded to codas,
00:19:59
and there was nothing.
00:20:04
2008, investigators
take a long shot
00:20:07
at identifying Jane Doe.
00:20:10
They send her remains off
to the University of Florida
00:20:13
for anthropological testing.
00:20:16
The results confirm the
victim's age, between 35 and 55
00:20:21
at the time of death.
00:20:23
Unfortunately, it still
doesn't get police any closer
00:20:27
to knowing who is Jane Doe.
00:20:32
KELLY HENDERSON: We
know that we have
00:20:33
somebody that's been murdered.
00:20:34
And because we
can't identify her,
00:20:36
one, we can't give closure
to the family, and two,
00:20:38
we can't give justice.
00:20:41
NANCY GRACE: Okaloosa
County detectives,
00:20:43
frustrated, they put
the Jane Doe case
00:20:46
back in the cold case unit.
00:20:48
Then, 14 years later, October
2022, opportunity strikes.
00:20:58
DEANNA OLESKE: I was at a
national conference in Las
00:21:00
Vegas, and I attended a
talk about forensic genetic
00:21:03
genealogy, the advances
of and how they
00:21:06
have been successful with it.
00:21:08
Forensic genetic genealogy
is when the DNA of a victim
00:21:13
is compared in a database.
00:21:15
They make sure that they have
a full genome for the victim
00:21:18
and then compare
it to other genomes
00:21:22
so that they can find relatives
and identify our victims that
00:21:26
have remained unidentified.
00:21:29
Othram was the company
that was offering to do
00:21:32
these kinds of identifications.
00:21:34
And I took a picture of the
slide during the conference,
00:21:37
and I sent it to my
associate medical examiner,
00:21:40
Dr. Lorraine Lopez, and I asked
her, can you initiate contact?
00:21:45
Let's try to do
this for Suzanne.
00:21:51
Othram is purpose
built to identify
00:21:55
victims and perpetrators
from crime scenes using DNA.
00:21:58
So we have built the
infrastructure necessary to be
00:22:02
able to test the most
intractable pieces of DNA
00:22:05
evidence, the software needed
to be able to build the most
00:22:08
high-performing DNA
profiles that you can upload
00:22:12
to genealogical databases
that are consented for law
00:22:14
enforcement use,
to help you infer
00:22:16
the identity of an unknown
person at a crime scene.
00:22:22
For every case that comes
to Othram, the first step
00:22:24
for us is to understand what
has been done in the past, what
00:22:27
is the current status
of the case, what items
00:22:30
are available for testing.
00:22:31
And so we ask for any agency
to submit available information
00:22:35
into our portal so that our
scientific team can review
00:22:40
what's available
and make a decision
00:22:42
and determination as
to whether or not we
00:22:44
believe we can work the case.
00:22:47
KRISTEN MITTELMAN: We got a call
from Okaloosa Sheriff's Office,
00:22:51
and they told us that they had
unidentified remains that were
00:22:56
found in 1994, a cold case
that had absolutely no leads
00:23:00
as to who this person might be.
00:23:02
They did say that they
thought it was a female.
00:23:04
She was about 110
pounds when found.
00:23:07
And she was estimated to
be between the age of 35
00:23:11
and 55 years old.
00:23:14
NANCY GRACE: Othram agrees
to take on the case.
00:23:17
Dr. Deanna Oleske
carefully sends over part
00:23:21
of the 28-year-old victim's
remains to see if it's possible
00:23:26
to extract a DNA sample.
00:23:30
DEANNA OLESKE: We tried sending
teeth at first, some molars.
00:23:32
They were unable to
extract from the molars.
00:23:35
We did send a femur as well,
and it also did not yield
00:23:38
enough DNA for extraction.
00:23:40
So we ended up sending
part of her skull.
00:23:42
The base of the skull,
where your sphenoid, sinus,
00:23:45
and your cavities
live, they've had
00:23:47
better success with that than
with teeth at extracting DNA.
00:23:51
At the end of December of
'22, they were able to extract
00:23:53
a profile from that.
00:23:55
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
00:23:57
KRISTEN MITTELMAN: We were able
to do forensic grade genome
00:23:59
sequencing on this
and create a profile
00:24:02
that had hundreds and hundreds
of thousands of SNP markers.
00:24:06
It had enough material
to generate a profile.
00:24:09
They used that and
they compared it
00:24:11
to persons who publicly
upload their DNA
00:24:15
to a website called GEDmatch.
00:24:18
For a comparison
to see if there is
00:24:20
any distant relatives
out there that could
00:24:23
be related to this person.
00:24:26
It was actually a
really good profile
00:24:28
and uploaded and led to
matches in the DNA database.
00:24:32
We knew that there were
clusters of relatives
00:24:35
in certain parts of
the United States,
00:24:37
and that's important
information.
00:24:40
Not always are you able
to immediately point
00:24:42
to the name of a
person, but rather, you
00:24:44
point to the name of
relatives, and those relatives
00:24:47
can be data sources.
00:24:50
KRISTEN MITTELMAN: It was early
2023 when we provided back
00:24:53
the family that we thought
the person belonged to,
00:24:56
and then law enforcement
made contact with her family.
00:25:00
They asked if
someone was missing.
00:25:02
They said yes.
00:25:04
They asked a family member
to provide DNA so that we
00:25:07
could confirm the result.
00:25:09
MICHELLE SANDLER:
The victim's mother,
00:25:11
they performed a buccal
swab for YSTR testing
00:25:15
to compare that to our victim
and determine that it was,
00:25:19
indeed, the child of the
person whose DNA they
00:25:23
had taken a buccal swab of.
00:25:25
NANCY GRACE: The buccal swab
test returns a positive result.
00:25:29
That means Othram successfully
finds the mother of Jane Doe.
00:25:37
DEANNA OLESKE: I
told my colleagues
00:25:39
that we're going to identify
her before the end of the year.
00:25:43
We were able to identify
her within two months.
00:25:48
I was in my office,
and Dr. Lopez
00:25:52
yelled at me down the hallway
and said, we identified Suzanne.
00:25:56
I go, oh, what's her name?
00:25:59
And she goes, Suzanne.
00:26:01
I go, are you kidding me?
00:26:03
[LAUGHS] The whole time,
that was actually her name?
00:26:06
I felt really, really good.
00:26:09
It was a pure and
utter excitement.
00:26:12
We kind of bounced around
for a couple of minutes
00:26:14
cheering that we actually
had her name for once.
00:26:16
And it was incredible.
00:26:20
Detectives are finally able
to put a name to the remains.
00:26:24
It's Suzanne Kjellenberg.
00:26:27
She was 34 years old at the
time that she was killed.
00:26:33
We knew that she was from the
Midwest, that her father was
00:26:38
an attorney, that
she had a brother,
00:26:41
that her family had
not given up on looking
00:26:43
for her for a long time.
00:26:46
KELLY HENDERSON: Back
then, it was, you know,
00:26:48
wait 24 hours or 48 hours.
00:26:50
See if they're doing
their own thing
00:26:51
or, if it's a child, if they
maybe went to a friend's house
00:26:54
and just didn't
tell their parents.
00:26:55
Not taken as serious,
I guess, as it is now.
00:26:59
I mean, now we immediately
do a missing persons
00:27:02
report based on situation.
00:27:04
It could even be an endangered
to where it gets pushed out
00:27:06
quicker.
00:27:07
But back then, it seemed
like it was kind of a "well,
00:27:10
let's wait and see if
they come back first."
00:27:12
ALAN DUKE: But she was 34
years old, in her mid 30s,
00:27:16
and she liked to roam around.
00:27:18
She was something of a free
spirit in that way, in that she
00:27:22
would spend time in
this part of the country
00:27:24
and then in another
part of the country.
00:27:27
KELLY HENDERSON: She
was kind of a drifter.
00:27:28
She would kind of
just do her own thing.
00:27:32
She would get rides, which
was not uncommon at that time,
00:27:35
you know, to get a ride
with a truck driver
00:27:38
or hitchhike with somebody.
00:27:40
She wasn't necessarily-- stayed
in contact with her family.
00:27:45
She just kind of
did her own thing.
00:27:49
There was a lot of
communication between my office,
00:27:52
as well as the medical
examiner's office and the state
00:27:54
attorney's office,
because you know,
00:27:58
Keith Jesperson had previously
confessed to killing Suzanne.
00:28:02
He's already serving several
life sentences for other murders
00:28:05
and has been been convicted of.
00:28:07
So there was a
little bit of, well,
00:28:09
are we going to move
forward with this when he's
00:28:12
already serving life sentences?
00:28:13
And the ultimate decision
was, yes, Suzanne, as well as
00:28:16
her family, deserve the same
justice as the other victims
00:28:20
from Keith Jesperson.
00:28:21
So at that point, it
was decided to make
00:28:23
a trip to Oregon to do
a face-to-face interview
00:28:27
with Jesperson.
00:28:29
Science and great
police work joined forces
00:28:33
to finally identify Jane Doe.
00:28:36
Now, investigators want
to know why she died
00:28:40
and who murdered her.
00:28:41
That's next on
"Bloodline Detectives."
00:28:44
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:28:48
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:28:52
NANCY GRACE: Okaloosa
County, Florida, 2023,
00:28:55
29 years after the
remains of a woman
00:28:59
found dumped along the side
of Interstate 10, detectives
00:29:03
finally know who she is.
00:29:06
Her name?
00:29:07
Suzanne Kjellenberg, 34 years
old at the time of her murder.
00:29:12
But now, detectives want to
question infamous serial killer
00:29:16
Keith Jesperson.
00:29:18
In 1995, Jesperson confesses he
sex assaults and murders Suzanne
00:29:25
Kjellenberg.
00:29:28
Keith Jesperson is a
very proud serial killer.
00:29:33
If you add up all of the
stories of the people
00:29:36
he claims to have killed,
it would be about 160.
00:29:40
However, law enforcement
and prosecutors,
00:29:45
while they might like to pin all
those killings on one person,
00:29:50
close all these cases, they tend
to want to have some evidence
00:29:56
to go along with it.
00:29:57
And if they think that he's
just boasting about this and not
00:30:01
bringing the information to
connect him to the killing,
00:30:03
he doesn't.
00:30:04
They have been able
to verify eight.
00:30:10
NANCY GRACE: Since 1990,
Keith Jesperson is known
00:30:13
as the "Happy Face Killer."
00:30:15
Why?
00:30:16
Because of confession
letters he writes
00:30:18
to law enforcement and media.
00:30:22
Mr. Jesperson wrote
several letters to the press,
00:30:25
and he signed them
with happy faces.
00:30:28
He had written little
notes on bathroom stalls
00:30:33
at truck stops, signed
again with the happy face,
00:30:36
the smiley face, almost
taunting the police and media,
00:30:40
letting them know
that the person that's
00:30:42
responsible for these deaths are
him, and he's still out there.
00:30:48
NANCY GRACE: Detectives now
go to the Oregon State Prison
00:30:51
to interview serial
killer Keith Jesperson.
00:30:55
They want to know if he really
murdered Suzanne Kjellenberg
00:30:59
or if his confession all
those years ago is a lie.
00:31:04
Mr. Jesperson was in
the Oregon penitentiary,
00:31:08
located in Salem, Oregon.
00:31:11
KELLY HENDERSON: So
in September of 2023,
00:31:13
we did elect to go do a
face-to-face unannounced.
00:31:16
So Keith Jesperson did not
realize that we were going
00:31:19
to be coming to talk to him.
00:31:20
And it was a team of four.
00:31:22
It was myself, my partner,
Investigator Pittman,
00:31:25
FDLE Special Agent Mark Zagar,
and then our assistant state
00:31:29
attorney, who was going
to be trying the case,
00:31:31
which was Michelle Sandler.
00:31:33
MICHELLE SANDLER: We look at
several different scenarios that
00:31:35
could happen before
we go there, and we
00:31:37
review the case file
heavily so that we
00:31:39
can gauge his truthfulness.
00:31:43
The fact that we had
a confession from 1996
00:31:46
was incredibly helpful,
because then we had something
00:31:48
that we could compare
to the evidence
00:31:50
and to whatever statement
he gave in 2023 to see
00:31:55
how truthful he was being.
00:31:57
We needed him to
answer time and place
00:32:01
and detail, more
than anything else.
00:32:03
We needed to make sure
that he knew things
00:32:05
only the killer would know.
00:32:07
We were a little worried
he might feign ignorance
00:32:12
or refuse to speak with us.
00:32:17
KELLY HENDERSON: Once we got
there, we introduced ourselves.
00:32:20
Keith Jesperson knew
exactly why we were there.
00:32:27
When we walked in and I said
that we were from Florida,
00:32:31
he said, oh, about the girl I
killed in Holt. He knew exactly.
00:32:35
This is a big man.
00:32:37
He obviously had put on
some weight since the 1990s,
00:32:41
you know, photos.
00:32:42
But he was probably about 6'
5, probably pushing 300 pounds.
00:32:48
And he had huge hands.
00:32:50
He is older now, so he
had gray hair and glasses,
00:32:53
but a very big guy.
00:32:56
He was a very affable,
friendly guy to meet us.
00:33:02
If you didn't know he
was a serial killer,
00:33:04
you would think he was a typical
big, gregarious type of fellow.
00:33:09
But knowing he was a serial
killer kept us guarded.
00:33:14
NANCY GRACE: Okaloosa
County, Florida detectives
00:33:16
interrogating a serial killer.
00:33:18
Can they confirm he savagely
murdered a defenseless
00:33:23
woman 29 years before?
00:33:26
We find out next on
"Bloodline Detectives."
00:33:29
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:33:33
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:33:37
NANCY GRACE: Florida detectives
are at the Oregon State
00:33:40
Penitentiary to interview
notorious serial killer Keith
00:33:44
Jesperson.
00:33:45
In 1995, he confesses to the
brutal sex assault and murder
00:33:50
of Suzanne Kjellenberg,
the 34-year-old
00:33:53
dumped along Interstate 10.
00:33:56
She's not identified
for 28 years,
00:34:00
and now detectives are
determined to close her murder
00:34:04
case and seal his confession.
00:34:08
We needed to be very careful
that any conviction that we got
00:34:12
had integrity, meaning that
it would not be overturned.
00:34:15
So we wanted to make sure
that he had representation,
00:34:18
that he was able to review
the evidence with his attorney
00:34:21
and decide to plea
freely and voluntarily
00:34:24
of his own free will.
00:34:27
I just asked him to just
tell me what happened.
00:34:31
I kind of let him just talk
and explain everything.
00:34:34
And then if we needed to
clarify something, we would.
00:34:37
But I explained to him that
I had done all this research,
00:34:39
and I kind of just wanted to
hear it from his own mouth.
00:36:06
KELLY HENDERSON:
She was sleeping,
00:36:07
and he decided, well,
I'm not supposed
00:36:09
to have unauthorized riders
here, so let me go make sure
00:36:13
I don't get in trouble.
00:36:14
He claims that she was
asleep and that he was trying
00:36:17
to be a gentleman and
wake her up to see if she
00:36:19
needed to use the restroom.
00:36:20
And when she woke up, he
thinks he startled her,
00:36:22
but she started screaming.
00:36:23
And he knew that that security
officer was right next to him,
00:36:25
and he didn't want
to get in trouble.
00:36:44
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
00:37:54
It was chilling
to hear somebody so
00:37:57
casually discuss the murder
of another human being.
00:38:01
When I heard the
story, I felt like it
00:38:05
was a person who had very
little regard for human life.
00:38:10
No remorse.
00:38:12
You know, he-- it
was matter of fact.
00:38:14
It was just so matter of fact.
00:38:15
It was-- he enjoyed
talking about it, you know,
00:38:20
is kind of the sense
that I got from it.
00:38:22
He liked that attention.
00:38:26
MICHELLE SANDLER: We were
with him for a couple hours,
00:38:28
and then we left and
came home quickly.
00:38:31
And then we decided
to file on the case
00:38:34
as second-degree murder.
00:38:35
And that's just because
the state of Florida
00:38:37
requires that if you file
a first-degree murder,
00:38:41
you have to convene
a grand jury.
00:38:43
And we knew he was already
willing to plead to life.
00:38:47
NANCY GRACE: Keith
Jesperson convicted
00:38:50
for the second-degree
murder of Suzanne
00:38:53
Kjellenberg on April 4, 2024.
00:39:00
I was happy to have the
case closed to have justice
00:39:04
for Suzanne Kjellenberg.
00:39:06
DEANNA OLESKE: We
contacted the family,
00:39:08
and they had to
make arrangements
00:39:10
for her remains, which,
once we had gathered
00:39:14
and gotten back from
Othram, we made sure
00:39:17
that we had all of her back.
00:39:19
We-- they contacted
a funeral home,
00:39:22
and we released her
remains to a funeral home.
00:39:25
And I believe she was cremated.
00:39:28
KRISTEN MITTELMAN:
I can't imagine
00:39:30
losing someone that I care about
and not having any answers.
00:39:34
And I think that there's nothing
more devastating than allowing
00:39:38
a serial perpetrator to
conceal the identity of someone
00:39:42
and take away
their voice forever
00:39:44
and leave them voiceless.
00:39:45
To me, that's horrible.
00:39:47
And so it means
a lot to me to be
00:39:49
able to say that I think
this technology is going
00:39:52
to lead to a world
where no one is
00:39:54
ever left voiceless like that.
00:39:57
KELLY HENDERSON: It certainly
motivated me to make
00:40:00
sure I never give up on a case.
00:40:04
Just because it doesn't--
00:40:06
we don't have something
right in front of our eyes
00:40:07
doesn't mean we can't
develop something, you know?
00:40:10
And it grounded me to know--
00:40:13
to keep working, to keep
working on these cases,
00:40:15
because somewhere
out there, there's
00:40:17
a family member that is
wondering where their loved one
00:40:19
is or deserves that justice.
00:40:22
And I have cold cases all
the way back from '73,
00:40:25
so it's given me hope to
try to move forward on those
00:40:30
and get justice to where
we're able to solve
00:40:33
all of our cold cases.
00:40:35
NANCY GRACE: Incredible
work of law enforcement
00:40:38
and scientists finally solve
the brutal sex attack and tragic
00:40:44
murder of Suzanne Kjellenberg.
00:40:46
Their combined
efforts prove justice
00:40:49
can prevail in even
the toughest homicide
00:40:54
cases after 30 long years.
00:40:58
I'm Nancy Grace.
00:40:59
Thank you for joining us here
on "Bloodline Detectives."
00:41:03
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:41:07
[AUDIO LOGO]
00:41:10
[THEME MUSIC]
