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The Paramount+ series Happy Face was released on the platform on March 19, 2025. The eight-episode series is based on the 2009 novel Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter by Melissa G. Moore and M. Bridget Cook. It follows the 2018 podcast called Happy Face and is inspired by Melissa's experience of learning that her father, Keith Jesperson was a serial killer, dubbed the "Happy Face Killer."
Spinning fact and fiction together, Happy Face turns Melissa's own emotional experience into drama. She struggles to deal with the consequences of her father's crimes while attempting to insulate her own family from them.
The story follows an adult Melissa as she revisits her father's history after he wrongly takes credit for killing a woman named Heather Richmond. Keith Jesperson was convicted of killing eight women in several states in the 1990s. In the Paramount+ series, he is shown using this false confession as a way of manipulating Melissa back into his grasp.
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The show explores the trauma of being a child of a serial killer and how Melissa's life is turned around by her father's tricks. Jesperson states he killed Heather as a means to control Melissa into calling him and reintroducing her into his life. He threatens her with news of an unverified ninth victim to win back her attention and engagement.
Melissa's Manipulation in Happy Face
As the series goes on, it is revealed that Keith's assertion of having murdered Heather Richmond is all a lie and aimed at regaining control over Melissa. It all starts when Keith makes a call to an imaginary radio talk show in Episode 2 and states that he has a ninth victim and won't tell who she is unless Melissa visits him in jail.
She takes the bait and goes to see her father, becoming entangled in the case, as she explores Heather's murder. Melissa is trying to uncover the truth and clear Elijah Carter, Heather's boyfriend, who was on death row, for her murder.
Keith's calculated manipulation is brought out once again in Episode 7, as Melissa learns that the confession was faked. The series shows Keith taking advantage of Melissa's guilt, public shame, and unresolved trauma, employing emotional and psychological pressure to keep control.
The fabricated evidence
Keith's bogus confession uses planted evidence to seem authentic. In Episode 2, Melissa finds a guitar pick in Keith's stuff that incriminates him. However, in episode 7, some more secrets are revealed.
A person disguised as Heather's daughter breaks into an evidence storage room. They swipe a bloodstained dress and necklace so that Keith's partners can transfer Heather's DNA onto a wrench used as "evidence" of his innocence.
A forensic analyst on the show verifies that indirect DNA transfer is possible but that it was probably staged to frame Keith retroactively. This fabrication creates an appearance of his involvement, giving Melissa a reason to play along while allowing the investigation to drag on.
The consequences of Keith's lies
Keith's false confession has both immediate and wide-ranging consequences. Elijah Carter is set to be put to death within two months and Melissa is under pressure to exonerate him before that. The lie also threatens Melissa's marriage and threatens to expose her children to psychological manipulation from Keith.
By Happy Face Episode 7, Melissa realizes that Keith's confession was a sham. That it was a way of keeping her bound to him, making her deal with the idea that all of her investigation had been rooted in a lie. This twist drives home the show's underlying theme: Keith's crimes are not merely murder, but he uses trauma as a tool to hold power over his family.
Keith Jesperson's false confession of Heather Richmond's murder in Happy Face is an act of manipulation. Through creating false evidence and taking advantage of Melissa's yearning for justice, Keith manipulates his way back into her life again, affirming his grip over her.
Throughout the series, Keith's narcissism and attention-seeking propensity push him into masterminding sophisticated deceptions. The series shows how he doesn't care about the innocent lives that may be lost.
All episodes of Happy Face are now streaming on Paramount+.
